Hairpin Legged Map Chest ||2016 Flip List Item No.6||

*OCD Alert!* I warned you I'd once again be tackling my furniture flip bucket list out of order.  If you are prone to severe OCD tendencies, this series may not be for you.  I'll give you a courtesy buffer so you can jump ship before I jump right in...

5...4...3...2... Still with me? 1  

Well ok then!  I'm glad to see you've decided to stick around.

For those of you who don't know, every January I like to informally declare some DIY projects I'd like to tackle for the year.  And I infamously go out of order (or even run out of time - ahem *bakersrack*).

Here's what I set out to do last year (in order of completion):
No.6 - White chippy dresser 
No.5 - Best vintage chart hack
No.7 - Turn a swivel chair into an accent chair 
No.4 - Navy and gold dresser
No.3. - Rivet something
No.2 - Wood shim surface treatment 
No.1 - Build my own baker's rack (still pending ;)

Here's what I've set out to do this year (in order of original post):
No. 1 - DIY a baker's rack (because I didn't last year)
No.2 - Reupholster a chair
No.3 - Build a chandelier
No.4 - Grow-up my abstract art
No.5 - Jewel toned dresser
No.6 - Hairpin Legs
No.7 - Creative hardware

And true to form, this year I started with item No.7, and here I am a week later introducing you to item No.6.

You dazzled?!?!  No?  Well that's probably because this is what it looked like when I found it.  Let me try again: 

This flip list item didn't actually start with the map chest, it began with a weird $5 table painted like a football.  You heard me right - a football.  But I had no purpose for a 10" tall table with a laminate oval top but I did have use of the table's hairpin legs...  Once I had the legs I wanted, it was a matter of finding a suitable new top.  I new I wanted to make a storage piece so I started trolling wooden pieces with a vintage flare.  

I stripped the chest's orangey stain and went with a weathered wood look that would play up the vintage vibes my hairpin legged vision was going for.

Since he's a petite piece, I kept the styling minimal (I know - not usually my "collectionism" style).  I went with two simple vases and a brass seed pod from target encased within a little cloche.  The pant-hanger art is a traced Picasso line-drawing (hope you don't mind Pablo!).

If you are OCD and still reading, your supreme attention-to-detail skills may recognize the original knobs from the fugly twins.  I kept them for a less eyeballesque layout like the two columns on this piece.  They are real porcelain and truly vintage plus I liked the scale for such skinny little drawers.

Thank you again to my type-A personality friends who've been putting up with my crazy scatter-brainedness.  I'd like to think I'll do better next time but who am I kidding...

Please still accept me despite my faults ;)

Map Chest with Hairpin Legs
20"W X 17"D X 39"H
Price: $265 SOLD

Meet Foxy Boxy ||2016 Flip List Item No.7||

Good Friday to you and have a Happy Easter!  We are absorbing as much of this spring weather as our pores can handle over here.  Anyone else as desperate as me to get out of winter?!?!  Prayers have been answered people!  That is until Virginia weather changes it's mind again...

Ok, so when I scored the "Big Teak Whale" back in November, I also brought home his DUFF (designated ugly fat friend).  I've nicknamed her Boxy.

While sussing out some white and silver possibilities for a client, I rendered a couple mock-ups of flips:

So when the client decided they needed something bigger for their space, I took the opportunity to cross the first item off my 2016 Furniture Flip List: unconventional hardware!

Secretly, when I set my flippin' goals for 2016, I was already tinkering with the idea of house numbers as drawer pulls.  The trick was figuring out how to float mount them onto a drawer instead of the face of a house.  Luckily, the modern numbers I picked up from Home Depot had handy templates to use for easy drilling and could be retro fitted with a cabinet screw and a nut.

I would've started on this piece a lot earlier in the year but I just couldn't bring myself to pick a paint color!  You all know I usually lean towards the bright and bold, but my client requested renderings in a crisp modern white.  The more I worked on the concepts, the more I realized I loved this "tamer" look.  Plus I already had a can of our favorite durable/ glossy Glidden Door & Trim paint on hand, so I thought in the spirit of using what you have - go for it!

Something about letters or numbers makes me think nursery so I styled foxy Boxy a little sweeter with some salvaged blooms, sparse accessories, and an abstract watercolor piece in a simple white frame.

It's fun little water color & wax resist take on Monet's water lilies (who says you have to be in Kindergarten to play with crayons).

Also can any of you plant-friendly readers out there help me identify the blooms I used in my shoot?  The buds look like little pink droplets!

We are thinking of you all fondly this Easter and hope you find time amidst all that candy and plastic egg shells to reflect on the depth of God's sacrifice and be with your family.  

(But anyone else hoping a reese's egg will make it's way into their Easter basket?  No shame *licks lips*)

Mod Numbered Dresser (now goes by Foxy Boxy)
50"W x 18"D x 32"H
$425 SOLD

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, please email me at cate@stylemutthome.com.

Muted Teal Apothecary Chest

It's been a long time since I've been in touch with my shabby chic side.  In fact, I don't think I've heavily distressed a piece since this dresser .  But once-in-a-while, only for the most spectacular of clients, do you roll up your sleeve and distress the heck out of something to get that chippy-vintage-storied look.

As Chelsea hinted at with some teasers in this post, we've had the joy nay the honor of styling a hip condo for our latest client in DC.  One of the unique challenges we've faced with her space is a quirky triangular entryway with very little space and very little going on to greet you when you first walk in.  After weighing a few options, we decided that a narrow piece in a bright but sophisticated color would do the trick.

And it just so happened that I had a 12" deep faux apothecary chest in my possession ;)

Recognize it in our first apartment?  This skinny little piece has served us well over the years.  But the inevitable shift of my personal style combined with our lack of entryway in our new apartment meant it was time to move on to bigger better things.  I was pondering how to refinish it for resale just when our client brought up her need for some super-skinny entryway storage!  Twas meant to be.

After running some custom refinishing ideas past our client, we decided on a muted teal that played well with the rest of her newly designed home and a "weathered" look for some added character.

In my experience, it is really rare to find a storage piece as narrow as 12" - I mean just look at how thin this lady is! 

All she really needs to be for our client is a happy little place to catch her keys and store her weather-wear (scarves, mittens, and such).

Giving a nod to the piece's vintage vibes, I styled it with the replica botanical prints salvaged from our old master bathroom (which have been sitting in a box since we moved) and a blown-glass vase with foraged thistles.

I am so happy to see her go to a beautiful new home and even happier to offer our client a custom piece that I've had the chance to product-test myself!

You'll have to circle back to us to see how she'll fit into our client's digs!