Living Room: Some Small Projects

1. From Console Table to Entertainment Center

After the TV shelf that I built three years ago died during the latest move, we decided to use a console table (from World Market, about 10y ago) for the tv instead.  The only problem was, there were no shelves for DVDs and things in it - it was just a big hole:

Nothing a 14" 8' pine shelf board from the hardware store couldn't fix.  I just happened to have a stain that matches perfectly - Rustoleum's "Kona." I cut out a 3" square from each corner to fit around the console uprights, and attached the boards with 1" L-brackets at each corner.  Boom. 

Pro Tip:  make sure the can of stain is completely closed before shaking the living crap out of it. Oops.

2. Candle Fireplace

The fireplace works; but I'm not about to use it for a fire in a rental. You just never know, you know? But, at least now I have an LED candle "fire."  I've always wanted to try this.  

I know, I know - the stuff on the mantel is wonky. Don't look. Not done yet. 

3. An Old Project Re-Purposed

Once upon a time, I played with a Medieval reenactment group. It was swell, but eventually the swelling went down and I moved on to other hobbies.

While I was there, though, I made over a wooden toybox my grandfather built for me when I was two.  It was old and battered, and it made me sad that it only ever saw the inside of my closet.  I made it into a semi-pseudo old-looking chest, then created a lid and painted a little Medieval-looking mural on it. 

Once again, now that I no longer do the Medieval thing, my beloved chest was languishing in storage.  So, the other day I put feet on it (actually blue glass drawer knobs with felt on the ends bottoms) and put it into service as a miniature coffee table.

(L)  glass knobs for feet                                                                            (R) storage! 

4. Ikea RASKOG Cart

This is an Ikea RASKOG cart that I spray-painted to use as sort of a rolling coffee table and art-cart.  The Medieval chest above serves as a coffee table for public things, like remote controls, but the cart is for my personal stuff. I like to sit on the couch and listen to movies, or BBC Earth, while I draw.  

This has it's own post, if you're interested. 

What's next? 

Chairs!  

And Now For Something Completely Different...

You guys remember the tacky cat statue, right?

November

Over the weekend, my cat Gypsy went into the hospital with a urinary tract blockage.  It's his second one, and although this case wasn't as advanced, it was harder for the vets to deal with due to scarring from the last time.  He's been through a bit more, and I've been uber-stressed about both him and the financial situation this whole thing is putting me into (not that I begrudge it, there's not a thing I wouldn't do for my animals).

I did a LOT of big, serious projects this weekend to keep myself busy and keep my mind off of things.  I'll be sharing all of it with you this week, but first I want to show you how this cats statue came out.  I can't fix Gypsy, but I can at least fix THIS cat.

I want you to know, I don't DO stuff that looks like this.  Seriously, it's pink and gold, and just...tacky as hell.  But this was one of those times when the art, the paint speaks to you, you know?  I cleaned and prepped and painted this cat with Gypsy on my mind, using it as a focus to send him love and healing - and I had every intention of painting this thing blue, mind you - but for some reason it just needed to be pink.  And gold.  With dots and stuff.  I have no idea, y'all, it just happened.

We'll call this "whimsy." 

Hell, for all I know?  Maybe pink is Gypsy's favorite color.  (Just in case anyone cares, the pink is Valspar's "Summer Night", purchased on clearance for $1 /8oz sample can; and the gold is just all my gold metallic acrylic craft paints mixed together so I'd have enough gold).

Ridiculous. Cute. Girly. Mostly ridiculous.  

Heehee.  Come home, Gyps-a-lator.  Mama and your brother Rabi miss the hell out of you. 

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Refurbishing a Tacky Old Statue

Yes, yes I am refurbishing a tacky, old statute.  Because I LOVE my tacky cat statue.  Long ago and far away, when I was 17 years old and living in my very first apartment, I was friends with the girl who lived across the courtyard from me, in the facing building.  Her roomates were horrible, left her high and dry, and she had to abandon the apartment (which her roomates trashed before leaving, by the way. Horrible).  She left it standing open, and told me to go in and salvage whatever I wanted to before the apartment people came to clean it out.  We exchanged numbers, but I never heard from her again.  I hope she ended up being okay.

So I went over to her place.  Cleaned it up a bit.  Snagged a little patio table for a friend who was looking for one, a laundry hamper, which I desperately needed, and this cat statue:

This cat has sat in my entry way in every place I've ever lived, since that day when I was 17, and I love her to the moon and back.  She's been nearly every color of the rainbow (when I got her, she was red), and she has, unfortunately, been knocked over and broken more times than I could count.  So many times, in fact, that the last time I glued her back together, she wouldn't go back together properly.  I did as good a job as I could, but there was just so much glue and paint built up in the cracks, it wasn't working anymore.  So I decided to fix her for real this time. 

Horrifyingly enough, the first step was to knock her back apart along the established cracks.  Fortunately the five major pieces the cat always breaks into came apart cleanly.  Some of the more minor cracks held together stubbornly, and I only created one new break, in the process.  I chipped and sanded old, dried clumps of glue from around the edges, and then soaked off the rest with acetone. I also used the acetone to clean up the whole surface of each piece, removing built-up paint in the crevices, blobs and drips from old spray-paint jobs, brush hairs caught in the paint, etc.  YOU probably can't tell from these pictures, but I can see the last four paint jobs here, thanks to the acetone.

After gluing the cat back together more firmly with a strong, all-purpose adhesive (and waiting over 24 hours for it to cure), the next step was to fill all those cracks, chips, and holes where tiny pieces have been broken off of corners and edges over the years.  Some of the pieces still won't fit back together exactly, as they once did, and so those open joints needed to be patched, too.  

After much research into ceramic repair, and good advice from a friend, I decided to do this with unsanded tile grout.  I mixed a thick paste of it with water and troweled it on with a small, plastic paint scraper, then smoothed it out and wiped off the excess with a wet paper towel.  You can see some of the major cracks in this picture, including the worst of the joints that don't fit back together, near the top, somewhat horizontally. Once this coat dries I'll sand it down smooth and do it all over again, until the largest cracks are just as invisible as the tiny ones that have already been filled and smoothed over.  As many times as is necessary, until this cat is smooth and solid and strong.

To be continued... 

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