Before and after: Pottery Barn cabinet.

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you probably already know that I am really not a crafty person. I know what I like, but I'm not great at making it myself. This year, though, one of my goals is to make my home a place I really enjoy spending time, and part of that means getting rid of some of the cheap-o furniture I've collected since becoming an apartment-dweller almost seven years ago and purchasing some I really like and will want to keep for a long time. Buh-bye, rickety Target bistro table; sayonara, clawed-up Urban Outfitters chair (and by the way, thanks for that, cats).

But I should clarify that I don't plan on spending hundreds of dollars on new furniture. Sarasota is a thrifter's gold mine; my friend Kate has found Hermes scarves, Tory Burch tops and Jimmy Choo shoes at our Goodwills, and estate sales and consignment stores are consistently awesome here. And after this past weekend, when ACS and I* gave an old cabinet of mine a makeover, I'm welcoming the idea of transforming something so-so into something awesome with a coat of paint and some elbow grease.

The cabinet above is one a friend sold me for super cheap when she was getting rid of some furniture a couple of years ago; it's from Pottery Barn and it's tall and spacious and was, until recently, an unassuming shade of light green. But a few weeks ago the color started to bug me, and after scouring the Internet for some inspiration, I decided I wanted to paint the outside of the cabinet white and the inside back panel a pretty blue. So off to Lowe's we went, and we returned with painting supplies and two small cans of paint: one a pure white, one a blue called "Sea Sparkle" (both Valspar).

It took two days because we started late one evening and had to do a couple of coats of the white, but I am super happy with the results, and it feels really good to have repurposed a piece of furniture like this. Also: paint really does make a huge difference, which is why I think my next big home improvement project will be a change in wall color. Stay tuned...

P.S. The first photo is of my burgeoning milk glass collection; I love the way the white milk glass looks against the new blue background.

*When I say ACS and I, I mean 90 percent ACS and 10 percent me. The good thing is, thanks to watching him, I do feel like I could do something like this myself next time—but yeah, this was pretty much entirely his project. Hee.