Metal File Cabinet Repurposed

Last summer we had an unexpected bathroom remodel.....

I got rid of the vanity and decided on a simple wall hung sink.  Which eliminated pretty much all of the storage.  We added a really cool wall hung medical cabinet to create a small vanity space last summer then I added a vintage shaving mirror...but I still needed something small for cleaners and extra odds and ends.

 So I have been looking for awhile for the right thing to have in our bathroom that would fit without dominating the whole room.  

We were at a local "shop hop" and I spotted this little metal file cabinet from "Farm to Charm"

The top lifts up and was made to hold hanging files.  The bottom was locking cabinet --which doesn't work anymore because the key broke off in the lock.

 I used ASCP in Duck Egg Blue which I mixed with some cream acrylic paint to get this color....and topped it with some clear wax

 A few week ends ago we were flea marketing and I picked up this cup pull I was going to use on our chalkboard wall calendar to hold chalk....

But it was a perfect fit on this piece and changed the way it looked in a good way....

She fits good in there!  Only took me a year to find it....that's part of the fun when you flea market  Your house is always evolving and you keep adding and changing...

Medical Cabinet Repurposed

 Back in the spring we went to the Springfield Flea Market, and it rained the whole day...

it was soooo cold.   Hard to believe now that it's 100 degrees :) 

I spied this little wall hung medical cabinet and thought it was just a really cool piece.  I originally planned to hang it above the toilet to store our towels...

that, of course, was before we realized we were going to have to pretty much redo the whole bathroom....

 So it was pretty rough looking...we took it apart and my husband sandblasted all the metal hardware. I decided to sand it down a little bit and use a dark stain on it followed by a coat of polyurethane.  This is the only "before" photo I took...and I'd already stained it.

 So as we were working I was thinking this would make a great spot for ME---only one thing missing  right now, and that's the mirror but I've got something in mind.

 Our bathroom is small about 5x9' so this is just enough to be a spot to sit down.  I'm thinking that my fan can be mounted to the wall too ---

just haven't decided if I want to do that or not....

 This folding chair is my favorite out of all those we've bought....

I was thinking more along the lines of a small stool...maybe metal...

Not sure but I'll know it when I see it

 

 the room is coming along nicely...baseboards are in and it's all painted and floored and caulked....

 The last thing is the sink...and some storage.....but I'm loving the way this looks!!!  And feeling better about getting it wrapped up...

Allure Vinyl Flooring

The bathroom remodel continues...

My husband got all the drywall patched and sanded so I was able to paint.  

I used the "White Ballet" color from Valspar that we used in the kiddos room last year---Mostly because I had a whole unopened gallon!

If you've ever tried to pull up old linoleum you know why we decided to lay down sheets of thin plywood first :) We filled our gap between the tub and old floor with a piece of this too before laying the large sheets down.  I planned on using our Allure vinyl flooring in the Hickory color/finish.

 I was right in the middle of flooring when the storm hit and the power went out.  So I planned on getting up Saturday morning to finish it up ---only  we got a call to show the house.  After cleaning all morning they apparently didn't even show up.  

Saturday evening I got to this point ---only needed about 3-4 pieces to finish.  Which we were  expecting.  We'd specifically checked to make sure it was available before we started.  My husband went to get another box at Home Depot only to be told yes, the display is still there (and it's listed online) but they don't have it on the shelf.  You have to special order that and it takes 7-10 days to come in:)

After my husband tells me all this, I remember that my Uncle laid the same flooring in their house when we did our dining room/ kitchen, and he MIGHT have enough pieces to finish it up....He did....

I persevered!!!! It is finally all down and looks really great considering it's linoleum.  

This is definitely a great flooring option for a little bit less than a laminate or ceramic.  And we get sooo many compliments on ours.  It's one of the first things people notice in our kitchen/dining room.  

And that room gets a TON of traffic....and other abuse---see photo below :) We've had it about 3 years I think and it still looks great.  It's also very quiet....some laminate floors can be a little noisy or echo-y in large open rooms.

So all that's left is EVERYTHING :)  A new sink....caulking around the edges of the tub....baseboards...but we 're getting there...

Remodeling a Bathroom

SO what started as JUST replacing the bathtub and surround has become almost a total bathroom overhaul....we just remodeled this room about 4 years ago and this is how it looked...

We discovered a crack near the back of the tub a few months ago and knew we were going to have to replace it quickly because our home is for sale...

