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.

Cornhole

I'm really excited that my sister and brother-in-law will be helping me make a cornhole set for Jared.  I'll post pictures and a "play-by-play" when we get closer to starting!  I'm pretty sure he wants a Chiefs themed set so I look forward to the painting part!

DAY 1

Well, I got all the supplies except the stuff to go in the bags for this game set.  I did find some yellow and red canvas at JoAnn's for the bags and I'm even going to make this nifty little cinch sack to store them all in.  More updates to come soon...

DAY 2

Well, Cand and I got a good jump on the cornhole set for Jared.  If you would like to make your own we used directions from www.cornholehowto.com there you will find a set of supplies you will need as well as how to put it together.  I cut the 2 of the 2x4x8 boards in half to start making the frame.  Then used another 2x4 to cut 4 pieces 21" long to make the frame.  

I also cut my sheet of plywood in half so that it's 2'x4' (this will go on top of the frame that we made).

The trickiest part was the legs.  You use another 2x4 and cut 4 pieces down to 16" long.  You have to kind of guess-timate where the bolt will go so that you can either fold the legs in or bring them out so that the board can stand up...or "pitch" as Jared calls it.  Anyway, you have have to round the tops (that you don't see that are under the board) so that they rotate.  Then after that, you have to cut the 16" long 2x4's down so that the board is 12" off of the ground and use a 45˚ angle so the board won't wiggle around.

We still have to cut out the holes for the bags to go in but couldn't find the thing that cuts them. But overall got a good jump on it today.  We made two of these.

Things left to do:

• Cut out the hole
• Go back around some areas with wood filler/Sand
• Paint entire piece red then go back for the Chiefs logo
• Put on the clasps and handle (yes I'm that neat that I make it easy to carry)
• Make the bags
• Make a carrying cinch sack to keep the bags in

I guess I was feeling like a go-getter today.  I also got the cinch sack done.  I first made the sack out of extra canvas I had from the corn-filled bags (which I still actually have to make).

Then I drew the arrowhead and KC design on.

And used white acrylic paint

And then outlined everything in black.  Not perfect but at least you can tell what it's supposed to be.

DAY 3

The holes have been cut, I went back over with woodfiller to make the board more smooth and easier for the bags to slide.  So just have to wait while that dries before I can sand.

And I got the templates all cut out.

I'm trying to decide if I should add stripes on it somewhere...the white/yellow/white stripes that they have on the arms of their jerseys.  Not sure what to do there....CHIEFS will be in yellow and the arrowhead is black/white/red of course.   The circle at the top is going to be yellow also and the main part of the board will be red.  They play a little differently than standard cornhole where if you get a bag in the yellow circle it's 2 points instead of 1.

DAY 4

Didn't get super far on it.  I used a stencil and transferred it to the boards after painting them red.  But I'm painting the stencils by hand which is taking a lot longer than I thought because each piece is probably going to need 3 coats.  But hey, it's a start.

Taping things off.  I wanted to make the stripes that are on the jerseys on the board so here's what I came up with.

Still need to go back over it with red in some spots and black on the arrowhead.  And finish it off with a coat of polyurethane (finish the painting part anyway).  I also got these locks and a handle so it's easier to transport and the sack with the bags of corn can go in the middle of the two boards to keep everything together.

DAY 5

I had to go back over with red and black a few times to get the look I was wanting.

And then 1 coat of polyurethane and they are finally good to go. 

Cornhole bags: after getting two different colors of canvas (I choose red and yellow), I cut them to 7" x 7" squares and sewed a 1/2" seem on all sides. On the fourth side I only sewed halfway so I could fill it with corn. I used 1 3/4 cups of corn. Then used the sewing machine to close up the last half. I went over the stitches 2-3 times to make sure the seams don't break since they get thrown over and over.

 Special thanks to Cand for all of your help!  They already got some use and work great!

Tufted Bench

I'm really excited (I feel like I say this with every project I am just about to start) for this coffee table that was given to me for free.  Since I already have a coffee table I decided to make this into a bench seat to go at the end of my bed.  And I'm going to try tufting for the first time.

