I had a rocking chair as a little girl, and I loved it.  I used to sit in it and watch lightning storms out of my window, with my feet propped up on the hot water radiator.

And what child doesn’t love cild-sized furniture?  It’s novel and fun and fitting.  So when I found this sweet little rocker at Salvation Army for $7 I had to pick it up.

It is for the most part quite sturdy (just some wood glue needed for one spot) and just needs to be cleaned up.  I’m thinking once I’ve sanded it down I’ll refinish it in a darker stain.  Painting would be easier (and I’ve got some navy blue paint already), but I think the wood would maintain it’s charm better.

It has all this neat old blackened hardware and a cool slatted seat.  I’ve never seen a chair quite like it, and I’m very excited to give it to the kids.  Hopefully it will be loved for many years!

How is it December already?!  Life has been busy, and as it always is in December, it will remain that way for a while.  Luckily I’ve had a good start on the kids’ Christmas presents. And I’m very happy to have L’s little doll quilt finished.

I must say, it was delightful to pick through my stash and select all of the prettiest, girliest fabrics I could find.

And I had just enough of this lovely scalloped lace to adorn the top edge.  It was in a bag of lace and trim I received years ago from my mother-in-law, and I’m so glad I finally have a special enough project to use it on.

I’m dying to give L her doll crib right now - I know she’ll love it and use it a lot!  But alas, I’ll have to wait until Christmas.  Besides, it still needs to be sanded and painted.

All in all the quilt was a pretty quick and straightforward project… All the satisfaction of quilting, yet only a fraction of the time and frustration!

 I realize that it’s crooked and imperfect - but I’ve resigned to the fact that I’ll never be a straight quilter.  And I think quilts can get away with imperfection.  It’s called “charm”, right? ;)

I’ve got some grand plans for making the kids’ Christmas presents this year.  For Little L I was the lucky recipient of an old doll crib being cleared out of our church nursery.  It’s quite old (Sean’s sisters had one made by the same man when they were little) and pretty beat up, but I plan on sanding it down, repainting it, and creating some pretty bedding fit for L’s beloved little dolly.

Step one was making the pillows.  I mostly followed the tutorial by Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts.

Oh my word.  I love these little pillows.  I want to make a hundred of them.  I want to go into business selling just doll pillows.  I want to make them for all the girls with American Girl dolls in my Sunday school class.  These pillows are so easy and sweet.

I love the little separate pillow case.

Next up is the baby quilt…  So excited!!  (Why is everything miniature so much more fun?!)

Last year as I globbed not-quite-red-enough icing onto my {second} attempt at a tractor cake for my son’s second birthday party I muttered through gritted teeth: “I am only buying DQ ice cream cakes from now on.”

Well, in a couple years I may do that.  But this was my daughter’s first birthday party and I still wanted something special.  I just didn’t want to kill myself over creating some crazy fancy cake that I think mom’s are supposed to make.  And I didn’t want to work with cake moulds or icing again.  *shudder* 

So I made cupcakes (from a mix) and tinted store bought icing.  But for the tops I had an idea… I’d take Starburst candies and make them into little candy roses to decorate the cupcakes.

It was super hot and humid on the evenings I made these so I was able to shape them by just pressing on them with my fingers.  However, if your candies are a bit harder, or your house is cooler, you may want to pop them in the microwave (only a few at a time) for 5-10 seconds to soften them up.  After you do that, you can unwrap them.

And squish them flat

so that they’re thin and delicate, but not too flimsy.

Then tear off a little piece.

And roll it with your fingers

Until you get a neat little spiral.  This is the centre for your rose.

Then tear off more little pieces. You may want to smooth the ripped edges a bit.  The pieces should be sort of oval-shaped.  But if they’re irregular they actually look best, and more like rose petals.

Then wrap the petals, one by one, around the spiral centre.  Squish the bottom of each petal to the base of the flower.

Make sure there is some separation between the petals - I like to flare the tops of each petal out a bit.

And just keep adding petals, overlapping them slightly, all around the flower until you’ve used up the whole Starburst piece.

And there you go!

I laid them out on wax paper keeping them from touching,  They can be a bit sticky when you’re working with them, and when they’re warm they can be a bit melty.  But after you let them sit for a minute they harden up and are smooth.  I stored mine in the freezer until I was ready to put them on the cupcakes.

