Two Dollars

This sad looking built-in cabinet in our basement was in need of an overhaul.  It had become a dumping ground of clutter.

Right now I have OUTDOOR projects in mind, so this little built-in overhaul is going to have to cost as little as possible.

The builder basic 1990s hardware had to go.  I found these pulls at Habitat ReStore for a dollar each.

I know a lot of people have tried spray painting their cabinet hardware, and honestly I would never expect the paint to hold up to daily use.  But these doors are rarely opened, so I was willing to try painting the door pulls.


Fortunately, the cabinet has an electrical outlet installed in it.  All I needed was a new lamp.  This one was a leftover from Mr. Tallgrass's college days.  It has good lines, if you can see past the wood and brass combo.  A while back he said I could paint it.  I didn't ask twice.

I had picked up this B at a garage sale last year and it's been setting in my garage.  The price tag from Restoration Hardware was still on it.

Speaking of garage sales, this frame was one dollar.

But I picked it up AFTER the sale had ended and the leftovers were hauled to the curb.  A lot of people in our area post their garage sale leftovers for free on Craigslist, so it's a good idea to check out the free section on Saturday afternoons.


I have a roll of wallpaper with illustrations of French scenes I found at a vintage/vintage-style decorating shop last winter.  I thought it might make fun drawer liner, but now I have other plans for it.

And the end results:

The black spray paint nicely accented the lamp's curves.  I paid a quarter at a garage sale last summer for the rustic vase on the left.

And the B looks much better dressed in black too.  The paperweight belonged to my one of great-grandmothers.

I always look for interesting brass containers at garage sales and thrift stores.  I read somewhere that brass is going to make a comeback. Too bad because I spray painted this one with gold metallic to tone down the brassiness.

That's an old post office box door next to it.  It was the PO Box my great-grandparents had most of their lives.  The boxes were dismantled several years ago, and my grandmother had the foresight to snag it.  I had it in storage, but now I can enjoy it everyday.

I slapped a coat of glossy black craft paint on the freebie frame, swapped the white mat for a black one I had on hand, and cut a Parisian scene from the roll of wallpaper.

It's a little hard to see, but the vase picks up the green shading in the illustration.

If you live with a lot of books like we do, the best advice I ever read about decorating with books is to ditch the dust jackets.  Just store the jackets in a plastic bin.  Any ordinary hardcover book looks much better without the dust jacket.

Other than the new door pulls, I shopped my own house for things I had on hand.  So how much did this project cost me?

Two dollars.  For the new door handles.

What do you already have that you can use in a new way?


I'm linkin' up...
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Pink Postcard
Shabby Chic Cottage
Funky Junk Interiors