Anchor Inspiration, China Cabinet Redo

decor, decorating, DIY, furniture, paint, refinish

Jackie at Simple Home. Life is one of my new favorite bloggers. She makes everything seem so easy and accessible to someone like me who is a relatively timid DIYer. I always had the ideas but Jim was the brawn of our troop. But lately he's been working so much that he's just not around and when he is he's not interested in DIY. He is more interesting in R and R. So I have to be more proactive if I want things to happen around here and one of the things that have been holding me back was installing anchors. Yes, dumb, but true. I always felt like I was going to mess it all up, break our walls, etc.

So lo and behold today Jackie had a tutorial on installing anchors. I was inspired. I didn't have the same kind of anchors though. I had these (the red ones). So I grabbed the anchor, the matching screw, the big drill with a million bits so I could size it correctly, and a hammer.

First I figured out where to hang the thing I wanted to hang (chalkboard). Then I sized my drill bit to be a bit smaller than the diameter of the anchor. I drilled and then placed the anchor on the hole. Using the hammer, I sank it into the drywall. Next, I switched the bit to the screwdriver and screwed the nail into the anchor. I didn't screw it all the way in because my chalkboard had a wire and I needed it to hang.

Then I wrote a little blurb from one of my favorite poems about winter and realized that I CAN hang stuff up with anchors!! I'm practically Norm from This Old House. Or Bob Villa. Or Bob the Builder.

Here's the whole poem entitled Winter-Time by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is so descriptive, isn't it?

Winter-Time

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,	5
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;	10
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows	15
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.	20

Years ago Jim received a free hutch/china cabinet from his boss's father who was downsizing. We moved it from the dad's house to Jim's apartment, from our apartment (after we got married) to our first house, from our first house to the POD that stored our stuff, and from our POD to our current house. I finally have a place to put it and a place to fix it up. Here are the beginning stages.

The glass for the left door is intact. It just
needs to be reinstalled and the muntins attached.

If we can fix that molding we will. Otherwise
we'll just use glass caulk.

I sanded it completely with my orbital sander and tonight I primed the doors and drawer.

I bought two yards of this fabric and I may use it on the inside of the cabinet top.

I'll keep posting the progress on this project. I can't wait for it to be done. Are you working on anything right now? Any projects in motion?

Cheers!
Jenny

Days of Chalk and Chocolate