Tobacco Cabinet Reveal

Now that this little tobacco cabinet is finished, I look at the before photos and I can hardly believe it started out in such rough condition.

I knew it had potential to be beautiful, but I have to admit that I didn't believe it would turn out SO well! I was thrilled with the results and even now, a few weeks after completing it, I stop and admire it every time I walk by. It is one of my favorite pieces in our home now . . . and it started out looking so shabby.

I sanded the veneer away and applied a coat of Minwax Dark Walnut stain just to tone down the orange wood. I topped it off with a coat of hemp oil from Miss Mustard Seed. You can see it still absorbing into the wood in the photo below but even so, what a dramatic difference!

For the rest of the cabinet I applied Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint in typewriter and gave it a light sanding. I topped it off with two coats of Miss Mustard Seed's furniture wax for a protective finish; the black paint looks amazing and buttery once the wax is applied!

I am so happy with how this piece turned out - I love that it has family history attached to it, and that I was able to make it "me" without compromising it's natural beauty.

The wood top has such amazing detail that I don't want to put anything on it that will cover it up! I am sure it will be loved in our home for a long time and I hope to pass it down to my own girls one day. Pieces with a story  like this are too special not to share!

Sharing at Miss Mustard Seed

An Antique Tobacco Cabinet

A few weeks ago, my husband went to his grandmother's house to help her prepare for a garage sale. He came home a few hours later with some cardboard boxes of children's books, old magazines, some random craft supplies and a treasure; an old side table they had uncovered down in the basement while sorting through things in storage.

This cabinet originally belonged to her grandfather . . . making it my husband's great-great grandfather! A true family heirloom and it was very generously passed on to me; being known for restoring furniture does have it's perks!

I was so thrilled to hear a bit of backstory about this piece. David's grandmother says she can remember it being in her grandfather's house when she was young and that he kept his tobacco and rolling papers inside of it. I am not sure how she came to own it, but it has been stored in her basement for a long time and all but forgotten about, probably because it is in rough condition.

My own family has very little in the way of heirlooms and antiques. My grandparents moved to Canada when my mom was just a little girl and they didn't bring a lot with them - and the few family treasures that do exist have to be doled out among the very large extended family . . . meaning I have never had the experience of owning something that has been passed down through the generations.

When I married my husband, I discovered that his family is bursting with these sorts of things! There are many, many family heirlooms and my mother in law has been incredibly generous with passing most of hers along to me. She saw my passion for vintage pieces and decorating with things that hold meaning, and began giving me gifts of family heirlooms, my engagement ring being one of them. One day I will do a blog post sharing some of the amazing things that I now own thanks to my generous mother in law! It has been so wonderful to "tap in" to a family that has so many pieces with stories behind them.

Despite being quite weathered and worn, this cabinet is still solid. When the door is opened there is still a faint smell of tobacco, which for a girl like me who adores pieces with family history was enough to make me get teary eyed.

The veneer on the top was very damaged; much of the finish is long gone and it was scarred with water spots. I wanted to try to keep the top of the piece natural wood; what a shame to paint over something that was obviously once a beautiful piece with nice detail. Although I knew I would give the body of the cabinet a coat of paint, I was determined to find a way to salvage the top.

The tobacco cabinet, as it's now referred to, sat in my garage for a few weeks before I got up the nerve to touch it. I wanted so badly for it to be perfect that I was afraid to start!

Yesterday the sun was shining and I had an entire evening devoted to working on furniture in the driveway and so I took the plunge and refinished it.

And it looks amazing. Just like I had hoped it would.

It is waiting patiently for me to have the time to do a coat of wax and apply some sealant to the top. As soon as it's finished I will share photos. . . it looks amazing!

Vintage Glam Bathroom Makeover - Phase 1

When we purchased our home two years ago, it definitely was NOT for it's beauty!


We actually fell in love with the location, the huge lot with the fenced yard, the layout, and the fact that it had a second kitchen on the lower level making it perfect for my home daycare. We loved the huge paved driveway, the garage, the neighborhood. The size was perfect for our needs and it had a large laundry room and a master ensuite which were two of the biggest things on my "dream home" list.


