This is the boring white cabinet that I bought from homedecoratorsoutlet.com.

I added new knobs and painted the back of it for a fresh look with a hint of color.

Today, I finally got around to filling it up.  Take a look.

The only thing I specifically bought for dressing this cabinet is the picture frame hanging above it.  I found it waaaaay on sale at a West Elm store closing.  It was just what I was looking for!  I filled it with some photos taken from my handy hubby’s high school trip to Spain.  (The only thing he knows how to say in Spanish is, “Donde estan mis pantalones?”)  So even though the trip didn’t hone in on his foreign language skills, at least we’ve got some sweet pictures to show for it.

A tray houses two IKEA vases and a lone candleholder that I found at Goodwill.  The tray itself is from Goodwill also.  It was originally hunter green and donned a country motif of painted apples.  I gave it the ‘white treatment’.  (My 4-year-old wants to know why I paint everything white.)  I stole the lamp from our office desk.

I dressed the shelves with some of my favorite interior decorating books and magazines.  The two wooden boxes hail from IKEA and are empty at the moment.  (You’d be surprised by how many of my ‘storage’ containers are actually empty.  Room to grow!)  A few family photo albums, a mortar and pestle (a prize I won in pharmacy college), and a lovely porcelain box given to me by my grandma round out the third shelf.  My grandma really enjoys playing cards.  Some of my fondest memories are of her staying up late to teach me new card games.  So, of course, I keep decks of cards in there.  The two sculptural lanterns on the top shelf were a steal from Big Lots.  Again, I had all this stuff sitting around my house just waiting for a home.

Don’t you love the way the green acts as a subtle backdrop for all the goodies?  The bottom drawer holds some activity books, Playdoh and art paper for the kiddos. 

What’s that, you say?  The knobs are different?!  Well, as with any project of mine, this one wasn’t perfect.  When I replaced the knobs I made a mistake.  Oops!  I used screws instead of bolts to attach the knobs and ended up stripping the knobs’ threading.  My 1-year-old had a knob off in two days!  Not good.  So, off to Lowe’s for new knobs and I actually found some clear, glass ones that I liked better anyways.  Handy hubby attached ’em this time…the right way.  And he secured the entire cabinet to the wall for the kids’ safety.  He’s pretty awesome.  Finally, one last shot of the glass-front cabinet in all its painted, knobbed and knick-knacked glory. 

Have you ever ‘shopped’ around your house for decor items?  It’s amazing what you might find because you’ve stowed it away and forgotten about it.  Plus, it’s FREE.