Card Catalog Makeover

As many of you probably can figure, I like my house pretty bright and neutral...and mainly white :) So, when I found this card catalog, I immediately fell in love, but really hated how dark it was. I actually didn't have too much of a problem with it at first. I just loved the piece despite it's faults :) But, as the months have passed, I just couldn't leave well enough alone and had to paint it. I know, I know. Most people would probably kick my butt for doing so, but I had to. It just looked like an eyesore in our house.

 So, today, it now looks like this.

 It fits my color scheme so much better!

So, at first, I thought white washing it was the way to go. So, I taped off the metal and started at it.

 I then started to realize what a mistake I had made. I shouldn't have painted it! But, I was already in head deep so I had to keep going. But the white...ugh. It just looked horrific.

 So, I decided I needed to rub a quick stain across it. I used Dark Walnut by Minwax.

 And...well, it turned out perfect! Just the way I envisioned it. It's like the perfect greyish white-brown.

 I wanted to change out the hardware too. But the current knobs are all stapled in. Which, I totally could have undone, but then I realized that I would need 18 new knobs...and well, that just got a whole lot more expensive :) So, I kept them the way they were.

It feels great to get that big brown blob out of the room! I really did love it before, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't for this space :) Stay tuned for next week when I share more of this room during part 2 of my Christmas home tour!

Oh yeah, and FYI, I got this card catalog from Hobby Lobby for about $100! Go get one if you've been dreaming of one forever like I was :)