(The top cupcake in the picture below was made from three Starburst candies.)

Cute, eh?  It’s pretty easy once you have the hang of it.  You could do this with help from a  couple friends, or do what I did: sit down and watch a good show in the evening and work on them.

Just remember to factor in some extras, because you might happen to eat a few in the process.

When I first completed reupholstering the chairs in our living room My husband sat in them and deemed them comfortable, but felt like they needed something to put your feet up on.  I immediately began scouring UsedRegina and Kijiji for coffee tables to create a tufted ottoman like this project.  However, months went by and nothing fit all three criteria: correct size, reasonable price, AND good-looking. *sigh*

But one day I came across this storage ottoman on UsedRegina.  And it was only $20!  Why?  Because it was U-G-L-Y.  Their two-year-old had apparently destroyed the thing.  And it was covered in a cheapy microsuede fabric that did not hold up (covered in tears and stains).  But the rest of it was in decent shape.  I decided I would reupholster it.

I began by taking off the old fabric, trying to keep it intact, so I could use it as a template. My new fabric was a sturdy solid navy blue from Tonic Living.

I decided, though, that to recover it I would need to take it apart a bit - and since it’s basically a box, I could handle that.

I removed the lid -  more on that in a moment - and took the bottom off of the box.

I upholstered the bottom, wrapping the fabric around it and securing it with a few staples.  I didn’t go crazy with staples, because there would be more later when I put the ottoman back together.

(That black piece on top in the picture is the meshy fabric that covered the bottom before.  I kept it and used it to cover the bottom when I was all done.)

For the sides I measured each panel and cut fabric (with a bit of a seam allowance) for each side.  I sewed the fabric panels together on each corner and fitted it over the box and foam snugly.

Then, when it came to the top, I ended up doing a bit more work.  Though in good shape, the top only had webbing in a frame to hold the seat up.  This created a slight, but uncomfortable sag if you sat on top of the ottoman.  (And I knew ours would be sat on.  And climbed on.)  Also, I really wanted a tufted top, and securing the buttons into webbing just wasn’t going to cut it.  So, with some help from my dad, we added a board into the seat.  He cut the board to size at the hardware store.

Then we used small strips of wood to screw into the sides of the top to keep the board in.

The small wood strips created a ledge, keeping the board in place in the lid.

Once it was all in place I measured and drew out the spots where I would want buttons on the top and drilled holes in the board for them.  (I made the holes too small the first time, so I ended up making them bigger later.  You need a decent sized hole otherwise it’s hard to thread the upholstery needle back through when attaching the buttons.)

I use these little button kits from the fabric store.  They’re cheap and easy to use.  My fabric was a bit thick for the size of buttons I used, however, so I ended up securing a few with some hot glue.

For tufting, lay out your fabric over the area you’ll be working on (and you may need to pin it in place), but don’t staple it to your piece yet.  Wait until after your buttons are all secured so that you can get a nice deep tuft.

I start from the centre and work my way out.  On the back of the board the strings are knotted, then pulled to the side, and stapled a billion times.  Or you can thread the strings through a button and knot them (then staple them a million times, if you like).  I forgot to take a picture of this for the ottoman, but you can see it here on the back of my headboard. (Sorry for the terrible picture, there isn’t a whole lotta’ light behind my bed.  But you should get the idea.)

After all of the buttons were in, I stapled the fabric to the bottom of the lid.  For the corners I pleated them and pulled tightly - kind of like what you’d see on the arms of a William Birch sofa. 

After this, I reattached the bottom to the box using an air compressor and long staples.

When doing this I attached the bottom’s fabric, the box sides’ fabric, and the bottom covering fabric as well.  I then reattached the lid with the hinges (I screwed them in by hand into the existing holes.  I didn’t use an electric drill because I didn’t want to snag and pull the fabric.)

And voila!  

 There are still a couple of things I still want to do to this thing - I want to find some hydraulic hinges for the sides so that the lid lowers slowly (or even locks open, if needed), and I have plans to add a kick pleat skirt (You can see the fabric panels pinned in place in the picture below… whaddya’ think?)

But even without the skirt it’s a HUGE transformation - it looks higher end, and it’s far more durable.  (Only trouble is that the tufts are great Cheerio collectors…)  Now, when you sit in the chairs, it’s lovely to put your feet up!

