Transformation of a Craigslist China Hutch

I picked up this china hutch on Craigslist for cheap.  The picture below was the one listed on the Craigslist ad.  It looked great.  I thought I wouldn't have to paint it.  When I picked it up however I realized how decieving the picture was.  The finish was terrible, the painted chipping and a back leg broken.  You can not see it in the picture but the back had large gold swirls painted on it.  The indentions in the doors were also painted gold.

I ended up repairing the leg, spraying it black, and removing the gold grids in the glass doors.

The Before

And the After....

Love the crown moulding and the dental moulding across the top of the buffet in the above photo.

 This piece took more time than I originally thought but it turned out gorgeous.

 This one sold right away.

I'm linking up with Show and Share Day,  Frugal Friday, Furniture Feature Friday, Thrify Treasures, and Primp your Stuff Wednesday.

French Country Hutch Redo

I picked up a hutch at a yardsale on Friday.

I didn't get a before picture of it.  The finish was the same as this hutch below I finished earlier this year.  You know that dark 70's look.  Only this hutch had orange pop bottle glass doors. Ugggg.

I painted it a very light blue grey, lightly sanded the edges, and wiped it down with Ralph Lauren tobacco glaze.  I love the hammered hinges and the chicken wire in the top doors.  I added glass knobs and stenciled a laurel wreath and year on the bottom drawers. I think it all came together nicely.

I'm linking up with Show and Share Day, Twice Owned Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays, Thrify Treasures and Primp Your Stuff Wednesday.

Furniture Sold and For Sale

Here are just a few of the items I've recently sold.

Three Piece Set

Items for Sale:

Antique Side Table

Vintage Oak Ice Box End Table

Sewing Machine Cabinet Table - will be refinished

Maple Dresser - Bought $30. Keeping this one for my daughter.

The Story of a Dresser

This is a bitter-sweet tale of a craigslist dresser.

I bought a neat old dresser off of craigslist. I loved it. It was painted a creamy white and had toile wallpaper covering the drawer fronts. My hubby and I drove 30 miles to pick it up. On the way home we stopped along the freeway to pull the tarp off the dresser since it was about to blow away (it had stopped raining). When we got home we were missing the second to top drawer. It had blown out. I almost cried. My husband drove back 20 miles to where we pulled the tarp off and retraced our route. He couldn't find the drawer or even the drawer front. He got home at midnight, exhausted and not very happy. He got pulled over for turning around on the freeway in one of those turn around spots for emergency vehicles and the officer threatened to give him a $500 ticket. Luckily he got out of it. You can see why he wasn't in a very good mood when he got home. Poor guy.

Bright and early the next morning I drove back the 20 miles and took my daughter with me to help look. I drove the entire way 35 mph on the side of the freeway with my hazards on. I spied a cooler, many cardboard boxes, a mattress, a lid from a rubbermaid tote, a gas jug, a shoe, and all kinds of stuff. I had never paid much attention to the liter along the freeway before. There was not a sign of it or any broken lumber. For a couple days I was so bummed.

I would have replaced the wallpaper anyway because it was poorly done. The dresser had a wood veneer on it and it had peeled in several places on the drawer fronts. That's why she covered them up. It looked bad because the drawers were very bumpy. So I spent a couple hours one day ripping off the wallpaper and peeling, chiseling, and sanding off the veneer until the drawers fronts were smooth.

My dad, who is a carpenter, built a new drawer and I found pulls in my stash that were almost identical to the ones on the dresser.

I looked online for days and couldn't believe how much wallpaper cost. I wasn't about to spend $35 or more on a roll of paper when the dresser only cost $50. But I wanted toile. That's why I liked the dresser so much in the first place. Then I went to Melaine's Blog and she posted about toile contact paper she found at Dollar Tree.  I couldn't get to Dollar Tree fast enough. I bought all 7 rolls that were left and covered the drawer fronts and bottoms. I was worried it wouldn't stick but it is stuck really well. I actually like the dresser better now!!!! It has been a true labor of love.  Melaine's post about the contact paper came at the perfect time.  Thank you Melaine for helping a girl out!!!!

Here's a picture of the dresser before (with cream and green toile)

THE BEFORE

This was the picture listed on Craigslist

DURING

The lady had slapped wallpaper over the peeling veneer.

After a couple hours peeling, chiseling and sanding smooth.

THE AFTER

with black and white toile contact paper

She has been a real labor-of-love.

Thank you Melaine for featuring my dresser on your blog

My Sweet Savannah. Go HERE to see her post.

This is part two of the furniture I scored from a lady on Craigslist.  You can see the other furniture in my previous post.  When we went and picked up the first load of furniture I saw that the woman had the exact same dining table and chairs as I did.  We both got them at the same furniture store.  We have had our set for 6 years and love them.  They are very sturdy and we've never had one break or become wobbly.  I've had several people ask if we purchased them from Pottery Barn.  Nope.  We got our table, six chairs, and three matching barstools for just under $1000.  And that was a very good sale.

