Wood working: February 2014

Monday, February 24, 2014

WEATHERED WHITE WASH LINK silvered console

This chandelier was a donation from someone hoping I could do some magic with it.

It is in quite bad repair, bent metal, frayed wires, and rusty bits yet has a certain appeal.

Shortly after it came home and I sprayed it down with the garden hose I knew I wanted to

use it in styling a photo.

This whole console was painted in layers. My focus through winter has been to play

with my paint finishes more and Im having fun doing it, sort of. Finding the right balance

of color to enhance shape and technics to achieve age arent always easy.

Besides I just dont have the space to do

all the demo and rebuilt I like to in my little back room.

I sprayed the entire table in FRENCH LINEN. Its a strong grey with just a hint of green.

I then brush painted the base and column legs in OLD WHITE

before distressed it back to the FRENCH LINEN and the darker wood underneath.

The top was the fun part and it is actually darker in person than these photos!

I worked with streaking white and grey and dark wax

over and over until I got a natural sun weathered warn board look.

I do have a popular tutorial on achieving a similar weathered white wash finish here.

Its an older post using primer but there are some valuable tips that can be applied to

similar applications.

Here is the before and after photos ...

MYSTERY REDO cabinet

I lost my comments box on 2 posts earlier this week due to a new feature added by blogger.

I`ve been running around doing some fixes and now they are back.

Truth is I am very sad I missed out on all those comments so I have re posted

both write ups: the pink chandelier and our snow pictures so ppl can comment in the future.

Now for todays mystery ...

This is a redo of a redo, maybe those of you who have been here before

can guess which one it is before we get to the end?

She did not sell in her first disguise but she has done her fair share

of being used for different displays.

Everyone who met her always touched her and commented on her beauty.

She use to have a silky smooth bright finish but now

Ive added an aged feel to her dress.

Shes the same girl on the inside just with a new do!

Any guesses yet?

I created new curves and new shapes with some picture molding and

some creative placement of two broken chair arms.

I cut out the front panels and removed the glass doors.

New paint color and finish, creative hardware mixing and matching

with appliques, shes a made over woman.

Its my original sleeping beauty makeover that can be seen here.

I even tried to find the space to keep her, like I magically found a new room or something.

Perfect for a nursery or girls room.

Heaven forbid some of you ladies would love it in your own boudoir.

Sharing at:

ARLENEs bedside cabinets

These bedside tables are going on my list of all time favorite redos.

Ive been on a mission to find bedside tables to work with, I didnt realize I had to go to Mission to

find them. Mission is a town about 40 minutes away from us and we just dont get over there enough.

George stopped in to this tiny out of the way thrift store called Arlenes.

We got to know the owner of this charming shop at the auction we all used to attend.

Sounds like she has had to make the decision to close her doors in a month.

We will be stopping in there this Saturday with our next scheduled THRIFT SHOP HOP.

Anyone interested in joining us for the day send me a email ASAP for details.

driftwoodesign@shaw.ca

I was able to coordinate the circle motif in the bottom applique all the way up through

to the drawer handles, using some of my favorite antique hardware pieces.

I finally got to use my tiny set of legs that cost me a fortune

and the perfect sized yard sale kitchen cabinet doors.

They have been painted in Old White, distressed, and waxed.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

BITS AND PIECES nightstand cabinet details

I get a large amount of comments suggesting

I must have the vision of each project in my head before I start.

This is NOT the case.

When I am in the mits of a building project there is a lot of sitting around and staring.

That doesnt sound quite right does it?

I sit back and look at what I have chosen to work with that day.

I look at each line, surface, and element on its own.

I suppose it is really shapes I see it my head.

How I want the shapes to be and figure out what I might have to create that look.

I started this project knowing I wanted the open space in the nightstands to have doors.

So off I go searching with a tape measure looking for something that might work.

What I found was the sliding panels that use to be part of this bookshelf,

but I used them sideways from their original install.

