Decluttering

Isn't that word funny! It just makes you feel organised just by saying it. Just like the mere mention of the word chocolate makes you happy :)

Whilst I'm frantically building tables, visiting customers for painting estimates and not having anytime to do any makeovers whatsoever, I was thinking that it would be really nice to be able to find everything I need in less than an hour. My stuff is everywhere :( Upstairs / closets / basement and I can never remember whether I put my exacto knife back in my tool box, in the cabinet downstairs or in the tumble dryer. (It could happen)

So in the absence of makeovers - I thought I'd share with you some fabby ideas of a couple of things that will come to fruition sooner rather than later.

First!

OK, I know its an overused acronym, but, O M G!!!! there is nothing the avid diyer / furniture re-finisher could not want on this one piece of holey board. Beautifully organised, and dare I say it displayed! My bookcases aren't even this well laid out! And how easy?

I'll tell you

Very.

I mean when you break it down, it's a peg board with what looks like 2x6 dividers and simple wire baskets. Look at the paint so neat and tidy! And an array of spray colours all accessible and easy to see.

I'm so jealous of the Ryobi fest that's going on there too ;)

My second project is hallway storage. We don't really have a hallway so there are no cool nooks etc - but there is a closet. Obviously it's got shoes strewn in the bottom, a storage tub with hats and scarves on the floor, 5 thousand coats and a shelf that has flashlights on it which goes all the way to the ceiling. You'd need to be a basketball player to get some use out of it.

We also don't really have a bench or anywhere kids can sit to take off shoes / boots. In fact its a bit of a nightmare.

I've longtime been a fan of converting closets into nooks, so yesterday I was properly looking for inspiration.

We start with .............

Love it - simple clean and organised!

Then move onto this ....

Isn't this fun - lovely green dotty fabric would cheer anyone up on their way in!

Oooh this is another nice one (I so wished my closet would look as tidy as that)

Here we up the anti with this amazing offering

Best so far I think - the colours just do it for me :)

Finally we have this one 

A  closet converted in to a wine cella.................................................

WAIT  WHAT????

Did I just see that right (I'ma gonna look again)

Yup, my eyes were not deceiving me. This is the top contender for entry closet makeover, because I for one certainly don't need coats and shoes.

Now if you'll excuse me whilst I do some research on the contents of my closet ............. I could be a while ;) 

Better pics of the console tables!

Yup thats right - plural y'all!!!!!

Here's the rustic one (i'm loving the finish on this one)

And here's the painted / stained one that I did all by myself (I sound 5 years old here!!!)

I'm still trying to get my head around this whole staging business - but they do look way better this way :)

Rustic console table

Well here am I all refreshed from a week in Cuba. Yup you heard right lol, I escaped the frozen north and went with my hubby and some friends to the land of Che, rum and tummy upsets. I say that last part because 3 of us got sick - no idea why but hey - at least you're on holiday so you can lie back and do nothing while you recover and not feel guilty.

Apart from we didn't lie back :( We had booked a trip to Havana and this being on my bucket list of places to visit, nothing like a small tummy bug was gonna stop this chick from going :)


Before I post pics of my latest project, I need to ask for help ................ Does any one know how on earth I can make this blog look nice and lovely??? You know like some of the other makey blogs out there. You gotta be honest - this one is like looking at a piece of moldy lettuce! So if anyone has any tips I'd be immensly grateful (bearing in mind I'm still trying to wrap my head around an abacus - thats how technological I am!)

Begging over, and back to the reason I live lol - with furniture refinishing, you rally are at the mercy of the things you can find out there in second hand land. Some of it just doesn't cut it for what you want to do.

I've been a log time fan of Ana White and her amazing "heres some fantabulous furniture anyone with a brain cell can make" website of free furniture plans. We actually made the Octogon picnic table last year for my aunt as a gift (when I say we - I mean my hubby and fil made it - I sanded and stained).

And thats pretty much why todays project isn't so much over a makeover - but more of a 'make'. I love console / sofa tables - but boy are they expensive!!!!! (no seriously - I mean it!) I also love chunky, made out of 2x4 type furniture. So with the lack of sofa tables on the local buy and sell sites - we decided to make our own!

Here's the wood we went to get yesterday (poor guy in Rona thought I was really high maintenance when I was turning my nose up at nearly every 2x4 he was trying to put in the truck)

And after following the plans here  from the lovely Ms Whites site- this is what I (um sorry I mean we lol) made.

I added 2 faux drawers fronts just to make it a little more interesting - totally just leftover bits of 1x3 that were laying around. I didn't even have to cut them- they were the perfect size!!!! Tell me when that ever happens!

My lovely husband cut all the wood as I shouted out the sizes and angles etc. Finally got to use my Kreg Jig properly for the first time too. (Amazing piece of kit) Then when it was all put together (took us about 4 hours - basically making sure everything was square / level / square again), he got a call and had to go off back to work. Which is fine because then I get to do the frilly stuff.