Is it just me, or have ginger jars been everywhere lately?  They’re totally classic and traditional - so they’re nothing new (well, not since ancient China, anyways).  But I’ve seen them a lot lately; they were all over this month’s Lonny Mag:

They’re pretty, and interesting.  And I really like it when they’re juxtaposed against some modern elements.

So when I found this creamy-peachy-beigey lamp at Value Village I noticed it looked like some of the hexagonal ginger jars I’ve seen (and the top looked like the domed lid of a ginger jar).

(Ginger jar above from Ruby Lane)

And I wanted to recreate the look of ginger jar lamps I’d seen, like this lovely Ralph Lauren one:

All I used was some spray paint, a blue Sharpie marker, and some patience!

I started by taking off the price tag.  Side note: this is one of those pet peeves I have where the rage I feel for such an annoyance is completely unproportional to the actual amount of inconvenience.  But seriously.  I hate price sticker goo!  There is, however, a way to remove it: rub canola oil on it, and scrape it off with an old gift card (or some other plastic scraping device.)  Just keep rubbing the oil in and scraping it off, and it’ll be shiny and new in a couple minutes.

I prepped the lamp for spray painting by covering the cord, harp, and bulb area with tin foil (it doesn’t come loose like painter’s tape).  I sprayed the lamp with a primer, then a semigloss white. (I chose semigloss white because that’s what I had in my paint stash.  You could use a gloss, but you may have to be extra careful about not smudging the marker.)

While the paint cured I spent some time studying ginger jars - what motifs/designs/patterns are common?  What do I like?  And I drew out some possible designs for my lamp.

After the paint was fully dry (like, a couple days later), I lightly drew on the main shapes of my design with pencil.

Tip: Try to keep your pencil lines to just map out the basic shapes of the design (not the intricate designs), because you don’t want to be erasing a ton later (it takes time to do all that erasing and you have to be careful about streaking the marker ink.)

Then I used my blue Sharpie to draw on the main shapes of the design, drawing the same thing on each side.

At this point go back and erase your pencil lines.

A few things to consider…

… for the ‘type A’ personalities: Don’t get too hung up on making everything precisely identical.  Repeat the same design around your lamp, but if things are slightly crooked or different I think it is actually the right look - more like an antique that would have been made by hand, and less like it is mass produced.

…if you’re working with a lamp with rounded sides it may be harder to create symmetrical designs, so maybe plan something that is more curving and unsymmetrical - like vines, trees, dragons, etc.

After the main shapes were on the vase I just kept adding layers of design (while the kids napped and I was watching a good chick flick).  Every now and then give yourself a break to let the ink dry a bit (so you don’t end up streaking and smudging it) and also to study the design and see what you need to add.

Here are some pictures of the stages (this was done at different times often day, so forgive some of the poor lighting.)

It’s obviously not a DIY for everyone - but I LOVE doodling, so I really enjoyed doing it.  And you don’t have to stick to a traditional ginger jar look either - you could do all sorts of doodles on any lamp, and I think it could look really great!  Here’s a close up of some of the design:

And here’s my finished lamp:

(And do you like the painting?  I commissioned it from an artist I love.  He’s two.  Ha ha!  I specifically asked my son to paint me a picture with blue and orange.)

There you go!  My DIY ginger jar lamp.

Well, only a week after professing my love for love seats I found one to call my own.  Say hello to my little friend:

She’s a beaut, eh?  Curvy, petite, with a deep comfy seat, and in impeccable condition. We also have no room for her, nor do we need her, and I fell in love with the idea of putting this settee in Baby L’s room when she’s bigger.  In a hypothetical home that we do not have.  Hm… Not exactly fitting logical, practical criteria for buying new furniture.  But it’s Mother’s Day, so I got the go-ahead.  Ha ha!  Timing is everything, right?

I have a feeling she’ll be a long-term project (like the wingback) to be worked on at “upholstery club” (My friend Lindsey and I and occasional friends who join us in her basement).  I’m currently finishing the matching partner for my Louis chair I showed you, but I’ll be done that soon and be ready for something new.  

So now begins the mission to find the perfect fabric for this lovely love seat.