Yes ... thats the same shelf I showed you yesterday.

Told you then it was a long story.

Now that I had fun and interesting doors I had to trim

the boring flat drawer faces to have more character.

I have used this same trim on several different projects.

You can see another set of drawers I used it on here

and my bucket of it here.

With the original decoration on the door it only made sense

to mimic the look on the drawer face with the same shape, so I added the oval pull.

Im off to paint another bathroom vanity today so when I can find a bit more

time I will talk about more elements of the process and this cabinet.

Id love it if you would all stop into the Customers page

and take a peek at the newest photo and comment regarding their new vanity.

Carved Buffet in Milk Paint

Another Milk Paint saga! This little buffet was the guinea pig for my 3rd trial at milk paint!

The Real Milk Paint co. had sent me some colors in Peacock Blue and Black.

Since I'm redoing my living room in grays, teals and blue-gray, I thought I would try out the peacock blue, which is really a dark greenish teal. I decided to mix peacock and that really

intense cobalt-ultra marine blue to get the below color.

I just love mixing paint and creating my own colors!

THE BIRTHDAY CHAIR antique white chair

I finished painting and upholstering that green vintage desk chair

I showed you last week. It was done for a special little girls birthday.

I have a lot of ppl ask if upholstery is easy,

my answer is usually always the same.

It is the tear down that is horrible.

You are dealing with rusty staples and tacks, and this chair had been

re-upholstered before, making it almost impossible to get all the old staples out.

I actually used an angle grinder to deal with most of them. (dont do this at home)

Sometimes you also find animal hair, grass, cotton, and burlap,

all of which are dusty and dirty. So this is not my favorite thing to do.

Once I get past all that and start to rebuild, repaint, and reupholster

I find it fun!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Cutting boards new design discussion and plans

Hi Everyone,

Well, I got a new garage door today, to replace the old, much patched one. This one is insulated and should make for both a warmer home in winter and a cooler one this summer.

As soon as work finished on the door, I got to work on a new breadboard. My old ones were round, flat, and not much else. Since both sides of the board have to be turned and worked on, I didnt have a method for attaching the board blank to the lathe without drilling holes in or cutting a tenon. This results in a cutting board with holes on the top-not a very satisfactory situation.

Then I remembered turners tape. Turning tape is a heavy duty, cloth tape that is sticky on both sides. Its so sticky that if you touch it its like trying to get unstuck from super glue. This enables a wood turner to attach a blank to a faceplate and then to the lathe without drilling holes at all. So one face of the board will be solid and smooth. Lets take a look:

I had a very wide piece of white ash in the wood pile that was too thin to turn into a tray or a dish but would be just right for a cutting board. I fished it out and measured it and cut it into a big circle

The tape is first applied to the face of the faceplate. The surface has to be perfectly clean and the wood has to be smooth and dust free:

Next I placed the face plate exactly in the center of the blank and pushed down:

Since this type of tape is pressure sensitive, I placed several bricks on top of the faceplate and let that whole thing sit for about 20 minutes:

Ive taken the bricks off and mounted the blank on the lathe. This seems very sturdy even though there are no screws holding the plate and the blank together. Im going to sharper my tools and take very gentle shallow cuts to flatten and smooth the surface. In this photo you can also see that Ive cut a shallow tenon for the 4 jaw chuck to attach to when I turn it over:

Here we are after about 30 minutes of work. Ive cut a small cove for fingers to grab onto, and smoothed and sanded the surface. The tenon is still there.

I flipped over the blank and attached it to the chuck and turned the surface. It had to be smoothed and flattened, another cove cut at the edge for fingers to grip on and a juice groove along the edge. This is the top of the cutting board...

...and this is the bottom.

I am going to re-attach it to the faceplate with tape again and tune off the mortise and tenon and very gently dish out the center of the board then sand it smooth. I suspect by doing this the board will continue to sit flat and stable if warps a little bit.

So Im going to break for coffee and lunch and Ill be back shortly.