I asked the women if she planned on selling the set.  She said yes and that she just hadn't posted them on CL yet.  I asked her how much she wanted for them and she said $200.  She also had a matching buffet.  She wanted $150 for that.  I thought about it for a whole day and finally called her back and said we wanted the table and chairs.  When we went to pick them up she told us we could have the table, chairs, and buffet for $250!!!!!

I sold the table and chairs for $500 and the buffet for $250.  I made a profit of $500!!!!!!

My friends kept asking why I didn't want the buffet because it matched my table.  It has a wine rack in the middle section and the middle drawer holds wine glasses.  We don't drink wine.  I thought about taking the wine racks out and adding a shelf and a couple baskets but I don't have anywhere to put it.  My house is full. 

Look What I Found

Last week I scored big!!!!  I found these two pieces on craigslist for $50 each.

A beautiful antique highboy dresser

An antique dough boy

Turns out I was the first to contact her about them. We drove 30 miles and picked them up that evening.  She had been bombared all day by people wanting these pieces.

It gets better!

As we pulled into her driveway I noticed the house was for sale.   Her husband passed away seven years ago and she is moving into a small condo.  She was selling most of her furniture.  I walked into her home and had to take a deep breath as not to hyperventilate.  This women's home was beautiful!!  I was like a kid in a candy store. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful antique table in her entry way.  I asked her if she was keeping it and she said no.  I asked her how much she wanted for it and she said probably $75.  My husband and son began loading the two pieces we came for and she said, "If you want all three peices you can have them for $125."  YES YES YES!!!!

She had tiled the table years ago and had not added grout in the seven years since her husband passed away.  She even gave me the grout.  I grouted the next day and it made a huge difference in the appearance of the table.

Mid-grouting. What a differance.  Just look at those legs!

If that weren't enough, it gets better!

She told me to come to the garage, she had another table I could HAVE. She bought it at an antique place in Lake Tahoe with plans to refinish it and never got around to it. There is a neat green paint under the white.

I love the wood knob.  It is as big as a door knob.

She had lots of rooster decor and I told her I had rooster decor as well.  She told me to follow her to her car.  She pulled our a wicker basket of rooster decor that was going to Goodwill.  There were two cast iron, super heavy roosters and two ceramic ones.  On the bottom of one rooster the price tag said $17.50.  She gave me those as well.

I came home with four pieces of furniture and four roosters for $125.

That is just the begining!!!!  In my next post I'll show the rest of the furniture we went back and got!!!

I'm linking up with Furniture Feature Friday, DIY Project Parade, Twice owned Tuesday, Nifty Thrift Tuesdays, White Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesdays, Good Life Wednesday, Strut Your Stuff Thursday,  Transformation Thursday, Open House Thursday,  Frugal Friday, Feathered Nest Friday  Show and tell Friday, Flaunt it Friday, Vintage Inspiration Friday, Frugalicious Friday, Share the Love Wednesday, SAS Day, Thrifty Treasures, and Best Yard Sale Finds Ever.

It's in the Details

I find that details make a piece.  In this case I am talking about knobs and pulls. I have four pieces of furniture I have recently refinished.  When Hobby Lobby had their knobs and pulls 50% off I gave each of these new pieces the hardware they deserved.

China hutch before:

China hutch after:

 knobs: $2.50 each

Please excuse the shadows from the chandelier

I wanted the knobs on the china hutch to match the ones on the buffet.

Vanity before:

These are the knobs that came on it.

They are white porcelin but I didn't care for the flowers on them.

Vanity after:

knobs $1.50 each

Table before:

a small wooden knob

Table after:

knob $2.00

Armoire before:

It had 6 wooden knobs originally.

I painted them oil-rubbed-bronze but didn't like them

Armoire after:

door pulls $2.00 each

drawer bin pulls $1.00 each

I purchased the bin pulls on the drawers online at Cripe Distributing. They come in a pack of 25 and cost $14 plus $11 shipping. That's only $1 a piece.  I saw these on another gals blog.  She used them in her kitchen.  I have to admit I had my doubts about the quality since these pulls are expensive at the hardware store.  But I couldn't be happier with them.  They are very good quality and heavy.  I sprayed these with oil-rubbed-bronze paint so they would match the upper pulls and hinges.  The only downside is they don't come with screws.  I took one to a hardware store and got screws that fit for 5 cents each.  I plan on using the rest of these pulls when we refinish our kitchen this summer.

I'm linking up with TDC's Before and After Party , Wassup Wednesday , Furniture Feature Friday, and Frugal Friday.