White picket fences....of plastic

When I saw these two white picket fence planters outside my door I thought, 'aha! Someone who knows I like free (and plants) has been here!'  True to form, they were a friendly find from someone who also enjoys a good deal but didn't have a green thumb. I assume they are planters, or cachepots, what else would they be, right? 

So free and so clean clean.

These lil' white picket fence containers cleaned up just fine.  The color was right but I didn't have a good space for them, luckily a new friend moved to town and needed some plants. Perfect timing!  I was able to take some small pothos cuttings and snake plant (Sansevieria) cuttings to get my friend started on their indoor greenery landscape.

So happy together

That's it. A rather simple story, which played out a few months ago, but a nice way to pay it forward with plants.

Happy freestyling and gardening!

How to make a plant pot out of a yogurt container

When practicing freestyle and gardening you never know what type of potential cachepot is going to come your way.  It could be ceramics, baskets, odd-shaped metal containers or even shoes, who knows. But if you want to turn something into a plant-holder there are a few essentials to consider, ok, really one essential, and that is water management. 

How will you provide drainage for the plant and prevent leakage? In my case the solution is through the reuse of plastic containers - one with holes added and one without holes.  Read on to see more.

Hook me up!

For over a year I've had a coat rack serving as an all-purpose clothing catch-all, which made sense because it was free and it served the purpose of holding clothes that weren't quite dirty, purses that were probably going to be used again soon, and a big floppy hat with nowhere else to go.  However, at some point I started to realize that having a circular standing item in a corner meant that it was all too easy to loose track of items buried towards the middle, and it just looked a bit......looming.  It made the corner feel cluttered, with all the bulk of the clothes jumbled together.  I'll spare you a picture of the hodgepodge, and instead provide a visual of the item itself.

Coat rack, on the way out the door.

Very functional, and easy to disassemble, but I've posted the coat rack for free, hopefully someone takes it.  I don't need it because I've replaced floating hooks with wall hooks - or rather, drawer pulls attached to the wall to serve as hooks.  Looking online and browsing randomly in stores it seemed like all the hooks were either huge with very visible attachment screws, multiple hooks mounted on some larger wood piece that was probably too large for the given wall space, or pretty but possibly too delicate, and they were all more than I wanted to pay.  I might have seen this online, who knows where the idea came from, but I started to wonder about drawer pulls and if they could be used as wall hooks - probably inspired by those achingly pretty drawer pulls at Anthro*******.  I found two tutorials online that confirmed yes! this can be done and yes! it is quite easy. One tutorial is from this site, so if you don't believe me, believe the professionals at another blog.

I had a set of white ceramic drawer knobs that were scavenged from a dresser somewhere in the distant past, they had even been used as knobs on the green dresser at one point - before being swapped out for gold beetles.  These knobs, sitting in my own bin of salvaged hardware all along, were just what I wanted - sleek, smooth, and free.  I brought my knobs to the hardware store, where luckily I could buy exactly the number of hanger bolts required and test them to make sure they fit the knobs - I appreciate only having to buy the amount needed for a project rather than a bundled set. I did get extra drywall anchors, because those have been known to break during installation.

ceramic drawer pulls, hanger bolts, drywall anchors

The hanger bolts have two different halves, a flat end with narrower threads that fits into the knob, and the other end with wood-screw-width threads that goes into the drywall anchor.  It is easy to tell which end is which, I recommend attaching the hanger bolt to the knob first, then screwing the whole thing into the installed drywall anchor.

Hanger bolt, inserted into ceramic drawer knob

Pre-drilling the holes, hammering in the drywall anchors, and screwing in the knobs took less than 10 minutes. So easy!  I started with a small drill bit to pre-drill a hole and then moved my way up until the bit size was still a bit smaller than the drywall anchor, but the was because these were hammer-in rather than screw-in drywall anchors.

Drawer knob, now wall hook

The result, a lovely set of sleek and functional hooks that blend in to the wall, but are ready and waiting to hold the clothing parade of the modern city dweller.

Multiple new wall storage options

Happy freestyling, and don't worry about taking hardware, you never know what new purpose it might serve!

The cerusing bug strikes again, bookshelf edition.

In a desultory fashion I keep an eye on craigslist for free oak furniture, because I really like free stuff (obvi) and I liked the results from my first attempt at cerusing. You never know when you will hit the jackpot, like seeing a posting for a beautiful oak bookshelf in good condition in a nearby neighborhood!  The giver was accommodating about scheduling a pickup and had exactly the type of home you hope your free furniture comes from, a clean one.