Here are my criteria:

• I love that this settee has no tufting, because I want to go bold and fun and whimsical with the fabric.  Something large scale, colourful, and bold.  Especially since it will likely end up in a child’s room.
• While I’m leaning towards a floral or paisley, I don’t want the fabric to look too old fashioned - like the fabric grandma would have upholstered in originally; something a bit more contemporary to juxtapose with its antique shape. 
• I think I want the pattern to be somewhat feminine and curvy - after all. this is a curvy little piece of furniture.
• I do not want anything symmetrical/geometric etc. that will need to be exactly straight or centred.  I’m terrible at making things straight, and my upholstery skills are just not there yet.
• I want the fabric to have a range of colours.  That way I can pick from a variety of colours in the fabric to create a scheme around in the future.  (Alternatively I could do a neutral fabric… but only if that neutral is still fun and pretty!)
• And I want the fabric design to have staying power.  No trendy patterns.  No juvenile themes.  I want to like it in 5 years, and for my daughter to be able to grow up with it.

So.  Tall order.  Here are a few of the fabrics I have my eye on:

This fabric is one I’ve loved for a long time and thought I might use on a headboard a couple years from now for Baby L, if the fabric is still around.  But it fits the criteria for my settee - curvy, whimsical (I love the crazy birds), varied colour palette, and not too baby-girl.  Plus I love the name. ;)

Lucy Eden by Richloom, from Fabric.com

The next two are also high contenders because I love the colour palettes - so many gorgeous colours to work with.  But they could read a bit too granny if the scale of the print is too small.  I’ll have to see a swatch.

Darjeeling Bachette through Designer Fabrics Online

This next one is a great contemporary floral - but the grey and yellow scheme might be too limiting…

Dahlia Dove by Thomas Paul for Duralee through Fabric.com

I adore this next one, and it comes in double width, and it’s quite reasonably priced.  But it’s a limited colour scheme.  And what do you think, is ikat “trendy”?  Will it look totally dated in a few years?  I’m just not sure I can commit.  But boy, is it lovely.

Bari 22-A through Designer Fabrics Online

Also breaking some rules (it’s a stripe which needs to be lined up perfectly) is this fun colourful fabric.  Wouldn’t it look cool on an upholstered piece?  But perhaps the colour scheme is a touch juvenile.

Freedom through Designer Fabrics Online

This one’s not a floral, and it’s not colourful, but it’s still fun!  I appreciate that it’s reminiscent of the legendary Les Touches fabric from Brunschwig and Fils.  And Baby L is in love with puppies right now, so I’m sure she would appreciate its dalmation-like style! 

Togo in White/Black by Premier Prints from Tonic Living

And I’ve loved this branchy fabric from Dwell for a long time.  In fact I have it on the bench cushion in my entry (in the grey colourway).  Totally whimsical.  Colour scheme is limited, but I think I could add accent colours in pretty easily with pillows… the blue’s almost a neutral (or I could use the grey…)

Vintage Blossom in Jade by Dwell Studio through Tonic Living

And how awesome is this next fabric?!  I’m a huge fan.  I’m just not sure this is the project for it.  (Maybe a headboard in a boys’ room, or an ottoman in a play room…)  But it’s tempting.

World through Designer Fabrics Online

If this one were cheaper I’d be seriously tempted to use it.  It’s the epitome of whimsical.  It’s like Narnia on fabric.  Perfect for a story time settee.  *sigh*

Forest in Red Pepper by Thomas Paul for Duralee through Fabric.com

These are a few more considerations: this one, this one, and this one.  I’ll have to order some swatches! What do you think?  What would you pick?

Last fall I wrote about my steal of a sofa I scored on UsedRegina.  It was vintage, electric blue velvet with an orangey wood frame. 

Seller’s photo on UsedRegina

But I envisioned it with a creamy white frame, a linen-y fabric, and modernized with one long seat cushion and no tufting.

I ended up working on it in my parent’s basement during the fall (space + free babysitting!)  It was a doozy.  It took time, sweat, and frustration.  And it’s done(ish).

