Coat hanger

This is a very simple project. All you need are a piece of wood, a drill, some knobs, and 2 picture hangers hardware.

The wood is from our old fence which worked out perfectly for the length. I apologize for not taking step-by-step pictures, but it's really simple. Just make sure all the knobs are equidistant. I got these knobs from anthropologie on clearance.

Canton First Monday Market ~ Labor Day weekend

Travel Date: 8/31/2013-9/1/2013

I enjoy visiting flea markets and trade days. You'll never know what you'll find among hundreds of vendors and you might come home with some hidden gems. The Mr. and I love browsing old antique/vintage items and trying to figure out what or how they were being used. Some items are just intriguing and it's fascinating how things have changed from decade to decade.

Since we had a 3 day weekend, we decided to make a trip to Dallas on Saturday and have an early start at Canton First Monday Trade Days on Sunday.  This is one of the largest flea markets in the states with ~6000 vendors. I advise printing a map in advance as it definitely helped us during our visit.

Some quick tips for 1st time visitor.
With various vendors in the flea market, it's best to have an idea what are you hoping to find in your visit. It you're a "junkie" like myself, I suggest parking at the West Gate. This area is uncovered and has tents and tables setup by each vendor. The price is cheaper and the vendor is more likely to give you a good bargain in comparison to the vendors inside pavilions. The Civic Center is fully air-conditioned and naturally everything is priced higher. The pavilions are filled with vendors that offer southern/western arts/crafts as well as home decor. There are also some vendors who re-painted/re-furbished/re-finished furniture and home decor items. If you're a DIY person, it's great to get some inspiration from these vendors. If you're a non-DIY person, these vendors charge a fair price for their work.

Not too forget, there are a ton of food vendors as well. Shoppers won't shop hungry!

What I brought home.

Drawers: $12 for both. They're from an old rolltop desk.
Baseball: $0.50
Coffee Sack: $2 Score!
Old Camera: $10
Alphabet blocks: $0.50 each

Link Parties:
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2013/09/transformation-thursday-220.html
http://diyshowoff.com/2013/09/08/that-diy-party-33/
http://thediydreamer.com/from-dream-to-reality/84-show-your-stuff/

Old Fence Sign

I'm loving those "EAT" sign and decided to make my own. I pulled out some old fence wood from my stash (you never know when you'll need them) and made a free "EAT" sign.

Mr. adventure helped to cut the wood to the size and dimension that I want and attached a small piece of wood to hold everything together.

I created a template in the font that that like.

Then I painted the wood with white acrylic paint.

I love how it looks above my pantry.

Link Parties:
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2013/08/transformation-thursday-no-219.html
http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/2013/08/knick-of-time-tuesday-101.html
http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/2013/08/frugalicious-friday_29.html
http://missmustardseed.com/2013/08/furniture-feature-friday-favorite-link-party/
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/2013/08/29/feature-yourself-friday-end-of-summer-edition/
http://diyshowoff.com/2013/09/01/that-diy-party-32/

Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

cushycottage is back after a long hiatus! I did not stop decorating(I don't think I ever will), but I took a long break from blogging. Posting on blog is a good way to document our house's transformations and our journey converting a house to a "home". It makes more sense than digging through thousands of photos I have on my computer whenever I want to look up some photos.

Today I'm sharing our kitchen cabinet makeover, which is one of our most strenuous project to date. I was always wishing for more cabinet space until we decided to paint them. There are A LOT of doors and frames.

Before makeover (please ignore the mess and pay attention to the dated wood color cabinets)

During makeover
We went back and forth between the garage and the kitchen and put 2-3 coats on everything.

After makeover and some organization.

We painted Valspar Kitchen and Bath Primer & Paint in Summer Grey and pasted beadboard wallpaper on the sides. We decided to remove the doors on some of the cabinets to display my flea market finds. We got the knobs from Target on clearance. Scored! The knobs make a huge difference.

