Sunset Coast: diy

Showing posts with label diy. Show all posts

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Vanity Bench DIY Furniture Paint Makeover (and Quilts!)

Happy Sunday! Did you have a good 4th of July weekend? It officially feels like summer and I'm trying to swim in the pool everyday for exercise. The pool has been self heating with a solar cover since I removed 3 giant ficus trees. The trees had to go! The roots were ruining the concrete.

Remember that 'plain jane' vintage vanity bench I shared a couple days ago? Well, here it is, all made over and pretty.

I took that little gal with the sweet cabriole legs, sanded and painted and sanded a little more to distress it. After coating it with polyurethane, it was almost done. The only thing left to do was upholster the removable top with some new fabric.

Sanded!

Primed!

New Fabric Stapled On!


Even the inside got painted and the lid got lined with fabric using spray adhesive!

Here she is in all her glory, a sweet little vanity bench re-do!!! Now this vintage furniture is gorgeous again.

In other crafty news, I also wanted to share a couple quilts from my class this week.

Rosanne made this fine table runner. All ready for the patriotic holiday!

Linda finished her scrappy quilt. She used scraps from many projects over the years and this brings back lots of memories of her past sewing endeavors.

Thanks to the sewing class ladies for letting me share their fine work. Keep on creating my friends!

Thanks for visiting the Sunset Coast. I'd love some new followers on Bloglovin' or Google Friend Connect.
What amazing things are you working on this week? Leave me a comment and a link so I can visit you too, bloggers!

Have a Blissful Day!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

DIY Baby Room Nursery Shelf

It's Sunday already! I want to share this precious baby shelf I made as a gift to a friend that is expecting! Actually, I made 2 of them.

2 women in my Tuesday sewing class are expecting babies. Mimi is having twins and Jasmine is having a surprise. Most of us in sewing are past child bearing years, (geeze that sounds OLD!!!) so we're all excited for them to have their babies.

I wanted to make them something special and had most of the materials already on hand. Moms can always use a little shelf with hanging hooks for a new baby as part of their nursery decor.
So with some imagination and a few tools, I came up with this sweet baby gift. Here's the basic how to's!

I had some more of the wide baseboard molding, used previously in this hall hook project. A little more of this fence board used in my beachy bathroom towel hanger was put to use.

A little note about tools. I have some basic power tools that I have used for many things around the house. I love the drill for obviously drilling holes, but I also use the attachments for screwing things in like knobs and curtain rods. The jigsaw is easy to use and fine for small things. It's not perfectly accurate but fine for this little shelf. My electric sander gets the most use, because I use it to sand furniture for painting. These 3 power tools have been great to have and I don't feel like I'm going to cut off any limbs with the jigsaw.

First I cut the molding in half with the jigsaw, making 2- 19 inch long pieces, 1 for each shelf. I cut the fence board 19 inches also for the actual shelf part. I gave the shelf a little detail by cutting off 1 inch across each front corner. (see photo).

Then I attached the shelf top to the molding with some glue and finishing nails. I smoothed out the rough edges with my electric sander too.

I had bought a scrap of 2inch by 2inch lumber and cut it into cubes, 4 for each shelf. I attached those under the front of the shelf with glue and screwed them in from the back of the wide molding. I wanted them to act as support for the shelf top.

All that was pretty easy!

On to the painting.... First a coat of good old primer. After priming, I decided that I needed to caulk around the blocks and a few other cracks. Then I painted everything with a coat of white latex paint.

While the paint was drying, I painted the 3 wood knobs for each shelf, to act as hooks . I just used pink, green and blue acrylic paints.

I like to put the screws in the knobs to hold them while I paint, then I stick them into some foam I had, to dry. You can also stick them into the top of a box to hold them while drying.

Almost done! I painted the little blocks with acrylic paints.

I used my sander to distress everything a bit. Nothing like a little distressing to hide the not-so-perfect carpentry. And it looks so quaint and shabby chic!

Attached the knobs, gave it a coat of polyurethane, (I used satin) and the darling little baby shelves were done and ready for gifting.

