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Laundry Room Part 3? Maybe not.

I have had this old cabinet for many years. My late sister Penney had it, and when she moved and couldn't take it she gave it to me as she knew I loved it too.

The problem is that it should be high up, it is the top of an old cupboard. I wanted to use it in my laundry room.

I knew it wouldn't work that way it was so I flipped it upside down, and took the trim off and put it back on what is now the top.

The finish, aside from being very dirty, is also in rough shape.

Usually I would strip and sand a piece like this before working on it, but since it's winter and I don't want to work outside, I decided to just scrape it a little and live with it the way it is. 

There isn't a lot of room in my laundry room for a piece this wide, but I decided it would have to go under the window. Since I was home alone I managed to get it up in place and secured to the wall temporarily so I could see how it looked. Hmmm, I don't like it there. It's just too short, and feels crowded under the window. When Johnny got home he  didn't like it either, he thought it interfered with the window. Hmmm, plan B?

Since I had it pulled out and it was on my mind, I decided to put the laundry room on hold and work on it anyway. 

It was missing some trim and miracle of miracles I found some in the shed that I had saved from the stone house renovation that matched perfectly. That never happens!! I was so glad I had saved it and that it made the move.

Since this piece is now going to be upstairs instead of in the laundry room I decided I needed to remove that back that was in very bad shape. Funny story for those of you who know us, I was looking at the stenciled wood that's warped and peeled and of course I wanted to save it. Johnny came along and said he would take the backing and use it for kindling. I wanted to tell him to save that thin sheeting with the printing on it but I just wasn't up for the argument, so I let it go. I could hear him in the next room breaking it into little pieces, it was killing me. Then he yelled out, "Do you want to save this part with the writing?" Really? Wow! Second miracle in the same day! He separated it from the rest and it is safely tucked away. (Watch for it to pop up on a future project)

All cleaned up and ready to be fixed up.

Johnny put the little piece of backing in at the top, he doesn't usually help me with my projects, and it wasn't what I had planned, but it works.

Now for the base, time to go out to the wood pile and see what we've got.

 

Between the pile and the shed we found 2 old closet doors that would work. I got them cut down to size.

This one had some hardware that had to be removed before cutting.

On to the table saw.

Time to put it all together. I would have liked to make the base deeper than the the upper cabinet, but because it is going by the door, there isn't room for it to be bigger.

I had some 1x4's that I had salvaged from a big frame I had made for a wedding backdrop that came in very handy for the face frame.

What do you do when your clamps aren't long enough? Using 2 together got the job done.

Looking pretty good! After this stage I found a chunk of shelving that was leftover from the master closet in the stone house, I just had to cut off about a foot.

The middle door of the upper cabinet was missing it's glass. Luckily I found one piece of antique glass in my stash of glass from old windows that was the exact width I needed and just a few inches too long. Good to know that I haven't lost my glass cutting skills, it's been so long since I've done stained glass.

I managed to get the bottom up the stairs by myself but I had to wait for Johnny to help me with the top, it is both heavy and awkward. But here it is put in place.

Look at these feet! I love them! They are from an old upholstered chair that was past it's prime, but I saved the feet.

This is the hardware I chose to use. They are new, but made to look like antique mercury glass.

I knew the inside needed painting, and I thought I would just paint the wall in behind the same colour, but Johnny couldn't live with that (because when we move I will want to take it with me and then the wall will have 2 patches of different coloured paint. Move? I'm not moving, maybe never ever. Does he not remember the hell we went through ALL summer) So I cut a piece of thin board to slide in behind where the wall was showing through.

I was unsure of what colour to paint the inside so I used gray primer to see if I liked it.

I didn't like it, I didn't think it was bold enough. Although it looks black in this picture it is dark charcoal. I love it.

See the wavy antique glass in the door, worked out perfect, it matches the other 2 doors.

(In case you are wondering, yes, these things are important!)