I've done research all day today on tufting and since we all know I'm not a sewer I'll be using washers and screws to tuft the fabric and foam.  So here's my supply/to do list this weekend:

• Measure the coffee table
• Pick out gray fabric
• Foam that's at least 3" thick
• Batting
• 3/4" wood screws
• #10 washers
• 1/4" washers
• Cover buttons/half ball cover buttons 7/8"
• Petroleum jelly

I know what you're asking yourself.....petroleum jelly???  YES!  I'm finally getting to try my layered chalk paint look...so the best part about that is I already have left over paint from previous projects so I'll be using three colors, which will be white (Old White), gray (French Linen), and teal (Florence).

CAN'T EVEN WAIT TO GET STARTED!

DAY 1

So I meant to get all of this shopping done on Friday, but that didn't happen so I spent 3/5 hours running around yesterday.  I went to Lowe's to get some more paint...I tried making my first chalk paint, which I don't think I added enough of the chalky stuff to the paint.  I also went to JoAnn's fabric to get some upholstered fabric (which I didn't get quite enough of so lets hope I can skid by with what I got).  I didn't do any sanding to the coffee table I started with 2 coats of Old White chalk paint from Annie Sloan.

Then I went back over in certain spots where I wanted the white to show through and added a very thin layer of petroleum jelly.  I saw this method on another blog for layering chalk paint so I thought I would try it out, it's supposed to make sanding the layer off easier.  Then, I painted 1 coat of Florence chalk paint on top of that.

After 2 hours I was surprised to find out that it wasn't dry.  Little did I know the area I checked was the area that I put the jelly on....so FYI if you try this out you can just use a damp paper towel to wipe the 2nd color of paint off those spots.  You can still sand over top of that too after wiping but no need to ruin your sand paper on paint that isn't dry.

So here's what that looked like after wiping it down.

So not even going to lie about it, the jelly freaked me out a little bit so for the last layer of paint I didn't use it...since this was my "home made" chalk paint I decided not to test the waters too much.  And here's the last layer with gray chalk paint.

DAY 2

When I woke up this morning I did a little bit of sanding on one side just to give you an idea of what it would look like

Here's a little bit closer of a view

You can see the 3 different paint layers and some of the original wood.

I still have to finish sanding then wax it.  So that part of the project is to be continued.  I also started my fabric covered buttons.  I got a kit from Joann's yesterday and let me tell you, the thicker the fabric the harder this whole process was.

I ended up making 13 of these fabric covered buttons and the bench is going to have a 4-5-4 pattern leaving 5" open on all sides of the bench.

I also purchased some 3" thick foam and batting from JoAnn's yesterday so I had to cut the foam down to the dimensions of the table (FOAM IS NOT CHEAP!).  I just used an electric bread knife to cut the foam down to size.

See fits nice and pretty

Then came the tough part about where the buttons should be placed...again a 4-5-4 pattern

Then covered the foam with batting

And stapled the batting to the back of the table top

Now the foam is held securely into place.  I made a huge mistake yesterday about how much upholstery fabric I thought I needed to have, so I have to go get more at JoAnn's today.  I'm thinking about using the fabric I got yesterday for accent pillows so it doesn't go to waste.  Luckily this fabric is reversible so if I do decide on making pillows or maybe a lamp shade out of them I can flip it over for the same design but the colors would be in reverse.

And for people like me, who have no sewing capabilities what-so-ever, tufting with washers and screws was an EASY alternative.  I took one side of scissors and poked a hole through the batting and foam where my marks were at.  Also, be sure to begin drilling really, REALLY slowly to push through the fabric and then pushing down pretty hard on the drill to get through all of that foam to the board.

And here is the full view...

DAY 3

Next, I went on to stapling the fabric to the back of the table top.  Definitely helps to have two people when doing these last few parts.  Here's the back and front view after stapling the fabric to the back.

And next step would be to attach the buttons, since I'm not doing regular tufting I had to use fabric glue to attach them.

Gluing the buttons has been an interesting experience...

This is the fabric glue I decided to try and the buttons aren't wanting to stay in place so I found random house hold objects to keep them down in there.  I will probably let this dry for a good 5 hours or so before attempting to take any of them off.

Happy to report that the fabric glue did the trick on the buttons.  I finished the base of the bench (sanding) and put a coat of wax on it.  I let it dry for an hour before attaching the top seat.

Here's the view from the top....

And there you have it, the long awaited before and after photo.