Home & DIY Projects

Tables and bathrooms and knobs – oh MY!

I have taken a break from house projects for a while, but here are some I was wrapping up before the Christmas holidays.

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First was our table. I sold the one that was graciously left by the old owners, George and Betty, and scoured Kijiji for a secondhand oak pedestal table. I quickly found one that at $50 was just what I was looking for. Not much to look at, but it had a leaf so it would be able to stretch to accommodate most of my crazy family, and it came without chairs, which was just what I wanted because I had plans for the chairs. Big plans, y’all.

Here it is in all its basic oak glory.

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I used a homemade chalk paint recipe to paint the pedestal base, and sanded the top and stained it with Minwax Special Walnut. A few coats of poly helped protect it from the destruction of my darling toddler.

Behold!

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Once the table was tackled,  I spent a great deal of time lurking around the Habitat for Humanity ReStore searching for single wooden chairs.

I wanted to find six of all different shapes and sizes, and paint them all the same colour. Mismatched but unified. Same-same but different, you know?

Unfortunately, single wooden chairs in solid shape are surprisingly hard to find, and I tapped out at three before the holidays swarmed me and I ran out of time. I’ll hunt down at least one more when it is warmer than -45 here.

I got to work on the three chairs I did find (for around $8-10/ea) and primed them, then painted them Youthful Coral by Behr.

(erm, excuse the dead tulips)

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The coral colour looks a tad awkward with the sage-y green kitchen walls, and if I had some sort of genie situation happening, the kitchen and hallway would be painted a creamy white like BLAM. But, since I am stepping off the DIY hamster wheel, this is one of those “who cares’ situations.

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Now, onto the bathroom.

Damn, Betty. You really committed to this black and yellow colour scheme. I decided that fighting against it was pretty much impossible. I mean, the toilet is yellow. Kind of hard to hide that. So instead I fully embrace its retro charm. There is a whole website devoted to saving pink bathrooms, and I didn’t want to risk angering some likeminded black/yellow bathroom aficionados.

I painted the woodwork white just to lighten it up a bit, and I find that white is always a really crisp, clean look for a bathroom. A bumblebee print from Etsy (that was actually featured many months ago when I wrote about our experience being engulfed by real life here) added a playful nod to the colour scheme.

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Over many many (many) evenings I slowly tackled painting all of the hallway trim white, and in two smaller updates, I replaced our dull copper kitchen cabinet hardware with colourful mismatched painted ceramic ones, and rearranged the furniture in my writing room to accommodate an easel to keep Olive busy while I write.

(old knobs)

(old knobs)

New knobs!

New knobs!

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So there you have it! A few odds and ends, wrapped up.

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12 Comments

  • Reply Cynthia Barnes January 6, 2015 at 5:11 PM

    I was drinking tea and eating a biscotti in front of the fire when your post came through so of course had to run downstairs and see the pics. You are sooo creative. Can you paint Olives door white also?

  • Reply Jennifer Razzo January 6, 2015 at 5:15 PM

    I love how the bathroom towels and accessories pick up the blue of the bee

  • Reply Katie January 6, 2015 at 6:16 PM

    http://www.domesticimperfection.com/2013/11/how-to-refinish-outdated-tile/

    So I have terribly outdated tile bathrooms as well, I’ve been contemplating painting the tiles and then re-caulking to make them look new! Could emphasize the gold(?) flecks in the counter with the knobs or something 😉

    LOVE your table and the chairs and the knobs in your kitchen. I actually just want to move in to your house. Ha!

    Katie

  • Reply Kirstin January 6, 2015 at 7:34 PM

    I can relate to the bathroom! Ours was powder blue tub, sink and toilet with light pink walls, lemon yellow tile with black trim, and finally some mosaic beige tile in the shower. We had to gut it.
    I love how satisfying small changes are though, eh?

  • Reply Laura Tataryn January 6, 2015 at 8:12 PM

    Is that a cake stand I see in the bathroom? Versatile. Its great!

  • Reply valerah January 7, 2015 at 6:06 AM

    the gus watercolor is great

    • Reply sweetmadeleine January 7, 2015 at 2:49 PM

      My sister Mawney painted it 🙂 She is his biggest fan

  • Reply Allison January 8, 2015 at 10:31 AM

    The kitchen table came out perfect! Beautiful job!

  • Reply Sara January 9, 2015 at 7:02 PM

    I have a purple bathroom. The toilet is now white and modern because we replaced it with a low flow with an eco-rebate, and we took down the shower and window curtains in frilly purple polyester gauze. The torn (cat scratched) purple flower wallpaper remains, as does the gold fixtures and purple sink and tub. And white and gold scrollwork mirror trim. Gold and white plastic. This post made me wonder for the millionth time whether I hadn’t fixed it in three years in this house because maybe I could salvage something? But no. I just can’t. I salvaged a deep peacock blue marmoleum floored kitchen, (I love it), I’ve paid my 70s colour dues!
    What is that bathroom floor? Is it textured? Hard to clean?

  • Reply aneasyworld January 14, 2015 at 12:57 PM

    Love it, I’m so thoroughly envious of your evening energy to get shit like this done. It all looks great. The cake stand in the bathroom made me laugh out loud for some reason (with you, not at you), although I can’t remember why.

  • Reply DIY Play Kitchen Project - Sweet Madeleine November 14, 2015 at 11:55 PM

    […] tap knobs are leftover from the kitchen cabinets of my old house. I screwed them in loosely so that Olive would still be able to turn […]

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