But beautiful? Updated? My style? This house is none of those things.


It didnt scare us because we are seasoned DIY'ers and home renovators. We actually enjoy the hard work that comes along with transforming a house and I love having the ability to make all the choices myself when it comes to finishes, rather than buying something that was someone else's taste and not being able to change it because it's perfectly good, just not my taste.


This is how the bathroom looked the day we moved in. Not TERRIBLE, but definitely not our style. And we lived with it like that for a while.

We did really enjoy having double sinks for the first time, but that was about all we enjoyed. The walls were painted that 90's country blue that was popular when people decorated with geese and wooden hearts. All the 80's golden oak has aged into an orangey toned, greasy looking finish and the floors were bubbling up around the toilet.

Did I mention it also has a blue tub? Oh yes. Yes it does.

One night after the girls were in bed we were discussing what we wanted to do to the bathroom. We planned out a 2 phase renovation hastily scribbled on some notebook paper.

Phase 1

-Replace the sinks and countertop. Remove the oak "tower" on the counter as well

-Scrape and paint the ceiling

-Remove the medicine cabinet and replace with two inset ones

-Move the outlet to be centered , replace the switchplates, get a new fan control and fan cover

-Paint the cabinet and get new hardware

-Paint the walls

-Hang art, build a shelf with hooks for towels 

This would leave us with a very pretty looking bathroom, as long as the shower curtain was closed. It would be a huge facelift that would help us to enjoy the room a lot more until we could afford to do the more expensive projects.

Phase 2

-Remove the blue tub, tile the walls and install a new bathtub

-Tile the floors (possibly also adding heated floors)

-Replace the window

-Replace the toilet

-Replace light fixtures

And suddenly, we went from dreaming on paper to ripping down a medicine cabinet and getting out the sledgehammer! Did I mention this was at midnight? 

The next morning when I got out of the shower and had no mirror to help me get ready, I made the comment that maybe we didn't think this through and should have waited to start demolition. I mean, we hadn't even ordered new medicine cabinets and I had no idea what I wanted to use for countertops! My search for square sinks had not turned up a single one that fit in our budget. I felt a big case of renovator's remorse in the cold light of day, standing there wrapped in a towel looking at a blank spot on my wall and a countertop littered with tools.

My wonderful husband listened to my stressed-out ranting, and then calmly helped me tote my blowdryer and all my makeup into our other bathroom where we did still have a mirror. He assured me that we would have new medicine cabinets in no time, and it would all be worth it in the end. 

That evening I came upstairs and burst out laughing.

After he taped out where we needed to make cuts for the inset medicine cabinets, my husband thought he'd make me some temporary ones to keep me happy! 

I spent all my spare time researching the best price for the faucets I wanted, trying to find hardware I liked, and ordered medicine cabinets that were super expensive but we both decided were worth the splurge.

 It took us longer than anticipated because of a pretty big health scare with my husband that occured shortly after we started, but we did get phase one finished! 

Ok, almost finished. I still haven't found the perfect artwork and the shelf with towel hooks still hasn't been made yet . . . 

We are thrilled to finally be proud of our bathroom and not cringe whenever a guest asks us the dreaded "Can I use your bathroom?". It really feels more like US and less like where the trends of the early 90's came to die. 

Juuuust as long as you don't peek behind the shower curtain!

Linking up with Sand and Sisal, Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, Home Stories A-Z, Creatively Living, Savvy Southern Style

My Favorite Local Shop

I can't believe it's already been a year since I took a leap of faith and emailed a local shop owner asking if she would take a chance on me.







For some crazy reason she said yes, and I've been selling things from, and working in, Goat River Folk Art ever since.







It's a beautiful, creative store filled with one of a kind items that have been rescued from a landfill, repurposed, reinvented, or created from scratch by one of the amazing ladies who work there. Each one of us have a distinct style and our own "look" but blended together, it makes for a fun shopping experience and there is always something for everyone.

It's full of antiques, vintage finds, and lovingly refinished furniture. All at amazing prices that anyone can afford. That's what I love most about the store and it's owner - they believe in having a store that is for the "Everywoman" - the single mom on one income, the stay-at-home mom, the single person just starting out . . . those are our biggest clients and all of them come to us because they know they are getting a good product at a GREAT price.