I could try to give you the tutorial run-down and how-to… but honestly I was a little in over my head, so I forgot to take a lot of pictures of the process.  And how many of you are actually crazy enough to DIY a sofa?  (But in case you are, hopefully you can learn a bit from this post.)  Instead, I’m going to offer you a somewhat random assortment of reflections and tips from the process, and show you plenty of pretty pictures of the finished piece, OK? :)

So, in no particular order, here’s what I did/learned with some pictures interspersed:

DIY REUPHOLSTERY:

• Basically with every upholstery project I’ve learned: you take it apart and pay close attention to how they put it together.  Then you try to put it together in the same way.  And when you can’t, you improvise, experiment, google tutorials online etc. and take a break when you’re ready to toss the whole thing in a dumpster.
• One of the reasons I felt I could try and upholster this piece was because I understood how to do it - with the exposed frame I could staple the fabric to the frame then sew double welt cord to glue over it.  It’s a method I’m comfortable with (similar to my Louis chair and my barrel-back chairs).

CUSHIONS AND FOAM

• I originally planned on buying a new cushion for the seat (since I wanted one long cushion instead of three separate ones), however when I went to the only store (that I know of) in the city that sells upholstery foam they informed me that they didn’t have foam long enough (I needed 7 feet, they had 6), so they’d have to glue together two pieces.  Hm.  For that much money I’ll glue my own cushions together, thanks.  I briefly considered having two cushions (which is also a really popular look right now) but that crack in the middle just creates awkward seating situations, and I figured this would just end up being one huge love seat that only seats two people.  So I used the existing cushions and glued them together with spray adhesive myself.  Then I found a small (and cheap) duvet on clearance at Walmart and wrapped it around the cushions before upholstering them into the seat.  The result?  I have mixed feelings.  It works.  But you can still see the indents between cushions a bit.  However, the original foam is also super amazing and nice to lay on.  And this was way cheaper.  So… take that for what it’s worth.
• I actually originally tried to sew a cushion cover for all three cushions wrapped in the duvet.  It was… bad.  It was all saggy and wrinkly and looked like a futon from some guy’s college apartment.  So I ended up scrapping that and upholstering the seat into the couch (secured with staples).  It means now I can’t take it off an wash it.  (However, though I could throw the old one in the wash, it’s indoor-outdoor fabric that’s not meant to be thrown in the washing machine anyways, so it didn’t hold up well.)  So no more jam fingers near this couch.  I just have to stay on top of spot cleaning a bit more.  And most days I throw a quilt over the seat while the kids and I are playing in the living room which catches the mess, can be thrown in the wash, and makes for easy snuggling or tent-building. :)  One piece of advice I’ve heard is to upholster the piece yourself, but take the seat cushion(s) to a professional.  That’s something I’m definitely going to consider (and save my pennies for) on future projects.

All the time I find design pictures that totally inspire me.  Like this one:

Photographer: Michael Graydon, Designer: Stacy Begg

It was featured in the February issue of Canadian House & Home, and it hit on a colour trend I LOOOVE: dark blue and brass.  But what can I do about it?  I’m not going to paint my kitchen cupboards and replace all the hardware to live with the look.  

One thing I like to do is to find small ways to inject trends or create a similar look in accessories, art, or things that are more affordable or changeable (like my agate and malachite art projects).

When I found this tray at Value Village for $2.99 I was sold.  The friend I was with seemed a bit quizzical at the choice.  It had a muddy gold colour with a scratched up bamboo design in the centre.  It was pretty ugly.  But here’s what I saw: a great size, shape, and depth for a tray AAAAND the great gold hardware on the corners.

Luckily for me the corner pieces popped right off, so I could spray paint the tray in a navy blue, and pop the corners back on.  

And voila!  Dark blue with warm metal accents in my home.  For $2.99 plus some spray paint I already owned.

And finally, here it is!

So I really wasn’t trying to milk this one, or get a week of blogging out of one project… There was just lots to say!  (You can read the other posts about the inspiration, sourcing the barn wood, and how I put it all together)

But alas, thanks for your patience!  And here it is looking perfect in Jeremy and Lisa’s living room.

Just to recap - here’s the before:

A brass and glass coffee table purchased on UsedRegina for $30

And here’s the inspiration:

Design by Darryl Carter

And here’s the final result!

And again…

A close-up of the old barn-board top…

And there you go!  Not much more to say after all that!  Except thanks to Lisa for being a willing and patient participant!  Hope you enjoy the table!

