Cedar Collage Picture Frame (Father's Day)

Finally I get to share this!  A little belated due to traveling but finally got to give dad his Father's Day gift to be hung in the workshop.  Candi and I worked for hours on this thing (not even kidding).

We bought 1x4x8 cedar boards from Home Depot and cut them in half.

Give her a break ^  It was roasting outside!

Then we used the miter saw at what we thought was a 45 degree angle.  This is proof that there were these little red clamps on the work bench that didn't allow us to put the angle at 45 degrees.  So we accidentally wasted our first board with a bunch of sides for the frames cut to a 30 degree angle...I guess if we ever make a pentagon frame, we'll be all set.

As my dad always says, "it's easier to laugh at your mistakes".  This is a classic move that happens to me each project...I'm sure you've noticed by now.

So on to the next day, after purchasing another board.  We finally got down to business.  After cutting the board in half again, Candi used the table saw to cut out this little groove down the sides of the two boards where the glass and backing will set in.  I used the miter saw to successfully, this time, cut the boards at a 45 degree angle.  We measured from the back of the frame where the inset groove was (for the glass) and measured out the board to be cut at 6" (we needed 18 of these pieces to make our 9 planned picture frames) and 4" (needed another 18 pieces of these....which required Candi to make another trip to Home Depot for another board...I guess I didn't calculate right).

We put the frames together with wood glue and a nail gun, then connected our 9 frames using the same technique.  And came out with this.

Now the next part, I have to give full credit to Candi because I had absolutely no clue how we were going to keep the glass/picture/backing from falling out of the frame.  She suggested we put 3 screws on each frame, 2 up top and 1 on bottom and place a rubber band around them.  Quick fix, genius.

I did it vertically and horizontally on each frame just if incase....don't need anything falling out you know.

And then put all the workshop pictures in to get him started.  He can always change them out but I put a few of my favorites in there.

After that we wanted to make it a little more personalized so we did some wood burning.

And it's all complete!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Dresser Restoration (turned entertainment stand)

Well, scooped up another project.  This is an oak dresser I got at a thrift store for $10.  I originally thought I would turn it into a tv stand and cut the top drawers out but I think I may leave the drawers but still use it for my tv.  I also plan to cut that trim around the bottom off and add some legs.  This is a future project and I probably won't start it anytime real soon.  The dresser has some sort of veneer sheets on top of the entire piece that I'll be taking off.  But here's a picture of it.

Well, hello pretty wood!  Time to find a scraper and get the rest of this stuff off!  The side panels were only veneer so I need to find something to cover them with.  I originally thought about bead board but I think I'll stick with a thin sheet of oak.  I was also going to originally paint this, but I think I changed my mind and I'm going back to stain.

DAY 3

Last night I picked up some new drawer pulls and knobs for the entertainment stand.  I also got 2 2'x4' 1/4" Oak plywood for the sides due to discovering after the veneer was pulled off there was nothing underneath.  I also got legs for it that Benton so kindly picked out, they are 7" tall....not sure how those are going to look or how I plan to attach them.  They have a big screw on the end of them but I don't have a drill bit that does that...so I will have to think of that one for a bit.  But here are some pictures of what I got.

I accidentally only got 2 knobs instead of 4, so I don't know if I'm going to fill the holes and drill new ones or bite the bullet and go buy 2 more...

And not sure about the height on the legs...may have to figure out something there too.  I don't want it too tall.

The heat gun helped a little bit with getting the veneer off but it's a really, really, REALLY slow process so far.

DAY 4, 5, OR 6

There is absolutely nothing easy about taking this veneer off!  On a positive note though, the wood underneath is pretty cool.  The wood on the drawers is super dry and I have a feeling that it's going to absorb a ton of stain.  But I'm making progress and that's cool, it's just taking a lot longer than I expected.  I gave up on the heat gun, it worked a little bit but ultimately I think it's faster to just take my metal scraper and a hammer and chip it off.  I have the top done, the sides off, some of the trim pieces that had veneer on it are gone, and 1 drawer (5 more drawers to go).  I still need to cut off the bottom (looks like there was once a base to the dresser but the front and back pieces are missing so all that's left are the sides and it makes the whole thing very unsturdy).

DAY 7 or 8

Well, I cut the bottom trim pieces on the sides...attached two of the legs, but ran into a problem with the fact that the trim doesn't cover all the parts I needed to attach the back to legs so I'm looking around for scrap wood pieces to fix that.  I have all but one drawer done, so I still need to chip off the veneer on that and sand it.  Then I need to fill in the old drill holes with wood filler because my new handles are just a tad bit too short for the distance between the screws to use the old holes.  Then I'll need to sand them one more time and add the side plywood boards I got.  And then lastly stain, polyurethane and put on the new handles and I'll be all finished with the entertainment stand!  Yeah that's a lot to do, it will probably take me another week at the very least.

And as you can see I'm making an absolute mess!

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The veneer is finally off!  I came out with a leaf sized trash bag full of wood chips!  I got the wood filler in the holes on the larger/level drawers (I now need to wait 6 hours for that to dry).  Now to figure out the two back legs.

You could also kind of see the leg holder things (not sure what else to call the things the legs screw into) so I decided to take them back off and paint them black so hopefully they aren't as noticeable.

DAY 9

I sanded the drawers that had wood filler on them from yesterday and started staining the drawers while I still contemplate how to fix the bottom for the legs.

Note to self, I don't particularly care for the way that the "stainable" wood filler stains...you can tell I used it...it makes me worried for staining the top.  But, mmmmm.....dark walnut!