The store is always changing, ever evolving. Always beautiful. Always affordable!

Antique Cabinet

This beautiful piece has been sitting in my garage for a very long time, and it's next up on the list to be painted. I kept putting it off because it's a piece for me, and custom pieces for clients or for the shop kept taking first priority.

It's hard to take valuable (and rare) work time to do something for myself, but I need the space that this piece is taking up in my garage, and sometimes it's just so good to finish a piece for yourself and get to enjoy it without any pressure or deadlines.

It needs to have a top built. As you can see, it has a very odd top - I am assuming that originally this was the top half of a hutch and there was a closed cabinet that this would have sat on, so the builder never felt the need to create a "finished" top as it would have been above eye level anyway. I don't like to alter or add to antiques, but in order for this piece to be functional for us it needs to be done. And I have no plans to resell, so I'm not worried about hurting it's value.

It was purchased by my husband's aunt and used as a display case I believe in her store. When she was ready to get rid of it, she thought of me and sent it home with my husband's parents the last time they visited. She had painted the interior but the outside was still raw wood and the moment I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

It still has the original hardware and from what I can tell, the original glass as well. I am not even sure where I am going to find room to put this beauty once I finish her, but this is one piece that I won't be letting go of, even if it means another piece of mine has to find a new home.

I will be working on transforming this piece and will share photos of the finished product as soon as the paint is dry!

A Pink Ombre Dresser

Last year, my sister called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted an old dresser that she no longer had any use for. It had been in her son's bedroom but he didn't have room for it anymore. I said yes, thinking I could use it in my daughter's room as she was outgrowing her nursery furniture and we had a baby on the way that would soon be needing it anyway.

When she dropped it off, my sister explained that the dresser had been hers growing up and I remembered it being in her room. At that time it was painted a light blue with some pink and white flowered knobs. She said she had memories of it being a "dress up" storage piece in our basement before that, and it had been painted bright crazy colors and was filled with our old halloween costumes and kept under the stairs next to our deep freeze. I only vaguely remember it but by the time I was very old, it had been repainted and put into my brother's bedroom, and then later, into my sister's with yet another new paint job.

I thought that was a nice piece full of memories and it would be special to have in my daughter's room, seeing as at one time it had been in the bedrooms of all 3 of my siblings and also my nephew.

It sat in the garage for about six months before I finally got around to painting it. When I began working on it I mentioned it to my mom. She told me that the dresser had been purchased by my grandparents when my mom was born for HER nursery. She said that it had been her dresser all her life growing up and had come with her when she got married. It was shifted around the house over the years, each time with a new coat of paint . . . in my brother's room, then in the basement as the makeshift "Tickle Trunk", then into my sister's room who also took it with her when she got married.

I was so thrilled that it came back around to me - how special that the same dresser that housed my mom's baby clothes is now the dresser where my daughter keeps her socks and Cinderella pyjamas. I think about it almost every time I open the drawers.

I can't even imagine how many coats of paint have been layered on it over the years. It's not a fancy piece, but it's sturdy and solid and in great condition. And full of memories. I have a feeling that one day my daughter will be lugging it out the front door, probably painted a totally different color and moving it into a house of her own.

And when she does, I can tell her "Did you know this dresser was your Grandma's when she was born?"
And that's something you can't buy at a furniture store.

I painted the dresser white, and did a pink ombre on the drawers. It's definitely not my usual style, but I had been wanting to try the ombre look for a while and I have also been trying very hard to let my daughter's room be her own space. She loves pink, and I wanted her room to be bright and fun, not feel like an extension of my own personal decorating style. I feel like it's important to let both my girls express their personality and have some say in the decorating decisions in their rooms.

Does that mean I would be ok with hot pink walls or My Little Pony bedding? No. I'm just not ready to let go of that much control and I readily admit it. But I try to allow her to make the decisions, even if I am limiting her choices somewhat or guiding her toward a general idea of what I am "Ok" with.