I used a short term car rental service to transport the bookshelf, super easy. The bookshelf was heavy enough to make me think it was solid wood.  I bartered with a friend to have him remove the existing finish, which turned out to just be some stain. There was no polyurethane or finishing oil to strip off. While sanding down the bookshelf he discovered that the "solid oak" of the sides and front casing was really a high quality thick oak veneer over particleboard.  Although cerusing is not recommend for veneers I decided to carry on with the original plan.  Here is the bookshelf after being sanded down to remove the stain.

Next step was to dye the wood, using the blue aniline dye I purchased.  The initial dye layer looked green, probably because of the yellowness of the oak. (Next time I will try to bleach the oak before dying, if that's even possible). After 3 rounds of dying and drying the color looked blue, and I was satisfied. Although in retrospect it might have been better to do another round, because after applying the shellac the color looked green again.

(top half) Dyed blue veneer with shellac layer on top, (bottom half) dyed blue layer.

I like greens, blues, and teal, so while this was not the bright cobalt blue I was going for, it didn't stop the project!  To improve the strength of the finish I applied two coats of shellac to the horizontal surfaces and outside faces of the bookshelf.  This worked out to about 1.5 cans of shellac.

After the shellac dried it was time to apply the liming wax, and to learn a lesson about not following directions.

I did a test run of the wax on one of the removable shelves, by wiping on the wax, working it into the grain and then immediately wiping of the excess with #000 steel wool. This was easy enough and the results looked normal. Then I made the mistake of reading the directions on the tin, which said to let the wax dry for AN HOUR before wiping or sanding off the excess. So that's what I did. Maybe that works if you want an overall whitewashed finish and just want to smooth the surface with a bit of light sanding, but for cerusing over dyed wood this was a huge mistake.  The wax got really hard and was difficult to remove with #000 steel wool through hand sanding.

With a lot of elbow grease I eventually sanded, or buffed, all the surfaces down so that the grain was filled in but without a white haze over the rest of the wood. A day later I applied clear furniture wax to help seal and protect the surface even further.  The furniture wax was easy to wipe on and buff to a shine, and it smelled good too.  The instructions on that product say to let the waxed surface 'cure' for 30 days before any heavy use.  That sounds like a long time, but given how long it takes me to reorganize anything or move furniture around in my apartment I think it will be fine.  In the meantime I've been admiring the naked bookshelf in it's new colorful state. 

This is what a naked shelfie looks like.

If you're interested in cerusing something, go for it! It is a bit more involved than a one-coat paint job, but the intricacy and richness of the final finish are worth it.

Happy freestyling, keep an eye on your local craigslist free section!

Let loose the ceruse(ing)!!!

Ok, first of all, what the heck is 'cerusing' or cerused' and how do those terms relate to furniture? Let's skim through some language history at warp speed.

The Merriam-Webster definition:
Ceruse: white lead (Pb) as pigment

The Free Dictionary online definition:
tr.v. ce·rused, ce·rus·ing, ce·rus·es

To treat (wood or a wooden object) with a white pigment to accentuate the grain.

Another source notes that this furniture finish is called "liming" and that the "limed oak" is a term known in Britain.

What YOU need to know is that cerusing is freaking awesome, and I hope it helps people find new life for solid oak furniture that might otherwise seem too dark or even 'orangey' for modern tastes.

This is the first example I saw in the blogosphere that got me thinking about this technique, thank you Little Green Notebook for your design inspiration and useful tutorial!

Isn't this awesome?

More applause to the blogger at Addicted 2 Decorating, her dining table makeover and tutorial was really helpful.  It makes me want to try cerusing a large surface just to show off more of the amazing grain.

I read more about cerusing, but had nothing to ceruse, until that happy day came when I found an oak table that i knew immediately would make a good test subject.  

The start of it all

With my now acquired wisdom I would say it is easier to dye pieces of furniture before they are assembled, but that's a small point.

Raw material, saved from the trash

I stripped the old finish off the oak table, ot at least I thought I did. Surface prep doesn't lie, and it revealed some less than perfect areas when it came time to use the aniline dye.  These areas stayed lighter, or brown. Hopefully this adds to the handmade charm of a first try.

Table being stripped of original finish

Time to add the dye!

Table after two coats of dye

The top surface took the dye well, but keeping the dye-liquid on the sides and legs was more challenging, a gel might have worked better.  There was a bit of rotating the piece onto the side, waiting to dry, repeat repeat repeat.

