Saturday, February 26, 2011

My Bedroom Late February 2011




The peg rail is up. I still have some touch-up painting to finish.

It's about time for a headboard recover and the expected domino effect might forever retire the bedroom's current look. I decided to take some pictures for posterity's sake.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Weekend Projects





I went on a bender with the orbital sander yesterday. I don't know when I'll actually finish these projects, but I wanted to take advantage of the mild temperatures we're having. I probably could have skipped sanding the fixtures on the lamp. The original colored paint was flat. Now that I see the aluminum shining though, I'm tempted to sand them down completely and leave well enough alone. Although I do think the lamp would look awfully smart with white fixtures. Decisions, decisions.

I've had the lamp for years. It is a Todd Oldham for Target piece. I'm tired of the colored fixtures so I bought a couple of cans of Rustoleum's High Heat spray paint in white. This was months ago. Then I decided that I'd rather sell it than put a whole lot of effort into it. Last week's listing on craigslist generated little interest. I don't really have a place for it right now (there's a floor lamp where it used to be), but I'd probably like it a whole lot more if it were neutral. And if I liked it a whole lot, I'd probably find a place for it, and so on, and so on, and so on...

The table is a Goodwill find. I blogged about it here, near the end of the post. I'm thinking of partially staining, partially painting the finish. Its Mid-Century deliciousness had me at hello. The legs will get stained for sure. I have this gray stain that I picked up at Habitat's ReStore. Gray and white...gray and yellow...pondering.

Here's a picture of the table after being sanded.



Cute, isn't it?

If you're wondering about the status of the Shaker peg rail, fear not. I exhausted myself to the point of being too tired last night to cover the rail with its final coat of paint. Instead I will slap on the last coat as soon as I finish this post. The wall where the rail will hang needs to be patched. A coat of paint wouldn't hurt the wall either. I'm also seriously considering reupholstering my headboard, changing the window treatment, and rotating some artwork. It never ends.

To be continued...

Friday, February 18, 2011

Painted Peg Rail



I accomplished a couple of other tasks associated with this project before arriving at the point of painting. First I drilled the holes for mounting, then I filled in any gaps at the base of the pegs with wood putty sanded the entire rail. Please accept my apologies for the lack of documentation in photographic form.

I decided to paint the peg rail white. In all honesty, I thought it looked very pretty in its natural state. I considered treating it with some oil or rub on poly, however; I knew that a good coat of oil paint would be like an additional coat of glue. White is safe and practical. I just happened to have a full can on hand, so Rustoleum Satin Oil in White it was. Thus far I have one coat on the rail. I suspect it will take three coats to cover.

To be continued... 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Shaker Peg Rail






I've been wanting to make a nice length of Shaker peg rail for a while. As the space between the end of my bed and the opposite wall is narrow, it would be the perfect place for Shaker pegs. I did check out Shaker Workshops peg rail but decided I could more economically make it myself. I mean, how hard could a simple peg rail be? Well, as it turns out it's not terribly difficult, but if I had to do it all over again I might modify my design. Since I'm not planning on hanging heavy objects on my rail, I simply glued the pegs in place. If I were planning on hanging heavier loads, I would definitely enlist the strength of screws to secure the pegs. I'll have to delay my sense of accomplishment until I see how well the pegs hold up under use.

If you're interested in building your own peg rail, Martha Stewart has a simple tutorial. Between some general directions on the internet and the example of a short length of peg rail that I bought at Goodwill months ago, I went about creating my homemade version. I was able to find some nice pegs on Ebay, but a Google search will lead you to additional suppliers of Shaker pegs.

As usual, I ended up making several trips to Lowe's during the process. In the end, I found the 1/2" Irwin Speedbor drill bit to be what I needed. The 7/16" drill bit recommended in Martha's directions was not the right size for my pegs.I also decided that I wanted my pegs to be spaced more than 6" apart, so I got my tape measure out and played with the spacing. I went with a 7" space between pegs, which looked a little less cluttered and a bit more modern.

Be very careful with your measurements if you try this yourself. I ended up making a mistake with my first attempt and had to cut my board down, losing a peg in the process. That I was functioning on three hours of sleep didn't help matters (I'll never learn). The weather here has been spectacular and I figured that I could sleep when the cold, crappy weather returns. After all, it's only mid February.

I'm blogging while I wait for the glue to dry. The next step is placing the holes for mounting the rail and then finishing. I will more than likely paint the rail, but I'm not 100% committed to a finish yet. I promise to post pictures once I get it hung.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Buster's Rockin the Pink



There seems to be some debate on whether real men wear pink. Let me assure you, not only do they wear it, but some of them rock it!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Diversions






  




I am in the planning stages of making a market bag that will incorporate a bit of vintage crewel embroidery. Although I haven't completely committed to a pattern, I'm leaning toward Amy Butler's Reversible Everyday Shopper from her Style Stitches book. Remove the "reversible" in this case. The crewel work will be protected by a layer of clear vinyl.  I have a spotty past with vinyl so I am a tad worried.

On a related note, I found this tutorial on making pleather handbag straps (but why stop at handbags?) via Adventures in Dressmaking. Those nifty clips that are utilized in the tutorial are a pricey $25 for a dozen. What's wrong with these?


I am super impressed by the outcome of the method that creator of the tutorial Cheryl Kuczek employs, but still a skeptic until the method works for me.

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