Bedroom Bling

I love my "new" bedroom.  I've been working on redecorating it for two months, and I am absolutely in love with the way it turned out.  There was just one more thing it needed...

I love the gloomy blues and greens in the room, but the black bed frame was a bit heavy and bland.  There's a lot of black in the room - in some of the furniture, in the picture frames - but it's punctuated with little dots of light in gold handles, knobs, and even some of the frames.  I wanted the bed to reflect that, and I've always loved the look of a black metal bed with gold bedknobs and finials.

This scared me, I'll be honest.  This gold metallic spray paint is BRIGHT GOLD, and I was worried that it would be WAY too much.  But at this point, there was no going back.  Especially since getting the headboard and footboard masked off with tape and newspaper took me like three hours. Whew!

It was, however, all worth it.  This is just exactly the amount of shininess this bed needed, and I LOVE the way it looks!  I love the way the gold catches the light, and the way all the little points of light on the bed sort of echo the sparkle of the string lights on the standing screen in the corner.  It pulls in the frames and the drawer knobs - in fact, I feel like I might paint another couple of the picture frames, I just haven't decided which yet.

I finally feel like my bedroom is done.

You know, for now.

Ikea Hack: A Sewing Desk

This was what my sewing corner looked like last week:

The sewing machines are on that same corner desk I've had for ages and never get around to finishing refinishing.  (Also it's missing a leg ever since we moved).  Next to it on the left there are two Ikea Helmer file cabinets which hold sewing and craft supplies.  You saw the new craft room last week; this is the story of the sewing desk.  So far it works really well and I LOVE using it. 

First: a can of Rustoleum's gray automotive primer: 

I used the same auto primer on an Ikea Raskog two years ago, and it came out really well.  The primer is made specifically for metal and metal paint, and that cart came out pretty much indestructible.  I wanted to use the auto primer again for this project because of all the abuse these Helmers take while I'm sewing.  

I also sprayed the handles gold (also R's American Accents): 

Once the primer was cured, I painted both Helmer units in Rustoleum's American Accents matte finish spray paint in Coastal Sage (sort of a blueish chalkboard-green color):

When both Helmers were painted and put back together, I purchased a 2x4' birch project panel at the hardware store and used it to create a desktop to go on top of them.  I raised the height of the desktop by placing a pair of 1" risers cut from an old shelving board on top of the Helmers.  I also used sections of clear Ikea Komplement drawer liner in between the wood pieces to keep them from sliding around.  

 So there's a new desk, for the cost of two cans of spray paint and a $26 piece of wood.  I turned two small pieces of furniture into one functional one, and moved a big, bulky, broken table out of the way.  Now I have a well-organized space that's comfortable and intuitive to use.  

Bonus:  my favorite part about my new sewing desk is the power strip on the right side - see it there, with the cords sticking out?  I have all the sewing machines, the light, the iron, and the pencil sharpener run through that power strip, so that I can turn the ENTIRE workspace on with one button.  Fwoosh! Ready to work.  The power strip even has USB charging ports, so I can charge my phone or whatever while I work.  Sweet!   

How To Make Your Food Blurry in 87 Easy Steps

Here's a fun thing about my 1965 duplex:  there's no pantry.  Like, at all. So my Ikea HEMNES glass-door cabinet is now a food-holder.  It works great!

The problem is, you can see the food. All the time.

Also, my kitchen is full of snakes:

Yes, I forgot to take a "before" picture again.




















Anyway, this is nothing a can of glass frosting spray can't handle.   I copied my design from a window cling film design you can get just about anywhere.


I sketched the pattern onto the front of the glass doors with a sharpie, a yardstick, all the math ever, and about seventy-eight little square templates (okay, 3 of them. But I had to make them over and over again because the Sharpie ink kept making the edges soft, which wasn't remotely helpful).

The next step was to tape off all the lines on the inside of the glass, using the Sharpie lines as a guide.


Frosting the glass on the inside means - I hope - that it'll be less likely to get scratched by people going in and out of the cabinet.  Of course, there's more chance of the food scratching it this way, so, six one half dozen the other?  Time will tell.




















In all it took four rolls of thin Washi tape, for both doors. Man that stuff's handy.

The next step was a Pinterest Fail.  I attempted to do the thing where you spritz water onto an area to be painted (in frosted or silver, from what I've seen) and it comes out looking like *drumrolllll* antique glass, or watered glass, or whatever you want to call the pattern of wibbly woobly melted-looking bits of glass.

However. This is not what happened.

What happened was the water caused the frosting spray not to adhere to the glass at all, and it fell off in big chunks as soon as it was dry. Also, some of the glass outside the squares was not as dry as I thought it was - hence the streakiness you see here.

So,  I had to un-tape and scrape clean an entire door and re-do it from scratch, including taping. So, I guess technically I did three doors this weekend, not two.

