Sideboard CPR

When my friend Ashley over at It Rocks To Be A Knox was decorating her little boy's nursery she found an awesome antique sideboard that she turned into a changing table.

You can see her sideboard turned changing table in the right corner. 

 Isn't her nursery just darling?

(see the details of her finished nursery here)

Well, a few months ago Ashley left my house and made an impromptu stop at a thrift store.  She found another sideboard that was very similar to her changing table so she scooped it up for $30 bucks.  Since she brought it home, it's been in her laundry room housing some mason jars and other vases.  She just never got around to fixing it up.

Then, this past weekend Ash and I decided to spend our Saturday morning hitting up some awesome yard sales (I'll show you my great yard sale finds later this week).  

I happened to mention to Ash  that I was on the lookout for a small dresser or sideboard for my living room.  She generously offered up her thrift store find for the same price she snagged it for.  Thanks Ash!

Saturday afternoon, I took this baby home.

It was in need of some major TLC but Ashley and I knew some hard work could bring it back to life.  It was missing a knob, the finish was scratched up and it was even missing a back and the magnetic door closure. In the picure below you can see that the door went in way too far. 

I spent the rest of the weekend priming, painting and distressing my new-to-me antique sideboard.  I added some new knobs.

After a lot of elbow grease, here it is!

I just love it!!  Both Ashley and I have a thing for chunky furniture legs and these legs definitely fit the bill! 

I still need to add some bead board to the back and I need to track down the right hardware that will close the door, but I just LOVE it!  I also have a project planned that will dress up the top of the sideboard.  I'll be back with that once I finish it up.

Thanks Ash!  

I'm linking to the following parties:

Home-A-Rama!

I haven't posted in a few days.  Last week I had to make a quick trip to Nashville, TN, for work. I flew up on Wednesday morning and was back home late Thursday night.  The plane ride was less than desirable and somehow it caused an ear infection in my right ear.  Do adults even get ear infections?  I feel like I'm in elementary school again!


Plus, my little puppy underwent surgery yesterday.  It was time for him to say goodbye to being a man.  He was neutered.  Last night, he woke us up as soon as we fell asleep.  He really doesn't care for that cone.

The combo of the ear infection and taking care of my fur baby has kept me pretty busy so I haven't been as busy around the house, but I did manage to make it out to Homearama this past weekend before I started feeling really yucky.  My friend Laura works for the local paper so she got free tickets.  When she asked if I wanted to come with her, I responded with a resounding YES!  (Thanks Laura!)


What's Homerama, you ask?  Every year our area has a tour of new houses chosen by the Tidewater Builders Association.  The houses are decked out in awesome decor.  This years Homerama was infused with a beach cottage feel so it was right up my alley.  It was pretty crowded so I didn't get to snap as many picks of the full rooms as I wanted, but I was able to get pics of the cute details.

Warning: Very picture heavy!

The majority of the houses in this years line-up were inspired by beach cottages.  If you want to see the outside of all ten house, check it out here.

Check out this FAB room for a little girl...

Aren't these murals AMAZING!

This huge chalkboard/organization wall met us as we came into the room...

Check out how they used rope in the bathroom to give it a seashore feel...

And they continued the rope into the other bathroom with the shower curtain...

And I loved the relaxed feel that the fabric offered in the bathroom...

I was told the house was made up of 98 percent wood.  Most of the walls were clad in thick wood planks. Very cottage like!!

In another house, the laundry room alcove was turned into a study area.  Obviously this wouldn't work in real life, but it was a great idea.  A few of he houses had 2 laundry areas!

Chalkboards were a theme this year.  And would you take a look at those built in bookshelf beauties!!

And as the bookshelf wrapped around the kitchen wall, it housed a flat screen TV and an adorable vintage inspired tray.  

I LOVE that tray!

Here are a few more things that caught my eye:

Here's a close-up of the table setting...

More starfish...

I want to try this with my standing lamp in my living room...

I've been looking for a blue for my kitchen.  This just may be it:

And that calming blue continues on into the guest bathroom with some added molding...

