Medicine Cabinet Makeover

I live in an apartment and while I love it, there's a few things I've wanted to change. I don't think I'm legally allowed to do too much as far as renovating, but I figure if I'm going to live here a few years, I'm going to make it as comfortable for me as possible, right?

That said, I had this ugly medicine cabinet in my bathroom. My main problems with it were that the top was stained, and that the doors to it were glass so everything on the inside was visible at all times.

I didn't take a proper "before" picture, but I took this one once I had started blocking off the doors to redo.

I found this great product at Home Depot called Frosted Glass Finish, a specialty product by RustOleum. It's in a can like spray-paint and you just spray it on the glass surface you want. It shows up clear and then minutes later dries into a soft frosted finish! Very cool and so easy to do, and for less than $10 it's such a great quick fix.

In this picture I've already started frosting the glass (it took a few coats), but you can see the stains that I really didn't like on top of the cabinet.

I decided to paint the metal surfaces with a high gloss white paint to create a clean and modern surface.

Finished product! I think it looks a lot better than before and I'm happy with the results, considering what I had to work with (if it were my own house, I would have just ripped it out and done something else with the area).

Before and After - Telephone Bench

I got this telephone bench a few months ago and absolutely fell in love with it.

But the upholstery was outdated and worn out, with a little hole on the seat.

I've been meaning to upholster it again since I bought it, but had been waiting around for just the right fabric. Well, I decided yesterday that I'll probably never find the perfect fabric, and decided to just use some leftover Amy Butler fabric I had from creating pillows in my living room.

I just did a quick hack upholstery job, without removing the old fabric, but I think it'll hold up fine until I find that perfect fabric!

(For a second, I was considering leaving it like this. I'm glad I didn't.)

I'm happy with the results, it looks cute and summery.

122 Days

I don't think I ever posted any pictures of my "finished" living area. It'll always be a work in progress, but right now I'm satisfied with where it's at. I think it looks much cozier and homier than when I first moved in four months ago.

Antiques, Ikea, and So You Think You Can Dance.

New treasures

Thanks to a tip from my friend Denise, I found some great used furniture a couple days ago!

Isn't this beautiful? I love anything mid-century modern, especially with Danish influences, and this buffet is perfect for me. There's a stamp on the back that says "Chestnut Walnut", which I'm guessing means a chestnut stain on walnut wood, though I'm not sure exactly how much of the buffet is real wood. Either way, it looks great.

I've wasted no time filling the buffet up! I decided to put all my textiles and supplies in it (before they were just in various plastic bags in my closet) as I've been meaning to find a neat way of organizing them for a while now. Inside the main doors is my fabrics.

The top drawer houses all my sewing, knitting and crocheting accessories. Needles, thread, measuring tapes, pins, etc.

The middle drawer is home to all my yarns. It's just the right size to hold them.

The bottom drawer holds a crocheting blanket project that's been in the works for a few years now.

While we were picking up the buffet, I noticed another piece behind it and couldn't help but ask if it was for sale also. To my delight, it was! And for only $20!

I'm not too sure what you call these... chair-phone tables? I have no idea. But I think it's really charming, and it fits in perfectly in my entryway. I may end up putting new fabric on the seat at some point, but for now I think it's fine as is.

Vintage Finds

I'm always on the lookout for neat furniture or knick knacks to make into my own special project.

I've recently come across a few that I'm really excited for!

I found this piece at a thrift store for $3.99! I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it yet... I'll probably leave the wood as is and make it into a bulletin board, or perhaps into a little wall shelf for knick knacks.

I recently moved the purple chair from my computer into the living room, and needed to get a new computer chair. I found this awesome chair at an antique store just north of Winnipeg in East St. Paul. I don't remember the name of the store, but the entire second floor of the creepy building was antique furniture - dozens and dozens of chairs for cheap, old dressers, old trunks. So cool! And way cheaper than anywhere I've found.

My favorite part of this chair is it's round arms. So gorgeous! I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing with this chair yet. I really love the wood, even though it's a bit dinged and dented, but that adds to the charm, right? The fabric has a few stains and isn't in the best of condition, so I'm thinking I'll probably end up recovering it.

I'm eyeing this pretty fabric by Joel Dewberry for recovering it. I love the deer and birds!

At the same antique store, they also had three crates full of old letterpress blocks for a dollar each! So cool! As a graphic designer, I'm always on the lookout for old tools of the trade.

They didn't have any which were solely letters, only pictures and text, which was cool as well, though I'm mainly into the typographic blocks.

Nevertheless, I did pick up several blocks and am that much closer to being able to make my own letterpress block wall like this one from JHID.

Living Room Mood Board

I recently ordered new living room furniture from Ikea. Since my old roommate and I parted ways, she took her futon with her, and so my living room only has two old armchairs in it. I figured it was time for at least a sofa. I ended up ordering an Ektorp sofa, two Billy bookcases, and two Inreda lamps for the bookcases.

And, the dork that I am, I made up a quick mood board (ignore my crappy job cutting out the photos - I'm not at work) in photoshop to see how everything will fit together. I'm going with a white/greys/black color scheme with purples and yellows as accents.



(Click to see a bigger version)


Most of the things are things that I already have, or things that I had and have updated. I got that big frame at an antique store for $40! It's solid wood and probably 4 by 2.5 feet big. It doesn't have any glass though, but I'm fine with that. I'm thinking of either getting some wallpaper to put in it, or painting something myself.

I'm excited to see everything come together!

Bathrooms

Bathrooms are one of my favorite rooms for design because sinks and bath tubs can have such cool design and be great focal features. I'm a huge sucker for unusual and beautiful sinks.


Kasch is a company from Munich that creates what they call "overflow" tubs. They're built into the floor of the bathroom, rather than above ground, and I think they're really cool.



And, as always, Kohler has some great sinks.


One of my favorite ideas for a bathtub comes from architects Pieter Peerlings and Silvia Mertens in Belgium. I'd say more about them, but their website is in some funny language I can't read.



They found a 7.5 foot wide space between two buildings and constructed their office/house in between, in four levels.


Each floor is carefully optimized to serve a purpose, without any space going to waste and nothing unnecessary inside.



From ground floor to fourth floor, they serve as office, dining, living, and bedroom.


I especially like this idea for a house/office because it's reusing what would have otherwise been wasted space and created something useful out of it, rather than building on a new lot in a suburb. It's an idea I've never seen before, and I always love design that mashes unconventional within classic.