paste-eaters anonymous: my saturday project

I got this for $2 at a yard sale. Not attractive, but the inside was pretty clean and I thought it might be a nice way to store some of my craft stuff. Because I have a tendency to collect unwanted furniture like stray cats, I now limit myself to items I can transform in one day and will cost me less than $10 to restore. Fortunately, I have a lot of neat stuff in my stash.

I took everything off, pulling off the old yucky plastic, the plastic braid, the legs, and finished with unscrewing the hinges to the top. My friend Ellie had given me a beautiful yard of Amy Butler fabric ("gothic rose"), so I used that as my focus point.I cut the fabric to size and used some spray adhesive I had to apply it to the sides. I then reapplied the braid by hammering small brads (.84). I then stretched fabric over the top and hammered that into the other side. There was a piece of cardboard that covered the back of the top, so I ran next door (I live in a great neighborhood!) and got a half yard of Amy Butlers "wallflower" in pink ($5.41). I sprayed the cardboard with adhesive, stretched the fabric over it, and tacked that on to the back of the top, covering the nails and fabric from the other side. Then I put the hinges back on.

I had some purpley-blue paint left over from my knit chair seat adventure, so I used that to paint the legs. Two coats later, I screwed them on and ta-da! And I love how the inside looks!
All done for the low price of $8.25 and time left over to clean out a closet.