Showing posts with label hutch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hutch. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Old Stuff, New Stuff, More Old Stuff

Posted by MAKMU ta On Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Just a couple of miles from That Old House,
on a well-traveled local road, is this:


 A barn --
empty, its boards gray and weathered, in the manner of old barn wood.



The barn grew with its farm, form following function,
addition tacked onto addtion.
The whole thing, barn and setting, ragged and raw, looks right.


I think the vines and scrub trees are helping it stand up.


The barn is part of the landscape now; it looks at home.

Across the street, on this barn's old farm land, are these:


Some people call these McMansions.
Unless you live in one, in which case you call it home.

Time.  It sure can change the crop that's springs up on farmland.



***********************************


On Sunday, Howard and I bought a really sweet little kidney-shaped
ladies' desk, and managed to squeeze it into my tiny antiques booth:

It is in such perfect 1930s original shape, the mahogany with great patina,
and even the leather top is intact and gorgeous:


Anyway -- I thought I had already done a post
on the things my friend Emily and I chased around all over New Jersey 
to pick up a week ago, and bring to the booth.

But it turns out, I had not.
Doh.
So, here it is -- the stuff we got last Tuesday.


From an elderly gentleman moving into assisted living, a little carved corner cabinet:


It's just so danged cute and small -- dainty, really.  It would look wonderful painted creamy white.
Or pink.  Yes, pink -- for a little girl's room.  Can't you see dolls on it?

At one of my favorite thrift shops, a nicely scaled open cupboard.
Old antiqued green, red, gold paint.
Chipped from use, not from "hey, let's make this chippy" efforts.
At the thrift shop:
Here it is, held hostage in my mini-van.
I thought I could fit both this cupboard AND the washstand I'd bought into the van, together.
But . . . no.  Reminder: measure first.
Two trips.  It was a long Tuesday, last week.  Thank goodness Emily is a good sport!
 At the booth.

Next . . . an old lift-top washstand.
Here it is, at the thrift shop:

This is also sometimes called a "commode," but it is not what some people think of when they
hear the word "commode," which is my long and euphemistic way of saying, "This is not a potty."

At the booth:

I put a small, subtle sign on it, by way of explanation.
When the top is lifted, there's space inside for a bowl-and-pitcher.
The little drawer on the left would have held toiletries -- razor, soap, etc.
The door underneath hid a slop jar, for used wash water.

I love the pine in this wash stand.
These were the en suite bathrooms of their day.

And speaking of old things . . . 
here's a picture of my favorite antique, posing with the wash stand, lifting its top, at the booth on Sunday:


He is not for sale.
I had to hang a "for display only" sign on him.
The ladies were just linin' up.

Have a lovely Tuesday, my friends -- Cass

Link Parties!

At Bluff Area Daily Blog, it is time for Barn Charm, a weekly blog party.  Click here!
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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Paintless Transformation

Posted by MAKMU ta On Sunday, January 22, 2012

China Cabinet


I inherited my dining room set from my parents. They bought it at an old antique barn in South Carolina in the 70’s.
I have loved the wood graining and the lines. Last year, I transformed the chairs and the table – 


they either needed to be refinished or painted after long years of hard lovin’. I did both to the table and painted the chairs.


I am reluctant to paint the hutch. It is in very good condition, but I wanted to do something to brighten the interior.

before

So, I came up with this solution. I took an Elmer’s Foam Board – easily found at craft stores – measured the back wall to each shelf and cut a piece to fit within using a blade.
I chose a solid, sage green fabric to complement the fabric used in the dining room and on the dining chairs.


I used a Fiscars Rotary Blade to cut premeasured strips of cloth. I steamed each strip of cloth to remove any wrinkle. I then applied Spray Adhesive to the Foam Board aligning one edge at a time and rolling out the fabric as I went. The foam board easily slips into place and can be removed using a butter knife.


The possibilities are endless – you can use any color or pattern of fabric, wall paper, craft paper even paint to apply to Foam Board to change the background to your hutch. 


I can see now that I may change these out seasonally as I change things around in other rooms. 


This application could easily be used on bookcases, open hutches, desks – anything with shelves and a backwall.



Thank you so much for stopping by! 
If you give this a try let me know!



I am sharing this post with these Delightsome blog parties
Wishing you a Delightsome week,


Wishing you a Delightsome week,


Thursday, January 13, 2011

Home offices with just the right balance of personality and productivity

Posted by MAKMU ta On Thursday, January 13, 2011

It's not easy to strike the perfect balance in one's home office. Make it too cozy and filled with personal objects and you might end up using your desk to curl up with a good book or flip through photo albums. Make it too industrial and sterile and..well, feel like you're back in a cubicle. It's important to make your work space pleasing to you, and while everyone's ideal work set up is different, you have to have the tools of your trade on hand and a comfortable arrangement that allows you to hunker down and focus without distraction.

Here are some spaces that seem to have the balance down...

Perfect...beautiful...need I say more?


Plants add some life and homeyness, the ample shelving creates space for supplies, and the unorthodox desk combines function and beauty.

For some people less is more. Give them a huge desk and every inch of surface space will be occupied with stuff, leaving no space to work. This desk is clever because it has minimal surface space for accumulating clutter, but a leaf underneath pulls out for work surface.


I use a table as a desk as in the above image, because I'm able to keep things organized and most of the surface stays bare, which gives me enough room alongside my computer to spread out my magazines and/or sketch.



This space gets it's warmth from a hutch that looks well-loved.

What works for you in a home office?
via LivingEtc.

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