However, the end product was worth it:

Can you see the food? Is there soup??  YOU HAVE NO IDEA!  MUAHAHA!!! *ahem*cough*

So it doesn't block out anything.  At best this made the food blurry - but I'm satisfied with it. It's still a little less messy-looking, but this tones down the chaos effect that we had going on here before. The food just sort of fades into the furniture now, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb.



















The full monty.  Sewing machines and stack of grocery bags and all. (Sorry).


Even though I used the thinnest Washi tape I could find for the "lead lines", I still wish I'd tried for something thinner.   Still, I think it works just fine the way it is.  It's not supposed to mimic leaded and frosted glass, only lend the impression of.

Overall, I'm pleased with the way it came out. The food is nice and blurry, and it helps the cabinet, and the kitchen, look a bit more clean and organized. And I like the way the glass pattern works with the style of the cabinet itself.  I'll be honest, I neglected to even consider that when I was picking a design - I just wanted something pretty - but it works!



There are, of course, more things I want to do with this cabinet.  But these doors were the thing I wanted to be sure to have finished before the Halloween party this year, so that people don't have to look at all the disorganized food.  Fait accompli.


See you next time!

Ikea RASKOG Cart Makeover

Making over the RASKOG is a pretty big deal. Google it, or search Pinterest, and you'll see a million different variations - lots of crib-side diaper carts, bathroom carts, bar carts, and an endless barrage of art supply carts.

As much as I love these things, and as many RASKOG carts as I have* I've managed to have never jumped on the RASKOG  re-do bandwagon...until now.

Do your index finger a favor and get a spray gun handle that attaches to a can.

I disassembled the cart and cleaned it thoroughly (dust, dog hair), then primed it with Krylon self-etching metal primer.  It eats into the original finish, giving the spray paint something serious to adhere to, so it doesn't peel or scratch.  The paint I used is Rustoleum's Chalky Finish spray paint, in "mink."

I LOVE THIS PAINT.

Chalk paint is another bandwagon I haven't yet taken a ride on, but man this paint is amazing! Soft and smooth looking, it really is soft and smooth to the touch.  The matte finish means no reflections, which I've always found makes a thing seem to recede into its surroundings (which is awesome, when you have a small house and too much stuff).  Plus, I'm really digging the color.

It's not fully outfitted with all the stuff that's going to be on it yet, but I'll post another pic when it is.  The idea here is that it'll basically be a rolling coffee table that also holds my colored pencil cases and a tablet, so I can have it next to me while sitting on the couch.  I love to watch movies while I work. Especially Moana.  :)

*So, how many RASKOG  carts do I have?  Four: 

1. A turquoise cart which holds my small hand tools in the garage
2. A dark blue cart which holds my art supplies
3. A black cart which holds my bike tools and accessories
4. A newly-painted taupe cart, see above ;) 

Oops, five:  it's not a RASKOG, but I also have a similar cart from Michael's in a mint green, which currently holds all of my music books and doodads.  The mesh on the floor of the trays is finer than the Ikea cart, and not as thick.  It's kind of weak and flimsy, so I don't put a whole lot of weight in it. Originally I used it as my art cart, but the bottoms bent so much they made my cups of brushes and pens fall over.  This cart is the next one I'll be refinishing. 

What's Next?

There's a LOT happening in the living room right now, and it won't be over til about the 13th - that would be Bulk Trash Day, when my giant, ugly, smelly, broken couch goes to live on a farm.  I'll have another living room project for you after the weekend, and then a big update on the living room the second week of August.  I hope!

Meanwhile, please enjoy this little vase of goofy poppies I drew on the inside cover of my 6" Moleskine sketchbook.  Man, I love drawing on black paper. I need to get a lot of it.

Shelfy Nook

FINISHED!  Finally.  This was like four days' work, and it took me a month. Whew! Procrastination is hard. 

 

Back to the beginning:

I started working on this nook in December  (see this post):
I  removed rotted and sagging shelves and plastic shelf clips which were painted and caulked into the wall, repaired the resulting wall damage, primed the walls and gave it a first coat of paint. 

When I painted the living room over the holiday break, I also installed these supports (1x1/4" pre-primed trim molding) and painted them in with the wall color when this wall got a second coat of paint.

Like a billion years later, I finally got the wood for the shelves out of the back of my car where it had been since December, cut it to size, and attached more (untreated) trim molding to the fronts.

Wood conditioner ftw.  I've never used it before, but WOW it made a difference. The stain went on so smoothly, only took a single coat, and sanding was minimal.

The stain is Minwax's Deep Walnut.  I'm a Jacobean girl from way back; this time I was looking for something with a little less of a green undertone, but not so warm that it bordered on reddish. This was perfect.

P.S.: stainable wood filler my ass. SO much work covering the nail holes on the fronts and getting them to blend in. Sigh.

I am loving the way these turned out.  I should have used a wider trim facing on the fronts of the shelves, so that they would completely cover the struts on the walls, but, live and learn, right?

