Hide the Litter Box

I LOVE my cats but I hate the litter box. There is just no good place to put it. We have tried everything from under the bathroom cabinet to those electric self-cleaning machines. They all are just messy and disgusting to look at. So I decided to do a little project. I went in search of a piece of furniture that I could modify into a “Hide the Litter Box” cabinet.

I found this great piece at Goodwill already painted for 18 bucks!

It is actually a Media Cabinet so I removed the back as shown below.

I needed to do something to it to make it custom for my room. So I added some leather look material inside the doors of the cabinet. I measured the inside and cut the fabric to fit. Then I used a fabric adhesive to attach the material to the door inserts. See below.

I love how this looks! I did want to make it look worn and a little more rustic because that’s my style! So I added some brown shoe polish to give it that worn look. I brushed it on with the bottle applicator and wiped off with a clean dry cloth. See below.

It is very subtle but I love it – see the difference in before and after.

So then I put the litter box in the cabinet. The back is open so the kitties can get in and out with ease. And I can open the doors in front to clean. Voila!!!! I adore this piece and I did practically nothing to it. And it is the perfect addition to my room.

This cabinet was originally black. So you could use any piece and paint it to match your room and personalize to any decor. I was thrilled to find this piece already painted but I was totally prepared to paint one. This project took about an hour from start to finish. If I had to paint the piece it would probably have taken about 2-3 hours total. A very easy weekend project.

I hope you enjoyed this little project. If you have any questions please reach out. Get out there and paint something!

Breathe New Life

Welcome to our world of making old things new again. After many requests and questions on how we do what we do, we decided to start a blog with “How To’s” on past and current projects. We hope you enjoy the journey and we encourage you get out there and make the world beautiful one painted project at a time.

I love Antiques but I don’t love a room full of them. It gets kind of boring to have all the same finishes in one room. I have a very eclectic point of view. I love color. Everywhere. I do also love the monochromatic color schemes but I like to add a pop of color in the mix. A lot of people are afraid of color, especially in small places. But you can put color anywhere. Color says a lot about a person. It is an extension of your personality. Whether you are looking to change a whole room or just one piece, paint can transform any project.

Here is a really cool project we did recently.

This client had recently downsized and wanted to make the space look bigger. So we suggested making the furniture lighter to brighten the space. Follow the transformation.

 

 

So this is the before of the table and chairs. We used our custom Mudd Paint (Linen) and painted the base coat. With the Mudd Paint there is no need for sanding before painting – it adheres to ANY surface. It is AMAZING!!!!!

After we painted the table and the chairs we distressed the pieces by sanding the edges with a rough grit sandpaper. Then we added a glaze. Adding glaze is a trial and error kind of process. If you add too much you can always wipe it off with a wet cloth. The wetter the cloth the more subtle the glaze – you can make a heavier antique look with multiple layers of glaze or by brushing it on with a paint brush. The looks are endless. Don’t be afraid to play with it.

 

Then we sealed everything with a matte finish Polyurethane. This is the finished product.

We also did the Buffet to match. We did a little more distressing on this piece to give it a more dramatic look.

We even painted the hardware and sanded it for a completely different look. No need to replace. It looks fab!!!!

We painted the TV Cabinet a gray to pull in the colors in the sectional, rug and window treatments.

We distressed this piece and added a heavier glaze for a more rustic look. This piece needed to stand out but fit in the color scheme of the room. We also left some of the wood color showing through to tie in some of the brown in the room and since we didn’t want to paint the inside of the cabinet it needed to blend.

So here is the room before. Not a bad room but the dark furniture just fills it up and makes it look heavy.

And here is the after. WOW what a difference it makes. We just lightened the furniture and changed out a few wall accents and VOILA!!! It is a whole new room. It completely opened up the room. It looks brighter and bigger. We are pleased with the way this project turned out. But what’s even better is that our client LOVED it! It is exactly what she wanted.

We will be posting some more before and after projects so stay tuned.

Hugs and Kisses Peaches! Now get out there and paint something!

 

*** Supplies needed for this project: Mudd Paint, glaze, poly, paint brushes, drop cloths, sandpaper, clean cloths for glazing and a screwdriver to remove the seats from the chairs during painting.***

Welcome to my World of Design & ReDesign

Thanks for stopping by!

I give you this to take with you: Nothing remains as it was. If you know this, you can begin again, with pure joy in the uprooting.