Porch Progress

Here's what we started with when we moved in.  This picture was probably taken around February 2012.  By summer time, my vintage glider (that doesn't glide) was placed along the railing on the left of this photo.  It was always in the blazing sun every afternoon when I wanted to sit in it.  The dining table was placed on the right side because I feared the cushions would get wet from the rain.

February 2012

By the end of the summer, I was sick of not having a shady place to sit.  So, with the help of my mom and aunt, we worked to rearrange the furniture to make it more functional.  

It was very lacking in the furniture department.  Use your imagination.

August 2012

I found this great faux bamboo chair at a thrift store for $10.  The coffee table is a tree stump that had been rotting in our yard for a year or two.  

September 2012

We moved the dining table to the other side, and with the chairs pushed under the cushions are pretty safe from the rain.  The chairs are covered with outdoor fabric to resist fading and mildew, but I also sprayed them with scotch guard for further protection.  The grill was placed in the far back corner where both sides are exposed to rain.

I've own the glider for over 5 years.  It got painted green way back then, but it's been siting out by the fire pit in all the elements for at least 3 years.  It really needed a new paint job.

I decided I was going to go with aqua and paint the side tables coral.  My other thought was to make throw pillows in the same fabric as the dining chairs, but that fabric was discontinued so I found this as a similar alternative.

After one coat, I realize that this color was way too bright.  You can't really tell from the photo, but I took it back to Sherwin Williams and had them tint it with more umber (it's a brown pigment).  In a side by side comparison, it made a huge difference and was so much better.

The glider got painted solid this time (instead of contrasting squares) because I was planning on adding a cushion to the bottom.  I was lucky enough to find one the perfect size online.  It was around $60, but since everything else came from a thrift store, I figured I could splurge.

Somewhere around this point I started getting very stressed about what colors to paint the other furniture.  All the colors had to be inspired by this cushion (from Pier 1) that I bought way before any of this started.

Enter Photoshop.

Being a very visual person, I needed to SEE the colors before deciding.  This next series of photos shows all the color combos I was playing around with in photoshop.  

I actually painted the above color scheme (with cranberry tables and gray chair) and it stayed that way for the winter.  But I was still on the hunt for throw pillows.  Ideally, Pier 1 would sell throw pillows to match the cushion, but they don't.  The rest of the furniture really needed to draw some of the colors out of the Pier 1 cushion.  I needed some fabric that had yellow or green in it.  And in real life, the aqua with coral, with whatever color pillows I add (like yellow) was looking way too circus (blue, red, yellow).  

So the tables got painted for a 4th time.  They aren't matching tables, but I got them both at Goodwill for $5 each.  I think some kind of stained wood would look nice since there is a lot of painted furniture going on.  But it's too much work to strip them.  I painted them a wood color called "brilliant oak" with a $3 sample pot from Lowes.  Such a calming effect compared to the cranberry color.  If you are still on team cranberry, just trust me on this one.  I bought and tried yellow pillows.  It was crazy-town.

Then something amazing happened!  After looking for the Pier 1 fabric all over the internet, and determining it's not sold anywhere.  A few month later it popped up on Fabric.com under their "just arrived" fabrics for $6/yd.  Made my day!!!

So I ordered a yard and recovered two pillows I already owned.  And found two aqua pillows at walmart for $7/each.

I'm still not totally sold on the white bamboo chair.  I tried yellow but it wasn't working.  I almost tried green, but thought it would be a waste of $5 spray paint if I didn't like it.  White is safe.  White also looks great as a photo prop in a field.

So there you have it.  It took me a year, but I can basically put the "done" stamp on this project.  

Oh, I didn't show you what I found at a thrift store last time I was visiting my parents.  This pair of concrete planters that welcome you as you step up onto the deck.  Classic.

Finally a Bookshelf!

Do you ever have one of those projects that you put off for months or years, and when it's finally done you think "Why on earth did we not do this sooner?"  This was definitely one of those.  

If we are friends on Facebook, then you already saw some of these pictures, but here is a more detailed play by play.  No, it's not a tutorial on how to build a bookshelf because I don't know how to build a bookshelf!  My job was to document (and not very well I was told), and then putty, paint, and style.

Matt told me I didn't get close ups of how the pieces fit together so perfectly.  He was proud.  As he should be.

I don't have a close up of the craziness going on in the corner before, but here's a shot of that side of the room taken last year.  If you look close, you can see that the corner does not meet at a 90 degree angle.  Because of a support post holding up the roof, the drywall is actually at a 45 degree angle.

To build a bookshelf behind the TV meant we need to create a 90 degree corner so the bookshelf would have a side.  A bookshelf needs to side pieces to attach the shelves to, right?

 Since we were already having to box in the corner, we both had the thought that we could put a door on it and shove the modem and other cords into.  And since the bottom shelf was going to be raised off the floor 4 inches, why not make it removable and run cords under there as well!

These are the kind of pictures Matt wished I took more of.  Perfect joints.  Most people do their best and caulk the rest (is that the saying?).  But Matt's an engineer, so it had to be perfect.  My dad asked how he knows how to build like this. Matt said, it's just geometry.  It's so easy to him (not so much me).  I don't even think he writes any of this down.  It's all in his head.

The shelves are just screwed in from the outside, so no underneath supports needed.

This is Matt's technique for attaching shelves or even mounting cabinets.  Stack things under it until you reach the desired height.  Keeps things still and level.  Great for those of us who don't have 3 or 4 arms.

