Before and After - Dining Room Hutch

I NEVER remember to take "before" pics. Except today...for once I remembered!

A woman named Beth used to live next door to me, in a little white, run down but charming, Craftsman bungalow. She was hard-drinking, attractive in a sort of hard way, with an enormous tattoo of a phoenix which covered her entire back. Beth's mother was a decorator and Beth had an amazing shabby-chic home. Beth was full of contradictions, to be sure.

Then the owner decided to renovate the house and Beth moved out. Kate, the newspaper reporter, moved in. Things were much quieter, more gentrified, and quite a bit less interesting, if you know what I mean.

However, before she left, Beth gave me the bottom of a Hoosier cabinet. It had been painted a truly hideous seventies green. It had great "bones" and I covered most of it with a crocheted tablecloth. It has great storage.

Beth said she might be back for it, but we both knew she never would be. Still I waited 7 years before repainting it. Which I finally did this weekend.

Project - Vintage Stepstool

We're in a major frugality mode here at the Old Shea House at 256. This isn't a huge, gorgeous project where I create a large garden bench out of stair spindles, a wooden dying rack and chicken wire. I'm not that talented. This is the little type of project I love to do. For ONCE, I remembered to take a before and after pic.

I love this vintage stepstool, but the red leather seat was split. A year ago, I would have run to JoAnne's Fabrics and bought some new red leather. Without measuring either, I would have just bought a lot more than I needed.

Today, I decide to mull it over. I took a close look at it and realized that I only had to remove four screws. Well, Bruce (germanic precision-engineering boy) only had to remove four screws. I asked for a half hour of his time.

I had a red bandana fabric pillowcase I never use. I decided to cover the small seat with it, but then thought that I couldn't wipe it off. Last week, I came across one of those heavy plastic zippered bags that bedding comes in. I almost threw it away, but it seemed so useful. I asked Bruce to add it on top.

You can see the before and after pics. I think it turned out just the way I wanted it. And for free!

I also took some shots of the corner where I keep the stool. You can see my vintage apron used as a valance at the back door. I found it in the gutter on garbage day five years ago, inexplicably there along with a rough-hewn red painted heart.

I bought the red chair at a vintage store in Richmond, VA.

The kitchen scale is part of a small collection of three. Two, including the one pictured, came from the trash bin at church when they switched to electronic scales for making the fundraiser Easter Eggs.

A cop friend of mine came in for something while we were making eggs, saw the electronic scales and all the powdered sugar. He said, "is this manufacture and sale of drugs or a fundraiser? Ya'all look like drug dealers in white aprons and you appear to have been sampling the product."