December 2013Redo It Yourself Inspirations : December 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

How to turn a Dresser into a Media Center

A great find! Thrift shop cheap!

A Drexel nine drawer dresser quite dusty, dirty and beat up, but very solid!

Very heavy, so it was a two person transport.

Because this doesn't really work for us,
the dresser will become a media center.

Paint and nail polish spotted, and a little worn
finish can all be removed from this
veneer top with a lot of light sanding.

The drawers are well made, nothing loose or broken.

A bonus feature in a drawer.

First round of sanding with an orbit sander.

Trim edging is primed and painted but an angle tip sander is getting it off.

Not bad for veneer!

Edges are coming clean.

Drexel Brand stamped in the drawer.

The drawers were constructed very well.
They are quite heavy too.

First coat of sprayed paint on the
drawer fronts in flat black enamel.

Second coat.

Very quick dry color for the top, sanded and ready.

The pecan color was a good choice!

The veneer grain still peeks through nicely.

Now for the base. I drilled 3 cord holes on the top shelf, intended for electronics.

Taping off the top from the base,
it was clean up time and paint prep.

The top shelf area needed to be painted all over
each surface, and it did take two coats.

Dried, and ready for the knobs. Easy stuff.

Now to load it up with "media stuff"

I love these copper highlighted knobs. They blend perfectly.

This is much better.

Before and after ... happily ever after ~

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How to make a Custom Range Hood

When gutting the kitchen and installing cabinets, our selection didn't include a range hood that I wished for. I also wanted a through the wall fan vent vs a over head filter fan. After finding some scrap oak cabinets and trim that matched, I used a 2 door cabinet front to build the front of the hood.

To start the custom build in, I boxed a frame for the bottom of the hood with scrap oak boards. Then did the same for the top; flush with the cabinets on each side. After measuring and cutting down the cabinet front and doors, I attached the doors to the cabinet frame. The top of the front was attached to the front box frame and the bottom attached to the back of the box frame. Once the front was secured to the top and bottom frames, I measured and cut to fill in the sides with more scrap oak boards.

To trim off the hood, scrap oak molding was used along with embossed molding. When the cabinets are painted all white in the future, this feature will be quite attractive.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Horsing around... Worn Horseshoes Ideas

I'm always intrigued with horseshoes and how to reuse them. You often find them in an old barn, hanging on hooks, tossed into a pile or a wooden box waiting ... for something. I enjoyed looking at these ideas to come up with some of my own.