Newly Painted Bathroom Cabinet

We have had these U.G.L.Y two-tone oak and white laminate cabinets all over our home for 20 years now, and they have greatly overstayed their welcome. I would love to replace them, but the budget says no. So I decided to try priming and painting the single cabinet in the hall bathroom. (I have to post a "before" photo of the master bath cabinets because I was so enthusiastic to get started that I forgot to take a picture of the hall bathroom cabinets. They were identical, except for length.)

After two coats of primer, I wallpapered the doors and the end panel with beadboard paper.

 Notice the gap in the corner between the wall and both pieces of molding? I haven't solved that problem yet. That gap is from a wide strip of hideous plastic molding that had absolutely no use there. Yes, I said plastic. I don't understand why they used plastic when basic wood molding is so inexpensive. Maybe it was to give me fits 20 years later.

I still need to do the touch-up painting on the walls, and I may need to give one more coat of paint to the doors. Later on, I may do the whole kitchen now that I've had success with the bathroom. And there's the master bath cabinetry to update too. Sounds like I have many months' worth of work on my horizon!

Pinterest Craft Day #11

We had a light turnout this afternoon for our craft day: just Heather and me. Even so, we had fun. We went ahead with the scheduled craft, enameled number tags. All of us, even those who couldn't attend today, searched high and low for blank metal dog tags, with a hole near the top. We never found them, so I thought the craft was a washout, but Heather had other ideas.

She suggested we use an aluminum soft drink can, cut it open with scissors, and then punch out discs with my circle punch. A standard hole puncher made the holes near the top edge, and white spray paint covered the printing on the can. Then we planned to stamp numbers or letters on the front with black stamp ink, but I had none. Our limited choice in my craft drawer was deep red ink or black acrylic craft paint. We chose the black paint, dabbing it on the little number stamps, and then stamping that on the dog tags. Mostly, it worked well. My one big ooze wiped right off so I got a second try on that tag. 

We covered the bottom of my electric skillet with parchment paper and heated the skillet to 350*. Then we sprinkled clear embossing powder over the surface of the dog tags, one at a time. Carefully, we lifted the powdered tag onto the parchment paper and then watched the embossing powder suddenly melt across the tag's surface. It's magical!

And there you have it. 

A Seaside Mantel

 

  Cool blues and greens for the family room mantel this hot summer.

Turquoise candles by Pottery Barn. White candlesticks by Ikea.

In the bubble glass jar are old Christmas ornaments with the coloring removed. I soaked them in bleach for several days and then shook and rinsed them to get most of the color out. I scrubbed the stubborn spots with Q-tips. To color them the soft, seaside colors, I used Vitrea glass stain sloshed around inside to make the deeper tones, and Mod Podge mixed with food coloring brushed on the outside to make the frosted ones. 

 

Large conch shell from the Caribbean. 

 Daylight shines through the bubbles.

I made the shell mirror with shells I collected on the beach in Florida about five years ago. I bought the blank mirror base at a shell shop in Bonita Springs and I hot glued each shell in place.