creative little daisy

18 Months

I've been living with these beautiful gifted lungs for 18 months. More than living, thriving!  My creativity has recently awakened and it's as if I'm making up for lost time. I want to paint, sew and build all the things. For a couple years prior to transplant I just didn't have the energy to do much more than exist. I'm so trilled to have energy and strength to do the things I love. I'm stronger than I ever remember being and it's such a wonderful, amazing feeling!

Despite my physical strength, my blogging muscles seem to have atrophied. It's been so long, and as they say, use it or lose it. I'm finding out I've darn near lost it. Hopefully like the rest of my muscles, with work, it will come back. Not being in the blogging frame of mind, I haven't photographed much of what I've done lately. A snap here and there to post on Instagram is about it. Today I got the big guy out, my real camera, and took a few photos of my latest projects.

A few weeks ago we installed a new sink. A great big, apron front farm sink.

We installed two actually. The first one cracked after several hours of altering (cutting!) the cabinet and counter top so that it would fit.

It was traumatic, very traumatic. Thankfully, Ikea exchanged the broken sink, even though it cracked during installation and gave us a new one. It only involved six hours of driving. We are certain the sink was defective because we did not apply enough pressure for it to crack.

Then I got a wild hair to strip the paint off the french doors that separate my living room from the kitchen and dining room. Not a quick or easy project, but one I'm happy I completed. 

I liked the softer more muted, natural look of the doors, so naturally I decided my curtains needed to be more muted. That's just how the brain of a serial diy'er works.

I found the fabric at Fabric.com a while back, not knowing what I would use it for, I just knew I loved it. 

The latest project happened simply because Casey send me a picture of a dining table with an antique pew. He was looking for something similar for his wife, Jessica.

I offered him a bench I had in my garage.

He didn't jump at it, I don't understand why. (I need the laughing emoji here) I bought it from a friend a few months ago with the plan of stripping and sanding it to bare wood. But the bare wood was very, very red. So, it's been sitting in the garage since. It was not the correct size for Casey and Jessica's table, but the photo he shared gave me the perfect inspiration for what to do.

The seat was in bad shape and had to be replaced. In this picture I had replaced the seat and it had a light coat of primer. You can see how red it was even through the primer. I had to apply several coats of a stain blocking primer to stop the bleed through

I'm so glad to have it out of the garage. One less unfinished project floating around.

 

I have a list in my head at least a mile long of future projects, close to the top of the list is painting the cabinets. It's been a few years since they were painted. We used oil based paint for a couple reasons, primarily because Mitch sprayed the doors and drawers and oil paint doesn't clog his gun like latex would. Also oil dries (eventually) to a much harder more durable surface. Well, fast forward to today, and my white cabinets have yellowed. Thank you oil paint. This was magnified with the addition of a bright, shiny, white apron front sink. And,,,, I'm sick of the black cabinets. Sick of black, yellowed white, perfect excuse to repaint 

This post only took two days to complete, with all the relearning I had to do about uploading and editing photos from an actual, real camera instead of doing everything from my phone. Hopefully it will not be as long between posts and I'll get the hang of this blogging thing again.The old blog certainly needs a makeover, but good gracious, the thought of that is down right frightening. Maybe when I run out of things to paint around here. Ha ha, like that's going to happen. 

BTW, I found I have a difficult time typing and  not using emojis. Surely that's possible, right? Using emojis from my lapto? I'm finding myself in need of a smiley face.  I'm so un-techy. 

Mark one off

One of my half-done projects is finished.

I think she's pretty hot if I do say so myself, with her sexy curves. 

This was my Granny's chair. I have no idea how old she is,but I'm guessing at least sixty.

I had her professionally reupholstered a couple of years ago for Alyssa.

See her there in the background? Only before shot I could find.

I really debated on whether or not to paint the wood.

I usually have no qualms about painting wood, but since she was my Granny's I went back and forth before deciding that in order for her to really shine, she should be white.

The wood just blends in with my floor and it was not in the best shape anyway.

I was a little disappointed by the job the upholsterer had done. I mean the work itself was fine, but instead of using cording made from the upholstery fabric to trim the edges, he used matching gimp.

It looked OK, just not what I expected, for what I paid.

I made double welt cording and think it looks a little more finished this way.

