Redo It Yourself Inspirations : January 2014

A road rescue piece brought to life with a creamy turquoise color.

It's nice when a friend thinks of you. It's even better when they know you. I had a friend grab this off the road and bring it to me just because he knew I would do it. It had a little bit of potential and I had a little bit of doubt. A 1.5" hole in the upper left corner for starters. UGH. Wobbly legs, lacking back bottom support, screws sticking out everywhere, wood cracks and the word "CAT" pencil carved on the top. There went my original desire to do a smooth black top. It was not going to end up completely smooth, so distressing or aging it was a must. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got at it.

I started with plugging the hole with wood slivers and glue; horizontal at the bottom of the hole and then glued in vertical slivers and topped it with another small piece horizontally to cap it. When the glue set (it was messy dripping down the leg, but eventually slowed down) I added joint compound and wood putty.

While the hole was patching up, I sanded the top down bare.

More putty to go.

Now to color the top.

After adding walnut finishing stain, the grain looked like I could turn it into black walnut and hide the hole repair.

Using onyx wipe on finish, I blended it into the walnut color for the top.

It worked!

After getting the top to where I liked it, I put a coat of lacquer on it.

Knobs from a hutch redo works for this.

I painted the knobs with flat black.

A trim piece that I removed from the laundry hutch redo works for the missing leg support. I measured and cut it to fit. Attached by pilot holes and long screws.

I love this color. This particular paint is not right for furniture, but by doing it the hard way, it worked.

Painting the table with the chalky paint was phase one.

Then clear coat with lacquer was phase two.

Fast drying! :)

Dried.

Phase three, getting all artistic, painting in the old distressed look all over the table. Working the paint into all crevices.

It took awhile for the little art brush details, so I sat in the sun :)

Now that the detail brushing was done, phase four... clear coat again with lacquer. This process is longer than most do it. The popular method is to do paint layers and scrape or sand. I prefer my method, to avoid "chippies". The look is more finished and permanent.

Finally done. The longest part of the project was the small brush painting.

Old, but new again!

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Craving Some Creativity

What? You gotta go? I'm so happy you stopped by! Say "see ya later" and give me a hug first! I'll just squeeze ya back!

Before After

Where I "cringed", not over the laundry duty, but because of the off balance and unorganized space.

Our temporary laundry area in the utility room was to be just that. So leaving it content as dingy and "just get by with it" has been five years now and the "temporary" may be a bit longer. It is the "dark area" of the home. It could scare children if the door to it was left open. It contains a furnace, water pump, hot water heater, and the never ending laundry piles. I decided to go ahead and revamp it to continue to live with it thanks to a hutch top that was free. I couldn't pass it up. Of course, this hutch to laundry cabinet redo turned into a whole space makeover. Why not fix all of the issues while I'm at it. Keep in mind, this small space is intended to eventually be renovated into a walk in closet from the adjoining bedroom so I didn't get permanent with this project. It just became more appealing and organized to live with until the next renovation starts.

The whole project started with this. An ice and snow covered, smelly and dirty, but free, hutch top. How could one pass up on an opportunity. I brought it in to dry it out.

A lot of cleaning and some sanding showed life. I removed the top molding and detached the fixed center door, which needed to be carefully pried off.

Then cut off the bottom of the hutch.

Heavy duty sanding, cleaning and vacuuming out.

Painting exterior, gloss black. Then white satin interior.

Adding center door with hinges and catch and door hardware.

I like these silver tone knobs that I removed from another project.

Box legs from craft store (Hobby Lobby) on each end for an added touch.

Now moving on to the washing machine pedestal. Remember my dining room set to island? I saved the trestle legs from the table. Glad I did, cutting them down to size for this was just right. My son thought I was making a kiddie table. Because the washer and dryer are exact sizes, I only had to measure the dryer pedestal to get this sized for the washer.

A piece cut down to size from a scrapped cut up desk top serves as the top of the pedestal. It's quite thick and solid with oak veneer. Long deck screws into each leg made the piece solid. I stood and jumped on it just to be sure. Just light sanding all around to adhere paint was all that was needed.

Ready for painting.

The plywood floor in the utility room needed a little dressing up too. Using painters tape, I set the design as diamond shapes on a diagonal and sprayed black gloss enamel. At the same time, changed the blue appliance pedestal drawer to black.

Then on to painting the washing machine pedestal and placing it in. (Big job! Lots of help and muscle needed there.)

Mounted the revamped cabinet above the appliances.

Stained in the raw wood spaces between the sprayed black design. Then clear coated the floor for protection. And... a cubby for the laundry basket. Yay!

Now for the "doo-dads". A piece from our original staircase reno job. Already marked up and old looking with holes and cracks. I just sanded it, stained it with a Mohogany color, then sprayed the around the outside with flat black paint. When dry, I gave a light sanding or wipe off for an old worn look. This left all of the dents and dings dark.

Sprayed clothespins black.

Printed out my images to decoupage.

Glued and screwed in the clothespins.

Then put it all together.

This is for my "tips" where I put the loose change I find during laundry.

Laundry Rules print is framed. Declaring "finders keepers". Last weekend, my husband brought home this cute little cast iron flat iron and asked if I would use it. Of course! I wonder if this is what he meant.