These are the inside of two of the doors on the base cabinet. Normally I would paint them, but I decided to leave them as is. I'm pretty sure I brought this thin piece of plywood home from Cheers when I worked there over 20 years ago.  They are from an old crate that some giftware would have come in (so much more useful than a cardboard box). Every time I see them I will think of my late sister Leata who owned the store.  Lesley Starratt do you still order from them?

My china has been packed away since our move, and I really expected that it would stay in boxes, but I'm happy to have it displayed again.

In case you haven't realized how big this piece is, I took this picture so you can see the size of it. We have 12' ceilings in this school house, so it is perfect, it's not too tall at all, Johnny!

By the way, if you are wondering what the hardest part of this project was, it was hanging those doors on the base cabinet! Making them was far easier than hanging them, crazy!

Thanks for reading!

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Laundry Room, Part 2

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I find that I am getting slower with what I get done in a day, but at least I keep on doing!

Once the plumbing was done, this is what I was left with in my laundry room. I have never had a nice laundry room, at all! This time it's going to be different, it won't be fancy, but it will be nice!

I appreciate that this had to be done this way, I'm not complaining about that, I just need to do something about it. (I will eventually have a dryer in here too, just not ready for it yet)

Some of the boards are still missing because the electrical work is not done yet.

My solution is to gather some reclaimed wood and some cupboard doors from the Restore that I have had for several years. I laid them out on the floor and got planning.

Remember all those pipes and things on the wall, I had to cut around each one in order to put up the cupboard (this was a real pain and I had to lift the unit up and down off the wall several times before I got it right). I made the cupboard shallow as I didn't want it to stick out into the room too much. Also when putting on the cupboard doors I found that one of the drain pipes was in the way, so that had to be moved down. Johnny took on the task of making the new hole for the hinge.

I will eventually add shelves on the two end cupboards. This cupboard will come off the wall with the removal of a few screws, if that is ever necessary. Oh and look, I finished putting the shiplap on the wall.

Doors closed, everything neat and tidy. Time to move on the trim.

Door frame inside the room,

and from the outside, looking in.

The paint is still drying on the cupboards, that's why they look streaky. But doesn't it look so much better already?

With all the drawer pulls I've saved from other dressers etc., the only pulls that will fit these doors are royal blue, they are beautiful but they won't be the best colour for these doors. I think for now I will probably put them on anyway.

I got the trim on the door, and one wall. It's starting to have a finished look.

Now it's time for a door, hmmm, which one will I choose? It's nice to have my own little Restore. Yes  I'm a door hoarder, and proud of it!

This one just happened to be in the very front of the pile, thank goodness, because this stack of doors is heavy and I don't think I could have gotten another one out.

It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it had a lot of flaking paint on it.

The door fit in the doorway perfectly! I couldn't believe it!

The hinges however, did not line up so I had to cut new space to lower the hinge.

I scraped the loose paint off of this door for 3-4 hours. Right now it has a very chippy look. In the summer I will likely take it outside and strip the paint off of it and probably paint it white. Those decisions will be made later. For now it's the chippy look. People go to great lengths to make doors and furniture look like this.

I love the doorknob on this door.

Look at the difference a little white paint made on the trim outside the room. It was painted the same green as the wall before.

The door needs just a little sanding on the top left corner to make it fit. I'll do that tomorrow.

I'm feeling pretty accomplished today. 

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School House Part 1 - Laundry Room, also Part 1

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I'm calling this part one but there are things we have already done that I will post about later, so these posts won't necessarily be chronologically correct. I'm sure you can live with that, I know I can.

So this picture really doesn’t show how disgusting this room was. Plus I didn’t get a picture when the disgusting cupboards were still here. They have since been burned in a bonfire, that’s how bad they were!

We pulled off the wallboard, which was not gyproc but hardboard, so every nail head showed. But...what was hiding underneath? Ship lap! I thought I had struck gold!

I changed my plan from tiled walls to painted shiplap.

However! It was a mixed blessing because the shiplap was installed using big ardox nails. In case you don’t know what that is, they are the twisty nails that are NOT meant to come out. What a job!! See the wall on the left? That whole wall of shiplap needed to be removed so it can be insulated. I also removed a few boards (as carefully as possible) so that electrical can be done.