DAY 10

I got a lot done last night.  I got the side plywood attached so you can no longer see through the dresser.  I also got the bottom screw things for the legs all attached and pretty level I think.  The dresser is definitely more secure and sturdy.  

The bigger bottom drawers that used to look like 2 drawers because of the veneer that turned in to 1 gigantic door has some wood cut out of the middle of it to hopefully make it appear as 2 again.

DAY 11

As you could probably tell in one of my latest pictures the reason that the legs are slanted in the back is because I accidentally got 2 of the angled things that the legs screw into.  So I got 2 more of the flat ones today and spray painted those black.  Even after fixing this it's still a little wobbly so I got levelers to put on the bottom of the legs.

Then I started staining, again I chose dark walnut

The more I stained the more it appeared that the dresser looks antiqued...completely unintentional.  I'm not sure how old this dresser is...but I guess it seems fitting.

One of the drawers isn't in because it got wet and swelled up.  So I have to do a little trimming on that.  But otherwise, what I have left to do is put a coat of polyurethane on it, let that dry and then add the handles.  I already drilled the holes for those...so now it's just the waiting game (ugh come on 8 hours).  

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Since I seem to be on a roll today, and that I was inpatient and stained the drawers a few days ago I went ahead and put a coat of polyurethane on them.  I got a satin finish hoping that they wouldn't turn out too shiny...these look shiny though.  Right at the moment that's working to my advantage because it's harder to see the stained wood filler that I wasn't a fan of.  I guess I'll find out for sure in a few hours.

DAY 12 (the finale)

Around 10 last night I decided to put the handles on and polyurethane the base of the dresser.  When I got up this morning I had to trim a little bit of one of the drawers because it swelled.  Much to my surprise, I love the way this turned out!

As always, the before and after picture.

Dresser Restoration

A friend I work with asked for me to keep an eye out for a dresser.  Well, I found one and can't even tell you how excited I am about it.

DAY 1

It's a four drawer dresser that I'll be replacing the hardware and trying something new. (He wanted pull handles and I couldn't have agreed more, love love love Hobby Lobby's selection.  I picked up 8 of these, 2 for each drawer and still need to get black screws).  The top drawer is pretty cool, where you see that partition (or whatever you would call that) there's actually a divider inside of the drawer as well.  It's the only drawer that's like that and I think it will be handy.

 We are painting the entire piece black and he was willing to let me try stenciling!  So I ordered a few transparencies from Office Max and the stenciling design will be painted gray!  I thought about doing some detailing on the sides of each drawer but haven't made up my mind on that part yet.

Haven't decided exactly which one to go with yet either...I'm leaning towards the tree on the bottom left but I'll see what he prefers.

Also, put wood filler in the old drill holes where the old hardware used to be.

Then since this dresser isn't made of real wood and you can't really sand it, I've used this primer type deal, that reminds me of glue, to ensure that the paint sticks and won't peel off.  So I did one coat of that on the dresser and drawers after sanding the woodfiller holes.

DAY 2

I'm getting started on painting today.  Here goes the first coat!

Last night I went to go find some smaller black bolts to attach the new handles (one bad thing about Hobby Lobby drawer pulls is that majority of them don't come with hardware to put them on) and Lowe's didn't carry what I needed...so I'll be on the look out for those.

2nd coat of paint done...

 

Next order of business is figuring out this stencil deal.  I thought I had my hands on an overhead projector which didn't end up working out.  So maybe some tape and a flashlight will do...
Still need to go on a hunt for bolts also... once the stenciling is done I'll need to put a clear satin finish on the entire piece.  A few more days left of work.

Sadly, the tape and flashlight didn't do the trick.  Even a really powerful light is just not the same as a projector.  So, I just made a super huge template instead.  Still a work in progress but here's where I'm at with it so far.

DAY 3

I had some trouble finding black bolts in the length that I needed.

Problem solved.

DAY 4

This dresser is for sure getting the decal painted on it today.  I cut out the template yesterday and have been working on the inside pieces this morning.  I am so excited to see how it's going to look!

Looks a lot bigger here than it did on the floor huh?

^^ Minor details :)

So the template didn't work as well as I would have hoped...

I just did little sections at a time, and you can see where there was some bleeding with the gray paint...

But at least it's on there now, so I'll have to go back over it and darken the gray and smooth out the edges and all of that.  But this gives you the general idea of what it should start looking like.

After I get finished touching up those areas the only things that will be left will be the clear satin finish and putting the new drawer pulls on!

DAY 5

Getting back to it today.  First order of business is touching up the gray and making sure it's even.

Next, I went back over it with black.  Now for the clear coat and drawer pulls.

Alright, clear coat is on...drawer pulls are on.  She's finished!

And the before and after...

Shelving Unit

Jared needed a wooden shelf to hold the Xbox and direct tv box so I thought I'd make him one. He gave me some pretty basic dimensions...really just saying how long it should be...I got a foot and a half out of him.  So I tried to make it unique...

And of course I can't do one project without making some goofy mistake...

That's right, see that? ^^^ Completely glued and nailed it on wrong.  This looks a little bit better.

Then I drilled some holes in the back center with the drill press so that the cords could go through.

And stained it in my favorite color, dark walnut.

Didn't turn out too bad, it was more enjoyable watching the boys try to mount it to the wall.

So looking back I probably wouldn't use the top lid to a stew pot to make those rounded edges that I cut out with a jigsaw.  It reminds me of a bread box or a mailbox.