The last thing was to deal with this nasty 30yo+ a/c return air cover.  It turned out to be a lot less work than I'd anticipated.  I removed it, banged it back into shape with a hammer (from the back), cleaned the gook off of it with my bike cleaning spray (AWESOME) then hit the whole thing with a couple of coats of plain, white, hi-gloss spray paint.

Hilariously enough, there was no filter behind this cover, and nowhere to fit one - the edges of the wall behind the cover are all crumbled and corroded, and when I tried to wedge a filter in place, it just fell flat.  I ended up zip-tying the filter to the cover to keep it where it belongs. Thankfully, it doesn't show:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


I LOVE the way this all came out. :)

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.  

.

Lampity Lampness

S l o wwww updating on the lamps; but, they're all coming along.

Chandelier #1 (Lily chandelier) is coming along nicely.  The re-finishing is all done, it's been re-wired (the original wire wasn't long enough to swag the way I'm going to when I hang it), and it's ready to go up - as soon as I get a good, sturdy, pretty hook for it.

The three-arm chandelier (#2) with all the glass is cleaned, stripped, re-painted, and lying in a heap inside a box in my garage, awaiting more work.  Meanwhile, I cleaned allllll that glass:

ooh, shinyyyy...

Meanwhile, the table lamp I forgot to take a "before" picture of is looking kinda awesome, and I'll have after pics for you next week as soon as I take some that don't suck (because that's all I have right now and I'm not sharing); 

 

(before) 

I also have a candelabra-style floor lamp in the works.  Actually, it's done - I cleaned it, painted it, and put a shade on it, and threw it into the living room.  It's gorgeous, and perfect for the spot I put it in.  Show you next week, when the table lamp is done, since they're going to end up being kind of a set.  :)



Weekend, here we come!  I have a lot to do - two chandeliers to finish/hang, lots of photos to take, a chair and a table to start refinishing, three outfits to start sewing, and I'm about halfway through with a HUGE commission painting that I can't wait to show you when it's finished. WHEW!  Busy girl is busy.


.

A Very Girly Lamp

I believe I mentioned that I have several new lighting projects lined up;  here's the first:

Before 

This is an antique "oil lamp" style lamp that was given to me over the summer by a friend.

It has a pink milk glass body, a horrifically tarnished and somewhat rusted brass base, and a modern brass cup at the top that someone at one point used to replace whatever was there before.

The glass was in great shape; but the brass base was really, really gross.  I tried everything to clean it, from lemon juice to scary chemical cleaners.  I got it clean, but I couldn't restore the finish - and it was certainly never going to match the bright gold color of the modern cup at the top.

Spray paint to the rescue.

After

A thin coat of silver metallic-finish spray paint, light enough to allow some of the dark, tarnished brass to show through in the relief of the fluting and pierced feet;  and then a light dusting with a brilliant gold spray paint over that, to warm up the silver to almost a metallic-champagne color (since the silver paint by itself is very blue-gray, and not really silverish at all).

 I *love* the way it came out.

And I ADORE the little key-shaped switch.  Hee!

New super-girly bedside lamp!

And this light bulb, while VERY cool (and I WILL find a use for it), is nooooot working with this lamp base, LOL.  Bit ridiculous.  I don't have a shade that works at all;  but I'll figure something out, hehe.


Nice base, though.  ;)
















.

Stuff N Thing, Part Troix

Before:  

*DRUMROLLLLLLL*

After:  

Coffee table.


The story is, and you got some of it a while back, that my existing coffee table, though lovely, and dear to my heart, was just too large for the current living room arrangement, and the furniture therein.  I plan to keep it, though I don't know yet what I'll do with it - probably just store it until someday when my living room expands again, or something.

Meanwhile, between an old trunk which became a shelf, (and then another shelf), a bulk-trash-day side table find, and a whole bunch of spray paint, a new, smaller coffee table was born.

the new table receives a cat scan

The dog loves it.  Her favorite spot in the house was under the coffee table, and I was worried that the new one would be too short for her to get beneath, but it works great for her.  Hee.

Truth:  it IS a bit small for the couch, LOL.  But honestly, functionally, it's *exactly* the right size.  And it's pretty.  And it looks awesome with the wing chair and the little gold side table between it and the couch.  Even though it makes the couch look enormous, I really love my new wee coffee table.  (And to be honest, the couch doesn't look so large without a bunch of old blankets draped over it.  Hopefully there's slipcover news in the near future).

I really  should think up a tag/label for "furniture that's been cobbled together from parts cannibalized from parts of other stuff."  But shorter.

Aside:  No shit, a friend of an ex, years ago, was the WORST at mis-using words.  One night while the boys were gaming, I overheard him describing a pirate ship that had been "galvanized" from parts of other ships, and I just could NOT keep from bursting out laughing.  I was dying laughing, and yes, I had to explain why - and then I had to explain what "galvanized" and "cannibalized" meant, and he didn't believe me,  and he was SO MAD.  Shitforbrains.