FÖRHÖJA Cart For Art: Another Ikea Hack

The new MOPPE sideboard that I built replaced this Ikea FÖRHÖJA"kitchen cart," previously used as a kitchen island and more recently as a storage piece in the living room.  It was home to a 10g fishtank (recently updated to a 20g), a potted Benjamina Ficus, four Ikea SNALIS plastic storage bins filled with aquarium supplies and other random items, and a cat scratcher nobody was using anymore.

I loved my FÖRHÖJA, I just wanted to change the color and repurpose it.

So I Did! 

Meet my new art cart/table!  Many, many coats of stain and sanding sessions went into this. People, there were problems with staining this thing.  All told I went through four different stains, who knows how many coats of each, and sanded it all down and started over THREE TIMES.  The end result of all that abuse is a cart that's a bit rustic looking, which I did not want, but it's FINE the way it IS because it's DONE.  HMPH!

Anyway. I actually do love it now that it's finished. :)

This thing has 30+ pieces.  That was a lot of staining and sanding and staining.

So! Much! Storage! 

So many drawers!  Baskets! Stuff!!

I added a two-prong hook to the front for aprons and towels; and a hanging Ikea basket (BYGEL, spray painted gold) to the side to hold large tools and bottles and brushes.


I got the water hyacinth baskets on Amazon, and lemmetellya, they're my favorite thing about this whole piece.  I looooove the way these things smell. 

The MOPPE drawer boxes on top are the ones I made in August.

I also added a 6" board to the top, on a pair of long tension hinges, so that I could extend the table top for a larger work surface, and also have some storage space behind/under the unit for large canvases and boards...but it doesn't work!

Turns out the long hinges aren't strong enough to hold up the extension when you put any weight on it (I think they're made more for holding trunk/chest lids open); so eventually I'll need to get a better holdy-uppy solution so I can use the extension.














As much trouble as the stain and the hinges have been, I LOVE it now that it's finally done!  It's taller than my old art table, which is fantastic - I'm 5'9, I have a tall easel, and I like BIG canvases.  It also takes up significantly less floor space than my old table, which opens up the "art room" behind the couch.  The extra floor space also helps with getting Shelly in and out of the back door - she's weird about her walking clearance, and won't go through anything too narrow, and won't step over, like, a SHOE that's in her path. Weird dog. (She's really old). 

More space in a tiny duplex is always welcome! 

Now I have a great new space to do more stuff like this:

Volcanic Seascape, November 2018, after a USGS photo of Hawaii's coastline back in July when Kileauea erupted

[Funko Pop] Bob Ross, patron saint of aspiring artists ❤

A Chair I Keep Changing

In 2011 I bought an Ikea NOMINELL task chair - normally $140, but I got it from the as-is section (a floor model) for $10. The first thing I did when I got it home was to destroy the back cover and make a copy of it. I did it again in 2015:

2011 Original chair                               2011 back cover                                    2015 back & seat

Over this past weekend, I changed my task chair again: 

This is the same peacock fabric on the back that is in the living room throw pillows, the seat of the KAUSTBY side chair, and the hanging on the fireplace.

I left the seat the original black, but gave it a thorough cleaning.  I'd read somewhere online that you can clean and restore microfiber fabrics with rubbing alcohol and a soft nail brush.  I'd never tried it, so over the weekend I tried it on this cloth seat and a microfiber office chair that belongs to my roommate - and let me tell you, it works GREAT!  This seat, and Sylvan's chair, look practically brand new.

You can't see it, but there's a 17" zipper in one side of the chair back, to make the cover fit tightly.  The bottom of the back cover has a drawstring that's tucked inside the cover once it's tight.

Now the only thing to do to this chair is take a knife to the wheels and dig out nearly 8 years of thread and pet hair that's clogged the wheels so much that they no longer roll!  Grosssss.


More stuff soon!

Art Storage: An Ikea Hack*

In March of 2017, I started refinishing what would become my art table.  I got 2.5 legs stripped, and then had to stop because I broke my foot...and then I never got started again.  This will be one of my next projects, but for the time being, it still works great as an art table. Over the weekend, I picked up a couple of Ikea MOPPEs to create some storage for the top:

The MOPPE comes already assembled, so I didn't have much work to do here.