Matt's job is done.  He(along with co-workers who saw this photo) really wanted to leave it this natural two-tone color.  It's interesting, but SO doesn't go with the rest of our house.  It would have stood out in not a good way since all our trim is white.

 I should also note that the reason the boards are so dark is because they are 20 or 30 yrs old.  Matt's parents were saving them for the perfect project, which never came up, so they gave them to us to use.  Some of them have knotty holes straight through, which really add a lot of character and make it look like a built in piece from an old house.

The plan was to put the stereo and printer on the shelves and run the cords through holes drilled into the side of the bookshelf.  You can see one of the holes in the photo below.  The bottom shelf is removable by drilling a similar hole into the far right side to stick your finger into to lift out.  Under the shelf are all the cords for the TV, printer, stereo, and the cord thingy that connects a laptop to the TV (since we watch nearly all of our tv either on hulu or netflix).

And inside the door is the DSL line and modem.

And here it is finished and styled.  We have plenty of room to grow and change it up as our needs change.  

I'm completely in love with it.  It's amazing how it's really replaced 3 pieces of furniture(bookshelf in other room, tv tray with stereo, small bookshelf with printer and books).  And does it a million times better than those other 3 pieces ever did!

Dresser Makeover

Our bedroom dressers are hand-me-downs from Matt's dad.  He actually used them when he was a boy. We've been using them since we got married.  I love the simple lines and easy of use (I usually open them one handed by grabbing the bottom of the drawer), and the fact that they were free.  

Only problem was, the finish was in bad shape.  Like really bad.  Covered in scratches and worn out spots.  They COULD be sanded down and restained, but that is A LOT of work and I am not up for it unless I know there is some really awesome antique wood under there.

I knew I could paint them with just a few hours of work (spread out over a couple days).  I don't have a true before picture of them in our bedroom, but you can see them in these shots below.  This one is mine.

And the one wayyyy at the end of the hall under the window is Matt's.  

In decided on a paint color, I wanted to go with a neutral.  I already have pops of lime on the bed, and a pop of dark teal on my side table.  The room couldn't really handle an additional color, and I certainly couldn't paint two whole dressers lime or dark teal.  That would be fine for one smaller piece of furniture but not in this case.  Neutral was the way to go.

Their current color of brown was too dark and too close to the rug color they sit on.  White would be too washed out with the antique white walls.  Beige would be too...well...beige.  Gray way the way to go.  We have gray in our duvet cover and the closet curtain.

I spread the contents of the dresser on the floor of the spare bedroom so we could still access our clothes during the project.  We carried them downstairs and I took off the hardware, which will be staying as is because hardware is expensive and I like these the way they are.

Note the damage of decades of use.

Before painting anything, it's important to sand the surface a little to rough it up so the paint can stick and won't chip off with time and use.  You can do this simply with a piece of sand paper, but with the size of this project I wanted to save myself some time and sweat, so I broke out the electric sander.

Then, wipe down the furniture to remove all the sanding dust.  I use mineral spirits paint thinner and paper towels because it dries fast and is ready to paint immediately.  See most of the pieces below are already dry. 

I used a 6 inch skinny roller that is made for cabinets and doors.  In addition to dressers I've also used this roller on cabinets and doors.  Fancy how that worked out!!  

Going from such a dark color to a light color, it's a good idea to prime the wood first.  It helps the paint cover better and you'll have less coats to paint.

You still need a brush to get in the corners and cracks.  On each side of the piece, brush the paint into the cracks and anywhere the roller won't reach.  Then go back and roll the flat areas.  Continue this alternating process until you've painted all sides of the furniture and drawer fronts.  It goes fast!

Most people would use latex paint because it's not fumey, dries fast, and is easily cleanable with water.

 I, on the other hand, used oil based paint.  It's fumey and hazardous, slow to dry, and has to be cleaned up with paint thinner.  So why would I use this stuff?  Because it's the best paint out there.  You know how painted dresser drawers stick when you open them and if you lay something on it for a while, it sticks and sometimes gets paint stuck to it?  You know how painted furniture always has brush strokes on it?  Well, not with oil paint!

It dries S-L-O-W.  During the slow drying, the paint levels out.  It looks almost factory done.  And it dries HARD.  Really hard.  Nothing will stick to it.  It also covers really well, so I skipped the priming step.  But I had to wait a full day in between coats to make sure it was fully dry (don't need to do that with latex).

My project schedule was: 

Day 1-remove hardware, sand, clean, 1st coat (approx. time 3 hrs)

Day 2-2nd coat (approx. time 1 hr)

Day 3-3rd coat (only needed it on the tops, less than 1 hr)

To deal with the fumes, I painted in the garage.  As an extra precaution, I left them there for a full week after the final coat to fume off before bringing them inside.  Couldn't smell a thing!

Paint experts actually recommend oil paint for kitchen cabinets because it holds up to the water, steam, and oil that comes with cooking.  Against their advise, I used latex in my kitchen because I didn't want to be stuck in a house for days painting with toxic paint fumes.  You CAN see more brush strokes and orange peel roller texture, but latex holds up fine in my experience.  

The color actually ended up lighter than I thought it would, but I've decided to not worry about that.  It's still a huge improvement.

Before bringing the dressers inside, I lightly distressed them with a piece of fine sandpaper.  It can leave the paint around that area looking scratched and dry, so my trick is to rub some vaseline on the rough spot.  The wood/paint just needs a little oil and why mess with buying or opening another bottle.  Vaseline does the trick!

Since I had all the painting supplies on hand, the cost of the project was just the quart of paint which was around $20 from Sherwin Williams.  

More about why I buy from them here (halfway down the post) and here.