The new paint brightens the entire space and gives a fresh new look.It was definitely hard work, but the transformation is stunning. Power of paint! I would love to install a butcher block counter, a new sink and maybe a new stove, but let's leave that for another day :)

Link Parties:
http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/2013/07/one-project-at-a-time-73013.html
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2013/07/whatever-goes-wednesday-181.html
http://www.sew-much-ado.com/2013/07/we-did-it-wednesday_30.html
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2013/07/transformation-thursday-no-215.html

free to fab

mr. adventure and i was driving back from dinner and saw a pretty large crowd in front of a house yard. they were a lot of stuff lying around and i thought they were having a garage sale or something, so we parked the car and got down to see what's on sale. nothing was on sale. even better, everything was free. there were a lot of broken furniture and garbage. sadly, the nice furniture were already taken :( there was a eviction notice at the door. the tenant probably left in a hurry and left everything behind.
i managed to picked up a broken mirror with an extremely ornate frame. i love these kind of frames. makes me giddy.

i removed the mirror and spray painted it grey. added some nice vintage looking fabric from garage sale for $1.

one of the corner is missing the cravings. it bugs me at first, but now I think it adds character.
total cost: $5.5 for a very nice piece in my hallway.
fabric: $1
card board: $1
paint: $3.5

 

 

chandeliers with crystal makes me wow

recently i've been decorating again. looking at diy blogs make me itch!
i picked up this free old brass chandelier last year and it's been in my storage since. i know, what a waste. i've been lazy...:P
here's the chandy before

after 4 coats of white spray paint (it's hard to get every single spot)

added some crystal that i got from an estate sale for $3 :) it wowed me. absolutely stunning. can't wait to start decorating my shabby corner(which is actually a formal dining room). the photo doesn’t do justice. I blame the lighting.


linky
coastal charm
wow us wed 25
thriftydecorchick

side table revived

painted a side table with a light bluish grey paint and added some ebony stain to create a worn look. 
before paint job

during paint job
after paint job


i'm using it as a table to put my makeup containers.
linking to these parties
Between Naps on the Porch {Metamorphosis Monday}

3.5 weeks vacation in asia

woohoo~~~~ i will be traveling to asia starting next week until feb 20th. i won't have any blog post until i return.

if you're interested to look at some lovely travel blog post, hop over to cushyblushy where i will be posting my travel journals.

itinerary: austin - la - tokyo - seoul - kuala lumpur - ipoh - melacca - johor bahru - singapore - kuala lumpur - seoul - la - austin

if you know of a good places to eat/shop/hangout/party in any of these cities, please comment! :)

window shopping

i had a week off between christmas and new year. i stayed at home while the mr. adventure had to work. we didn't have any travel plans as we're travelling to asia in end of this month. can't wait!

so, i did a lot of window shopping. i'm refraining myself to purchase anything for the home until spring. i still have tons of projects in my garage that i need to work on. here are some of the things i wish i could buy

from homegoods

from tjmaxx

love this lampshades

from target. even they are going to the quatrefoil motif

Link parties

i’m back! entry console table

i’ve been MIA lately. I was busy hanging out with friends during thanksgiving and bringing him around town since it’s his first time in austin. also, it’s too cold do work on any projects. don’t you agree?

anyway, I’ve worked on this console table for a while. just didn’t have time to blog about it. oppss……I forget to take a before picture just imagine it’s ugly rustic wood color that doesn’t go well with anything in my house. after primer and 2 coats of valspar summer grey (loving this color). i need to fill the bottom with some baskets. I’m so into quatrefoil motif ever since I learned about it. ballard designs has very gorgeous products with quatrefoil motif, but they’re beyond my budget. so, I decided to make grab a stencil from living livelier and painted my console table with the stencil. it’s hard work. took me a whole afternoon to finish 2 coats of stencil. if you look closely, the painting isn’t perfect with lots of brush strokes and smudges. but I think it adds more charm to it

have a nice week!

linky