Sunday, January 24, 2010

Motivated Mondays Linky Party: Getting Hutched...

I am really excited about this linky party...and this piece I worked on.



Just a background story..(there's always a story with me). I've wanted a hutch and a white dining table for a while now. I really dig the country/cottage/farmhouse look, the white furniture etc, and so I set up an alert on Kijiji.ca (Canadian equivalent of cragislist). Well I found someone who was selling BOTH of these items for a very good deal. Thing was, the pieces were about 30 mins away and was only for pickup and would definitely not fit in our little jetta....I had to settle with the lady that I WOULD get someone to pick up, begging please hold these items....Anyhow, she did and the day before I said I would get there, I found out that my aunt recently bought a Chevy Uplander and agreed to help me out. My husband had something come up that evening of pickup and therefore it was just me who drove out to my aunt's house (oh yeah, which was about 2 mins from the pickup location....) and she saw just me get out of the car and was like, um who else is here to move the stuff, for I don't lift furniture. So we had to drag her son to do the work --- who reluctantly did it, all of a sudden spouting the importance of him needing to do homework!

We arrive at the house and all the lights are off. Determined, I knock on the door and it opens a crack and an eyeball peeps out at me. Yes?, it says. Speaking to the eyeball, I say, "I'm here for the table and hutch". Hold on, the eyeball says to me and closes the door. I'm assuming a hand and arm and fingers helped out in the process. I just turned, looked at my aunt and shrugged. The door opens a brief moment later and out steps a boy about 18 yrs old. "Well, my parents are out, but they left the hutch on the porch". My cousin and this boy attempt to start putting the 2pc hutch in the SUV, but in the trunk/loading area, there is a bulge in which gets in the way of the hutch fitting.....So there they are, using only the light coming from the car as their main source of light and keep switching, rotating, turning, pushing, pulling, heaving. My aunt keeps saying "don't scratch the inside of the car" and I am grimacing....They finally get it in and it really barely fits. They go to put the top part in and have to do the same thing, this time with 3 panes of glass to be wary of. They get that piece in too and the boy is like "k, there you go". And I am all "there's a table too!". The look on the boy and my cousin's face was priceless. Here was the ensuing conversation:
boy: it's probably in the garage and I don't have a key to it. And my parents are out. As if to remind me and to say in other words, can you leave now?

Me: Well, don't you have their number?
Boy: They probably don't have their cell phone with them.
Me: Can you try?
Boy: And if they do, it's probably not on.
Me: When are you expecting them back?
Boy: I don't know.
Me: Is there a backdoor to the garage?
Boy: Yeah, I guess I can just check that.

So he goes to check it and in between the silent knowing glances between my aunt and I, creeeak, goes the garage door. Yes!, I think.

There's the table, says the boy, pointing on one of the beams. And there's the legs, pointing behind a sitdown lawn mower, garbage bins and a massive amount of storage boxes.

When did you say your parents should be back,
I ask?

And blessings, here they come around the corner and pulling into the driveaway. And out of the car comes a man, I am assuming, the father.

And if anything sheds more light on the weirdness of the whole situation, especially the conversation, here is how the conversation between them go:
Boy: Where's mom?
Man: Dunno. I thought she was with you.
Boy: Oh okay.

And that was the end of the conversation! Oh okay....
I decided then to just get my goods and get out of there.

Me: I'm here to get that table, that is well, hanging on that single beam up there on your ceiling.

So the man pulls out a ladder and gets it and then like just shoves it into the car.

Anyhow, this is what it looked like before:

It was originally a dark wood color and the previous owner just dry-brushed white paint on it, so it looked like it was bathed in smoke. The handles needed to be updated and replaced and though I kind of liked the glass with the swirly gold thing, it looked like chicken wire done wrong. Really wrong.


And some more pictures of the after.




decided to keep the doors off as I think it made it look bigger. (Guess the same thing in my kitchen, eh?)

Going with my cheap paper theme, I attached this blue floral paper to the backside after painting. It's not yet organized/decorated it as I'd like, but I was so excited to show you! And the cost was about $60 for the actual furniture, $15 in oil paint, $1.50 per knob and about $1 in wrapping paper. Not too shabby...Now I get to start on the table and chairs....

What was a creative highlight for you this week??




The Girl Creative
Making
Sumo's Sweet StuffDIY Day @ ASPTL


Photobucket

16 comments:

  1. Oh my word, what a story!

    Great job on the piece, its gorgeous!
    ~Amy

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  2. It turned out to be gorgeous. I would be very proud of it as well. Nice job. Much better without the doors too.

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  3. This sounds (and looks) very similar to a story I have going on...I'm re-doing a china cabinet, table, and 8 chairs! 2 more chairs to go and then I move onto the cabinet. I was thinking of leaving the doors off too, but I have people with little hands that might help themselves...LOL
    Come by and take a peek! I think it's a post or 2 down now. :-)

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  4. WOW!!! That is definitely a 5* trash to treasure project! Thanks for sharing the story...it makes your efforts even that more spectacular!

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  5. Hi Ellen, Oh my, I am still LOL after I read the hutch story. I loved the part, "Where is mom? I don't know I thought she was with you." LOL!! Mom is lost and no one knows where she is. :) Well you sure found your self a fine piece of furniture and what you did with it is phenomenal. I love it. Wish we had a collage picture of the inside of your entire house as it all sounds so beautiful. :) Great Job. btw, you have a gift for story telling adding humor to draw us in. Love it. :)

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  6. This kitchen hutch is GORGEOUS! Wow! What a transformation!

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  7. That is a hillarious story! It turned out great though!
    teri

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  8. Wow that sounds crazy! But at least you got them right?! They turned out great!

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  9. Such a funny story. But well worth the trouble, the hutch looks fantastic!!

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  10. What a find...I love Kijiji as well. I bought my dining room table and buffet off there and painted it white as well. Come check it out! So nice to meet a fellow Canadian blogger.

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  11. Your hutch turned out beautiful! What a lovely piece. I've got a Power of Paint Party on Wednesdays that I love for you to share this on.

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  12. WOW...now that HUTCH looks outstanding...you did an awesome job with it! ope you have a FUN week!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  13. That came out beautiful, after all the trouble getting it home!

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  14. Big project, nice finish! It's beautiful.

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  15. It looks so much nicer, great job!

    Thanks for taking part in Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family! Don't forget to come back next week!

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  16. I saw one similar at the Goodwill a few weeks ago for 1/2 off and I was thinking "I wish I had room to redo it" Great job. This will be on my favs posted in a little bit.

    I have a fun give-a-way that starts tonight.
    I clicked to follow you and hope you'll come do the same.

    Cheri

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Thank you so much for sharing your heart!