I’ve been writing about my plans for a coffee table makeover (part 1, part 2) to make a coffee table similar to one of these…

(1-Jayson Home $1595, 2-Joss & Main (sale ended), 3-Lucca & Co. $19,800, 4-Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams $996, 5-West Elm $365)

…from this lovely old 80’s beast of brass’n’glass:

Yesterday I wrote about gathering the barn wood for the top.  After that whole episode I took the boards back to my dad’s garage, and let them dry out a little bit while I pondered what to do.  I, of course,  did my thorough research online and found that people who reused old wood were kind of on a spectrum.  This spectrum looks something like this:

The people on the left side use words like “patina” and “shabby chic”, as well as “splinters” and “lead poisoning”, while the people on the right say things like “safety”, and “perfection”, as well as “sacrilege” and “high on varnish fumes”.

Needless to say I found myself somewhere in the middle.  I knew the wood needed to be clean and safe, but I wanted to maintain it’s weathered look as much as possible.

I opted for: 

• A good scrubbing (I mixed Borax with hot water and used a plastic bristled scrub bush to wash the boards)
• A long dry
• A light sanding by hand to take off any feathered, splintered or loose pieces - not enough to change the colour significantly.
• And two coats of Varathane clear finish 

I chose the finish because it looked a.) easy, and b.) like it wouldn’t change the look of the wood too much.  (And it worked!)

After the wood had sufficiently dried and been lightly sanded I laid out the boards and lined them up roughly how I’d like them to sit on the coffee table.  I wanted to display the most beautiful woodgrain, the uniqueness of each board and avoid any major divots, cracks or knots on the top of the table.  We figured out the length (so that there would be a slight overhang on each side) and my dad cut the boards.  I then coated them in the Varathane finish.

This couldn’t have been easier.  I felt like I was decoupaging.  I just squirted some on, and brushed it on with a paintbrush.  It seeped nicely into any cracks and spread smoothly.  AND it cleaned up with water!  (No.  This post is not sponsored if you were beginning to wonder.)

As you can see it did darken the look of the wood a bit (and did not look as yellowy as it does in these pictures), but it dried in a satin finish (not too glossy) and I think it deepened the look of the grain, which is nice.  It basically maintained the same colour tones - just a bit darker.  Overall I was pretty happy with the finish.  I did one coat, let it cure for a few days, and then did another after the table was assembled.

While the finish was drying on the first coat I got to the frame.  I lugged that heavy brass bad boy outside (well, OK, my Dad did.  But whatever.  I could have, if he wasn’t all gentlemanly and stuff.)

The frame is a nice weight and solid, so it was perfect for this project.  To get the look I was going for I was originally thinking I’d just spray the base black.  However after Sherry over at Young House Love went through her love affair with Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze, I knew that would be the way to go - black with a subtle warm metallic undertone that would have a bit more complexity to the colour.  

I thought it worked super well - looking like aged metal, as opposed to something painted black. (Still not a sponsored post.) ;)

Once that was dry (after a few days) we built the top.

The simplest plan (which my dad came up with, because he wanted this to be a “You can do it too!” DIY.  Little did he know I was going to scare you all away from using reclaimed wood yesterday…) was to cut a piece of plywood to the size of the opening on the top of the coffee table (he had this done at the hardware store with a piece of their scrap… because you can do that too!).

We then marked where the notches on the corners of the table frame were

Aaaand sliced them off.  This piece of plywood would now sink perfectly into the top of the table frame.

(P.S. My dad is doing this in the picture, but I did the other three corners.  Yep.  I used that big old cutting power tool.  And I didn’t even pee my pants.  Not even a little bit.  But more on my fear of power tools another day…)

We then chose an appropriate length of screw and drove it into the table at 3-4 spots along each board from the bottom side:

And then I painted it… not that you’ll ever see that part. (I just used some leftover paint from our front door.)

The table top could now be plopped right into the top of the table frame and it sits there without budging.  It’s a little on the heavy side, but like I said, the frame is a beefy old chap, so it’s not a problem.

So… back to when my dad cut the boards.  This left us with a raw edge of wood that had not been weathered by seasons of snow and rain and sun and dirt:

Now, I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a painter (as in: artist painter, not wall painter.) So I was pretty sure I could have (*gulp* stay with me here) faux-finished (Ptooey!  I can’t believe I just said that word!) the edges.  But then I saw a tutorial here for aging wood using ingredients found in your pantry (or my parent’s pantry.  Whatever.  When I work there I have a garage and free babysitting…) I really wanted to give it a shot.

