What I did this Summer...

It wasn't summer camp, that's for sure!  But, I did manage a trip to Kauai and Palm Desert.  Both were fun getaways, but Hawaii was my favorite trip, even though it wasn't my favorite island getaway place.  The week I was in Palm Desert was the hottest week of the year - 121 degrees in Palm Springs!

And, when I wasn't vacationing, I was working - very slowly - in the shop.  Here's a quick recap of the work I managed to get done since March.  

I made a couple of glue gun holders for my very talented, costume designer, mixed media artist friend, Linda Vick. They’ll hold extra glue sticks, have a metal base for the hot metal tip to rest on, and the bracket to hold the gun in ready mode.

Next up, I made a Truss style Dining room table, just because I like making dining room tables.  I ended up selling this within 3 days of listing it!  Here's the add text: 

Hand made from salvaged materials, (pine and fir). Solid, large milled pieces. The base is made from 4x4 and the top from 2x4 material. It’s solid and heavy. 
It’s the perfect table for someone who appreciates the markings of growth and use of old lumber. And, it makes it the perfect table for families- perfect for family dinners, homework, family games. The wear and tear of your use will just add to the character of this piece. The finish is a 7-step finish of custom blended stains sealed with 6 coats of satin polyurethane (top). Base has 3 coats of poly. The final color is brown with gray undertones.
This table will seat 6 easily, and 8 comfortably.
Custom benches could be available for an additional $125 each. As another option, I’d suggest metal farm style chairs for the length of the table with a upholstered chairs at both ends. Dressy, but casual, too.
It measures approximately 72” long x 36” wide. The top is removable.
Please share with anyone you think might be interested.

I made a couple of little things to help keep remotes and cords and device charging under control. The remote holder is on my night stand.  And the little box is in the living room.  Those charging cables are really long so I can pull it out of the box to connect it while I sit in my chair and read or play words with friends. Then I just shove it back into the box and the mess disappears! It’s the small things...

I’ve made several herringbone counters/tops over the past year. Now, I’m working on the longest one yet. This one will be going wall-to-wall (118”) and will be supported by three drawer units (from Ikea). It will serve as a homework center in my client’s home. Even after carefully milling the separate pieces to the same depth and width keeping all the pieces squared up is not an easy task! And, a zillion more clamps might have helped move this along much more quickly. 

I love happy clients! A year or so ago, Nancy purchased a coat rack from me, and was happy with it. They recently moved and had more space so requested a larger rack from me. It looks great in their new home. Thanks for the picture Nancy Flores!

Way back in 2013 I helped my oldest daughter remodel her kitchen by building several new cabinets and reworking the layout of her range and microwave. I made new doors for all of the cabinets and added rollouts in in some of the existing base cabinets. Then my SIL and I painted all the cabinets. It was exciting to help them get a functional, updated kitchen.

Then, about two years ago, I helped my other daughter with her new kitchen. My SIL and I installed all new cabinets and a large island. We had a very short window of time, between drywall, painting and flooring installation. And it was freezing and raining!! But, we got it done.

This latest kitchen was such fun! Just a tad bit smaller than the other two😂.  I think the youngest chef in the family will enjoy cooking in his new kitchen.

 Kitchen delivered, and chef approved! Faucet swivels, knobs turn, drain opens and closes. Range/Oven has metal oven rack, realistic “tempered” glass oven door, real knobs that turn, “burners” are shower drain covers that were perfect for this stove top. The fridge/freezer almost didn’t have shelves to hold his food😳-thankfully his auntie noticed and I quickly made a couple of adjustable fridge shelves (that she even painted for me!). A lot of play time wrapped up in a cute, little package! (He already had the BBQ-it just wasn’t big enough for his foodie plans😀)

These little bow ties look pretty cute on these handsome boys! Amazingly, my grandson wore his for a couple of hours! His dad, well, he left it on long enough for the picture

I spent 10 days visiting Logger daughter and her family.  I delivered this monster build and then worked on organizing their garage.  

Large buffet/bar cabinet delivered! (With just a few touch ups necessary, too!)

Booze Drawers, utensil drawers, display shelves, storage shelves, wine storage. 

Garage photos!  It was a big, big job.  I added 20' of shelving to the rear wall of the almost 4-car garage.  Then repositioned cabinets I'd installed after remodeling their new kitchen.  Then built mobile stands for all the large tools, and building a lumber rack for smaller pieces of useful lumber.  Repositioned and leveled existing workbench and made room for 8' of small cubbie storage that SIL received from his dad.  Those steel bins are heavy suckers.  It took some doing for SIL and grandsons to maneuver them into position.  I had some additional help from the youngest logger grandson! 

I brought home from the Loggers, a couple of cabinets that they no longer had room for.  They were in "well used" condition, so I stabilized, cleaned, painted and made new tops.  Then sold them.  

 

As part of a builder's challenge I made an end table to coordinate with the two large coffee tables I made earlier in the year (last photo). 😂 It works well with the other pieces and offers great functionality with the addition of hidden charging capability.