I have to say this was a fun and easy project. I sure had fun creating these baby shelves and I hope the moms and babies enjoy them for years to come!

Thanks for dropping by the Sunset Coast workshop ...

Have a Crafty Day!

Cindy

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Too Much Time
Its Overflowing

Friday, May 24, 2013

DIY Reclaimed Wood Wall Art

How's it going? Everything is hunky dory here, except I have a cold. It went from a tickle in my throat to a deep cough in a few short days. I guess it's a good day to play on the computer. I needed some inspiration for today's post, so I looked up at the wall and saw this painting I did on an old wood coffee table top.

To coin a phrase, I 'upcycled' that thing! I'm not sure.. did I recycle or upcyle? I have to look that up. ( More on that debate later.)
There have also been some amazing wall art projects on Pinterest and other blogs, so I thought I'd pull together some great do it yourself art to share. These photos show what you can do with some scrap wood. Recycling old wood, lath strips, fence boards, pallet wood and whatever you have, can easily become some great wall art with some DIY elbow grease.
My artwork was made from the wooden top of a coffee table that I had found at a thrift store. I just removed the table base and added a hanging wire. I used painter's masking tape and lots of measuring to figure out the design. Then I loaded my palette with an assortment acrylic paint colors. Here's a close up of what I ended up with in the diamond designs. I used a loose painting style, adding colors to wet paints and just blending as I went. I find it hard to describe how to paint. I think you just need to play around a lot! Keep in mind, you can always sand and paint over it. Let yourself mix colors in different ways!

Here are several more beautiful projects I found on Pinterest and the internet. I hope you find some inspiration and a way to use some reclaimed wood. Enjoy!

Make and Do Girl

Coffee stir sticks were painted in pleasing colors and glued into wood frames. Pretty, huh? She has the full tutorial on her blog, link above.

Parvez Taj

This artist used reclaimed wood as well as dark painted silhouettes of palm trees and birds to make this gorgeous work of art! Looks perfect for the 'Sunset Coast', too.

221vision

Redwood lath strips take on a new life in this piece. Each piece was painted or stained and simply glued onto an old canvas. Love it!

All kinds of scrap wood were reclaimed in this interesting wall art! Some people save things and actually make something awesome out of them... This piece was one of my favorite picks.

Lake Girl Paints

This artist recycled pieces of old fence boards. Her painting is wonderful and she tells you how to do it, too. The feather, nest and egg paintings are delightful and she makes it look easy to paint them.

Perfectly Imperfect

Here's another inspiring composition of reclaimed wood. The chalk paint colors in red, white and blues look great in this nautical themed room.

Plitter and Glink

How cute is this?! Popsicle sticks are cut and glued onto a small canvas. The whole thing gets a stencil with the words and waves and jute trim to finish it off in style.

Reused lath wood is cut and glued to make this intricate design for a wall art piece.. I think it looks great!

Michelle Peterson-Albandoz

This use of reclaimed wood is a fabulous work of art! Triangles of various wood are arranged to make this wonder. All the wood was already those colors, the artist did no painting. It would take a lot of precise work to get all those wood triangles to fit perfectly like they do.

I like the pleasing shades of green and dashes of red, in this DIY art. It's also interesting to have the various widths of wood stacked and combined together. Looks so simple, yet it's very effective wall art!

Rustic wood Originals on Etsy

Various pieces of recycled wood make up this art piece. Subtle paint color was added as well as the bird outline. It's a pretty work that reminds me of a shoreline or the seaside.

For the final reclaimed wood art piece, I've shared another awesome piece made with painted lath wood. Just running the wood vertically versus horizontally, gives the art a different appealing look.

I hope you liked all the inspirational wall art today! I could have shared hundreds of pictures.. aren't these internets incredible?

Do you have a pile of wood you need to upcycle or create into something amazing for your walls? Try some reclaimed wood art!
(Ok, I've got the info on upcycle vs recycle. According to somebody--"Upcycling is described by some as reusing a material without degrading the quality and composition of the material for its next use." When you recycle you change the composition of the material, such as when a plastic bottle becomes carpet or a plastic bag. I hope that makes sense!)
I 'upcycled' the wood table top. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Maybe you have something you'd like to share? Send me a picture or a link, I love your ideas and projects!

