why did I wait so long?

Our house is full of old furniture, some of it antique, some of just plain old. Old, but sturdy and useful. A bit like the house, and dare I say it, the owner (apart from the old part, of course!)

I've had this cupboard/sideboard thing for many years. Originally it lived in the saddle room at my parents property, painted a funny light green colour that was tinted with years of dust and saddle grease. It had a hutch bit on the top, which was very, very dilapidated.

So when I was in need of some storage space, my mum decided to give this cupboard a new lease on life. She removed the paint, found an old pine bookcase and attached it to the top, and it lived as a true "hutch" for a few years, until I decided that the bookcase was required elsewhere. Then the doors on the base wouldn't shut properly, so I took them off. One thing that bugged me, though, was the handles on the drawers.

Pretty boring, yes? And even though this is a functional, working bit of furniture (it houses the weekly newspaper - The Queensland Country Life - my magazine subscription and some other odds and ends ), it can still be a bit pretty!

Honestly, I don't know how I ever got on without e-bay before. Ta daah!

A four dollar ceramic handle (or two), and what a transformation. (less than the cost of a good coffee!)

And as you can tell, no styling was done for these photographs. I was SO excited about those handles. I may or may not have purchased a few more, to revamp a set of drawers that have been handless and bugging me for quite awhile.

I decided to go for an eclectic, mix and match look. Not sure about the orange ones now that I have them, but if I put them on the bottom, they won't be as noticeable.

Ah, sometimes small materialistic things do make one happy!