The Greatest Ikea Hack of All Time (For Me, Anyway)

How do you take a cheap Ikea organizer unit and turn it into a huge, expensive, pain in the butt?  Like this:

Okay, wait.  First, let me show you my inspiration and supplies:

This is a photo I found on Pinterest that made me gasp and clutch my pearls.  I slowly craned my neck around behind me like the girl in the Exorcist and glared at my MOPPE art table organizer unit.  My roommate dropped her pen and asked, "What is wrong with you??"


That apothecary cabinet.  The first thought I had as soon as I let go of those pearls was, I could MAKE THAT.








Here are the two Ikea MOPPEs I fixed up for my art table back in August. 

I adore it.  But what if I had another one...that was HUGE...and could hold all the little household bits and pieces?  I remember thinking, while staining these things, "A whole bunch of these could be kinda cool."









Here's the Ikea MOPPE by itself, as it comes from the store - unstained and fully assembled.

Very potential.  Such ideas.  Wow.











I spent about a week planning and sketching, and making supply lists.  When I was ready, I walked through Ikea pushing this thing around:

I swear there were PLENTY more left on the shelf. 

The first thing I did was set about staining 9 boxes and 54 drawers:

This is only about a third of them. 

As soon as  the boxes were stained and dry, I started assembling the unit: I set out three boxes on my bottom board, dowelled and glued them all together, and then set in the remaining six boxes the same way.  

All the clamps I own. 

Before adding the top board, I glued in six 1/4" square sticks behind the boxes.  I know the boxes are glued in securely; but just on the off chance that repeated use of the drawers knocks them loose (it won't), these sticks might add a little extra security against the boxes being pushed out of place (won't need it).  There's so much open space behind them; I really wish I could have made this thing double-sided. Right now it's going to be used against a wall, but one day it might make a nifty room divider or something.  Maybe I can go back and add more boxes in the future.  For now, when this is done, the back will be covered by a sheet of Luan.

Surprisingly not front-heavy. 

While I was waiting for all the glue to dry, I stained a billion more drawers.  I also cut out papers for the drawer bottoms (thanks, Past Me, for making templates in August that I could use later!), and labels to go into the labels holders waiting to go onto this piece.

Fiskars paper cutter FTW. 

As much as I want to show you a picture of a finished project - it's not done yet!  I can't WAIT to see this thing finished!  I'm hoping it will be by the end of the week.  I'll post updates along the way.



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About That Chair...

So when I said I was going to re-upholster the chaise and the green wing chair, I may have lied a bit.  Accidentally.  I'd been trying to decide whether or not to try something else with that chair first, and last night the mood struck me and off I went. The project isn't finished yet; but I'm halfway through and it's looking really promising!

The "green" wing chair before: 

• faded in very weird and random patterns
• several horrible shades of ex-green

I thought about re-upholstering the chair.  And about simply making a slipcover for it - or even just buying a cheap one.  But then I kept seeing blog posts like this one, and pins like this.  I decided that I'd try it, and if it didn't work I could always just make a cheap slipcover out of some old cotton twill I have from a previous furniture project. 

And so I mixed a capful of liquid Rit dye, in black, with about a 1/4tsp salt and a 1-1/4c HOT HOT HOT water, put it into a spray bottle, and went to town: 

During...

I chose to go with a spray bottle instead of a brush after a test on the bottom of the chair showed me that a brush would take A FRILLION YEARS and also ruin my brush, because of the lumpy-bumpy weave of the fabric.

I was concerned about striping, but figured if I can spray paint things, I could do this.  And, as it turns out, the same technique kept striping and blotching from happening:  sweeping, side-to-side motions with the sprayer.  I noticed it also helped greatly to (a) follow the grain/nap of the fabric, (b) spray in vertical sections, and (c) work from bottom to top, which keeps the top from dripping off the dry fabric below it if to much builds up in one place and begins to run. 

Other things I learned: 

WEAR GLOVES.  

Not-Really-After...yet...

So, here's the wing chair, sans seat cushion, after a single coat of black Rit dye. After I sprayed it (in sections), I went over it with a hot blow dryer to begin heat-sealing the color.   The next stage will be to apply a second coat, and then to spray it with vinegar to set the color even further and heat-treat it again; once all that's dried completely I'll take it outside and spray it with a fabric sealant.  

The best thing about it so far - aside from the chair already looking velvety and lush - is that this morning, without any further treatment at all, I couldn't get any color off the fabric with my hand!  