Have a Happy Scrappy Day!

Cindy

Sharing around the bloggyland...
I should be Mopping the Floor
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I Should Be Mopping the Floor
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Under the Table
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Redoux
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A Peek into My Paradise
Fresh Eggs Daily
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I heart Naptime
Too Much Time
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

My Black and White Painted Kitchen Cabinets

This is the story of my adventure in painting my kitchen cabinets in dark and light hues. (Wow, my life is exciting when paint is an adventure!)

The Harvest Gold Stove circa 1969

Not so long ago, I had your typical 80's oak cabinets. They were solid doors but I think the original cabinets had been refaced. I had a lot of repair work to do to the veneer to make the cabinets paintable. The photo below is sort of what I had. I had previously gotten rid of the stylish Harvest Gold stove with the pull out stove top. Don't you know that those stoves will probably be the next hot vintage item in high demand? And everyone will be stripping their cabinets for this vintage oak look? Whatever. I painted the cabinets!

Typical Oak Kitchen Circa 1980's

The kitchen was changing in stages; new counter tops and back splash tile and a new tile floor had been done in previous updates. I really like the look of white cabinets, but face it.. we're kinda sloppy and I didn't like the idea of constantly cleaning the lower cabinets. So looking around the internets, I decided to paint my kitchen cabinets in 2 tones.

How about these photographs below for inspirational kitchens?

Thank you Pinterest!

Using Behr paint with primer already in it, I picked my colors..Martha Stewart's Pearl white and Behr's Stealth Jet. Stealth Jet is a very, very dark brown. It comes off black at night and more brownish in the daylight.

Believe me, it took a while to pick my colors. I labeled and removed the doors and set up a painting spot in the garage. The white took 3 coats and the dark took 2. It was lots of work--sanding, deglossing and finally painting. I also replaced all the hinges.

I removed the doors on the cabinet above the sink, added a light and covered the back with beadboard. I just use this spot as an ever changing display of knick knacks and holiday themed stuff. The fluorescent light makes a great night light for the kitchen. There's a plug behind the beadboard that is connected to a light switch on the wall, making it handy to turn off and on.

More stuff is displayed on top of the cabinets. The kitchen has a high sloping ceiling with big windows above the cabinets that let in a sky view. I took out the cabinet doors above the microwave and replaced them with a board, trimmed it with molding and added a ready made decorative carving. (see above)

Those beams were oak also and felt like they were closing in the space. Lightening them with white paint made them blend in with the ceiling and virtually 'disappear'.

I covered the side and back of the peninsula with bead board. It gave that plain surface some interest.

I used liquid nails and screws under the cabinets to attach painted corbels/shelf brackets to each side of the stove.

Just more decoration!

I used 2 large cabinet handles from Ikea to double as towel holders and drawer pulls on this drawer next to the sink. It keeps towels close and this has really been a good solution!

The kitchen table is on the other side of the peninsula. It's wearing some place mats I quilted. The free standing cabinet was a 10 dollar bargain from Salvation Army. It even has a light! The leaf chair I painted is prettying up the corner.

Here's the desk area next to the refrigerator. It needs a little rearranging. I've just been hanging things where ever there is a nail.

A corner next to the stove with some more collectibles. I love old glass and anything with a pedestal!

My kitchen isn't huge but it has a great work triangle. I can move from the sink to the fridge to the stove in just a few steps. I've had a big kitchen and I much prefer this one and it's the perfect size for my needs. It's been a couple years since I painted and made over the kitchen and I'm still enjoying the cabinet paint colors I chose.

Pumpkin likes to hang out on the rug

One more detail,I made this little owl doorstop and filled it with dried beans. Mr. Owl works great to keep the door from blowing shut that leads to the rest of the house. I open the kitchen windows to let in the afternoon ocean breeze. That breeze is my house's air conditioning here on the sunset coast.