About this time last year, we were getting ready to start painting our kitchen/eating area. When we moved into the house 3 years ago, all of the paint was original to the house, but all livable/neutral. We've been slowly refreshing each room. Two bathrooms were done within the first few months (one being finished up as I was having contractions for Carson). But then we didn't do anything for 2 years! Last Spring we did the kitchen, laundry room, and office. I knew I wanted to replace the hutch in the kitchen, which was an already hand-me-down from when we were first married, with more of a buffet style cabinet with shelves above. Our farmhouse style table is a dark, roughed up wood so I hoped to find a buffet in that same material. I also had a length and height in mind, and everything I found was coming up too small (including the matching one to our table set). I ended up finding the Ember Buffet online at Macy's. Buying a piece of furniture without seeing it in person is a bit of a gamble, but I was willing to take a chance. When I called to order it, I was disappointed to find out they didn't deliver to our area of Michigan. Also, it was on back order for months! Luckily, they did delivery to my parents area and my parents were nice enough to bring it over to us on a visit. The back order came in sooner than anticipated too, so it all worked out. I expected there to be a bit of assembly, as with any furniture, but it was all set to go once we tore the cardboard box off. I must say, I was very impressed with Macy's prices, quality, delivery, and communications. Highly recommend them and would definitely buy furniture from them again.
So, after all of that rambling, the whole point of this post is because I tend to show the DIY projects we do in our home. We love upcycling materials, and this shelf is no exception. When I first envisioned this space (and was "pinning" ideas) I wanted two ledge shelves the entire length of the buffet. My hubby had other ideas of course, making a shelf with a height so large that there is really only room for one. That's okay though, he wanted to use wood from a mirror frame that was meant for a dresser. A few summers ago, I refinished this dresser for Carson's room. It came with an attachable mirror (no mirror in it, just the frame) that we decided not to use. It seriously sat outside behind our garage getting weathered. If you can envision, the middle face of the shelf is the top of the mirror and the other pieces making up the rest of the length and wrap around are the sides of the mirror (all cut to sizes needed). The functional part of the shelf (what you don't see) is just some scrap wood. We found the corbels at the antique salvage store in our town, in all of their chippy paint glory! So once we secured those to the wall, we set the shelf on top. We thought about staining the shelf, but once we had it up for a few days we decided we really like the natural weather look it had.
On to decorating! This is our everyday decor, but love changing things up for the seasons/holidays. That is why I wanted a buffet so I had more surface area (great for my lighted villages). On the shelf I have: 3 empty embroidery hoops leftover from having an antique booth, muffin tin leftover from that too. Metal test tube holder with flowers in it. Finds from my Dad are the metal dispenser and nut grinder. My great-Grandma's meat grinder. Martha Stewart pie tin and pastry masher. Peacock tins and floral tin purchased over time. And a few other random utensils and do dads.
In this crock I have a peacock rolling pin from Anthropologie, wood burned spoon made by me leftover from the antique booth, old spoon and cheese grater purchased, and a rolled up pastry cloth from the same Martha Stewart pie set.
Tobacco basket from "3 Bird", a super cute store in nearby Dexter. Sectioned wood box is a find from Dad. Faux herbs are from a gift store when we lived in Battle Creek. Crow is from "Something to Crow About", a sweet primitive store in our town.
Scale is from town too, our thrift store "The Copper Nail". Little pitcher is from Dad's side of the family, flowers in it from "3 Bird". Frame I had for years from a department store, and the picture is from Greenfield Village last year which I had printed in a sepia tone to fit the décor.
Ah, how could I forget my flower arrangement that started from $2.00 worth of dried hydrangeas from the farmers market and turned into $60 of other crap: container (3 Bird) and other flowers (Michael's). My kids are intent on destroying this, as they are always banging into it as they walk by or flinging toys around that land into it. With every crunch of the brittle petals I cringe.
Here's a before and after shot too! We sold the old hutch, which is always awesome to have the funds to put into the new project!
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