I stained the entire thing(s) with Minwax's "Dark Walnut", and added knobs and labels.

At the moment, I have butcher paper covering the table surface;  my plan is to make a custom plexiglass top for it once it's done, to protect the wood and so that I can just wipe up paint spatters without damaging the wood - as old as this table is (possibly early 20thC; more likely a 70s or 80s piece made to look like an antique).

Eventually, the table will be stained the same color, and my hope is that the table and MOPPEs will look like a single piece of furniture.

The knobs here are 1/2" button plugs from the hardware store, just glued to the drawer fronts (actually the drawer backs). 

The labels are cardstock from an old sketchbook, affixed with tiny black tacks - an idea I saw on Pinterest.

The end result is enough like a card catalog or apothecary cabinet that I'm kind of in love with them!





For now, though, I am LOVING the MOPPEs!!

Next Up: 

More living room?! 

* I refrained from titling this post “MOPPE It Up”. You’re welcome.

Chuggin' Right Along

Things I've gotten done this week:

First I cleaned the sewing room.  

Then I emptied what was my "art space" (read: "storage

 pit"), except for a few items which are staying in the 

room or just couldn't be moved elsewhere. 

Most of what was in the "art space" got moved into

 the sewing room; but the actual ART stuff I moved into the 

"music  room" side of  my looooong living room.  

It's a bit of a clusterfuck.

Then I moved this little white ceiling

fan, which was WAY too small to do 

much good in my 16x18' bedroom...

...into the 10x11' ex-art-space, which 

works MUCH better. 

Then I took this old ceiling fan, which HAD been in

the "art space" (and was originally the living room fan

when the house was built in '04)...

...took it apart and spray-painted the entire thing

(props to Pretty Handy Girl, without whose blog I

wouldn't have been brave enough to try lots of things)

...and put it into the master bedroom, which needed 

more air flow.  The fan is still dated and ugly...

but at least it's not bright brassy gold anymore. Eugh. 

Oh, and I also spray-painted this $1 Ikea clock gold. 

I hate it. But whatever, LOL. 

More soon.

P.S. ...

Have I mentioned how much I HATE the
Ikea flooring I put in the side rooms because
it was cheap?   I dropped this screwdriver from a
height of about 8'.  IT STUCK IN THE FLOOR.
Buy the real flooring, kids.  

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Artin' Around

For all my talk (mostly, admittedly, to myself) about making my spare room into an art studio/craft space, I sure didn't get around to it, aside from dealing with the windows, the lanterns you see here, and re-organizing the closet.  That was a big deal in itself, but even as the room started coming together, I realized one pretty major thing:

I don't like painting in that room.

It's 10x10', with 9' ceilings, just like my sewing room.  My sewing room, though, is
(a) well-organized
(b) mostly sitting down-activities


In the "art room", though, is a HUGE wooden trestle table (my ex-b/f's, until such time as he has room for it in his new place), and a whole bunch of small storage furniture for art supplies - a rolling taboret, rolling file cart, and couple of small shelving units that house things like paper and sketchbooks and blank canvases.  There are also now *three* easels in the room.

I like to stand up to paint.  I like to walk around.  I like to step back from a canvas and walk around looking at it, periodically.  When I work with pastels, I like to sprawl out on the ground or on some comfy furniture, with all my supplies arranged around me in a big circle.  And so I've found that when I art, I art in the living room, a big, open space with great lighting and plenty of room to move and spread out.  The extra room became a storage space dumping ground for art supplies I "put away" by piling them up on the work table instead of putting in the extra three seconds of effort to put them actually away. 


But then a goddamned miracle happened.  The next two weeks of my life will involved a complete overhaul of this room AND of my craft room, and bunch of other stuff, too.  Because of reasons.

To be continued...

