The Christmas Box (nat)

**linking up over at Thrifty Decor Chic!

Ok not the Christmas Box you are thinking of... you won't read about it in a little green book (perfect dad!) but if you come to my house you will see the best Christmas box I've ever had!! It's a white toy box that my dad spent hours putting together just because he knew how happy it would make me. He made the mistake of telling me on the phone one day that he needed a project to work on. So I told him I found this grrreat piece of wood for 5 bucks at a thrift store and decided that it would make the perfect top to a toy box! So he cut all the wood for the rest of it, primed, painted, assempled, hinged, went to home depot about 10 times, and I LOVE it!! The perfect solution to all these crazy toys.

So it all started from this... I think it was maybe a cupboard door, I had no idea what I wanted it for but I could not pass up an awesome beadboard door for 4.99!
And this is what it became! Toy box, bench seat, coffee table, ottoman- so multi-functional, love it!
It houses everything PERFECT! And thanks to the lid stopper, my Boys won't get their fingers slammed. Great job Dad!! I decided that doing more of a distressed look on the top was probably the best route to go since it is a toy box and I am sure it will endure many beatings over time. We'll just make it look like it's supposed to be that way. Oh and who doesn't love whacking away at something, great Holiday stress reliever!

Refinishing a dresser (manda)

Here's a before photo that showed the dresser. It is hard to tell but the finish was really wearing out and I wanted an attached mirror.

Before...
After...
The dresser was sanded and painted with an oil based primer followed by an enamel acrylic top coat, which went on very smooth and we are very happy with the result.The polished nickel hardware came from Lowe's.

Nat's kitchen remodel

Here's the kitchen when we first came to look at the place. Basically- I fell in love with this house purely because of this kitchen. I LOVED the white bead board, the tile floor, and the huge vaulted ceilings. What I didn't love so much was the cream colored cabinets, the mauve paint, and the country decor- but I knew all of that could change. This was the first room in the house to go- basically it was my jumping off point for every other room in the house. I must say, I LOVE my kitchen!

Before...

After! The mauve paint was painted over bright red so I knew it would be way too much work to pick a lighter color so I went with chocolate brown, and its a great contrast with the bright white. I love it. We sanded down, primed, and painted all the cubboards and the side door. But like I've said... I love lots of white with punches of color and pattern.

We changed all the hinges and splurged on putting on hardware. But I love that we didn't have to spend much money at all to tranform the entire space. I would love to add molding to the top of the cabinets, better decide how long we really want to stay here first!
Adding a window treatment made such a difference and I was so happy with how it turned out!