I have started the transformation of the Black laminate cabinets

My last post I showed pictures of the cabinets that are in the Dining room of my Florida house.

I lamented about the way the cabinets just stood there hovering with no legs, like an alien spacecraft.

Personally I would have never put cabinets in the dining room, I would have purchased an old sideboard and painted her white.  But what's a girl to do when it's already there and a waaayyyyyy too much trouble to remove? Well my answer is paint her white and make her look as much like a piece of furniture as possible.
So that's what I have been up to.

• lightly sanded every inch.
• used a primer called the "gripper" from Home Depot

• picked out a pretty Behr paint called "Table Linen"premium plus with primer in satin finish see Behr color center here
• Picked up some 9 inch legs from Home Depot  and painted them. (The legs didnt need primer it's in the paint)

I completely taped and primed the cabinets. The back of the entire thing is mirrored so that is what you see in the background the reflection of whatever item is in front.

This is how it looks with one coat of the gripper primer and one coat of "table linen" by Behr

( I honestly thought this would be harder!) You just have to wait a while so things dry!

 Second coat goes on tonight.

This was a really hard black laminate high shine lacquer.... with gold trim. eeeiiikkkk!

I am hoping to be finished by tomorrow and then I can show the whole thing. The big reveal.

I kinda like the open shelves so I may not put the glass doors back on. I sprayed the gold hinges a brushed nickle and bought new brushed nickle knobs just in case I do want to put them back on. 

But really I am liking them open. I think that my milk glass will show up so much better if they are open! 

What do you think?

Any other touches I might add to cottage it up?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

65th Power of Paint Party

From black Laminated 80's look to a "Cottage Beach House"

First off thank you ladies for your wonderful ideas on how to cope with this table. I really like the idea of burlap or dropcloth attached with velcro around the bottom it sounds so simple and easy.

I also discovered that even though I can not lift the enormous piece of glass, I can slip a piece of paper in there . And came up with an idea. I was inspired by a  side table I saw at Home Goods. It really suits my style and I would like to incorporate this idea onto the top of these black slabs.

The inspiration table is collaged with vintage- looking maps.

Love, love. love this idea.

 Isn't it precious?

This is what I want to do to my table legs!

Not only are those dining chairs and table getting a makeover while I am in Florida. I'm finally getting started on that God- aweful hutch that is attached to the wall. 

uggg.
I tried to get that negotiated out of the deal when we purchased. I hate it that much. It is just not my style one bit. It's black laminate 80's comtemporary. I like vintage. This is not it. I like  trunks from the turn of the century. I like white cottage turned legs. I like soft pastels and stripes. I like old maps. Vintage milk glass. Green depression ware.  Hand crocheted lace tablecloths.
This thing just dangles from the wall like a big spaceship.

Removing it is not going to happen any time soon. We just are not here enough to accomplish that. And as I have stated before the hubbo is not handy.

So I am out to CBH (CottageBeachHouse) this puppy as best I can. My ideas are

1.  Give it some legs so it's not just hanging
2. Paint it a much lighter color, off white
3. Change all the knobs to a nickel finish
4. Dress it up with some wood appliques

• If anyone has a great idea for this one help me out will ya? I will be diving in with the primer real soon!  

Florida Challenges

Well I arrived safely after a long ride from New Jersey with my car making some crazy airplane noises. Right now it is in the shop getting ball bearings and brakes!
938 miles is a long way. I had no idea it needed work till half way down.
Before heading off to the Keys  in a couple of weeks, I will be attempting to "neutralize" this Florida house.
When we bought it, everything was Black, Aqua, and Purple. Yes, I said purple.
The walls are mostly grey and I can live with that.
But some things had to ...and still have to go.  The E- normous purple formica entertainment center is gone...it went last year when my big strong boys were down here with me. And that has been replaced with this adorable little tropical theme console table.

