Rainy Saturday

Today was the day Mr. Kattywhompus and I were to go to The Hill Climb in Newport, Indiana. But when we woke up to rain this morning, we opted for sleeping in and a day at home instead. While Mr. K watched a movie with our boys, I decided I'd tackle a few of the endless small projects I have sitting around the house.

Like many of you, I have an affinity for anything with lots of little drawers or compartments. Today I thought I'd show you what I did with two of my recent finds.

This first piece is one I found at an estate sale. Most things at this sale were a little pricey so after a quick peek inside, I headed to the garage. I found this hanging on the wall, filled with nuts & bolts, and a $10 price tag hanging from one of the knobs. Of course it caught my eye because of all the drawers...but what really fascinated me was that it's made entirely of old wooden cheese boxes and packing crates. Then there were all the funny mismatched knobs...

This is what it looked like after a good scrubbing, but before hubby repaired the bottom drawer and I replaced the missing knobs with old spools.

I also stained the little red knob so that it didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Even with all its flaws, I think it's a fun piece...which goes to show that one man's trash is truly another man's treasure.

And speaking of treasure...take a look at this diamond in the rough.

I bought this spice box at a local shop for $16. Again, the rows of little drawers got to me. Because a number of things in the store were painted this exact shade of blue, I suspected the paint job was pretty recent and would be fairly easy to sand down.

I was right. It had been painted with a latex paint and a light sanding was all that was needed. As I sanded, I kept waiting to see the crack or repair, the reason someone had painted over the old finish. But as I finished the last drawer I realized that this spice box was in perfect condition. Someone painted it because they liked this color. I'm just glad they didn't like lavender or fuchsia.

Here's a picture of the spice box after sanding, a coat of Briwax, and a good buffing with a soft cloth.

 

As you can see, I left some of the blue paint.

I'm pretty happy with the result. Briwax is a fantastic product, don't you agree?

Isn't it amazing what a little elbow grease can do?

It's suppose to frost tonight, so Mr. Kattywhompus picked the rest of our butternut and spaghetti squash. And he dug the carrots. I suspect he's hoping I'll bake my granny's carrot cookies...and I just might.

I love all the crazy shapes that real carrots come in. I'm so lucky to be married to a man who brings me vegetables. As it turns out, I don't mind that we stayed home today. And the rain...really is quite lovely.

Our view from the front porch late this afternoon. Some things are almost  too good to be true.

Until next time...