Cottage Hill Giveaway!

Lindy over at Cottage Hill is having a wonderful giveaway on her blog.  I recently discovered her blog and am now a daily follower of hers.  I am amazed at her talents not only in decorating her home but her artistic & crafting talents.  I've been inspired by many of her creations and have printed out several 'to-do's for future projects in my own home.

Once you read her blog, I'm sure you'll become a follower as well!

Make-over hutch

I purchased the hutch shown above from a landlord I had about 28 years ago.  The house I was renting still contained the belongings of the landlord's mother who had passed away.  This hutch was in there and I asked if she wanted to sell it.  I bought it for $10.  Originally it was just stained wood - mostly plywood I believe.  I had painted it white originally and wallpapered the inside of the shelves (where it is now painted yellow) in a pastel blue & white and used it in our daughter's room when she was an infant and kept books & decorations in it. 

With this more recent transformation, I had seen a similarly painted hutch for sale in a magazine - for only $899.  Needless to say, I wouldn't be rushing out to purchase it and had to be creative in order to have my own version of the hutch.  I painted the inside of the entire hutch in a barn red and then painted it in a light yellow with a crackle finish to allow the red to show through - the rest of the hutch is painted black.  I hand-painted the fruit on top of the yellow crackle finish (after much practicing on paper first).  Painting that first stroke on the actual hutch was very intimidating!

The hutch was originally open on the top as well as the bottom.  My father-in-law made the cupboard doors for me and also installed the crown-molding on top.  The top doors are wire mesh with a fabric insert stapled to the inside of the doors to hide my messy cookbook collection. This  was my first hand-painted project and I was happy with the results.

The four shelves of this hutch are packed with cookbooks that I've collected over the years - including the little metal box on the open shelf (you can see some recipes peeking out from under the lid - oops!).

I'm new to blogging - this being only my second post.  Any helpful hints on improving my blog would be appreciated - thanks!

Asian-style lampshade

This is the second lampshade I have made for a floor lamp in our dining room.  It was made from a burn-out velvet scarf purchased from ebay.  I hand-dyed the fringe & gimp trim.  The beaded trim was also an ebay purchase.  Since the wire frame is an Asian style shade, I opted for the same style of finial.