kitchen addition

After refinishing my first piece of furniture I enjoyed it so much that it immediately became a hobby.  I'm constantly searching on craigslist for a cheap piece with potential and find myself wishing more and more that we had a garage so I could actually buy and store the deals I come across.  The reality is though that we don't have a garage and the outdoor space we do have (albeit significantly larger than at our last place) isn't really conducive to storing random sized pieces of furniture just sitting in the que for a makeover.  Facing that truth has resulted in a slow progression of this hobby, but forward movement all the same.

The most recent remake is the below antique magazine rack that belonged to Jake's dad.  His mom was happy to provide me a free piece to take another stab at refinishing and seemed please to clear out some space in her house at the same time.  While I am wishing now I'd taken the time to snap a picture before,  I can only say that is was stained a medium brown and had little wear considering its age.  For that reason, sanding wasn't needed and I could go straight into painting!

I know it seems a bit weird to have a magazine rack in the kitchen, but Jake had the idea to put the recipe books in it the way we did, and once those were in place it seemed odd to put in any room other than the kitchen.  The wall that it's currently on is prime real estate in our kitchen and seemed appropriate since it got lost in the only other nook available.

If I could change on thing it would be the height of the table (I said "if"); it isn't unusually short but both here and in the other spot we tried, it didn't seem quite tall enough.  With that much space between the top of the basket (conveniently storing dish towels) and the bottom of the picture it seems to put emphasis on the gap between items, but the picture couldn't go any lower and the basket can't get any taller.  What I can say is thank goodness for the lime green, it helps it to pop against the wall and the colorful recipe books demand attention!