This frilly stuff entailed a Minwax Windsor Oak finish, and then antique walnut in a graduated effect on the board edges for the rustic look. I touched up the edges a little more with some black acrylic paint and then finished with 2 coats of Minwax polyshades in the maple colour. (Don't ask me why I chose all of those finishes!!!! I like to play around and see what turns out!)

It's tough to see the proper colours, because our shop doean't have its door on yet and just has a big orange insulated tarp - which in turn gives everything an orange glow, the second picture is more like the true colour.

This table is super long - over 6ft - and boy is it heavy. It's the first project done entirely in the shop - and because my helper husband is now not here - I can't move it into the house for staging and better pictures! Sigh - oh well I have friends coming over tomorrow - I'll grab one of them to help me :)

Hopefully I was paying attention, because we bought enough wood to make 3 of these. I want to finish the other 2 in a off - one white, with espresso shelves / top, and the other in the lovely turquoise of the tv cabinet. But I have to make them first. Which means chopping wood. With the mitre saw. When I spoke to Mr me earlier his last words were "Don't chop your hands off babe". 

Awesome, thanks for that, I'd never have thought it ;)

Hope you enjoyed todays 'make', I can't wait to stage this one properly and see how it looks in situ :)

Turquoise tv cabinet makeover

Do you know that paint can make EVERYTHNG better? Even the process of painting cures all evils.

Don't believe me. Well heres a scenario. You wake up in a real pissy mood (we all get those) and snip at everyone who dares look at you. Then - oh I dunno - a well meaning husband says something, and you all of a sudden want to let rip.

Guess what you do. You go outside and let rip with a hammer and some chainy naily things on that piece of furniture you meant to distress last week. You can come back in the house feeling all relaxed and let loose.

"Hey babe are you feeling better?"

"Yes I am thanks honey I love you" (ok that bit may have been made up ;) )

"Ummm, is that a hammer in your hand............?"

See I told you - it fixes everything :) When you are redoing furniture too, it doesn't necessarily have to be older bits and bobs (oooh nearly used the word 'piece' there). When my lovely hubby was working away and had to rent a condo for a couple years there was a whole schwack load of furniture that had to come home when he'd finished. One of which was a TV cabinet - not a bad little Ikea Markor one actually. But seeing as we have our tv on a wall there wasn't really anywhere for it, so it stayed in the enclosed trailer that it was hauled home in. Plus it got a bit bashed up in transit too.

Anyhoo - I was scouting around online looking for inspiration, because there's nothing really about this cabinets that tells you what it thinks it should look like next (if that makes sense). I couldn't really find anything, so I took a trip to town to pick up paint for another project. When I was browsing the paint colour chips (I'm sad like that) I found the MOST amazing colour ever, it looked fab. It was turquoise, so I bought it (it's actually a colour called Wave by Home Hardware up here in Canada - I really like their line of cabinet paints because they dry nicely and level beautifully).

Guess what got a turquoise makeover ....................

The glass doors were prayed with a "glass adhering" spray paint, then primed with a product called Stix (a primer that will allow pretty much any surface to be painted) and then coated with the same paint as the body and a quick stencil sprayed on top. Instead of using the standard lacquer, I actually used (and this was an experiment really) a product called Polyshades by Minwax in the antique walnut colour to age it a little. It's not the easiest thing to use but I love how the effect turned out. Polyshades is a tinted lacquer (basically a stain and varnish in one) and if you use a foam brush and load your brush unevenly then you can drag the brush and get uneven stroke marks of the topcoat. I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be used in this fashion but it gave me the EXACT finish I was looking for. I'm a massive fan of the minwax products too.

Anyway thanks for peeking at this one. I think it's my favourite makeover EVER :) 

White distressed dresser with wallpaper accents

Happy New Year all :)

I say all but I really have no idea if anyone reads this or not!?

You know I promised the dresser before Xmas? I lied!!!!

I've only just semi got it finished today - eeeek! This was really a fun one to do. The dresser was for a lovely young ladys room, so it can't be too childish, but it still needs to be fun / modern.

Here is what it was like before

Lovely sturdy dresser, and a big eyesore of a mirrored shelf  (I hope my customer won't mind me saying that) because these super (and still very beautifully built) older dressers must have had an identity crisis when the top part was being designed.

Theres two things you can do with these.

1) Ditch the top

2) Have fun with it 

We obviously did number 2 because when all said and done, there's a big mirror there, and also handy shelves for nick nacks and what not!!!!

Start by priming and two top coats of a lovely off white "Mayonnaise" (Benjamin Moore colour in the Advance line - not real mayonnaise!!!)

Then get some funky paper as chosen by the recipient of this dresser and line all of the drawers

Then stand back and look at the 'mirror' part for hours and think "what on earth can I do with this???"

Get some more paper and stick it on lol

Finally add stripes for contrast, but also to make the lovely spindle design at the front blend in!!!!

I have to say at this point the name is no longer on the dresser and it has been blacked out and taped off ready for more stripes - and I think that was the right choice. 

I hope you like it - I can imagine all kinds of fun bright coloured things being displayed on this :)

Grey distressed armoire

When I redo furniture its always cool and happy because I'm doing mostly things that I have a vision of how they are going to turn out. Then I sell them and all is good.

