Melinda Chan

For years I've seen all those colorful, shapely gourds at the supermarket around the Fall season. I never purchased any, but this year, I was in the mood to decorate.

I picked up five gourds at the store. Probably took an insane amount of time looking over all the choices and going back to the display after changing my mind multiple times. Probably take this too seriously, but I wanted to make sure that if I'm spending my hard-earned money on decorative items, I want to make sure they'll give me the best bang for my buck. I wanted a selection of different shapes and a variety of colors.

When I got home, I wasn't sure how to display them. At first, I just placed the five gourds on the coffee table, but the display looked incomplete. Then I searched in the cupboards and found a crystal-looking platter, but the juxtaposition of natural and crystal didn't look right together.

Finally, I remembered that I had a basket of faux apples and straw balls. I liked the bright shiny red color the apples brought and the texture of the straw balls added  to the natural-look.

It took me a lot of trial and error to place the gourds just right in the bowl. I wanted them to be interspersed among the apples and straw balls. It's funny how much time it took to make it look "random". I'm pleased with how it ended up and am happy that I was able to bring some natural seasonal elements and an existing decor together into the centerpiece.

Okay, I'll admit that it's hard to see the difference between the before and after shots, but trust me, it looks better in person.

Originally, I wanted to get rid of these white metal cabinets in the garage. There are actually about 3 more of these cabinets but I haven't finished cleaning them yet, so I'm just focusing on these for now.

Anyway, these cabinets are probably from the 1950's or 1960's. They were dingy and yellowed and I didn't really feel comfortable storing things in there even after cleaning the cabinets. No matter how much I tried to clean the cabinets, the yellowed-look remained.

However, I recognized that I getting new cabinets would be costly and the materials may be cheap, so I decided to give the cabinets a makeover. I cleaned them again and gave them a new coat of paint. I debated which  color to paint these cabinets and was considering a bold, bright yellow, which would've been fun, but ultimately, I decided on white to be safe.

I also cleaned the cabinet pulls and scrubbed off the dirt and rust. I actually like the pulls--they're substantial and have a sleek, 1950's space-agey look to them. I have more cabinets to clean and paint, but am looking forward to making use of the reclaimed storage space.