I never did take a pic of that purple entertainment center. Trust me it was really big and really purple!

~~~~~~

And the hall foyer had a glass and chrome table which, needless to say, I wasn't crazy about,-->

That has been delegated to the garage and will probably wind up in a consignment shop for some college student. I replaced it with this cutie  below from Home Goods

 The previous owners had the coffee table and end tables that matched the glass and gold foyer table,

 that I also hated. Off to the garage again.. The last time I was down I was able to swap them out for a much more cottage looking set.

I'd like to get rid of the aqua rug but that won't happen this year!
So this time around I am working on the dining room chairs! Get a load of these. We call them the "Beetlejuice" chairs. ....Absolutely not me. Go ahead , laugh if you want. I understand.

I wasn't kidding. Black, Aqua, Purple

So what is a girl to do? I don't have an extra thousand dollars to spend on a completely new dining room set right now, nor will I any time soon. So they will have to get "neutralized."

I am thinking slipcovers from dropcloths.... the perfect color and texture that I want.

I've been experimenting a little bit  and like the idea of some fabric paint on each chair with phrases such as "Beach" "Ocean"  "Surf" 

just so they aren't so plain.

I did this on a throw pillow and like how it looks. And this fabric paint stays on in the wash.

 One side is a nautical print the other the canvas dropcloth with "Ocean" and" Beach" written on them

So that's what I will be busy working on.. my chairs.

So far only one is done. And there are 7 more.

I do prefer this look to the black 80's look!

My sis will help me after our trip to the Keys.. she is a much better seamstress than I am.

In the meantime. I will have to spend some time on this gorgeous beach, on the gulf coast by Sarasota.  In this gorgeous water.

and tanning up this super white skin... I got going on.... from a cold New Jersey winter!
Just jump in!

Now for the Florida challenge...

Does anyone have any ideas what I could possibly do with this dining room table?

*Note>>> hub is NOT handy, this one is on me.

*Note>>> buying a new one is out.

How in God's name would you cottage this thing up? 2 big black formica pedestals hold up an extremely large piece of glass.

Any ideas ?

Changing this thing is a risk worth taking!

joining the nester's risk taking day

An adventure to Florida and the Florida Keys

I am leaving tomorrow  for a road trip to the Gulf coast of Florida, then the East coast of Florida to see my sister's house , which I haven't seen yet, and then I am kidnapping her and off we will go to  the Florida Keys!... I don't ever remember feeling this awake. ... I am calling this one "Eileen & MaryLouise".

Below is the one road that takes you from the mainland all the way through each Key until you get to Key West. ( The most southern point in the U.S.) just 90 miles from Cuba.

I have never driven this road but it's on my list of things to do.. so I am finally going to do this with one of my favorite people in the world..

My Sis.

We will drink in the sites, and laugh and giggle, snorkel and float in the warm clear water.

You get a pretty good idea of the road we will take from this arial view.

We'll go through Key Largo, and Marathon, and Sugarloaf Key... I thought this sounded like a cool place to visit and do some snorkeling.

Traveling from North to South the 1st Key is Key Largo, which features some of the best diving in the Keys at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Diving, snorkeling and glass-bottom boats provide visitors amazing views of undersea life and the Christ of the Abyss statue, a sub-aquatic bronze Christ.

 I will still be blogging about my adventures. My first stop will be Manasota Key on the Gulf side,  where I will actually be doing a bit of work before I set out on my adventure with my sister to Key West.   A working vacation so to speak where I will set out to  re-invent some Dining room chairs that look like they belong in the movie Beetlejuice. Once that makeover  is finally completed, I will head out on my adventure to the southernmost tip of the U.S.
So I should be getting some pics of lush tropical foilage soon and fabulous sunsets.
Gotta go pack.

A simple Beadboard Shelf - the perfect spot

On a weekend hunt of some antique shops and vintage shops in Pennsylvania with my adorable sister some years back, I spotted this adorable wall shelf ...

Right there, I decided it was coming home with me for my cottage at the beach. It was such a luscious soft grren, it had my heart.... It still does all these years later.
If it is blue, white or green I usually know it will fit in.
 All it takes is changing things up, and I like to do that. Besides I had a spot between 2 windows that was calling out for something other than a blank wall. I just hadn't found that something...until now.

So I plopped it in my car and hung it up in that empty spot and dressed it up with some beachy things from around the cottage. An old shell frame from a friend years ago, a candle holder from my daughter and talk about a bargain... that lighthouse plate was a dollar store find!

 It's got all the blues and greens that I love.

I love the little holes and dings it has in the beadboard it was made with.

And it's fun to switch up the accessorries a little. One of my favs is my depression glass candy dish.

Or the vase we fill with black scallop shells we find on the shore.

I found the "Cottage" sign at Home Goods. cute isn't it?  I have a love affair with that store.

Overall it's a really happy fit with all the blues and greens in my cottage.

Joining the Thrifty Decor Party @ http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

Yippeee! We can eat in the Dining room again.

I am just finishing up the last few things to complete the kitchen and dining room renovation.
I love, love, love the new door leading to the yard from the dining room.

Do you remember how this area looked before?

 As a family we were very used to eating at the kitchen table. We only used the dining room at Thanksgiving.

And behind all these heads were a bunch of cabinets hanging from the ceiling!

 It may as well have been a wall!

That is all changed now. With the dining room completley opened to the kitchen, we will use it regularly. ( I also love love love these new french doors leading to the living room.)

From this:

To This:                  
(ignore over the oven ... not finished yet!)

We love having an island but we also really wanted to be able to use a table again, so we could all sit together.  I just had to get busy painting the table and reupholstering all the chairs.

That was the push I needed to finally complete the  dining chairs which had been in the basement during renovations. I previously had only 1 done and one half done.  I finished the other two yesterday and today we sat at the Dining table for dinner.

And a view from the family room to the kitchen is now un-obstructed all the way to the Dining room..
From this Before:

To this Now:

Remember the old horriibly ugly floor?/ pretending to be slate floor?

ugggghhh.  try not to shutter too much.

I really am loving my new kitchen. I waited a long time for it, and it took a lot of planning, but it was worth it.
We even got all new plates that goes so dreamy with the counter tops. and I love that they are Correll.
Correll is light weight enough that you can grab a stack of them to take to the table with one hand.
Or pull 6 out of the dishwasher and stack in the cabinet in one fell swoop...well almost.
And yet they are dressy enough to enjoy eating on them. They never break unless you happen to drop them straight down. Thankfully that doesn't happen too often.

Aren't they precious? I love how they have all the colors of my kitchen. You like?

My cabinet finally came in for over the oven.  That is the last step in the re-do.!!

I have more projects to post, my son just bought a house and is doing some renovation there. He hasn't moved in yet. When he does, and I take over his bed room, I will have more changes to make around here. I'm thinking guest room/ office/ craft room.

Wow. Can't believe after 6 kids I might actually have a Guest room!

Thanks for stopping

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