Rectory renovations

I have the great fortune of living in the St. Stephen's rectory, a lovely home built in 1959. I love that era of style and archetecture, so living here has been a pleasure for me.

Of course, the rectory has been remodeled at least once (in the 1980s) over those 50 years. With the blizzards of these last several weeks, I have found myself doing some inexpensive renovations, especially to the kitchen and bathroom.

I started out with this cupboard (above). Originally, it was the same ugly brown as the rest of the wooden cupboards. The problem with the cupboard was that there was not much that could be stored in it because it was so narrow. So, I took off the door, filled the holes, painted it white, the interiors red and placed these wonderful aqua-colored pieces in them.

Next I painted this wonderful little shelf. It also was the same dark, chipped wood as the rest of the cupboards. I painted the shelves white and the backs a light gray.

I then painted the panels of all the cupboards, which lightened up the room tremendously. It also brought out the wood.

This is the table and chairs in the kitchen. I had a single polka-dot curtain that I couldn't use anywhere else, so I used it as a table cloth (with the addition of a runner)

Then came the bathroom. I painted the cabinets first and attached new handles. I left it like that for a day or two, but quickly realized I always hated the 1980s-looking mirror frame. So, I painted the edges of both the mirror and the row of lights above it. Again, it definitely lightened up the room!

This past week I bought a matching pair of chairs from circa 1958. I love them!

The chairs definitely made the living room pop!

I bought this Rothko print on Friday and put it above the couch. It's the perfect touch!

Here's the ultra-cool purple vinyl chair I got some time ago. That end table came from Target of all places.

 

 

 

Then, finally I decided to paint the front door red.

 

 

This is the little table I made from a some 1950s table legs. That art piece came from Wal-Mart. Who'd a thunk?

A very ugly 1980s chandelier hung in the dining room. I took this great 1940s red shade that came from a standing lamp I bought at a garage sale and wired it upside down to the lamp (I didn't feel like taking the whole lamp down and replacing it with something else). It looks so cool in the dining room.

The aluminum Christmas tree (with an original color wheel in the lower right corner) looked great in the living room this past Christmas.

I found this great clock in February when I was on vacation in Florida. It's been updated to that it's battery powered, so it actually works!

Here are the two mobiles I made for the entry way (top) and the living room (bottom).