You just put a little steel wool in some white vinegar and leave it for 24 hours.  Then you come back AAAAND…. it looks exactly the same!!!  But you trust all those smart chemist geeks out there and assume SOMETHING has happened.

Then you coat the raw wood with black tea, followed by some of the steel-wooly-vinegar. And THENNNN…. nothing happens again!!!  So you walk away for about an hour mumbling something about “Gee, Chemistry, I really hope you pull through for me this time.”

And good old chemistry.  It does. (Though you can’t see it too well in this picture.)

For some reason the finish was a little blotchy for me (I think the liquids were just absorbed better in some spots), but it still looked 99% better.  So I added one last coat of Varathane aaaand….

VOILA!

(Stay tuned until tomorrow to see what I’m “Voila-ing”.)

Sorry dudes…  But isn’t this post long enough?!

Yesterday I wrote about the plan I had to give a makeover to an old 80’s coffee table (that I bought for $30 on UsedRegina) into a beautiful contemporary one - something like this one from Restoration Hardware:

(Brickmaker’s Table from Restoration Hardware) 

RH boasts of the romantic, historical background of its “reclaimed wood” furniture.  And of the bajillions of reclaimed/barn-board/upcycled wood projects out there on the internet these days, I felt this one should serve as a bit of a reality check.  So, no big makeover reveal today - it’s coming.  First, let me tell you the story behind my coffee table’s reclaimed wood…

Coffee Table Copycat - Episode 1:

Sourcing Reclaimed Wood

It sounds so lovely, doesn’t it? “Reclaimed wood”.  Ah… just picture yourself reclaiming some wood with me, please:

You walk through slender waving grass in a buttercup-dotted pasture behind a stately old red barn.  And there you find it - a stack of strong, beautiful old boards that tell stories of decades gone by.  As you pick one up and run your fingers over its wavy grain you see a bird land on a fence post nearby.  The bird smiles at you, as if to say, “Hey.  Thanks for caring about the environment.” You feel good about your choice, and you smile confidently at the trees growing overhead, knowing they get to live because you’re going to reuse.  You carefully load up your bundle of character-laden, beautiful wood and set off to create.  And the sun shines.

Yeah, so it’s not really like that.

To be honest - when I planned my coffee table I didn’t think much about where or how I would get the rustic wooden top.  I live in the prairies - there are weathered old boards all over the place.  I figured my husband could go out the farm and throw a few nice old boards in the back of the Jeep and we’d be peachy.

Ahem.

Until he told me they didn’t have anything.  So I asked my dad for ideas (he is equal parts thrifty/creative/borderline hoarder) and he suggested getting old floorboards from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  Good call, Dad!  But when he went looking they said they don’t carry them anymore because they’re structurally unsound and some had lead paint on them.  Party poopers.  I asked my dad if he could keep an eye out for some old shipping pallets.  This is when Sean realized I had not really communicated what I wanted.  ”Oh, like old ugly pallets are OK?” he asked.  

“Yes!”  

“Oh, we’ve got a bunch of those.”

I knew it.

So we drive out behind the barn, past the grain bins to find a great pile of pallets - silvery grey and weathered.  And they’re lined with a gorgeous array of hoar frost gleaming in the bright January sun.  Perfect.  

My husband pulls out the hammer and the crow bar.  Hmm.  Oh yeah.  I guess we can’t just pile the crates in the back of the Jeep, we’ll have to take the boards apart.  He starts reefing on the boards, and the cranky wrenching sound of old nails being torn from old boards fills the air.  The cattle begin to stare at us.  

As he tries to pull them off, the old weakened boards crackle, split, and splinter.  It is not going well.  And yes, it’s sunny, but jeepers is it cold!  My husband starts to grimace.  I realize very quickly that this experience would have been exponentially more terrible in our first year of marriage:

I would have been an erratic sobbing mess, spewing between “You don’t understand/care/support my creative endeavours!” and guiltily apologizing non-stop for what a terrible task this is.  Meanwhile he would become a silent, but fuming, mess of aggravation/confusion/mystification (at my spectacle) and that male-only emotion called “this girl is crying.  Why is she crying.  I have no idea what to do right now.”

But fast forward.  We are wiley veterans with nearly seven years of marriage under our belts.  And we know better.  I stand back, quiet.  I observe my husband and try to pick up on cues.  Should I hold that board?  Should I get out of the way?  I hold my tongue.  Meanwhile he does not let frustration get the better of him by mercilessly beating the snot out of a pile of wood with a crowbar.  He persists.  And he tries different approaches, all the while knowing that though he doesn’t understand why this is important to me, it is important, so he will do his best.  

Sensing he needs some space, or perhaps a new approach, I take a little walk.  I find a pile of boards mostly buried in several feet of crusty old snow.  I try a few boards to see if they’ll come loose from the frozen, tangled mass.  They do.  And they’re lovely.  Thick, weathered, with tons of character.  Some are rough sawn, others have gorgeous woodgrain patterns, and all have the patina of age.  But most importantly, they require no crowbar.  I call Sean over, and after convincing him that these boards will work (and are in fact better) he tosses the hammer and crowbar and gladly helps me gather a few boards of similar thickness, and appropriate length.

The romance of “reclaimed wood” was further dispelled as we waded through the piles of old barn boards:  

“Hmm, do you think this is lead paint on this one?”  

“Do you think this pattern is from years of pigeon crap?”  

“Hmm… do termites die when it’s this cold or do you think they’re sleeping inside this board?”

“Can you get the crowbar and chip the frozen cow poop off of this one?”

But soon we had what we thought were enough boards jammed in the trunk of the Jeep, and we were done.

So now as you peruse Pinterest BEWARE!  All of those cute “look what I did with an old shipping pallet” projects are not necessarily easy.  And the stories of 100-year-old barn wood, or antique factory floorboards - they sound nice.  You just probably don’t want to be the one chipping off frozen cow poop, or scrubbing off lead paint.

Here are a couple tips for you, if you’re still planning on using old wood for a project:

-Look boards over carefully for signs of bugs, mold, old paint (may be toxic lead paint), or rotting.  

-Make sure you try to find boards that are fairly straight, and of a similar thickness.

-Bring a measuring tape to make sure you find the right length of boards

-Take a few more boards than you think you need so that you have some options when you get around to laying them out.

-Do not attempt to “reclaim” any barn boards in the first year (or two) of marriage.

Now, tomorrow, I’ll show you what I did with these hard-earned beauties…

(All photos by me.)

**UPDATE: See how I constructed the table here, and see the finished table here!**

Hello, my name is Justine, and I have an addiction to used furniture.  I’ve lamented before how hard it is for me when I find something aMAZing for sale, and have to pass it over because we don’t need it, or it wouldn’t work in our space (exhibit a: this chesterfield).

 So when I saw this brass and glass coffee table on UsedRegina, AND saw its huge potential (stay with me here, peeps), but also knew that it would be THE worst coffee table for my family (small condo with two kids under 2 years) I was a bit dismayed once again.  Until I went on Facebook and asked if anyone wanted me to provide them with a free coffee table.  Lucky for me a great friend was more than happy to trust me that I could transform this 80’s relic.

You see, this table looks like it should be sitting atop pink cut pile carpet, beside a teal and burgundy floral couch with a stale bowl of potpourri, right?  But to me, I saw that it could become something a little more like this:

Design by Darryl Carter

It’s a style of coffee table I’ve seen everywhere in design magazines.  And it’s in tons of great (higher end) furniture stores:

(1-Jayson Home $1595, 2-Joss & Main (sale ended), 3-Lucca & Co. $19,800, 4-Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams $996, 5-West Elm $365)

(Restoration Hardware, $1015)

Not the least of which, is Restoration Hardware (a store I find equally lovely and bizarre.  Seriously, go read the write up for this coffee table.  More on that tomorrow…)

And it’s no wonder it’s so popular - it has a modern shape, with rustic materials and could go with almost any style of living room.

There are a variety of looks, but the recipe is essentially the same:

A square metallic frame with rustic-looking wood on top.  (The higher end stores seem to be selling wood that’s reclaimed/antique/sourced from the forests of Narnia.)

I could do that!  

Done!  Easy peasy, right?  Well, I’ll show you more tomorrow…