Cheap Paint = More Cabin Progress

A terrific paint sale triggered another round of work at the cabin. Lowes had their half-pint paint samples on sale for $.99 each (with no limit) a few weeks back, and it didn’t take a frugal girl like me long to figure out that if I got four half-pints, I’d have a quart of paint for $3.96, rather than the $30 something that they sell their quarts for. So, I headed over, and picked up enough paint to redo my latest round of curb finds and yard sale scores.

We may not have interior walls yet, but at least the furniture is starting to come together. We finally hauled our leather sofa up last week. We found it at our local Salvation Army about a year ago, and had been storing it in our basement until we were ready for it at the cabin. We also brought up the braided t-shirt rug that I just finished making. It still needs to be stretched a bit, but I’m really happy with how it fits the space.

And that coffee table? It’s one of the pieces that I painted. Our house is done in earth tones, so I’m going colorful at the cabin. It’s a sturdy oak table, and it’s the perfect size for board games. The last time my mother-in-law had a yard sale, she called to offer us a preview. I snatched up this coffee table for $20, as well as a night stand that I’ll be showing you in just a bit.

This rattan chair was a lucky curb find. It was in good shape when I found it, but in desperate need of a paint job. I gave it a couple coats of blue, and now it looks great. It still needs a pillow or two, but it’s already surprisingly comfortable.

This nightstand got the same blue treatment. It’s the other piece that I rescued from my mother-in-law’s yard sale.

And can you believe this rusted sun was in a curb pile? It’s way too cool to throw out. We hung it on the front of our bath house last weekend, and it was like an instant makeover.

Funny thing: As soon as we hung it, it hit me that we should replace our tattered tarp “door” with a pretty shower curtain. I have a spare curtain and a brand new rod that I snagged from a curb pile a few weeks ago, it just had never even crossed my mind to do something about that tarp. We tacked it up a year and a half ago when bought the cabin. It was intended to be a temporary solution, until we got around to installing a door on the bath house. And I guess I just got used to looking at it. I already have that rod and curtain in my pile to take up on our next trip.

This Adirondack-style chair is my latest curb find. My sister-in-law has recently gotten into curb shopping. She spotted it while she was out “shopping,” and stopped by to tell us that she’d seen a chair we might want for the cabin. I jumped in the Jeep to go check it out; and yep, she was right. I gave it a fresh coat of paint, and as soon as I get a second one on it, we’ll be hauling it up to the cabin. I plan to stick it by the pond.

Alright, now that you’ve seen all the furniture after shots, let me show you the before shots.

Here’s what the oak coffee table looked like when I got it. It was in good shape, but the finish was a bit worn. My husband declared that he liked it a lot better now that it was painted. High praise.

The nightstand was solid, but in need of new paint.

It had started to fail.

The rattan chair was white at one time, but almost all of its paint had worn off.

Ditto for the Adirondack-style chair. Isn’t it amazing what a little paint will do?

So What’s Next for our Cabin?

We’re still hoping to tackle the roof, wiring and plumbing this summer. But we’ll only do those things, if the money is there. Fingers crossed. I’m really looking forward to the finishing work, and those projects are the last thing standing in the way.