 So we bought a new tub and surround and my husband started tearing the old one out.  Then he and his Dad put this new one in ---on Father's Day week-end no less :)

 See that nice little gap in the flooring between the tub and the tiles?????  Yeah that would be because this tub is about 2 inches narrower than the old one....

AND you cannot buy our flooring any more...

So I'll be redoing the flooring as well...probably the same flooring we used in the dining room because we have 2 boxes left over from that project so it will almost do the whole bathroom.

It's the Allure vinyl flooring from Home Depot in the Hickory color/finish.

Which means taking the toilet out ---and then I'm thinking about redoing the floor and how I really don't like the vanity we have so we took that out too :)  Might as well go all the way right??!?!?!?

 Our bathrooms are small and I really like having the pedestal sink in our hall bathroom...

I'm shopping for a wall hung sink and something more creative for storage.
In my mind this is our bathroom!!!  Gorgeous huh?????

$2 mirrors

 Spent a whopping $1 on this mirror.  And I love it hanging in my bathroom.  I'm sure if I wanted to I could have it re-silvered (you can see where it's got spots that have rubbed off) but I like it just the way it is.

 This one was also $1.  And it's a huge improvement over the plastic one that's been propped against our closet wall :).  And it goes great with our dresser we bought this Spring!

Oh....the feedsack chair went to WC on Saturday evening.  She's closed on Sunday &Monday and it sold Tuesday.....wow.....

Our humble home tour

Our house is "officially" up for sale.  This past Tuesday the photographer came and took pictures of it inside and out.  People ---my house has never been this clean and never will be again!!!  I decided to save the photos for days when I look around at all the toys and crazy crafting mess....and just want to remember how it CAN look--know what I mean?!?!?!?  Maybe it will bring me that nice calm feeling that you get when you walk through your house and see everything in it's place and it smells just wonderful....

 We have tried to make it as nice as possible without spending too much.  I put a fitted red sheet over our box springs, used two quilts I had on hand.  One had a bleach stain so I flipped it over (green under quilt) then the top white quilt is also flipped over (a blue star pattern quilt that had faded quite a bit too).  Used some curtains I already had.  Made the "tie backs" for the curtains.  I bought some cheap cylinder vases ($1 apiece) and wrapped ribbon around them to get a little more red...filled them with river rocks stuck in some decorative sticks...

 Our hallway bathroom...tub inserts are not my favorite but they are clean and new.  And a huge improvement over the tub from the 50's.

 This is why we're moving.  Working on ideas for a "shared" room for Doodlebug and Mighty.  I have some good ideas floating around in my head so if nothing happens I really want to paint it this summer.

 Some pictures of the FINISHED kitchen and dinning room!  The ice box of my great-grandparents,  the breadbox was probably theirs too.  My dad found the silver wash tub on the fridge out on the road somewhere.  These photos even have the beadboard in them...

See my $6 locker boxes from Target in the cubbies along with our lunchbox collection???  The toys fit great in the boxes.  The little highchair in the bottom left corner was my husband's grandpa's.  The airplane rib hanging above the doorway is to our future Pietenpol project....

 This is our living room.  Under the TV there is a tool organizer which is now pictured on the Pickers page.  This came from the trash.  It was nasty brown with green drawers so I spray painted it.  It stores all kinds of little goodies.  And I painted the brick fireplace a few years ago...it was bright red brick...so I thought hmmmm it would look alot better if it was a stone color....my husband came home from work one day and it was already done.

 Another of my new "favorite" items is the radio in the bottom right of this corner with our lamp on it.  It too belonged to my great-grandparents.  It still works!  And you can also see the little white cabinet which is also pictured on the Pickers page.

 The curtains were white cotton twill tab top curtains from Wal-Mart ($17).  I used some fabric and grosgrain ribbon to cover the tabs and add a little more "character" to them.

 Here's our master bathroom.  Same color as the hall bathroom....my brother in law remodeled these about 3 years ago and I totally concocted the color from two other colors to get what I wanted.

Last photo.....this is where I usually blog from...the Hoosier Hutch (My first major antique purchase) which serves as our "desk".  This is my home.  And there are so many other things I'd like to do...a new front door, a new porch railing, a new sink and faucet in the kitchen....Spring does this to me.  I'm trying really hard to fight it.  And if I do get into something it will be the kids' room for sure....