We both had to work on this wall because it was so physically demanding for my old body. We used a variety of tools to get this done. Then Johnny took over and removed the rotten bottom plate which he replaced with pressure treated wood, and a few studs that had been pretty cut up to make room for plumbing, which we removed. This room was originally a bathroom for the students.

So today was the beginning of tiling. I first had to scrape the whole floor to prep for tile.

After 3 hours of that I was ready to begin.

Where is my tiling partner (Budd) when I need him?!! I’ve only tiled by myself once, I usually cut the tile and be the gopher. He mixes the thinset, lays the tile, and cleans up. Yup, I’ve definitely been spoiled, until today.

But I got this much done, this is 5 hours of tiling by myself. I didn’t cut any tiles today so a couple of broken pieces were used for spacers and I'll cut tiles tomorrow to fit in those spots. That rectangle in the middle is where it’s sloped for the floor drain, so that will take some special care. I will continue tomorrow...if I can move!

If you're still here, thanks for reading!

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I Made a Sectional Sofa for Approximately $200.00

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Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted, you've probably all given up on me by now, but I think this project is definitely worth blogging about.

  I was looking for a small sectional for our little park model and couldn't find anything that worked. Everything in the stores is so big! I thought about maybe building one myself. Now I don't have my full accompaniment of tools down here so I am somewhat limited, although I could always go to the Wood shop here in the park. One day a lady put an ad out that she had a free, yes I said free queen sized memory foam mattress to give away. Lucky for me I was the first person to respond and it was all mine. So this is how it all began. 

Not only do we not have tools down here, but we also don't have a truck. The speed limit here in the park is 10 miles per hour so the guys didn't even bother to tie it down.

After thinking it over for a couple of days I got the butcher knife out and started slicing.  There were so many decisions to make along the way.

Since I had to bring all the wood home in the car, I figured out my cuts ahead of time and had Home Depot make as many of the cuts for me as I could. 

I built the bottom support and then went shopping for the fabric. Luckily there were a lot of sales due to black Friday.

I guess I forgot to take pictures of this part, I upholstered the seats using the old mattress cover and the new fabric. The picture below shows the set up for upholstering the back of the couch. I had to wait a week or two for the foam to be delivered, but I still had a lot of thinking to do so that was ok.

This is what it looked like after the back was attached. 

This is after I put the seat back on.

Here is the arm in progress, foam in place and batting stitched and stapled to hold it all together.

Ta da! We have arms! Oh the magic of the internet, it all looks so quick and easy!

Testing out the fit of the bed pillows.

Now to start the "over the top" part, stained glass! These parts are all built individually and will be pieced together later.

Here they are, after much deliberating and switching around, now how am I going to get that home? Luckily Johnny showed up right then and he carefully carried the board to the car and I slowly drove home, again that 10 miles per hour worked in my favour.

A little test fit.

Here it is, glued, temporarily tacked, and painted.

The foam was free, and so were the two mattress covers I used for most of the batting. The two little cushions were here when we bought the place. The upholstery fabric was on sale for $10/yard and was 100" wide, so I only needed 5 yards. The fabric for the pillows was part of a yard sale bundle that I paid $10 dollars for, so maybe that was $5.00. I purchased 4 pillows for $10 each. I paid $37.00 the first time I went to the lumber yard, and I needed another sheet of chipboard and some staples so I think it was around $25.00. I bought 3 sheets of white glass and used 2 1/2 so that was around $30.00, it cost something for the coloured glass although it was all leftover from other projects and of course the foil and solder weren't free so I'm just going to guess $10.00 for those. That totals $197.00.

It's comfy and I'm happy!

 Oh, and in case you are wondering, Johnny did not help me! I've been asked before if he helps me with my projects and pretty much "no". I did get help from the guy at Home Depot, but if I had the tools and a truck I wouldn't have needed him, but I'm glad they are willing to do that, it is a great service.

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