The color's pretty even, especially given how faded the fabric was to begin with.  A second coat will even it out completely;  and it'll also darken the color to actual black.  Rit's "black" does a great job of dyeing things purple when you don't use enough of it!   I also still have to do the seat cushion.  So far, I've only used about half a bottle of dye (I had two bottles to start with). 

More on this as soon as it's done!  :D




P.S. - my knees hurt. Something I always forget about spraying large objects? It's basically like doing three hours of squats and deep knee-bends.  >_<

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A Saw! A Paintbrush! Hoocha Hoocha Hoocha ! LOBSTER.

So, anyway...

You guys remember this pot rack shelfy thing I made for my kitchen? 

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  And it worked - my pots and pans were right there, ready to grab; and for a while, at least, the trash can being somewhat sheltered kept the dog out of it.  Until she figured out how to drag it out and open the lid (without knocking it over, even). 

Once I began living alone (nearly a year ago, now!), I had far more cabinet space, so my pots and pans got new homes out of sight, and the pot rack that I built moved to the back porch, as a beautiful potted plant display random-crap-I-couldn't-be-arsed-to-put-away repository.  

Last night, finally fed up with it looking like hell, not matching the house, and being completely too big and in my way, I took a saw and some black paint to it: 

And because I'm nothing if not consistent, I hereby vow to: 

• fill this with beautiful plants and toys
• put the tools away that are standing in the corner
• finish cleaning up and updating the rest of the porch, and
• post pics when I'm done. 

None of which, as you know, will get done.  But hey, you never know.  

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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.


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Spice, Spice, Baby*

BEHOLD (sounds better than "before", doesn't it?)

• one dirty-ass kitchen "backsplash" (it's just a wall) (so, I tried to "erase" the oil spatters on the paint with chalk the way I saw on Pinterest?  Now I have an oily, chalky mess. Thanks, Pinterest! FFFF)  
• one 3' length of steel L-shaped bracket thing, the proper name for which escapes me
• screws
• screwdriver
• level
• messy cabinets

VOILA!  

One practically-invisible mini-shelf on the backsplash for all of  my spices (don't worry, I have more - I just put out the ones I use all the time, the rest are in a basket in the cabinet with my extras).  You can't even see the steel bracket.  Which is good. Because it's ugly. But it's invisible, so, whatever.

SO

PRETTY


and it mostly hides the chalk/oil mess.

This is where I had the spices before, on three lousy Susans.  It was cramped, I could barely reach the top...

...and...

...the adjacent cabinet was a goddamned mess.

I have a trick back, and when it goes out (with no warning whatsoever, or any discernable cause, no less), I can NOT reach my lower cabinets, or lift even the lightest item.

Therefore, I have ALL of my regular-use kitchen stuff in my upper cabinets, or in my pantry on the higher shelves.  This cabinet houses my mixing bowls, Pyrex bakeware, and my small collection of pots and pans.

Before the spice rack, everything you see in the picture above was also crammed into this cabinet.  Now both cabinets, and the spice rack, are easier and nicer to use.

Rory helped.






















* I apologize. 



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The Last Project of 2013

Lighting the way into the new year from the old!  Okay, that was cheesy.  Even I gagged.  Forget I said anything.

You know what I love?  Alabaster.  And alabaster glass.  Like this:

Preeeety.

And I loved it, for many years, over my kitchen sink:

But then I saw a whole bunch of stuff like this on Pinterest lately:

(via Down To Earth Style)

And then I got this FABULOUS gigantic, round light bulb from a friend of mine recently, and an idea was born:

It casts WAY more light into the entire room, since it's not shaded;  and the open feel of the basket (from my garden, with a fresh coat of black spray paint on it) makes the archway and kitchen area seem a bit bigger and airier, and doesn't block my view into the living room as much.

Is that bulb not epic?  Yeah, I have no idea what I'll do when it burns out, LOL.  But for now, I love this new fixture.  

It makes nifty shadows on the ceiling, too:

You know how I love that.


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New Life For That POS Footstool

You know the one.  Just a quick refresher:

It took way more than a coat of paint and a new top (see previous post) , but, well, here's the after:

Tada!   Blurry photo, sorry.  I'm not using the damn phone camera anymore, I apologize for all the crappy pics.

It's repaired.  It's black.  It has a bigger (and structurally sound) top.

And it's covered in music!  :D  (Can you guess which room it's going into?)

This is all sheet music from my musical exploits in the SCA.  So, it's Medieval stuff, mostly canonical, with a couple of popular love songs of the day (various days);  and where there are visible lyrics, they're in Italian and French.  Because: nerd.  

Plain ol' decoupage, nothing fancy.  Homemade medium (craft glue +  water, sealed with polyurethane).

via

And la piece de resistance?  Well,  I was thinking something like this, but for storage of music books and small musical instruments, instead of plants.


What ended up happening was more of a "fishtank on a table with junk in it."

...yeah.

It just needs some cool decoration.  And a more organized method of music storage than "just dump it all in there for now."

Update soon. :)














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Things I Did Over the Holiday Break, Part II

I finally, FINALLY built that extra project bench in the garage I've been talking about for months!!! 

I know, I know - it doesn't look like much.  In fact, it looks like half a table humping a kitchen furniture.  Which is probably because that's kinda what it is.  I was going to strip all the wood and stain it, or paint it - and you know, I finally realized I didn't care.  It's a shop bench, dude.  It's going to get f'd up.  

Things That Have Been Cobbled Together To Make A New Thing: 

(because they're still on the garage floor, but now they're only taking up ONE spot, and serve a purpose) 

• counter-height, unfinished kitchen cabinet piece, donated*  by a friend
• two boards, both alike in dignity 2x12"x6', which have served me many a purpose over the years
• Two steel table legs, harvested from my old project bench (which you may remember) 
• Two heavy-duty plastic bed risers

* "donated" = "Come get this or I'm throwing it away."

Okay, so, don't laugh about the bed risers.  They're totally sturdy.  I've used them for years, for various purposes (okay, mostly for making things taller, but, all sorts of things!)  They make the steel legs exactly the same height as the cabinet, so the whole thing is very stable.  I did put non-slip padding in between the risers and the legs, to make sure they wouldn't wobble around if the workbench got bumped or shoved.  And finally, the big, dirty, messy table in the background? That's my WORK table.  This one is just for sitting at, working on small stuff, like putting together lamps and things.  It won't be taking a lot of abuse. 

Ah, my faithful pair of boards.  They started life in a cinder block shelf on my balcony at an apartment complex, so that I could put MOAR PLANTS out there.  One of my favorite spiders started her life in a tiny, tiny web on that shelf, and grew until her webs were three feet across and she was taking down small planes all by herself.  Zippy was so cool.  The boards are strapped together underneath with some scrap lumber, on the open end; and screwed into the cabinet frame on the other end.  Sturdy stuff. 

Okay, so, I do actually plan to spruce this thing up.  I just got tired of waiting for myself to deal with the parts before assembling the thing, and tired of waiting for its assembly in order to finish some small stuff (like lamps!!) that I have waiting in the wings, lacking only a space on which to work.  I will be sanding down the top of the boards and re-sealing them, as well as sealing the cabinet.  I may change my mind and stain both, or paint both.  I have no idea, to be honest. 

Springy-sproingy drawer dividers FTW!  This is not actually what I'll be keeping in this drawer.  I have no clue what I'll keep in it.  This was random junk I grabbed from a nearby pile just to make the picture look better.  I posted this on Facebook, and my friend says, 

"I wanna see what comes of the tent stakes and Moroccan lamps." 

Me:  "Broken glass." 

Her: "No glowy wildebeests?"  

Zippy II

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A Very Late Update

Earlier this month I promised you a cool living room thing, and I admit, the reason I haven't posted is that I just CANNOT get a decent frikking picture of it.  I've tried and tried, but I'm back to my phone cam again (new phone, at least), and it just can't handle the weird light in the living room.

But here goes, anyway...

Before stuff:

Living room, almost just like it is now. We're looking at the space behind
the couch, this time.  Ignore the blankets on the couch, we're working on it. 

Brown shoe shelf in the front hallway. 

A gigantonormous wood-framed mirror (40") I picked up
via Craigslist for FORTY DOLLARS. 

 After stuff: 

Yay, the shelf is painted!  And also behind the couch! 

Yay! 

A couple of notes: 

• craigslist is da bomb
• yes, these were both painted with the same black-ish paint that I used on the hallway doors, the little Ikea candlestick table, and the dressing table in my bedroom
• I cleaned the mirror glass before taking these pics (you're welcome), and while I was at it, I went ahead and cleaned all the other mirrors, too, and I counted as I went.  Turns out I have nine mirrors in the house, and that's just mounted on the walls (not counting jewelry boxes and makeup mirrors).  Weird.  

Next post:  who the heck knows?!

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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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