Between the Rafters

Friday, September 14, 2012

From a China Cabinet to a Bookcase

When I first bought my house my Grandmother gave me a dining room table and a matching china cabinet. I didn't have room for the china cabinet so it went into storage in the basement. I tried to sell the china cabinet multiple times but couldn't find a buyer so I decided to put it to good use. As a bookcase. You see, the top of the china cabinet wasn't actually attached to the bottom so that you could use the piece as either a china cabinet or a buffet. The top part merely sat on the bottom. Pretty ingenious huh?

Here is the top part of the china cabinet before. Notice that it doesn't have a bottom as the top of the buffet would have been the bottom. It also had three doors but I neglected to take a picture before I took off the other two. (I also neglected to take a picture of the complete china cabinet.)

The top was also unfinished as it would have been too high to see once it was on the buffet bottom. It does have a light which I decided to leave in place.

To start I needed a bottom so two 1 x 8's were cut to size and attached. Of course this left a large crack where the two were joined. Since I had a piece of beadboard lying around from an earlier project we cut it to size, flipped it upside down, and glued it to the top of the new boards so as to have a smooth bottom for the bookcase.To finish the top we put boards across first to support the weight should I decide I wanted to set something on top of the bookcase. Then we cut another piece of the beadboard to size, flipped it upside down and attached it so as to have a smooth top. We also made a small indention for the light cord in the back board. Here are the bracings.

Next I filled in the holes where the door hinges had been with wood putty, gave the piece a light sanding and went to work painting. The inside I painted Woodsy Scent by Clark and Kensington. You might recall that this is the same color I painted my nightstand.

I painted the piece itself and the shelving a light grey called Baby Elephant, also a Clark and Kensington color (thanks to Ace Hardware for all the free samples they gave away recently! :-) ) The feet were purchased for $1 each at a local antique fair. I opted not to glaze the new bookcase. And here she is completed!!

And of course my cat Penny just had to get in on the excitement. She couldn't stand it that I was taking pictures and she wasn't in them!

I'm partying here:
Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence
Transformation Thursday at Shabby Creek Cottage
October Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

Friday, August 17, 2012

Antique Dresser Reveal

I have finally managed to complete the vintage dresser. This was my first time using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and I am a big fan. I loved not having to sand or primer. When I felt like working on the piece I just grabbed the paint brush! I did have to use two coats of the ASCP Old White but I believe it was because of the dark color of the wood and not anything with the paint itself. If you read my last post you'll know that I had a problem with adding glaze to the dresser, but this was not a failure of the ASCP. Yours truly neglected to do her research. :) My only complaint with ASCP is the price. Especially when you have to buy two different kinds of waxes!

Without further ado, here is the dresser beforehand. This was a Craigslist find.

I love the detailing on this piece! Especially on the top of the mirror. The only thing I did before I started painting was fill in the pieces of missing veneer (visible in the second picture) with wood filler and sand the top since I would be staining it a darker color.

As I previously mentioned I painted the piece ASCP Old White. I then applied the ASCP Clear Wax and the ASCP Dark Wax. The top I stained Kona by Rustoleum. The knobs are actually from Target. I think this piece would also look nice if it were distressed a little but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Nothing else in my house is distressed and the room itself (visible in the bottom picture with the mirror reflection) doesn't really have that shabby chic feel to it. Maybe next piece...or maybe I'll just get mad one day and take some sandpaper to this one! Here is the dresser after her makeover.

I'm partying here:
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence

Friday, August 10, 2012

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Fail

Today I was hoping to reveal the antique dresser I have been working on. Sadly, instead I bring you an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) FAIL!! It could be that I am the only person in the world who didn't know this about ASCP, but just in case there is someone else out there who is late to board the ASCP train, now you will know too.

What is "this" you ask? To start at the beginning I had just finished painting the antique dresser in ASCP Old White. So far I had been very pleased with the ASCP. I knew the piece was going to look great once I got it glazed, especially the mirror on top with all of its detailing. So the mirror is where I decided to start the glazing. I brushed the glaze on and when I went to wipe it off... HORROR. It wouldn't come off! My Old White was now a yucky gray thanks to absorbing some of the black glaze!! So I did what anyone would do and I rubbed harder. It still wouldn't come off! I threw the rag down in frustration and picked up the phone to vent to my mom. "Did you put on the clear wax first?" she asked. I told her I wasn't aware that I needed to put a coat of clear wax first. Apparently I missed that memo.

So dear readers if you didn't know you needed to put a coat of clear wax on first you can now avoid my mistake, and if you did know, feel free to laugh with me (at me?) at my ASCP fail. As for me, I'm hoping the fix will merely involve putting another coat of ASCP Old White on the mirror, putting clear wax on, THEN glazing!

Friday, August 3, 2012

A sneak peek

I have been wanting to try Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) for some time but the frugal side of this thrifty girl couldn't hardly come to grips with the price. Well, I finally bit the bullet and went to buy a quart and then I ended up having to wait two weeks on the ASCP in Old White to be restocked! It finally came in last weekend but I was hosting a baby shower for a co-worker. However, I could hardly contain my excitement so I did manage to find some time to put one coat on the piece I'm making over. Here's a sneak peek! I can't wait to get out there and really get started!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Do It Yourself Bay Window Curtain Rod Tutorial

It's taken me a while but I'm finally ready to hang up curtains in the master bedroom, which is a bay window. So I set out looking for a bay window curtain rod for my space. Those things are NOT cheap. I take that back, you can get the white aluminum kind for $25 online. But who wants those? The next step up was a basic bronze curtain rod for $50. Not going to work in my space. So I decided to do what any thrifty girl would do--MAKE MY OWN!

Here are the materials you'll need for the DIY bay window curtain rod.

1. 10' long 1/2" Electric Metallic Tubing (EMT) Conduit

2. 5/8" wooden dowel rod

3. 45 degree galvanized elbow pieces (2)

4. Wood insert nuts (2)

5. Can of Rustoleum Metallic Paint. I used Satin Nickel as my color.

6. Curtain Brackets--to hold your "rod" onto the wall. I was lucky enough to find three of these packages at the local Goodwill. The second picture shows a close up of the bracket and the hardware it came with.

7. Two finials of your choice.

Once you have all your parts you'll be ready to begin the actual assembly.

1. You'll need to measure for the length of your windows and cut the EMT pipe to the appropriate lengths. Be sure to account for the elbow pieces in the corner so you'll need to cut a little shorter than your actual measurement. I was able to get all three rods out of one ten foot long section of EMT pipe.

2. Clamp the dowel rod into a bench vise and then drill a hole in the center of each end of the dowel for your wood nuts.

3. Cut off each end of the dowel to a 3" long piece.

4. Put the dowel into the EMT conduit. Make sure you put them into the shorter side pieces as this will be where you screw in the finials. Also, this is a tight fit which requires no glue--though you'll probably need a rubber mallet to get the dowel into the EMT conduit.

5. Once the wooden dowel is completely in the EMT conduit take a screwdriver and screw the wood nut into your pre-drilled hole.

This is what the pipe will look like once the dowel and the wood nut are in place.

6. Spray paint your curtain rods with your color of choice.

7. Screw your selected finials into the nut inside the rod.

Now you are ready to hang your new curtain rod! I won't get into the details of the actual hanging as it should be pretty self explanatory what goes where. Here's mine assembled and hanging on the wall! If you place your curtains just so you can actually conceal the elbows and the wall brackets.