She asked for pink, and pink it is. Having a bright pink dresser would make me feel agitated and panicky every time I stepped into the room, so painting it out white to match the rest of her furniture and limiting the bright color to the drawers makes it more palatable for me. And the cute glass knobs don't hurt either!

No.3 Chair

Numbered furniture. Either you "get it" and love it, or you don't understand it and think painted numbers ruin an otherwise great piece.

I'm in the former camp. I think painted numbers are adorable, and a fun way to personalize your home in a subtle way. Here are some of my favorite examples of numbers painted on furniture . . .

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It's a fun way to bring in a bit of whimsy, and fits perfectly in a cottage, beachy, country, schoolhouse-inspired room, or with any style that incorporates vintage pieces. I like to call my personal style "Refined Cottage" and pieces like this make my heart sing.

I tried my hand at a numbered piece last summer. Sadly I didn't take a before photo, but it was your run-of-the-mill honey colored oak chair with a stain that had gone orange over the years and was in need of some freshening up.

I painted it my favorite shade of blue and then stenciled on a big number 3. I had fun distressing it to create the look of a well worn, old chair by focusing on the areas that naturally see wear; the seat, corners, fronts of the legs and the center of the back.

It turned out so beautifully and was fun to bring in to the shop because everyone had an opinion on it. Most people would gasp and say "Aw!" Or "I love that, how cute!" but a few people were puzzled and made comments like "Now why would you put a number on a chair?" "I thought it was perfectly nice until I noticed the number on the seat. That just ruins it for me."

Well, that's the fun of decor/design. Not everyone is going to like what you do, so just DO YOU. I love the look and I had so much fun creating this piece. It's not a style that is everyone's cup of tea, but that's not what I strive to do.

If I wanted to create pieces that everyone would like, all my things would be plain white. Or black. Adding personality to pieces like this is a risk, sure. It means less people will find it appealing. But for the ones who DO like it, it makes that piece irresistable and extra special.

So for all my numeral-loving clients out there, keep on the look out for more numbered pieces coming soon! And for those who just don't get this trend, don't worry. There's always something for everyone!

Nautical Nightstands

This pair of nightstands has got to be one of the ugliest "Before" items I have worked on. The tops were covered in Peel-and-Stick floor tiles and they had been painted in a hideous shade of pinky tan that reminded me of skin.

I couldn't contain my imatience and ripped off the floor tiles before I got a photo, but here they are after washing and sanding, ready for primer.

I knew they had potential - I liked the style of them and they were in excellent condition, aside from needing a going-over with a palm sander and some elbow grease.

I painted them a creamy white, and after it cured a few days I got to work with my favorite painter's tool - Frogtape! I taped off some stripes on the top, pulled out two of my favorite shades of blue paint and got to work.

The results were better than I was hoping for! I added some blue on the raised drawer fronts; I wanted these to be fun and I loved the little bit of added color. I'm a neutral girl at heart, so keeping these mostly white with just some details in blue made it fun while still feeling like my style. 

I thought they had a bit of a nautical feel, so I chose hardware that had a little braided detail that reminded me of rope.

I finished them off with two coats of clear wax. They looked so cute together in the shop, and they sold very quickly! It's always exciting to me when someone takes home one of my pieces. It never gets old; that feeling of gratification when someone else sees your vision for a piece and loves it enough to take it home! 

Beachy Striped Stool

I found this wooden stool at a garage sale and fell in love with the detail on the legs. I had to have it, and as soon as I brought it home I went to work transforming it.

I painted it a soft cream and added some blue stripes in a random design across the seat for some interest and to give it a bit of a beachy/cottage feel. I distressed it and topped everything off with a coat of wax for a buttery finish.

When it was finished I loved it so much I tried to find a spot in our house that it would fit, just so I could have an excuse to keep it. I did price it and bring it into the store, but I admit I was hoping that it wouldn't sell so that after a while I could bring it home and try to make it work somewhere. But it wasn't meant to be - it sold right away! I was a little sad to let this one go, but I am happy that someone else saw it and loved it enough to take it home with them!

And there's always more garage sales . . .

Linking to Miss Mustard Seed