However, when someone asks me to redo a bit of their furniture in a certain style - I panic. What if they don't like it? What if after spending hours (sometime days) I have to do it all over - i'll end up upsetting someone (and believe it or not I really don't like doing that!)

This next project had me filled with dread because it had to be quite specific!

This was how it started out - actually a really really nice armoire. But just wouldn't 'go' with what my customer had in mind for her new look bedroom.

She purchased this bed / headboard

 Modern shape / lines etc - and a completely different finish to what was above.







My brief therefore was to make the armoire 'go' with the bed, with a grey / black finish maybe.

Originally I was going to strip it down, and attempt to bleach the wood and then wash it in a grey /white / brown - but tbh that idea scared the heck out of me. I thought it foolish ultimately to try and replacte this finish because no matter which way you roll the dice, the armoire is traditional and the bed is modern.

 So this one went like this, sand,  a coat of high adhesion Kilz latex primer, 2 coats of latex cabinet in a custom mixed mid grey, then a wash with a dark brown, a wash with a black, some picking out of detailing with some white acrylic on the door / drawer edges, a touch of distressing in the door panels and finally 2 coats of verathane.

I was also requested to line the backs and the insides of the drawers and my customer picked out this lovely paper by blue mountain at Lowes.

Beautiful hey - until I got to the store and you realise it isn't grey at all in the background - it's actually a metallic gold / silver colour :( And seeing as my nearest Lowes that stocks half decent paper is in either Calgary or Edmonton (both of which are a minimum of a 2hr drive away one way,) I had to take the chance and get it.

Luckily it actually worked and my customer loves it :) Here it is lacquered and ready to go

In other news I managed to ditch my new vehicle on Monday, totally my fault - took a corner too quick and ended up stationary, wedged in 2 feet of snow. Clever me hey!

Thank heavens for neighbours / family and tractors!!!!

That unfortunatley lost me a whole honking day of work trying to get towed out and so on, but as with the previous entry and the snow day - it meant I got to finish the armoire above!

I also decided to make a headboard for my bed., apart from I didn't actually make one if that makes sense. I'm one of those "have to do it right now this minute" type of people. So when you see something or have an idea, I scramble around my supplies looking for the necessary ingredients to make it.

So the heaboard called for barn wood, 2x4's and 4x4's. I have a shed load of barnwood. But unfortunately slightly lacking in the 2x and 4x department. So with me still reeling from the ditch incident  - I was rooting around and came across a barnwood mirror that I made a ways back. 

You can't really use it as a mirror because the wood was pretty warped which in turn twists the glass ever so slightly - making it look like on of the fun house mirrors you get at the fairs. So it was stuck in the basement.

I added a shelf and supports and mounted it jut above the bad :) I suppose it'll do for now. But mark my words I WILL go to town and make the headboard (though I'll have to repair the wall that I screwed (leaving a few holes in the process because I couldn't be bothered to get the stud finder out <whistles> ))

I've also gone off the grey colour in the bedroom (been there all of about a year!!!) - I think my husband will legitimately kill me if I paint it again though lol

Well thats what we have right now, I do have another dresser makeover (ordered from the same customer at the same time from the same set of furniture as the armoire - but a different finish)in progress.

This will be the next entry and I'll try and get it in before Xmas.

  

Nautical dresser done!

This is just a real quickie - though I will share what I've been doing in my 'full time job" too :)

Finally managed to get the dresser finished

The customer actually came up with the idea of writing "Let your dreams set sail" on the drawer which is really cool :) Apologies for the reflection in the mirror - isn't my kitchen table just the epitome of organisation!!!!

Cool! Well as I've said many times before - I'm a house painter / mural person / cabinet maker overy (overy - that sounds like ovary hmmmmm) person. So currently I'm working on a full interior reno. But I did want to share some kitchen cabinets

Heres the before

No in bad condition, but the colour was old and dated - as were the handles in the centre of them. When I do this kind of work I always give the customer options - ie fastest and cheapest way is to paint them, way to get the best possible finish is to totally strip everything back, and restain / lacquer, more cost effective but still able to see wood grain through is to use a tinted poly. However the finish isn't as perfect as stripping etc and the colours are somewhat limited. Customer went for option 3

Heres how they turned out after 5 coats of stain and 2 coats of poly finish

What a difference stripping off wallpaper and refinishing cabinets makes (I have to wait to paint the kitchen as new counters are going in etc!

Last share post for you all is my Christmas mantel - just cos it's the season :)

Loved the ice skate idea that I saw on a few searches on Google - so blatantly copied it :) Also made the fireplace mantel myself (when I say myself my amazing hubby cut the wood for me!!!!) out of 2x8's - beaten to death with a hammer etc and then stained!!!!!

While I'm at it - here's another Xmas display atop of something else I made

Super easy factory cart coffee table taken from plans here  I LOVE Ana Whites site for making the coolest things for next to nothing!!! Always a bonus in my books!!!!

Hope you enjoyed todays pic fest :)