My most recent build was a beautiful console table.  It started as a way to use a leftover piece of a live edge slab that I'd picked up from the Logger's.  I'd used part of it to make tables for them, and decided the remaining piece was just too pretty to sit outside and rot.

Right now this piece is sitting in my bedroom.  I hope to sell it, but because the wood is more valuable than what I usually use for my furniture, I'm afraid it may not sell.  I'm kind of getting used to it in my room, and I love seeing it there everytime I walk into the room.  

The top is aged yellow pine with a bow tie added for structural support in that crack, and the base is walnut.  I used lacquer for a clear natural finish on the top, and did a hand rubbed oil finish on the walnut base.  The pictures don't do it justice. It's so simple and so beautiful!!!  

And, that's about it!  Right now I'm working on a full-sized storage bed for my youngest Logger grandson.  Three big pieces, 1 side piece will have 4 drawers, 1 side piece will have a lift up top for storage (you'll have to move the mattress to get to it, but it might be useful for stuff used only once a year - like Fair stuff, or hunting stuff), and the end piece will have two large drawers for bulkier items.  Im hoping to complete this before Labor day.  And, I'm scheduled to join Logger daughter and grandkids in Lake Tahoe for a long weekend the first weekend of September.  Barring any strange things, that's where I'll be!  

Happy Fall, y'all!

From Curbside Find to Rustic/glam Beverage Center

I'm a Rustoleum Tester, and every so often Rustoleum sends me a new, or old product and asks me - and the rest of the testers - to create something using a particular product.  Recently, I was asked to select a color from their Furniture Restoration Kits and use it to restore a piece of furniture.  When I do this, I need to take photos during the restoration process and submit my photos and comments to their team.  They make it a challenge, and other members of their Creator's Studio are asked to take a look at the completed projects and vote on the one they like best.  

When my Furniture Restoration Kit arrived, I had no idea what to use it on.  I'd selected a beautiful Caribbean blue, but I didn't need to redo anything for myself.  So, I delayed starting anything while I considered what to make.  Then, while walking with my sister, I passed by a house that had this big melamine cabinet (like something you'd get from Ikea - it might even have been from Ikea) sitting at their curb.  I glanced at it but didn't think too much about it.  Until I got home and I had an aha moment.  Here was something FREE I could use the product on, and maybe it sell it afterwards.  

This is what my curbside find looked like - after I'd removed the doors.  

 I decided that a beverage bar might be something that someone else might want.  So, I went to work redesigning the cabinet.  I removed the center divider and cut it down.  I saved the two existing small shelves to reuse, added a "bar" top, an additional shelf across the top, and built a box for wine bottle storage. Then I built two drawers just under the bar top.  I added a new base that was heavier to keep it from being too top heavy.  My initial intention was to leave both doors on so that the entire cabinet could be closed.

Above is a progress picture of  the rebuild.

This picture shows the two drawers.  It was almost ready for painting to begin. 

I still needed to add some top trim.  I even bought some crown molding, cut it all, but cut one piece backwards so, cut another piece - only to discover that I'd cut it from the long, front piece of molding!  So, I completely mess that up.  I didn't want to spend anymore money on my thrifty project, so I created my own trim pieces that you can see in the next pictures.  

This is the Rustoleum product that I used.  It's a kit that contains everything you need to finish your project.  Except for paint brushes.  It runs about $35.00 and you can get it in several colors.

This is the color I chose - gosh, it was bright!  Pretty, but I was worried that it would be way too bright for anyone to enjoy!

The first step is to degloss everything.  Since this was a mix of laminate, raw wood, and old, painted wood, I sanded everything first.  Then deglossed the laminate, primed the raw wood, and sanded and deglossed the old, painted wood.  

After applying the color bond coat and letting that dry for at least 12 hours, I brushed on the glaze.  This toned down the color to a beautiful aged aqua.  I loved it.  However...

This was when I discovered that there were several areas where the bond coat did not bond well!  I stopped with the glaze, and let it dry longer.  That didn't help though - the paint just wouldn't stick in those areas.  

I continued applying glaze to the rest of the pieces.  I had no problem on the material that I primed before applying the color bond coat.  I did think about priming the entire piece but decided to just follow the instructions on the box.  In my review of the project, I suggested that for melamine and glossy painted wood, they should recommend using a good primer before using this product.  

Side view of the glazing.

Still a pretty blue, but toned down (this picture makes it look much brighter than it really is with the glaze).

In this picture you can see where I tried to touch up an area where the paint didn't stick.  I finally did manage to get the fix less noticable!

Finished project.  I added a hammered gold finish to the edges of the shelf and wine storage, and painted the bar top a hammered gold.  The knob, which is hard to see in this photo, is also gold, as is the stemware holder.  

All in all, I'm happy with how it looks.  The wine storage can be removed and I do have another small shelf that could be used for basic storage.  So, I think it could also be used as a coffee bar, or plain old storage cabinet.  

I'm going to try to sell it, but if I still have after Easter, I'll be donating it to the church for their annual silent auction!  

IT SOLD!