Craft Room

 Just before we decided to move from our previous house, I finished the last two rooms in our house. Like literally, a couple days before. Isn't that the way it always works. You live in a place for years, and finally get it all beautiful, and perfect, and then you have to give it to someone else. BOO!

Well, at least I got to enjoy this craft room for a month or two, before the whole thing was packed into boxes. The craft supplies you see here, unfortunately, are only about half of what I really have. I know, it seems crazy. It felt crazy when they dumped all the "craft room" labeled boxes in the new study. There wasn't a bit of floor showing....obviously I have a craft addiction problem! 

My new place is coming along, but it's really more function, than form right now. My Etsy business is doing really well, as is my craft booth at a local shop here in town, so I'm working in the space during all of my free time (aka midnight), so it had to be usable. 

It's not to say that this room wasn't usable, because it was. My stuff just seemed to grow on the open  shelves, and I kept running out of room. I purchased two of these shelving units from Ikea, "Gorm". They are super budget friendly, at about $30 each. They are made of unfinished pine. I used a thinned-out stain, and rubbed it on with a staining pad, just to give it a little color. 

 

For storage I used white boxes from Micheals. They usually run $1.00-$3.00, with sales. The look simple enough, and let all my fun decor stand out. 

So if you don't already know, I have a major bird obsession!!

 Like, my family calls me the crazy bird lady... it's fine, I have excepted it :)  and hey, they keep buying me stuff to add to my collection. So I guess it hasn't gotten too out of hand......yet. My craft room is where most of it ends up, so this room had to have color, and lots of it. 

These little birds below are my favorite. I picked up three at Round Top last year. I would have gotten more, but my friend talked some sense into me. 

What are friends for! 

They are made from wood and hand painted, and they sit on top of a piece of drift wood. 

Here are some fun, colorful, and affordable alternatives, to the ones I have in my room. 

These are by 5 Love Birds Nest on Etsy. I'm definitely going to need a few of these ;)

    

On each shelf, I used my supplies as the decor. Alot of what I have, already is full of color. So on the neutral shelving and white boxes, the items really stand out. I did consider painting the rack a color, but I felt like it would have been to busy. 

Flower frogs, hold little note cards.

Above the shelving, in the blank space, I used some large laminated bird cards, that I received as a gift. These cards are about 8"x10", and are numbered with different types of birds. Calendar cut outs could work here as well, or just a collection of prints. 

Here are some beautiful bird prints, that you could use instead, from "Wild Heart Histories" on Etsy.

Love these!!!

      

These color birds on stands, are from West Elm. They have a wire stand, which makes it easy to bend, and mount on them on a wall. I used books to help make a color theme for each shelf.

The birds are no longer available at West Elm, but these Seedpod birds are a good alternative.

This fun chair sculpture came from Urban Outfitters, a fun way to hang jewelry or little nick-knacks.

On the other side of room hang curtians from Ikea. They had a fun red tree print, and at only $12 a pair, they were a great deal,. 

The cabinet is an antique, made by my great, great Grandfather. 

I showed you how I updated this piece on the To Paint or Not To Paint-Antique Furniture.

Before

I used this piece to house some of my painted animals. 

Above it hangs a little collection of art. The "No Rest for the Awesome" sign, was a gift from my best friend, she thinks I'm awesome :) She got it on Etsy from Printed Palette, they have all sorts of great prints.  The hoop art is from one of my favorite shops Three Red Apples on Etsy, I had this piece custom made. The inspirational quote, "and if not, he is still good", is from Raising Up Rubies on Etsy.

More amazing birds! How beautiful are these Bali Starlings?!?

A small couch is on the other side of the room, is the perfect for relaxing....which I never did, not once! But the kids did hang out on it while I worked. 

Since it is a small love seat size, all it needed was two small pillows. The bug pillow was from Target. The striped pillow I made from a sample swatch of fabric, which was discontinued at Calico Corners (and it was free, score).

Here is how the love seat started.

 It was in my moms office for years, and my parents brought it down with some other furniture after my Grandmother passed away. The color was a bit worn, but it was a good solid piece. 

I picked up this great linen textured, coral duvet from Target. It was on clearance for $20!!

I cut it up, and reupholstered the love seat with this. 

The end table was also from Target, but I didnt like the color of the wood, so I painted it in a mint color, to go with the room.

On the wall, I made a little collection of bird things. The antiqued paper print was lacking color, so I painted just a few things on the picture to make them stand out. A West Elm bird, is mounted to the wall above the galvanized shelf.

 In the shelf, fat quarters of fabric are grouped by color. 

The bird print here, is from Jones Design Company. She has all sorts of inspirational, and religious prints. 

A three tiered wire rack, was perfect for holding my tubes of paint. Found this at Hobby Lobby for around $30 on sale. 

I wont show you the whole work table, since it's usually a disaster, but I will tell you that I found a really great drop leaf table, for around $100. It was wide enough to keep the sides down and still have a good sized work space, but skinny enough not take up a bunch of the rooms space. I can pop up one side of the table, so if one of the kids wants to do some art work, it wont disturb what I'm working on. Here is some more of my storage solutions. An antique bread pan, holds my rolls of ribbon. 

This pan has been used for lots of decorating and storage needs over the years. It's held shells, fall decor, Christmas ornaments, the options are endless. These can be found at antique stores, and on Etsy, at shops like Pickers Warehouse, and Territory Hard Goods.

Sadly, this is no longer my craft room, but I like my new one, which I hope I'll get around to showing you before I move out of here!
I'll show you the last couple or rooms, from the old house soon.
You can check out most the house, HERE, or at the top of the page, under "My House".

How-To: Refinish Furniture

Well hello there, long time no talk! Sorry for the radio silence lately, but this little thing called life keeps happening. There are just never enough hours in the day. I feel like I get caught up on one end, and then its unraveling on the other. 

So, now I'm back.

In my absence, (and lets not mistake that with free time) I've been thinking about what my friends and family, keep asking me, over and over how to do? 

Refinishing furniture

Now, this doesn't always have to be an antique, but anything made of real wood that you are trying to bring back to life.

So here is a VERY DETAILED, how-to. Pictures seem to be the easiest way to show you, so get ready, there's alot of them. I guess I'm so visual, that I assume you are too :)

This piece, is a beautiful chest that I recently worked on for a client. I can show you something more simple another day, but I wanted you to see how easy this process really is.  Don't be intimidated, by an intricate piece, you just need some time and patience, and you can bring any piece of furniture back to life. 

So here is where it started...Stains, water damage, discoloration, chips, scratches, you get the idea. 

Stripping Supplies:

 Tuff-Strip stripper (heavy duty); Chip brush (the cheapy $1 kind with real bristles, not plastic); Roll of oil proof paper (this is the green kind, paint products don't seep through); Rags; Sandpaper; Metal scraper (I use a multi-functional tool, it has a durable solid edge); and Nitrile gloves (you need heavy duty here this stuff is yucky, no latex gloves); Electric sander.

I start by pouring a good amount of stripper onto the top, you want to work your way from top, to bottom. More is better here, if you put it on to thin, you'll end up doing more work, and more layers.

If your piece was painted at one time, it is the same process, you just may have a harder time getting it off in the detailed areas. 

Brush out the stripper, try to stay in the direction of the grain. The cans directions, gives you a huge window of open time, but I disagree. The temperature, wind, thickness of the paint, etc...all play a part. I say just keep an eye on it, you will see the top coat start to discolor, or bubble or crinkle up. 

Only strip a small area at a time. Don't do the whole piece at once.  

Once it's ready (you can check a small area to start), take your heavy duty scraper, and in big long motions, push off the stripper going in the direction of the grain. It should be discolored, and the paint/stain should come with it. On pieces painted with several coats, over long periods of time, it may require another pass of stripper. 

On this piece, I just pushed the gunk to the edge, to let it sit on the detailing a bit. 

When your ready for the edging, push the excess off onto the paper. This is why the green oil proof paper is a must. The stripper will not soak through and damage your floor.

DO NOT use plastic underneath, the stripper will eat away at the plastic 

This is what happens when stripper hit epoxy floors...eeekkk, don't tell my husband, he'd have a heart attack. 

You will go piece by piece, stripping each area. 

If you can get the flat scrapper in the smaller areas, use it to get off as much as possible. If the areas are to small, use a rag to wipe off any excess gunk. working with it while the stripper is still damp is key here, once you have let it dry and sit, its much harder to get off, and makes the next step twice as hard. 

Then you'll need to break out the sander. I used two different kinds. Since the top was so damaged, I used a larger square version to really work the top. For the smaller areas I used a Mouse, but only putting the paper at the tip, on the diamond shaped piece. I would stick to a 100, or 120 grit here. An 80 grit will chew away at your wood, and a 180 grit is to fine to take out the scratches. 

Use pressure on flat surfaces, keeping the sander moving back and forth at all times. Don't let it sit in one spot, or it will make squiggly little circles on your surface. Keep the motion, in the direction of the grain, anything that goes another direction will be noticed once you stain. 

Doesn't the top look beautiful now?!?!

For the more intricate areas, I just use a small section of sandpaper, and do it by hand. Folding it in half and pushing it down a grove, or in a tight spot, will clean out the area. 

Press lightly on decorative surfaces like these, you don't want to chew away at the design.

Anywhere you can get one or the other sanders in there, try it. I like the mouse because it has a pointed tip that you can really get into the corners.  Do as much as you can with these piece, again trying to stay with the grain as much as possible.

For the tighter areas, use a small piece of sandpaper, and do that by hand. Be sure to get into the detailed areas well, where the stain will be alot heavier. 

Staining supplies:

1-3 colors of stain, depending on the final color you are trying to achieve; Chip brush; Rag; Staining pad (if your doing large flat areas); Mixing cup

You will want to start top to bottom when staining as well, in case anything drips. 

You don't need alot of the stain on your brush. 

I started on the outside edge here since it was more intricate, I knew it may splatter, and I wanted to be able to touch that up. Fill in all the little areas. The longer you let the stain sit, the more will soak in and the darker it will be. 

I work in small areas at a time, it is much easier to control the color. 

I wiped off the stain here immediately. 

The top surface stain, is applied the same way, in the direction of the wood grain. If you are working on a large flat surface a staining pad works well here, and you may not even have to wipe anything off that way.

 Working quickly, so the stain didn't set to long, I wiped it with a rag, going in the direction of the grain.

For the smaller areas, I worked one area at a time, making sure to saturate all the grooves, and crevasses. 

Then quickly wiping it all down, also wiping out any deeper areas carefully.

When staining a larger area like this, start with the deepest areas first, so they can absorb the stain more, but work quickly so you don't get any dried edges. Then add the stain to the rest of the surface.

Here is the piece, freshly stained. It is so beautiful, I love the direction of the grain on the front. 

Here is the top freshly stained, The detailing took the stain perfectly. 

Now, you could stop there, the piece looks beautiful, but I like to give all the detailing a little more pop. 

If your surface is flat, you can skip this next step. 

I took the darker of my two stains, and using a small brush, went back over the detailing. Wipe this off immediately. You don't want to change the color of the surface. I do this while the piece is still wet, and unlikely to accept much more color on the surface. If you wait until it dries, you will change the color of anything you touch.

Do the same thing to all the detailed edges. Just run the brush around an detailing, inside deep areas, and in any grooves. Again, wiping it off immediately.

It may not jump out at you, that last step, but with all the beautiful detailing, I think it's worth the extra 10 minutes to enhance it. 

The last step of refinishing the furniture piece, is to seal it. 

With a piece like this, you want a furniture look, so stay away from anything you brush on, and wax wont have quite the glow you need. 

I use a Minwax, Wipe-On Poly. This is the oil-based version, in satin. When using an oil-based stain, you have to use an oil-based sealer as well. I apply it with a staining pad, but any kind of lint free cloth will work also. When you brush this product on, it tends to have a higher sheen than satin. 

Note, you should wear gloves, I'm so used to doing it that I did not, but it is messy, sticky stuff. 

Start at the top, and work in the direction of the grain, you don't need alot just saturate the rag, and reapply as it gets dry. You will be able to see where you missed, as it will still appear dull (like in the first photo). 

Make sure to get into any deep areas, but be careful of drips. Double check once you are done with your first coat. Once the sealer starts to set up, don't touch it. You will see the marks later if you do. If you missed a spot, and part that is already drying, just get it on the second pass. 

I recommend at least two coats here, but if your working on a table or a surface that gets alot of wear and tear, use at least three coats. 

 And there you have it! 

A beautiful piece again. 

A couple simple steps, just doing them over, and over, on the different areas.