I took a few photos of the process, but I am in no way qualified to write a tutorial on upholstery.

Every piece of furniture is different. For this particular gal, the worst part was removing the old fabric. Holy staples Batman. To say I removed ten billion staples is no exaggeration. Well, maybe a tad, but no less than several hundred.

Can you see all those staples?  They were in deep too. I couldn't get a flat head screwdriver under there to pry them out.

I have this pointy, poke-your-eye-out-if-you-aren't-careful thingy.

That did the trick.

I wrapped some tape around all but the tip so it didn't dent the wood.

 

Once all those staples were out, I just cleaned and sprayed the wood.

I kept the batting underneath, because it was only a couple of years old. I just taped the edges to keep it away from the frame.

The rest was pretty easy in comparison to pulling out all those staples.

Just staple on fabric in the reverse order it came off.

There are a variety of methods for making double welt cording.

I don't have a special double cording foot or even double cording. I use my zipper foot and regular cording.

Measure what you need for your project and cut strips of fabric 2 inches wide.

 For this, I cut the fabric straight across the width from selvedge to selvedge instead of cutting the fabric on the bias.

I sewed the strips from end to end, at an angle- sorry, no photo of that step.
Now that you have a long strip of fabric, take it to the machine. Wrap it around far enough to cover the cording and using  your zipper foot sew very close to the cording.

Sew to the end or your fabric.

Lay a second piece of cording up next to the first one. Snuggle it in close, but not too close. You want enough room to sew down the center. Not too much room. Just a little. How technical is that?

Sew down the center of the little valley between the two pieces of cording.

 Trim away any excess fabric from the seam, so that it doesn't show from the front.

Glue that baby down with hot glue and your friends will be very impressed.

Glad to have one thing marked off my list. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some pillows to make.

Here's one more look at my sexy girl. You can stare at her curves if you want. She doesn't mind.

 

 

I'll be sharing this at the following link parties. Check them out for some great inspiration.

 

The post where I let you into my crazy little world.

You've been warned.

This post will be long and rambling and will in no way contribute to making the world a better place or make you any smarter. If you have a few minutes of your life you don't mind wasting, stick around. If not, I certainly understand.

Where to begin... Remember last year, not even last year actually, it was several months ago. I found a table and chairs on Craigslist for fifty bucks. Remember how I droned on about it for several posts? Here,  here, here and here. How I sanded and stained and painted and stripped and on and on, bladi bla bla bla.....Remember? Yea, well I bought another table a couple of weeks ago and guess what? I fell into the rabbit hole again. The amateur who thinks she knows a little something but really knows very little about furniture restoration rabbit hole.

I happened upon a table for $48.00 at my favorite thrift store. I wasn't in the market for a table, per say. I was just never completely satisfied with the last table. I was going for farm house and ended up with beach cottage. If I had a beach cottage, I'd put this table in it.

Anyway, this is already way, way too wordy. How about some pictures?

So I bought this table. I loved the legs and the top had promise. The previous owners had started working on her. The top was partially stripped and had been sanded with an orbital sander. She had swirly marks all over her.  To get rid of the swirls, I had to sand. And sand. Then I had to sand some more.

Once I had her smooth as a baby's behind, I applied a stain made by soaking steel wool in vinegar. It's more of a science experiment than a stain actually.

I was singing and dancing and loving it. All was good.

 

I was writing blog posts in my head about how fabulously beautiful my new old table was.

I wiped on some Howard's feed n wax and danced a little more. I was pretty sure I heard angels singing. I was in love.

But I'm a fickle girl. What can I say. What feels like love one day, the next... not so much. It was just a crush. In the light of day, I saw splotchiness that as much as I tried to call patina, I just couldn't get past. It looked like a half a**ed job and after spending so many hours sanding, I couldn't settle for what looked hastily done.

I think the problem was wood filler. See those lighter areas in the photo above? Well they were all over the table. What the heck? My next door neighbor/cousin came over to ridicule jokingly ask hadn't I distressed that table enough. His somewhat expert opinion was that a wood filler had been used in the manufacturing process to smooth the grain of the table. A made in China sticker on the underside led me to believe that perhaps my lovely table was not a hand made antique.  The vinegar stain works by reacting with the tannins in the wood, it didn't affect the wood filler, and left me with a splotchy mess. I wanted age and patina, but this wasn't what I had in mind.

At that point I fell to the ground and cried Why? Why can't I love you table? I've invested so much time in our relationship. I've sanded my fingers down to nubs. I want so much to love you, I do. It's not you, it's me.

So, I sanded her down. Again.

Opps, there I go getting all wordy. 

I sanded, stained, applied 2 coats of satin finish poly and a coat of minwax furniture paste wax.

And I decided to proceded with caution. I thought I could love her, but know my track record too well.

The top looked good. Really good. But then I had to do something about those legs. Those beautiful legs.

Oh my goodness, I'm over six hundred words into this post and I still have to talk about the legs.

It's late, I don't have it in me. I'm not being cruel and dragging it out just to get you to come back. Really it is late. I'll leave you with a photo of the table in the house, but just know, there are more chapters to be written before I can call this a love story.

It's no use crying over spilled...

Hot Chocolate?  I knocked over a full cup of hot chocolate a couple of weeks ago. A cocoa volcano erupted all over this chair. I don't think I ever got around to blogging about her latest re-do. I've painted and recovered the old girl no less than 72 times. Well, maybe a few less than 72 but definitely no less than 6. The latest look, the one before her current look was made from a walmart clearance shower curtain. I used the same fabric, to make drapes for the dining room, but that's getting off topic. Oh well, since I mentioned it, here they are.

This photo doesn't show it, but the shower curtain wasn't long enough, so I stitched a solid gray band to the bottom. Not sure I love them. The vertical stripes get lost. I'm thinking I'll get some white fabric and paint horizontal stripes. I saw it done but didn't bookmark the site. Pre pinterest days. If you are reading this and you painted horizontal stripes on fabric to make curtains, please stand up.

OK, back to the chair. It was a hot mess. Literally. I would have been really upset if I had paid someone to cover it, but since I did the work and used clearance fabric, it was no biggie. I made one, I could make another. 

I dug around in my fabric stash and decided to go with a solid dark gray with cream piping.

I made double welt cording for the first time thanks to this helpful tutorial.   I used it around the back cushion and around the back of the chair. It's a little wonky here and  there, but not so much I want to rip it off and start over.

I think she's pretty sassy with her ruffly new dress. Don't you?

 

I'll be linking at some fun parties, check em out.

 

 

Wax on. Wax off...

Let me present to you for the second time, my new old table. I have put more time and energy into this second hand hunk of wood than anyone with a lick of sense should. I never said I had a lick of sense though, so there you go.  (I hope y'all can understand me when I speak southern)

 

This time around, I first stripped off the polyurethane using this. Worked great and took about 45 minutes to completely strip several layers of poly. I then gave it a good cleaning with lacquer thinner. The next morning I sanded it using my mouse sander beginning with a medium grit paper and finishing with a fine grit. I didn't take all the stain off, just the poly. My initial plan was just to seal the wood using a sanding sealer and then apply paste wax to protect. I wanted to retain a weathered look and wanted very little, if any sheen. Once I coated it with the sanding sealer, the different colors in the wood popped out. The dark tones were especially pronounced. It looked pretty, but not what I wanted. So this morning I mixed equal parts of white paint and untinted latex glaze. I added a bit of dark gray paint (a tiny bit) and then added some water.  How do you like that scientific recipe? It was a very thin consistency. Then I just went to town on the table using a dry brush technique. Just dab a bit of paint on your brush and wipe most of it back off on a paper towel. Go over the surface with light pressure with very thin layers of paint.  I wiped over lightly with a paper towel to smooth out any obvious brush strokes. Once I was happy with the coverage, I let it dry for about 45 minutes in the sun.  For protection I coated it with two layers of Minwax Paste Wax.  It gives it a slight sheen, but more than that, it gives depth to all the layers of paint and it allows for easy clean-up. Hopefully, it will hold up better than the polyurethane did. If not, it may become firewood.

 

 

A bit of this and that

I've been stripping again, and unfortunately, no twenty dollar bills were slipped in the waist band of my granny panties while I was at it.

The table from hell strikes again! The polyurethane topcoat didn't harden (I"m sure the 90% humidity had nothing to do with it) and scratched if you looked at it. No joke, I could scratch it off with my fingernail. I didn't get too upset, because truth be told, I wasn't completely in love with it anyway. Am I fickle or what?

I am ready for autumn. I love summer and am so glad we were able to slip in a late beach trip last week. But I'm over it. Enough summer. Enough humidity. Enough 90+ degree weather.

 

 

We had a great time. It was as bright and sunny as any time I've been in July. I loved it, but fickle me says be gone summer.  95 degrees in late September is just wrong.

One more random unrelated bit. I hit a few thrift stores this week and found some goodies. I always look for white dishes and this was my lucky day.

I also picked up this lamp.

Not too cute in this state, but it will look quite handsome orange. ORANGE? Did I just say orange? Yep, and I'm not talking about halloween decor. I'm thinking my guest room would like a pop of color. A little something like this.

(image credit)

I'd say that's enough random jabber for one day. Have a lovely weekend folks! I may be back later to share the progress of my stripping. Completely G rated, I promise!

Is it any wonder I have paint in my hair?

It has long been said I'd paint anything that doesn't move. This week, I may have painted a moving thing or two, if it happened to get in my way.

Since I last posted, I have painted~

the hall (white)

one chair (gray)

one coffee table (creamy white)

one  buffet/tv cabinet (duck egg blue/green)

one dresser  (pale gray)

one hutch (pale gray)

one chandelier (not quite finished with this one but I'm going for a chalky zinc look)

Speaking of chandeliers, did you notice the birdcage light up there?  I had a birdcage. I wanted a new light for the newly painted hall. A pendant light kit from Lowes, and a little wire and I came up with a super easy, pretty darn cute light for my hall for under twenty dollars. 

I'll post with more details later. I need to go wash some paint out of my hair, and off my toes. And elbows. I'm a messy painter.

You can click the collage if you want to see it larger

Vinegar and Rusty Metal

Oh my goodness, not another post on that ugly craigslist table and chairs!! I bet that's what you're thinking. Sorry. Yes, it is yet another post on what I've affectionately been calling the table and chairs from hell.  It's almost embarrassing how much work I've put into this quick little make-over.  Who am I kidding, almost embarrassing? It is down-right embarrassing. In fact, I had a whole post written detailing all the steps I've taken (forward and backward) but I couldn't possibly put you through all that. Suffice it to say, I could have made over at least three table and chair sets in the time I've spent on this one. Ugggg! And you know what? I'm still not completely finished. I gave it what I hope is a final coat of poly tonight. 

What about that lovely photo up there, what's that? It is steel wool soaked in vinegar. I read about it here after googling ways to replicate the look of aged wood on a farm table. This was after my attempt at a light driftwood-look failed.  I declared it a failure only after applying several coats of this. No problem. At this point I'm an excellent stripper.  (imagine the disappointment that comment will cause some google-searchers when they find themselves here. Hee-hee) Once the first failed finish was removed and sanded, and sanded, I applied a dark wood stain.  I can't begin to tell you how bad it looked. Really, really B.A.D. I've since read that pine, (I'm thinking the table top is pine) tends not to take stain evenly.  That would be an understatement. I also read the squiggly marks you can get from using a power sander are amplified when stain is applied. Understatement number two. The only good thing I can say is that at least I had not applied a top coat before deciding the dark stain was not working. Back to my google search and Sheena's lovely farm table.  I loved the way her table turned out and hoped I could get similar results, and at this point, what have I got to lose? Apparently, I've already lost my marbles.  

Guess what? It worked. It went on evenly and gave the table top a gray weathered appearance. It was a happy moment. I may have cried a little, or it could have just been sweat. Geez, it's hot in North Carolina in August!

These photos do not at all give you a true representation of the color, but you can see how evenly the rusty vinegar stained the wood. It was a cheap, stinky thing of beauty and this made me exceedingly happy. I may have danced a little.  This time to seal the top I used  this, because I had a full can and wasn't about to spend another cent on this project from you know where.  Like Sheena shared about her table, some of the gray color is lost once the top-coat is applied. Also, it got a lot darker. Much more than I expected, but at this point, I'm fine with it. In fact, I think it will be a nice contrast to the blue chairs. I'm so ready to call this project complete.  Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of the finished project.  Make that later today since it's after midnight now. Why am I not in bed, clearly I need all the beauty rest I can get.  Good night friends.