February 27, 2009

Long time coming.

Like forty years ago, I bought this. Remember?


Whoever made/painted this did a REALLY good job painting it with ugly paint. I couldn't sand it off, I couldn't scrape it off, I thought about torching it off. They must have put 15 coats on that thing.

So, I decided to just prime it.

It sat forever in our garage, primed and waiting to be completed.

The backing was stumping me. I Mod Podged some wrapping paper on it, to give it a colorful background. That turned out horribly. I should have taken a picture. Then I tried painting the back....still horrible.

So, I decided to pick up some beadboard (wainscotting) and paint some stripes.

I started with green, pink, brown and white. UG.LY. Again, why I didn't take pictures is beyond me. This was ugly.

I finally painted it AGAIN and this is how it turned out.

What do you think?


And yes, I do realize that it's not exactly square - whoever made this piece used a few oddly warped pieces of wood and I never noticed. But, it works. It's for a 2-year-old, so it doesn't need to be all perfect. Otherwise, I'd have a hard time letting her play around it. :-)

After all was said and done, this piece ended up costing me about $25 (including mistakes).

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25 comments:

Moriah @ Please Pass the Salt said...

I just painted my girls' dresser and so I almost feel your pain. I think you had it much worse than I did.

And yes, a 2-year-old isn't going to notice. She may, however, pull everything off the shelves in 2 seconds flat!

LOVE your blog name. So clever.

Heather said...

Ah, so much better to look at. I don't feel like the lime green and hot pink are burning out my retinas anymore.

Anonymous said...

Rachel my dear,
This shelf/cabinet, is great !
Beautiful job !
All you need now, is a cotton candy
machine in there. :D

Lov you,
Alyssa's aunt helen

The Fortenberrys said...

It looks amazing. I love how it turned out!

Uma and Wil said...

Really dig the pink and white. Very cute, indeed. I probably would have taken a hammer to the thing if I had to do all that to spiff it up and called $25 a therapy fee. You are a very good mom.

Unknown said...

LOVE. IT.

Find another one, re-do it just like this one, and ship it back to Texas, k?

I'll pay you in cake or cash, whichever you prefer.

Lexie said...

Looks great... would have never known how it started :)

Emily said...

I seen the pictures on facebook first and couldn't believe how great it looks. Great job!!!

Jennisa said...

what do I think? it's FLIPPIN' amazing! You are AWESOME!

Rach@In His Hands said...

That is adorable!!!!!

Ok, can I hire you to come to my house when we need to fix up Baby O's room?! :-)

KDoug said...

You are totally decorating Baby 2's room. I pay really well :)

Our Complete Family said...

It looks great! You did an awesome job hun! Hey, Caroline has some of those same books I see on the shelf! And your mixer in the post below and the ring? What an awesome hubby you've got yourself chicadee! Great gifts!!! And he kept them a surprise, too? Double WOWEE!

swilek said...

iactually love it..very cute in your daughter's room!! are you settling into your new town?

Heather of the EO said...

It looks great. I'm entirely impressed. :)

Mrs. Fabulous said...

As always...totally impressive!

Anonymous said...

Have to tell you. I went in our local resale shop and was looking around. Everything I looked at, I kept thinking... What would Rachel do with that???
Tina

JAMIE'S CREW said...

As always - such a cute finished product. What fun!

Anonymous said...

I think it looks classy!! Nice job!!!

Julie Z.

Elizabeth Byler Younts said...

it's gorgeous!

Kristy said...

I love it! I have two little boys so I am totally diggin' on the pink and white.

Anonymous said...

Rachel-
That is so awesome-$25 only! I'm curious-how much would it have been without the first 2 attempts? You are truly amazing. I'm telling you-you really should have your own show. If I figure out how to make that happen do I have permission to borrow your pics =)

Erika said...

Wow, that's brilliant! I just love it. Who cares that it isn't perfectly square or whatever, you did an amazing job! I wish I was that creative! My 2 year old sure could use a piece like that in her room! lol

Heather said...

My mom and I love it!!

We were talking about it a few days ago and she said that you're lucky that we don't live close together because I'd be calling you ALL the time to help me do projects!

Monica said...

Isn't it funny how having kids brings out our "carfty" side. Love the shelf, you are getting so creative with furniture lately. I use to do that with all 3 of my kids rooms. they loved having theme rooms. i loved doing that kind of stuff. Now they are teens and you can barely walk into their rooms much less make them look "cool".

Jessica P. said...

I was at Target last night and saw this http://www.target.com/Kids-Stripe-Skirted-Storage-Ottoman/dp/B001AWOML0/sr=1-14/qid=1240011878/ref=sr_1_14/183-2551879-2995736?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Aottoman&page=1 and remembered this project you did and thought it would go perfectly. Not sure you want to buy an ottoman for more than you made a bookshelf but had to share it anyways =)