Soft Lighting, Small Lighting, Little Balls of Flame

Threw a couple of things together for my art studio last week that I'd been thinking about:

• A sheer, cotton, red, paisley curtain panel I've had in my fabric stash forever
• A wee (3") wooden shelf, cut from scrap, fixed in place about 2/3 up the window, with
• A bamboo rod and white muslin café curtain on clip-rings below it, and 
• A couple of glass bottles of Pothos and Philodenron rooting in them
• A trio of brightly-colored, glass, "Moroccan" candle lanterns hung where the sunlight can catch them.  They were a Christmas gift from a friend. :) 

After agonizing over what color to paint the room, I've decided NOT to paint it.  I like the white.  I like the backdrop it gives for ANY color I want.  I've decided that this is going to be my random, riotous, Boho paradise-y art space.  It IS a room for creativity, after all.  

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Stuff and Things

I think it's a good sign that

• I'm not knocking jars off my new spice rack every time I grab one of them, and 
• I'm still grinning from ear to ear and sighing, "ahhh" every time I walk into my pink sewing room.  

Right decisions, yay.  :) 

Meanwhile...

I've been puttering, not working on a whole lot of things.  Mostly small stuff.  I decided after the SCA event last week (which I'd been sewing for for weeks), that I would turn my attention to my landscaping...and then we started this freeze/warm cycle all over again.  It was 70º earlier this week, two days after a freeze;  today it's freezing and about to start sleeting and raining; and next week it's supposed to be in the 60s, but then it'll freeze and rain again.  Freaking winter.  

Instead, then, I've been doing some indoor gardening, which has ended up branching out into shelving and lighting.  I've been picking at my art room some, rearranging furniture and getting ready to gut the closet and re-do it so that I can start getting the room together.  (I have my painting space, but it's kind of a clearing in a junk forest at the moment).  

I put up a window shelf in my art room,  upon which now sits some Pothos and Philodendron cuttings in pretty jars, and below which is a simple wooden rod with dark copper rings and a plain, white, bit of muslin fabric as a café curtain.  There's a funky, paisley, linen sheer over one side of the window over it all in reds and browns, and a trio of brightly-colored glass "Moroccan" lanterns hung in the corner over the window as well.  

I'm going to be doing some more work in the room, bit by bit;  I've decided that since I have two big art projects to do for other people and the space isn't really conducive to working comfortably in, that I'll work on the paintings and the room simultaneously.  Mostly it's going to be dealing with the closet, and organizing the whole room better.  I've also decided that since I love Moroccan, Indian, and "boho" design elements, but that they're too much for my main living space, that I'll make my art room my brightly-colored and deeply-layered "boho" space - a little artsy, creative refuge.  

For the time being, though, I'm going to be taking on a second job soon, in order to take care of some debt and get myself a little bit ahead.  I've been struggling lately, and I'm tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I'm not going to have much time to work around the house, or for anything resembling a social life for a few months, so there may not be many new entries here; but I'll keep you guys apprised of what's going on.  

Wish me luck! 

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DOUBLE ACK!!!

GAAAAH THE SEWING TABLE!!!  No, but seriously, it's actually done, I just haven't set it up yet, and therefore have no pictures.  YET.  I will.  Soon.  I swear.

Meanwhile, a good friend recently gave me her old metal artist's easel, and her taboret, for which I am VERY grateful, and with which I am VERY pleased!  The blue cart I was using was fine for a while, but I found it too short for working standing up, and I could never find anything in the drawers - and I had to work with the drawers open in order to see my paints, and I kept banging my knees.

right there ^

This, on the other hand, is taller, more versatile and organize-able (is that a word?  It is now), rolls more easily than the blue cart, and is open so that I can see everything that's in it.  The drawers come completely out, and you can hang them off the sides of the top, for easy access. 

I haven't got a picture of the easel yet - it's pretty much easel-like, LOL, but it's height-adjustable, with clamps at the top for securing larger canvases.  I already love working on it.

The art room itself is pretty much a complete shambles; I've got to set up the sewing room, then get sewing for SCA Candlemas, which is on the 1st (!!!), and AFTER that I can screw around with the art room if I wanna.  :)

Sewing room soon, I promise!

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More Art Studio Shenanigans

Form of:  drill holes in the wall!  GO!!!

WHEN LAST WE MET ART STUDIO.....