 I thought the tile choice was was interesting.  This looks like a newer version of my 1950's bathroom tile.  Maybe it's coming back??

And I loved the way they used the fishing net here:

And this dresser... would you look at this dresser?!  Apparently there's a really cool store in our area called Exotic Homes, that I didn't know about.

I would love something like this for my living room!

(Psst... Hubby, my birthday is next month!)

Who knows what the pretty price tag is on this baby!

And this distressed mirror is beautiful!  It looks like it was made from an old door.  

I feel like I could make that.  Maybe I'll try that!

And I leave you with more distressed goodness...

Do you guys have anything like this in your area?

It's such a great place to get ideas!

Welcome Current Listeners!

(image taken from here)

If you found me from listening to The Current, I just want to say Welcome to The Cozy Cape!

I hope you enjoy your stay at The Cozy Cape!

Here are the links to the two projects that Liz and I talked about on air.

Toilet Paper Pumpkins

Autumn Wreath

If you like what you see, I'd love it if you'd become a follower!

Also, if you have questions about these projects or anything else on my blog, feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.  I love hearing from my readers!

An Autumn Wreath and Paint Snafus

I had the bright idea to paint my front door.  I was hoping for a very pale cottage-like yellow that would compliment my hunter green shutters.  Instead, I got a crazy, bright, pay- attention- to me yellow.  It’s anything but calming. 

I’ll be sure to snap a picture of it when I get home from work.

Sorry about the dropcloth and the painters tape.  I snapped the pic right before I started fixing my yellow mistake. Yikes, what was I thinking?  Actually, I do know what I was thinking.  I was thinking it would be a great idea to use what I already had... so I grabbed the leftover paint that I used for my kitchen chairs.  That usually works out great, but not this time!  It's getting painted red but it’s been painted this color for a week!  I had to go to Nashville for a business trip and it’s been up way to long!  My neighbors must think that I have lost my mind!



My paint snafu has delayed the hanging of my Fall wreath.  I plan to fix the color issue this weekend and then I’ll be hanging up my wreaths.  In the meantime, I wanted to show you a picture of the autumn wreath that I made last year. 

 I’ll be using this wreath again this year.  

When I made this last year, I just got a $5 branch wreath from Michael’s, along with a couple strands of Fall leaves.  Then I grabbed my glue gun to attach the leaves.
I took it one step further by attaching a wooden letter “B” for our last name.  I chose to spray paint the letter “B” white. This allows for some versatility. It matches every color and every season!  It changes with the seasons!

It was so easy and cheap.  I always get a little bit of satisfaction when I make something for less than what I could have purchased it for.

Toilet Paper Pumpkins

Yes, you did read that correctly.  First, I made a cake out of diapers (see my "diaper cakes" here)... and now I'm making Fall decor out of TP!


I saw this project a few weeks ago, and for the life of me I can't remember what blog I saw this on (so if this was your idea, let me know and I'll happily give credit where credit is due.)


Okay, now back to the TP pumpkins.  I've really fallen behind on my Fall decor.  The rain has definitely played a factor in this, so this weekend I'm hoping to spruce up my house inside and out.


I began my Fall decorating inside by making these: Toilet paper pumpkins!

 Awhile back I purchased some cheap fabric remnants from Garden Ridge.  They have a wall-o-fabric and it is so cheap!  I think I got 4 yards for $4.99!

Once I got home, I cut out a square of fabric- Make sure you don't cut your fabric swatch too big because all of that fabric must be squeezed into the teeny-weeny center roll.

Then I began stuffing said fabric into the center.  

(Note: I did this once and I didn't care for the shape, so I redid it but added tissue paper to give it a base and add a little extra "puff."

At this point, it should look like this:

Yes, I know... It still looks like a toilet paper roll wrapped in fabric.  Don't get your TP in a bunch! :)

At this point, mash... squish... and squash until it takes the shape of a pumpkin.

I actually stood on mine:

Then, I grabbed a couple of twigs from the back yard to use as stems. 

And voila!

And look on the bright side.  If you ever forget to grab toilet paper at the store, you'll always have a few extras on hand. 

Have fun!

P.S.  I'm linking to the following parties: