Back to Building! Vanity project

It has been a long, long time since I built anything other than shelves...and although there were a few hiccups along the way, it felt GOOD!

Here is my latest project:

And please excuse the cell-phone photos--it's all I got before it went to it's new home! 

You may be wondering why this is titled as a "vanity."  Well, that's what this piece will be when it finally grows up all the way!  But it's not for MY home, so the final drilling and installing hasn't happened  yet.

FIVE years ago...I can't believe it's been that long...I built the Grand Truss table and benches for a client, followed by the Grand Rustic-X buffet.  This spring she contacted me to ask if I was still building, and if so...would I be interested in building a vanity for her??

This is the inspiration photo she sent me.  Isn't it gorgeous?? I love the top-mount sink and that gorgeous tile wall!  And barn doors---oh, how I've wanted to do something with a barn door! 

I warned her up front that I had NOT built anything with barn door before, but I was willing to try if she was willing to take a risk on me!

Thankfully she was also very flexible on timing.  My spring/summer/early fall were all crazy!  So this project got delayed until the second half of October, and I spent two weeks living in the garage until it was done.

The barn door hardware is the SmartStandard barn door hardware kit from Amazon.  Yes, there are lots of DIY hardware tutorials out there...but this kit matched the look of the inspiration piece SO well.  The only issue was that it was made for 60" and the client wanted the vanity to be 50"...so it did require some hardware surgery.


Did you catch the fact that I only had a PICTURE to go off of to build this piece??   A picture, a length, and a depth.  That was the sum total of my instructions. 



I sketched out the barest details (thank goodness it was a simple design), plugged in some measurements and constructed a basic cut list.  Ordered the hardware and away I went!




















The frame was a simple box, mainly made out of stock 2x4s.  Based on the inspiration photo, the shelves sit on top of the horizontal supports between the legs (see right), but I trimmed them with 2x2s.  You can see how they sit above the level of the shelf supports.

It gives the impression that the shelves are notched out to fit around the legs, but they are really separate pieces.  I cut down 2x6 lumber to make the shelves--both to get rid of the rounded edges and get the width that I needed.  I did the same thing to make the countertop, and the boards are all held together with pocket holes.

Pictures are a little few and far between.  October days in a garage in the Pacific Northwest are not the best photo-ops.  I worked on applying the finish, and had to sand down the whole top and start again with stain about twice.  Despite applying pre-stain conditioner, the stain didn't want to "take" evenly.

I was pretty nervous about putting the barn door hardware all together.  It's VERY bulky, and I was worried about it clearing the countertop just right (it did), but when I hung the doors--I encountered another problem.

When I hung the doors AT THE MEASUREMENTS SPECIFIED in the instructions...There was about an inch gap between the frame and the doors.  It bugged me.  A lot!!  I ended up putting a second trim piece behind the doors to hide the gap.  In the end--it will probably be for the best, as it will help hide pipes under the sink.

You can see they look much better (no gap!) on the finished product.

I had to play a little bit with staging, since I don't have a sink to put on top of it....

And I apologize again for bad pictures and bad lighting (not that I could do much about that one).

I'm anxious for my client to finish her bathroom so I can see what it will look like in her space!  Although I do think it also makes a nice console...entertainment center...buffet...whatever!

But I think it turned out pretty close to the inspiration photo, don't you think?

Black Beauty

Much to my dear husband’s delight, our dining room has a table in it again…although not for long!

I refinished this set for a client who had picked up this set for a song from a neighbor at a garage sale.  You can see that the finish on the top was pretty worn (it looked worse up close).  She had hopes of refurbishing it herself, but only got as far as replacing three of the seat covers (red instead of white) before losing interest!  I was happy to step in and help!

After removing the original finish, the top got several new coats of stain in a mix of Minwax Dark Walnut and Early American.

The chairs and the apron were painted in a DIY black chalk paint, and I distressed with a wet sponge to let some of the original finish show through.  I sealed the top with Minwax Wipe-on Polyurethane followed by a coat of DIY dark wax, and the painted parts were sealed with General Finishes High Performance TopCoat (satin finish) and DIY dark wax.

I recovered the chairs in this pretty dark fabric she brought me.  She has little ones, so DARK fabric was a must!

This set is HUGE!  The chairs are very generously sized and nicely padded, so it’s a very comfortable table to sit at.  There are two extra leaves for this table as well, so it’s perfect for large gatherings. 

I really love how it turned out…my dining room is moving up on my priority list of rooms to finish!

Linking up here:

My Repurposed Life	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Miss Mustard Seed
Friday Remodelaholic	Coastal Charm
The Scoop!

Triple Printers Console Cabinet

There was a strong temptation for me to entitle this post:  “She’s not dead.  Not yet.”  (And if you know what movie character I’m paraphrasing, you get 10 Chicken Points.)

It has been a very looonnnngg while since I’ve posted, or even been particularly active on the blogs at all.  I seem to have been part of the “where does blogging fit into my life” club…as I’ve found several other bloggers who have also taken long breaks, trying to answer that question!

I think I just managed to burn myself out a little between a summer market, a fall market, and Christmas signs for two shops and one small show.  Then there were Christmas preparations…and finally, a break!  It was delightful.  I loved that week after Christmas where there was really nothing I had to do!  Do you ever feel that way?

With shows and special orders out of the way for a while, I decided to tackle a “home” project…our family room.  When we moved in here (just over a year ago), the family room was the room where we put everything that we couldn’t figure out another place for…it became the dumping ground.  The kids used the room because it was where the TV was, but I almost never went in there, even to watch a movie…I hated everything about it!

So in the past few weeks, it has been my happy-although-at-times-frustrating task to make it in to a more useable, functional, and pretty place for our family to use.  I’ll share some “before” pictures at another time, but for tonight, I just thought I’d share my one major “build” for this room.

I fell in love with Ana White’s Triple Printers Console plans when they first appeared more than a year ago.  It was one of the first items I “pinned” for inspiration to my Family Room Pinterest board (if you visit, you might find some other hints of what is going on in this room).

I knew I wanted a painted finish, however, more like the Pottery Barn Dawson Media Console, and this is what I ended up with (the picture above looks a little greener than real life, I think).  First I stained the whole cabinet with Rustoleum American Walnut stain, then I painted with a DIY chalk paint made with sample pot of Valspar Perfect Storm.  After some heavy distressing, I glazed it all with more stain, then used MMS wax in both regular and dark to protect it all.

This was a challenging build in some ways—namely, the cabinet doors.  There is more of a gap around them than I would like, but it doesn’t bother me as much now that I’ve lived with it for a while.  I discovered that you should NOT buy the cheapest hinges you can find because, well….they’re cheap.  At 22” wide, these door are heavy, and cheap hinges tend to sag…and there’s nothing you can do about it.  I may be a little bitter about that. 

One of the things that made this a simpler build, however, was that I splurged for Select Pine.  It’s significantly more expensive, but SO lovely and smooth—hardly any sanding required!  I still had to hunt…and hunt….and hunt some more (at two different stores)…to find straight 2x2’s, but once I did, it was easy to build nice and square with those perfect corners.

I omitted the center drawer and just put in a shelf to store the DVD player and the Wii console.  Then my other splurge was to buy three Flipworks DVD trays through Amazon.  Each rack screws directly onto the shelves, but then slides out so you can access all of your movies.  We have stored our DVDs in IKEA boxes for a long time, and you had to go through every box to find the movie you wanted (yes, I’d considered labeling the boxes, but there’s no point when you have 6 children who never put anything away properly).

I adore all the label pulls, which I purchased from D. Lawless Hardware (they are VERY reasonably priced!).  I really have no plans to put actual labels in them….I think they are pretty just the way they are!

This new console is really the focal point of the whole room, and it makes me happy every time I walk in there—a far cry from how I used to feel!  I am still anxious to get everything put together so I can show off the room, but it is coming together…piece by piece!

 

Thanks to Someday Crafts, Elizabeth & Co., My Repurposed Life, and Domestically Speaking for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life

I Love Washington table

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day my husband started his new job in Seattle, Washington.  Although the children and I didn’t join him here until just before Christmas, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the changes we have gone through in the past year.

I’m happy to say that we are pretty well adjusted to life in our new home in a new state!  We lived in Utah for 17 out of 19 years of our married life, and we were in our last home for almost 10 years…so it was a big change!  But we have found Washington to be a lovely place to live (although there are a LOT more people…and traffic…here than I could wish), and we’re grateful for this new phase of our life.

That said, today seemed to be a food day to show off this little table I made over 

It was just a simple little pine table I picked up at a thrift store.  The lines were so simple that it needed a little embellishment to make it special.

After painting the table yellow with some diy chalk paint, I cut a stencil of the shape of Washington out with my Silhouette machine and painted it on.  A little red heart marks the approximate location where we live.

This little table was purchased by a woman who intends to use it as an end-of-year teacher gift!  I pretty sure it will be a one-of-a-kind offering!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Grand Truss Table & Benches

This could be the one.

Really.

The number of tables that have come and gone in my dining room since the beginning of the year has become a little bit of a joke.

I think this makes seven.

And the funny part is…this one won’t be staying either!

I built this as a custom order for a woman I met at the October Market, but I’m not sure I want to let it go!

This thing is huge—8 feet long!  (That’s why it’s “Grand.”)

The benches are 80” each, and it easily seats 10 people with chairs at the ends—you could squeeze 12 in if they’re friendly!  The benches are an adaptation of Ana White’s Providence bench. 

The table…well, it was a bit of an adventure.  I started out looking at the Providence Table plans, but I knew I wanted a chunkier base…and the plan page directed me to Design Confidential plans.  Unfortunately, the plans from Design Confidential are not as well-written as Ana’s plans, plus some of the measurements are just plain…wrong.  I had to do a little “winging” of things as I went along.

After my table was done, I found that Ana White does have her own 4x4 truss table plans here.  Oh, how I wish I had realized that at the beginning; it would have saved me a grand headache!  But I guess I can say that mine is an “original!” 

The other big change for this table is the color.  I have been playing with light, old, weathered looks for all the others, and I loved them….

….but I think my heart really lies with dark.  My customer wanted a very dark Pottery Barn-esque finish, I think I achieved it, with FOUR coats of Minwax Antique Walnut, mixed with a little ebony here and there (not a separate coat) for depth of color.  The staining and finishing took FOR.EV.ER, but it was totally worth it in the end.

You can also get a glimpse of exposed hardware on this table.  Rather than use pocket holes (which is problematic on 4x4 lumber anyway), I used 5-inch lag screws to attach the beams together.  It just adds to the rustic quality, I think.

The only way I can reconcile myself to giving up this table is knowing that I can build another one…for me!  Plus, 8-feet is really too big for my dining room, darn it.

I’ll just enjoy looking at it until it goes to its new home!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

First Aid

First Aid.  I feel like I need some!  Seriously.

This last week of show prep for the Ruffles & Rust Vintage Market has almost killed me!  I am soooo tired, but the end is in sight!  Yesterday with the help of a friend I was able to haul about 80% of my stuff to the show location.  This morning a different friend will help me with the last 20%, and then we will arrange, tweak, and price.  Tonight the sale starts! 

But speaking of First Aid…here’s a little project that I finished for the show.  Inspired by Homeroad’s First Aid Foot Locker, I turned a beat-up wooden chest into a First Aid box.

I came across this one at an estate sale.  I *love* old wooden boxes!

This one’s bottom was hanging loose…I know how that feels…

But it was nothing a few nails couldn’t fix!

I painted the box with a few different whites, creams, and grays for a layered look, then I painted the cross and the lettering with a stencil I made with my Silhouette.  The box had had years of oil and grease on it, so it naturally went very “chippy” when I sanded it!

This is actually my second First Aid chest…the first one I made for the Barn Sale in August.  I liked it so much that I put what I thought was a pretty steep price tag on it, because I wasn’t sure I wanted it to sell!  But alas…someone snatched it away almost immediately!

This project has been featured at Knick of Time and Domestically Speaking.

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Grain Sack Bar Stools

In our previous home, we had a “peninsula” rather than island.  It was made for bar stools, but we never had any because it would have felt too crowded right next to our table.  In this house, we have a lovely island, and I spent MONTHS searching for bar stools that met my criteria of “cheap enough” and “cute enough.”  I was perfectly willing to re-make a set, but I kept finding sets of TWO and I needed THREE!  Eventually I purchased three stools from Pier 1, and I have been quite happy with them (you can see them in my kitchen here). 

And so, of course, MONTHS later…I came across three barstools that met the aforementioned criteria at a garage sale!  So even though I no longer needed them for myself, home they came with me...

I really like the way my own bar stools that are all the same style but different colors (it makes me feel quirky…in a good way) so I decided to give the same general feel to these.

Inspired by grain sacks and my love of all things numbered, I painted each stool white (Behr Ultra Silky White, I think) and then painted on stripes in green, blue and, red…

…finishing them off with a little number detailing just for fun.

I know oh-so-well how much abuse bar stools undergo, so I distressed these pretty heavily.  I like how the little round derriere-space shows up so nicely now 

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Another Clock Table

My love affair with clocks is not over!

  My first clock coffee table has been one of my most popular projects, and I also made a clock patio table here.  But this new one…may just be my favorite!

When I came across this little solid wood piece at Goodwill, it had to come home with me. 

You can see that while the finish is mostly in good shape, there were a few places where it had definitely seen better days!

Thank goodness it didn’t matter for what I had in mind for it! 

I painted it with a homemade chalk paint mixture, and then came the fun part…

I raided my paint stash for all the greys, browns, whites, and creams I had…and I didn’t care whether I was working with latex or acrylic!  I just wanted layers and layers of color.

I created my graphics with my Silhouette, and painted those on with black latex paint.

Then I went to town with distressing it and making it look “old.”

This was a piece I took with me to the barn sale, but I brought it home.  Maybe everyone doesn’t love clocks as much as I do, or maybe round coffee tables are harder to work with!

Whatever the reason…I don’t mind hanging on to it for a little while longer…but it is on Craigslist if you’re in the Seattle area!

 

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	A Little Knick Knack