IKEA: DIGNITET curtain wire and clips;
World Market wooden jali screen

Now I have a place to hang some of my paper works to dry/for display,
and a nice backdrop for when I'm working. 

Still to go:

• paint the walls
• paint the closet (I organized it the other day, finally.  No pics, sorry)
• build a taller easel so I can stand up when I want to

Tada. 

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4AM Painty Shenanigans

[Subt. "Insomnia:  Harnessing Your Inner Crazyperson"]  

Soooo cleaning up - and fixing up - my nascent art studio is on my list, but it hasn't been very high on my list of late.  So much else to do!  All at once!  How is it ever going to get done?!  ACK!!!.

Well, apparently, sleeplessness will do the trick.  I've had chronic and recurrent insomnia all my life.  Most of the time it comes and goes, in 2-3 week cycles;  it's been absent for a couple of months now (in fact, lately, I can't seem to do anything but sleep), and I had just about forgotten about it...until last night, when, at 2am, I realized I'd been lying in bed for a really long time, not sleeping, and it was starting to piss me off.  That's really, really bad for insomnia. I'd much rather be awake for no reason and up and around, than lying in bed getting angrier and more stressed about how dead I'm going to be at work the next day, you know?

So I got up and walked into the art studio, to this:

Yeah.  I may have been using the giant work table in here to cut out costumes.  I may also have been throwing fabric at the trash can without looking.  ....yes, there's a trash can under there.

 The rest of the corner is a bit...pile-y...but not too bad.  I reeeeeally need to spend a few HOURS in here organizing my craft shit.   The tarp that's normally under that easel?  Got peed on by a dog.  #%%#@!$

So last night at 2am, I cleaned all that junk up, put my toys away, emptied the trash, , put the tarp back down (I washed it the other day).

BIG DEAL.  Lemmetellya something about me:  I really, really hate seeing "before and after" when all a person does is clean their room.  You're supposed to clean it!  You don't get bloggy bonus points for undoing a hellacious mess!!

But I told you all of that, so that I can show you this:

1.  Not only is the room clean and organized and ready to be actually decorated and stuff...

2.  While 2am saw me cleaning and shuffling, 4am saw me painting a new picture!!  I'M SO EXCITED YOU GUYS WOW.

The rainy-tree thing in the  second picture was from like two months ago.  I like leaving my latest painting up on the easel until [whatever happens].   This new one's going in my front hall with the two from the art class last month;  but for now, it's decorating my easel.

I can't WAIT to get started working on this room.  It needs to start with gutting the closet and painting, hanging new shelves, and re-organizing the entire room, which will be a full weekend's worth of work at least.   After that the painting space is going to get seriously souped up.  I also want to build a new easel.  I adore this one, and it's great for sitting, but I generally prefer to stand to paint, and it's nowhere near tall enough for that.

I just haven't decided if I want to paint the walls or leave them white.

"Lotus Fire"

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Sort of An Update?

Still working on both the art room and the sewing room.  I don't have any cool new pics of the rooms themselves to show you, but WOW was the art studio a good idea.  I've got most of my supplies organized, and it's turning out to be a GREAT workspace!

working on a painted box top for an SCA project

*zooms off to go paint more things* 




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It Begins

The process, that is, of turning my guest room into an art studio.  I've always wanted a dedicated space to paint and draw, and damnit, it's about time I had one.  I've only just started, but here are a few "before" pictures and some (slightly fuzzy) shots of some of the furniture I'm painting for the room:

Before: 

A whole bunch of stuff crammed into the room. 

A whole bunch of art supplies (that's a 6x3' table)

An *ugly* little Kuntry Kitch nightstand - lovely oak, horrible, aged finish,
scratched and stained and warped beyond belief, but sound of construction.

And then:

Nightstand: just as kitchy, but now cute as hell in blue!
Not sure yet, but this will probably hold small canvases.

The beginnings of a painting corner.  If you recognize the
blue supply cart, good on ya!  It's the little red tool cart
that used to be in the garage, with a fresh paint job. 

Lots, LOTS more to come!  I'm working on this room and the craft/sewing room next door at the same time (because allll of my art, sewing, and craft stuff was in the sewing room, so I'm having to organize both as I go along).

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