Remember that half the joy of achievement is in the anticipation.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

My first Vintage Thingies Thursday...



I've enjoyed seeing others vintage treasures and decided that I would join this week. Vintage Thingies Thursday is hosted by Suzanne @ Colorado Lady. Be sure to stop by and see who else is sharing their vintage treasures.







When we decided to give our kitchen a much needed face lift, I knew I wanted to keep my original cabinets and restore the hinges. The cabinets are very large and the quality surpasses that of which is available in the home improvement stores today. I also wanted to try and keep the kitchen appearance "cozy" and "welcoming" without being over the top. If you want to see the progress we've made so far "kitchen wise" you can click on the slide show in my sidebar.

In the kitchen the cabinets and hinges had been painted, re-painted, and painted again. After lots of work and elbow grease, this is how my hinges look now. I think they came out great! What do you think?

before (front)

before (back)
before (bagged and numbered to coincide with it's original door)

after (front)

after (back)

restored !!!

Here they are!
Coordinated with new "vintage style" hardware

Thank you for spending a bit of your day with me. I hope the rest of your day is a happy one!

32 comments:

^..^Corgidogmama said...

What an awesome first post! It was neat to see the transition from painted up junk to useful, vintage treasure! The cupboards look great!
Very cottagey.
Welcome to the VTT gang!!

Unknown said...

Looking Good....isn't it amazing how much change a little thing like hinges or knobs can make.

Susan said...

Welcome to VTT. Looks like all that hard work paid off, super nice cabinets.

Coloradolady said...

Welcome to VTT! This is super how you restored the hardware in your kitchen. I do like the cabinets. Now I am off to your sidebar to see the rest of the pics.

Have a great week and glad you posted and are here with us on VTT.

Heidi Pocketbook said...

Wow, you did a great job stripping them! I enjoyed the pics on your sidebar as well. I'm trying to get up the courage to redo my cabinets.

I totally understand about wanting to keep your current cabinets. I'm in the same frame of mind--mine are hand-built from the 1960's and I'd never be able to afford to replace them with a quality like that! Unfortunately, mine are "sixties birch" and have copper handles and hinges. I've purchased brushed nickel handles and am trying to figure out how I can change the copper hinge finish to brushed nickel. Have any ideas?

Reading Rosie said...

Welcome to VTT. I love the cabniet handles. Very pretty.

Dixie said...

very pretty!especially love those drawer pulls! Dixie

Angie said...

I love that you are reusing what you have instead of buying brand new! Yay for you! I have the same drawer pulls in my kitchen and I LOVE them!

gin said...

Good job. I know it was hard work. But it paid off.

Amy said...

oh yes I can see why you put the new handles on the cupboard doors and drawers, they look just right :-)

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

Welcome to VTT, nice job on the hardware. It was well worth the work.

The Raggedy Girl said...

They are worth however much time it took to restore them. I love them. Totally retro!
Happy Vintage Thingies Thursday
from Roberta Anne

Protector of Vintage said...

They look great....love the hardware you chose. Take care~

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the cabinets and hardware. You should be very proud of your hard work. It was definitely worth it.

Dawn said...

I first came to your blog when you were working on this project. I was in awe of the amount of effort and work you put into it. The hinges look WONDERFUL!

take care,
Dawn

JEWELGIRL said...

Takes a lot of hard work to refinish
things! Amazing transformation!
Welcome to VVT!

Judi said...

Hi Rechelle
What a great job! I really like the new look.
I have to clean up my own hinges on my kitchen cupboards that I painted this winter.
What did you do and use to clean them?
Have a nice evening.
Have you been to my home on Blogspot? Hope to see you there.
Judi

The Tiquehunters Wife said...

That is hard work! And they did come out great!
(thanks so much for the tip on those picture hanging strips--gonna try some!)
Enjoyed my visit and welcome to VTT!
Blessings to you!
Claudia O.

Lois Christensen said...

I must say, I'm so impressed!!! I never would have had the patience to do that! Would have made hubby go buy new ones. Congratulations on making something old look so beautiful!!! Love them!!

Anonymous said...

What wonderful cabinets..you've done a fantastic job. Welcome to VTT, I know you will love it as much as I do...

Anonymous said...

You were so smart to bag them and label them. We have vintage hardware as well and I didn't do the labeling. What a pain.

Anonymous said...

Your hinges look great, Rechelle! I don't know if I would have had the patience to do what you did. Your cabinets look fantastic.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Linda said...

This was a huge project but the finished pieces look amazing and your cupboard look great...hugs, Linda

Bea said...

Nice job, Rechelle. Your cabinets look great. We have very good luck removing paint from our vintage hardware by soaking them in water and TSP substitute. Eliminates a lot of the elbow grease. Now I tell you, right?!

Anonymous said...

Impressive...your cupboards looks great :)

Debra Howard said...

Hey, I have those same hinges & I love them. They are one of my favorite things about my cabinets. I have some that were original maple cabinets didn't want to replace them so I painted them white. New stainless knobs & I went a step farther by adding some trim moulding to mine like picture frames kind of added to each door & drawer. Really dressed them up.
Debbie

Carrie said...

Wow, that is an exceellent restoration job on those hinges. The drawer pulls really add a nice vintage, but updated look to the cabinets.

Unknown said...

Welcome to VTT! I think your hardware came out great. It's nice to keep as much of the original flavor as possible.

Jennifer@woodleycottage said...

Oh my gosh! Those turned out beautiful. We just replaced hinges and will be doing so for a long time (We have lots of doors at this house!) so I can appreciate the work you put into cleaning those. Absolutely beautiful!

Roslyn said...

Good job re-purposing your hardware, it looks grand!
Roslyn

Simplicity Cottage said...

Rechelle, I love your kitchen hardware...agree 100% with you about not being able to buy the same quality today...better to redo the good stuff from yesteryear! looks amazing!

donna

Patty said...

The hinges look fantastic and I love your cabinets!