Secret Project number fourteen

Fourteen weeks of secret projects! I can hardly believe it! Thank you to all my friends, new and old who have contributed big and little projects... I have really enjoyed all of the projects, and the internet has been a nicer place because of all your hard work.


This week's project comes from a very special someone. Her name is Kathleen, and she is my mom. All of the wonderful things I know how to do are entirely because of my mom. When my sister and I were growing up we didn't watch a lot of TV, because we were too busy. "Bored" was a bad word in our home. My mom taught us how to use our creativity for good projects, not naughty ones (except for the time I tried to dig a hole in the wall separating my room from my sister's so I could spy on her, or the time I tried to half bury a "time capsule" in the front yard, or the time I took my sister's sticker collection and decorated the underside of her bed... or the time I drew stairs on the wall with a black crayon....) Anyway, my mom taught me how to cook and sew, how to make mosaics and homemade paper. Most weekends and summer breaks were full of art projects or house projects. I learned how to use tools and how to mow lawns, how to stack firewood, how to move furniture and how to paint and repair furniture... and on and on and on. Name the project, and we probably have some experience with it.

Anyway, my mom's secret project has been a few weeks in the making, and I haven't seen it with my own eyes yet, but I will in a few days. Here it is!


I was not shopping for furniture at the Seattle Goodwill. I was just looking. I was just there and then what do you know,  an authentic Drexel Credenza was sitting there with all the right dimensions. It was ugly. Very ugly. I was not thinking about anything except what fantastic storage this would present. Not really thinking of how much time and effort to get it from "unattractive" to presentable.

I have been in the "State of Remodeling" for the past few weeks and months, remodeling my kitchen, dining area and living spaces on the first floor of my home. It has been a lot of work to say the least, since most of it has been by hand (my hands, and my daughter's hands) and the first shock of many many home improvement shocks was what new kitchen cabinets would cost... somewhere between $45,000 to $50,000.00!

I have decided to take another approach to kitchen organization, and purchase some new pieces to store dishes and kitchen linens instead of getting new cabinets. I thought this new piece from Goodwill, a "French Credenza" (I say that because it is stenciled on the back of the piece of furniture) would help my kitchen come together. This piece cost $34.99.

Before:

The following products were used:
-Citrus Stripping Gel (Orange)
-Paint brush to apply the gel
-Spackle tool to scrape it off into old newspaper.
-Steel wool to take the rest off with a product called AFTER WASH To remove all the residue
-A variety of sand paper some for the electric sander with a high grit #50 and some in in the 70-80 range. Then the fine 220 for the hand sanding.
-Kilz primer. To seal all the wood for an even coat.
-Paint for the final color choice of a specially matched Green.

Ace Hardware will match colors of paint. I had a Bombay Furniture Company sideboard I wanted the  paint to match.

I can estimate that I spent two afternoons sanding the furniture inside and out approximately 8-10 hours. To prime the whole piece it only about two hours. I removed all the doors and drawers and painted them separately.

After letting the paint dry and seal, I moved to the final step.  To paint the final color coat I took more time. I wanted to give the door and top of the credenza several coats.

The knobs came from Anthropologie and it was fairly easy to make the selection. I chose clear glass knobs.

In the end I am very happy with the project and know I could not find a similar piece of furniture for under a thousand dollars. I have been looking in Ballard Design Catalog and The Pottery Barn Catalog, and I know there is nothing similar on the market in an affordable price range. I already had the tools, but the total cost of this project including supplies, paint, and cute new knobs was around $150.

After: