The Table Saga Wraps Up

YOU GUYS. The table is finally done. I started working on it September when I got my hands on some awesome reclaimed redwood (as in, I claimed it after someone else was finished and sending it to the dump...that's "reclaimed," right?) and posted about my progress clear back in November. Then there's been work travel and holiday travel and a lot of life that's been covered, and I've just worked on it in bits and pieces. But now, it's finally finished!

Well, not literally finished. It's complete for now, but I need to pick a finish and apply that. I've been thinking about it and will probably work on the finishing process over the summer. At the moment, the arches and vertical/horizontal supports along the post are just lightly tacked in with finish nails. When I'm ready to stain and finish, I'll sand and glue those pieces in place.

In the meantime, I don't know if I'm happier to have it finished and in place, or that I could finally put away the tools I've had cluttering the kitchen for the last three and a half weeks. Now I just need to snag the two brown leather tufted-back wing chairs I'm envisioning in here, and the kitchen will be nearly wrapped up.

Recognizably close to the inspiration piece, huh?

The Table

I'm sure you thought of little else since I last posted about the reclaimed wood I acquired back in ...ugh...September. Frankly, it's been taking up a decent about of my headspace too. Anyway, I'm not done yet with what I'm making, but it's far enough long as of last night that I wanted to blog it. I'm fairly confident in saying that this is the most badass thing I've built so far. It is looking really legit, and I think after I finish it, I'll no longer feel slightly fraudulent when people ask what I do for fun and I say "I build furniture."

Here's my "inspiration" piece (that's what cheapskates DIYers call furniture they really like but that costs way too much so they hack something similar together).

It's from Restoration Hardware and is about $1100. Don't tell Todd, but I would have almost definitely bought this table if they'd had it in the right size, but the 48-inch smallest size they had was way too big for our space, so custom was the way to go. 

I've acquired all of the wood I used so far for free, so it's perhaps not quite as perfect as I would like, but considering that I have been after it for over two months now (including "milling" a decent amount of the wood myself) I'm feeling pretty satisfied with the results. 

This is the base. The arches will be glued together and finished so they look like a single solid piece of wood. I, being literally unable to add accurately, cut twice as many as I needed, which annoyed me for two reasons: 

1. I really liked that wood and didn't have much extra and used all of my supply on unnecessary arches

2. Cutting arches accurately with a jigsaw is kind of a time-consuming activity, so I got to spend a bunch of time on something I didn't want to do in the first place. This is why they tell you math is important in school :/

The top was the first part I put together about a month and a half ago using these seriously heavy-duty pipe clamps. I had the pipe lying around from a failed project two and a half years ago, and it wasn't cheap so I just kept it and figured eventually I'd come up with something to use them for. Packratting almost always pays off. The clamps (the red parts) were maybe $15 for both.

I edge glued and used my Kreg Jig to put pocket holes across the whole underside of it, then cut out the circle with my jigsaw. Still a bit of cleanup to do on the edges. I haven't decided if I'm going to use some homemade edgebanding to finish the edges or leave them raw. They glued up nicely and look awesome from the side...so, we'll see.

This was my first "dry run" last night. Looks pretty level! The arches and supports on the base will be the same at the top as the bottom, just like the RH image.

 And a bit closer so you can see the detail a little more.

Now I'm puzzling over how I want to attach the whole thing. I'd like for it to come apart so we can move it at some point if needed, but I haven't yet figured out how to make it totally sturdy and stable without gluing and at least few screws (invisible, obv) and if I glue it...well...wood glue doesn't exactly come apart super well. The challenge gives me something to think about while I'm falling asleep at night, though, so it's an ok problem to have. 

Lastly, one other note from the garage: we installed this tire rack last month. I have snow tires and regular tires. Always having an extra set of SUV tires around the garage gets cluttery, so I was pretty jazzed to discover that they make racks for tires to get them off the floor. This was another step toward getting the garage cleaned up and possibly to the point where we can put a car in there. A month later, I can report that the tires haven't fallen off the wall yet. Wahoo!

Pool shack, patio projects and curtains

It's that time of year...the time when I turn my attentions outside and start doing all sorts of outside projects. Like spray painting pineapples on outdoor end tables. These turned out pretty well, although my stencil work was kind of sloppy. Sharp edges are hard :/

On my time off last week I built this table for the pool shack. I adore my Kreg Jig. The top and shelf are "salvaged" cedar. Does it count as salvaged if your neighbors call and offer you their old fence and pile it in your garden utility area and you use it several years later? I say yes.

I was on the fence (heh) about whether to stain it or just leave it natural and opted for the later for now. Can always go for stain later if I want. Pressure treated legs should last a good long time.

 So now this is what it looks like...

 Pretty good from where it started before I cleaned and vacuumed and cute-d it up! The pool shack is much less "scary" than it was before. (My dad referred to it as scary. Fair enough. There were a lot of spiders.)

Additionally, I added some additional fabric to the curtains my mom made for our Pasadena apartment years ago. They're the striped part on top. I also re-hung the rod so it's closer to the ceiling. Additional height really opens up the room.

The fabric is what I upholstered the ottoman with. It doesn't really look all that great in the pictures, but the extra seam isn't noticeable in person and they're much more billowy and full looking. It ended up being a bit of a time-consuming project, which involved an unplanned visit to Joann's for thread, but I'm glad it's now done and the curtains are back in place.

 Lastly, tune in next time for what I did to this table (it was much less pleasant in real life than this picture might lead one to believe).

Holes in the Walls

First, my big-ish project. See that mirror? I built the frame :) I finally (embarrassingly) got around to watching a video on how to properly use my Kreg Jig that I got a couple years ago and discovered (rediscovered, because I haven't built anything in quite a while) how ridiculously easy it is. I should take some close-ups, but that frame is perfectly square, level and sturdy. My skills are improving. Also, the mirror has been in there for over 24 hours, which is my "we're safe, project isn't going to fall apart very loudly."

The mirror was from the upstairs bathroom and it measures 29 7/8" wide and 60" tall. Pretty good size. I was originally going to frame it in 2x8s, but I couldn't find kiln-dried ones at Lowe's or HD, so decided on 1x8s. More expensive, but resulted in a somewhat lighter piece. Anyway, I LOVE it, Todd is tolerating it, and hopefully it will reflect more light into our rather dark living room.

This was my b-day present from Todd. It's a super-awesome mini drill. It came with two batteries (!!!) and is extra torque-y. I love it. It's not as torque-y as my electric drill, but they each serve different purposes. Plus, more portable. My other cordless drill Dad gave me in college finally bit the dust, after about 5 years of the battery being left on the charger 24/7 because otherwise it was always dead, and it's just easier to do stuff if you have two drills going. (One for pilot holes, one for screwing stuff in. Obv.)

This was a b-day present to myself. (Not the bucket.) It's a Bucket Jockey and it holds my tools portably so now I don't have to leave a trail of screwdrivers and drill bits and other stuff through the house when I'm working on projects. It has TONS of nifty little pockets and compartments and a holster for my drill and spots for bits and pencils and tools and earmuffs and and AND... I love it.

What post about putting holes in walls would be complete if I didn't include at least one unnecessary hole? (Answer: You'd know I wasn't the one doing the drilling if that was the case.) Anyway, someone was industriously hanging keyhooks and neglected to consider how there's not only a 3-inch drop from the screw to the bottom of the hook, but keys also hang down from the lowest point below the screw. Anyway, you can see how the hole in the middle of the two hooks, which I'd planned on hanging the lower hook, was way too high to not have the top hook's keys overlapping. That probably makes no sense. It all resulted in me having to pry an anchor out of the wall, so at least it was fun...

This is what I've got going on top of the "china hut" these days. It's a moss ball in a terrarium on top of a vintage suitcase acquired from my grandparents' basement, next to that orange thing that I love but can never seem to find a home for. This still looks disjointed to me and obviously the photography is top-notch, but one step at a time.

 This is the other moss ball I made earlier in the month with my pickings from the woods on the way home from Bend. It lives in the cloche (below). I used a mix of moss varieties for this one; some hunks even have a bit of lichen still growing. I didn't mess with the ones of the picture at all. It's really that intensely green. UH-mazing.

Here it is in its home on the dining room table. I let it breathe once a week or so and give it a good soak in the kitchen sink every few weeks. We'll see how long it and its friend last, considering I re-used wet floral foam that had dried out, and you're not really supposed to do that. What can I say? I live on the edge.

So anyway, that's what's new. 

Closet Organization: They Don't Call It Labor Day fer Nuthin

I've had a vision that plagues me, every night when I go to bed and every morning when I wake up. A vision of a closet that's not full of stupidly wasted space. Instead, this is what I see:

It drove me nuts. UNTIL. I woke up last Saturday morning and decided this was the day. I'd been hatching a plan for better using the space in the closet, with its one dumb pole and skinny shelf that was making my leather bags droop.

As closets go, it's not that bad for its era (predating the master suite with walk-in, unfortunately for me and my herd of Coach, Minkoff and Rowley). It fits most of what we need to stuff into a closet, and I have an extra closet in my office that is a walk-in for overflow and formal clothes we don't use very often. There's also a row of cabinets (pictured below), in which we store out-of-season clothes--basically an entire wall of storage. But still, I hate wasted space, so I assembled my team:

• Super Wonderbar
• Hammer
• Ear muffs
• Assorted painting supplies
• Drill
• Faux Dremel Multimax (from Harbor Freight)

And went to work on the closet. Demo was pretty simple...

Although removing the two-inch nails that secured the shelf support to the wall left a number of these. Love working on a house with plaster walls. I wasn't anticipating having to spackle a bunch of holes...

...before glooping on a couple coats of paint to cover the unpainted strip the shelf support was concealing. Oh well. I managed to get two coats of paint on thick enough that I didn't need to do more, using perhaps the worst painting technique I have ever executed. (For those late to the game, this room took tinted primer plus four coats of blue for the mesmerizing cobalt you see here.) It involved a hack saw, a mini roller and the paint can. No tray. I'll let you wonder about that one.

Anyway. The weekend was a blur of touchup paint, rather unsuccessfully priming and painting the melamine panel that now divides the shelving from the poles (stupid primer said no sanding, but I should have known better than to believe it), LOTS of measuring repeatedly and an equal amount of leveling and adjusting.

Most of the materials used are from Lowe's, HD and Builder's Bargain, the motto of which I have mentioned before: "B-grade building materials may not meet code." How could you not love a place with that kind of winning marketing? However, four pieces of material were from somewhere much more interesting. The shelves were, in a former life, our kitchen cabinet doors. They had a lot going for them in terms of shelving.

• already painted
• flat and not warped, and already acclimated to the house so shouldn't warp in the future
• kitchen to be demoed soon anyway
• removing doors makes things a lot easier to find in kitchen
• very sturdy (3/4"-thick plywood)
• FREE.

It took me most of the weekend on and off, but we now have a closet that makes maximum use of the space and features mostly level shelving and poles. (The top pole slopes down to the left.) There's even extra space for hanging bulky stuff like hoodies that we'd both wadded up and stuffed in our dressers.

Now I can enjoy my pre-sleep and coming-to moments in peace, instead of being jarred by an unthoughtfully designed closet.

Next in the crosshairs: that alcove above Todd's built-in dresser. The only thing I've done to it is removed the wallpaper, and it's looked really pretty crummy since I did that four and a half years ago. Also, curtains or doors or something. Probably curtains.

Project Report

I've had a few projects in the hopper for the downstairs bathroom the last couple of weekends. Of course, we painted it white a few weeks after we moved back. The ice blue had lost its appeal for both of us, plus the crown and ceiling had always needed at least one more coat of paint, so we did it all one color (Behr Swiss Coffee in semigloss). Minimized taping, which was great.

Unfortunately, the paint ended up really gloppy and drippy and kind of looks awful in spots. I haven't yet tried fixing it. I have, however, tried distracting from it. So far, it's working! Here's what it looked like before...

and after. Much better. I haven't finalized the shelves, still messing with styling and art and whatnot, but love the distraction from the crapped up paint. But wait, it gets even better than that... 

 Because here's another before...

And after! (I pulled down the sconces to paint them. Don't worry, they'll be back soon for more pictures.) Mirror is framed!

 In the process of that project, we discovered that our bathroom wall curves in as it goes up. You can see it if you look closely on the left side of the mirror. This makes it extremely difficult to hang a frame so it looks level. Even when it is level, it looks a bit wonky. Seven unnecessary holes in the wall later, voila. 

My original plan of staining ended up not working, when the wood filler I got stained a very different color from the wood, and then the wood took the stain unevenly. Top and bottom were different shades than the sides. I sprayed it brown and then used some blackish glaze so it didn't look like my mirror was framed with Hershey bars. It actually blends unbelievably well with the walnut from the vanity. I wish I was talented enough to plan these sorts of things, but it was a happy coincidence. 

There's another project I finished, oh, probably two months ago now: the headboard. I upholstered one for our house in Bend in navy blue canvas, and it worked really well in our oatmeal-colored room. Here, not so much. Plus almost as soon as I finished that one, I realized I love tufting and should have done that. 

 So I did. This was not a super-fun project. It was hot upstairs. I went the nuts and bolts route, which meant very sore fingers for jamming 57 bolts through 57 holes and screwing on 57 nuts. But I'm really happy with it. Not a perfect tufting job, but for a first try, not too bad.

 I'm still working on figuring out what to hang above the bed for art. Thinking maybe five or six square frames with TBD images. Also still trying to figure out what to do about bedding. The navy blanket is functional, but we're kind of feeling some yellow and orange as accents. I've been into quatrefoil and trellis patterns for a while, but haven't found anything yet I want to invest in.

 The lamp on the dresser is going to get switched out eventually, once I find something else. In that corner on the right of the image above, I've ordered...ugh...I can't even believe I'm saying this...a fake palm tree.

 I've killed one palm tree so far, and have another that's not hanging on by much in rehab out on the patio. Steady diet of sunshine and Miracle Grow is doing it wonders. Anyway, the corner needs some greenery. The room's not quite big enough to hang art on every wall; it just gets too cluttered. We both like the palm tree, but not the investment of buying a new one every three months. Hopefully this doesn't look like complete crap. I'll report back soon.

Lastly, for the bedroom roundup, are the Ikea Ritva curtains from a month or two ago. You can see them better a few pictures back, but this gives a better sense of their length. Like, 105 inches or something for a very reasonable $60. Awesome. Our ceilings are 98 inches, so no standard curtains now that I've adopted the high-n-wide method of hanging. It really classes up the room.

Surprisingly, they're linen and rather lovely. They diffuse the light nicely in the morning without making it darker than it is already (the blue absorbs a lot of light). Oh, one other thing... THE FLOORS. We had the floors finished in the bedroom and it looks great. Once the kitchen/laundry room are done, it'll be all wood downstairs, except for marble in the bathroom). Three different kinds of wood, but still.

And tomorrow, the tree guys come. We're sad to be losing the oak on the left, one of the two large branches of which is rotted. The guy said, "it could be like this for another 40 years, or it could fall on your house tomorrow." We decided against taking our changes, but cutting down a big tree is pretty much always sad.

Unless it's a stupid magnolia (right) that drops leaves every day of the year, smothers flower beds and craps up the pool. Then you can't get rid of it fast enough.

Trimming trees is decidedly not among the more fun ways I've come up with to spend a couple grand, so I'm hoping that all the other trees look really good after they've been shaped up. We have five other huge old oaks, a large cedar, another magnolia in the front and a mimosa. And some weird tree we don't know the name of, also in front. They're all getting ridiculously long-overdue haircuts tomorrow. Progress :)

Reincarnation of the picnic table

New cedar and a coat of deck stain. The patio is looking spiffier by the day!

The Reveal.

Well, dear readers, I am overjoyed to present you with pictures of my ottoman. Yesterday evening, after a grueling 4.5 hours upholstering and batting(ing?), I, with the invaluable help of my sidekick Todd, affixed the final screws on the hinges and flipped it over to have a look:

I am pretty much beside myself with how great it came out. (For those just joining us on this post, I built the frame, cut and stained the legs, cut the foam, etc.) I sat and stared at it for a while last night, basking in the satisfaction of a project carefully planned and methodically completed. If you haven't seen some of my previous projects (pre-house) you're not aware of my tendency to rush through things and end up with a product that's more, shall we say, abstract, than actually functional.

Knowing that, I worked really hard to go slow and be careful, and it totally paid off. I think this is my best, most-purchased-looking piece yet! All told, materials were a little more than $70 (I had to buy a coupler to hook up the staple gun to the air compressor) and I estimate my time spent to be in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 hours. So while $400 still seems excessive to me (especially now that I proved my theory of "hey...I could build that") it does make sense, I guess.

Now, if only I could build something to clean the kitchen (for the third time in the course of this project)...

Here are a few more pictures:

Also, I love staple guns. What a brilliant invention.

Eat your heart out, BHG!

I got irritated this afternoon, coming home with some extra toilet cleaner and light bulbs, with the state of disarray our 2'x3' hall closet was in. I am among what I believe is a significant portion of women who have almost the same reaction to a magazine-caliber organized closet as they would to someone offering them a week in Aruba. I'm 95% sure I'd take the closet over the trip. Sadly, this is what my little closet looked like:

I love the efficiency of this closet: putting an outlet in it was one of the few bright things the builders of our house did. It's also fairly centrally located, providing a nice space to stash bathroom cleaning supplies, a dust cloth (just to the right is the living room) and a broom. I had added hooks a while ago, just to get some stuff off the floor, but there was (and still is) a LOT of underutilized space.

After observing this, I did what any reasonable person would do. I got out the jigsaw and went to take stock of my building supplies in the garage. After coming up with some leftover casing (trim) and a piece of plywood, I measured, cut, painted and installed. An hour and fifteen minutes later, BAM!

Closet 2.0. I made a third shelf, but I haven't decided whether to install it yet or not. Probably yes, but we'll see.

Freeing myself from the tyrannical prices of corporate, mass-produced furniture

My latest project has been constructing an ottoman for my office, since I spend a fair amount of time working on the couch. The ones I like tend to be in the hundreds of dollars, like this one from the Pottery Barn ($399)...

which is so not in my budget right now, so I carefully studied the construction of some upholstered benches and ottomans at TJ Maxx, did a little research online, and concluded that I could build my own. I wanted something that had longer legs, rather than bun feet, to avoid taking up tons of visual space with a big upholstered block. I also wanted storage space, because I am constantly tripping over my cell charger, almost sitting on the laptop and pushing piles of magazines and documents around the floor. The PB ottoman above isn't a storage ottoman, so mine's even better!

I had to flip the picture around because the box is upside down on the table right now. First, I built a frame that's 30"x24"x5". This is a rather large ottoman, by the way. Somewhat larger than what I'd envisioned, but anyway... I used a piece of 1/2" plywood that was kicking around the garage as the box top and some cabinet hinges to make the top lift nicely. The kitchen was a disaster of epic proportions when I finally went about cleaning up last weekend. Almost every surface was covered in a fine layer of sawdust from all the cutting, trimming and sanding.

The legs were a real pain. As I was inspecting the only legs at Home Depot had (square with a bolt sticking out one end, for $3 each, plus hardware to attach them) it hit me--"Why can't I make my own!?" Duh. So I bought a three-foot-long piece of 2"x2" poplar and some screws and called my neighbor to offer him the opportunity to cut his fingers off working on my project, in exchange for a brownie. He agreed (he likes brownies) and shaved a bit off each leg (thankfully no fingers were lost or otherwise damaged during this part of the project). This is what one of the pieces of wood looked like, pre-cut. I tested some stain on it, hence the color at the top.

I then sanded, cleaned with mineral spirits, stained and applied two coats of polyurethane (sanding with a 00 steel wool between coats) to the legs. I am really pleased with how they came out.

Foam is pretty expensive and I was worried I was going to have to shell out $35+shipping for a custom-made cushion, but I got a tip about a guy in Medford who replaces couch cushions, and he gave me some used but good-condition cushions, which also had batting attached, so that took a good chunk out of my costs.

Lastly, I had to find the perfect upholstery. I spent hours searching for nautical fabric and found very little that wasn't cheesy or mind-bogglingly expensive before I came across this

on eBay, which was PERFECT. This is the one part of the project where I did bite the bullet and cough up the $40 (with shipping) for 4 1/4 yards (not a terrible price).

So, all in all, here's my list of materials and prices...

wood and hinges for frame: $12

wood and special screws for legs: $6

stain for legs: $6.50

cheap throwaway brushes for stain/poly: $1.25

fabric: $40

steel wool: $1.59

screws, polyurethane, foam, batting, plywood for top, mineral spirits, old rags: free, mostly leftover from other projects.

=67.34...which is a little more than I was expecting

but I'm going to love it when it's done (and Todd will love not stumbling over wires and having the kitchen smell like chemicals).

I also painted that cute little table black, and am formulating plans of copying the design and making some things like it. Jigsaws are great tools.

For the record, I am eagerly anticipating the day when I get to re-upholster the pink wing chair (pictured in the left corner). I have several pieces of navy blue and white corduroy, so the chair will be mostly navy with a white back, and possibly white wings. I learned my lesson about white furniture in our apartment...it's just not a good thing for someone as neurotic as me.

OOH....one more thing...I saw one of these canisters at TJ Maxx (yes, I do spend a lot of time there; it's among the only decent stores in this town) before Christmas, and neglected to follow my motto ("If in doubt, buy and return") and of course it was gone the next time I checked.

Well, they got another shipment and I snapped one up immediately. I think it's maybe for holding umbrellas, but it makes a nice plant stand too. I still have to paint the little platform I made for the top.