After at least two rounds of dye I decided it was time to move forward towards the shellac application, then liming and finishing.  You have to rub the liming wax (aka lime paste) all over the piece, and at this time the grain is ' open' so it accepts the wax.

After applying the lime paste I used very fine steel wool to wipe away the excess. Below you can see the top is about halfway done being rubbed with the steel wool.

Obviously this is the most exciting step! So many unknowns the first time! Did your dye color choice work? Does it look weird with the lime paste in the wood grain? Did you *$&# up anywhere else and not notice it until now?  All true thoughts.

After the lime paste removal was complete, the final step was to use furniture wax (yes, another wax, but different) to seal the table.

Here is a close-up of the lower shelf. I think that section turned out particularly nice, with bold, even, color and crisp grain contrast. Swoon.

For me this was a multi-evening project, but each step was manageable time-wise. It probably took about a week of fiddling because of the dry time between rounds of dyeing.  Speaking of dyeing wood, it is different than staining, something I learned while researching this technique. Staining wood will supposedly obscure the grain to some degree, but dyeing the wood only adds pigment to the wood fiber and thus won't 'fill in' the grain at all.  The result is a vivid grain pattern that gets highlighted by the lime paste.

So there you have it, a completely unique piece that perfectly compliments the height of my sofa arm.  The materials cost was around $40, and most of that was the aniline dye powder which could be used for many more projects.

Happy freestyling, see the potential for transformation in anything.

Storage wars? Meh, a skirmish at most

It was decided that my storage needed to be prettified, thus baskets were located, baskets were acquired, baskets were stacked in a corner....

There are five of these baskets, but before filling them with stuff it was decided that the baskets would benefit from a liner. 

Luckily mother o' freestyle is in town and was willing to apply her spatial rotation skills to the construction of such liners.  My contribution was the fabric that was stripped off of couch cushions some time ago.  Never let go of fake beige suede!

Little ties on the corners help hold up the edges....

...but can be tucked inside the edges to stay out of sight.

Now for the grand reorganization of odds and ends!

Happy freestyling.

Vaquero Dorado

A few weeks ago a neighbor told me that their building was having a 'yard sale'. Interesting. What happens after yard sales? People throw out the stuff that didn't sell! Naturally I made a point to walk by their trash area later that day, early enough so that I had the benefit of daylight.
Trash rustling is so much more respectable in the sun... 

You might even come across a dreamboat like this.

Who could resist??? 

Unbroken glass and an intact wooden frame with interesting texture, thank you yard sale.

 The dark red-brown with gold didn't really match my style, but I knew with gold paint it could have a whole new life.

After careful disassembly it was time to get to work. Also I found some matting behind El Vaquero, so the plot thickens, what did this frame hold before?

  I had applied a few coats of Antique Iridescent Gold on the frame when a friend stopped by, and naturally anyone who comes over gets an eyeful of my latest project(s).  She has an upcoming wedding and needed something to hold a WELCOME sign, hmm, gold frame anyone?  Not having any particular plan other than a future of gilded solitude I said, "adieu" to the frame with best wishes for a brighter future.

Hopefully he makes it to the wedding on time!

Happy freestyling.

2-drawer dresser makeover

I found this small scandi-superstore nightstand/ small chest one night while cruising the discard pile.  Often these particleboard-based furniture pieces don't survive the un-gentle process of being discarded, can you see why?

You might not think there was anything salvageable in that sad pile of broken things, but somehow this little buddy had survived intact.

I thought it would be fun to try painting the outside, and if it all went wrong, well, that is sometimes the price of experimentation with paint.

Since there are many many painting tutorials out there, I'll just say that I sanded a tiny bit, and was patient enough to use primer.  Sanding might have been a mistake since this was particleboard. I used this Zinsser Zero because it said they were zero VOCs, and I was pleased that I couldn't detect any bad odors. I did have to stir a lot to get an even consistency of the primer on the brush, in retrospect the application would have been better with a roller.

I did two coats of primer because my brushwork leaves something to be desired.

I knew that this would also be a chance to use this pair of cool matching drawer pulls that I had in my collection. Yes, I collect hardware even if I don't know where it will be used. Sometimes it is the only thing I can rescue because of time/space/transport limitations. Sigh.  These had lost some shine, but I like the shape.  The desire to use these handles miiiiiight have been the impetus for this entire project, who's to say?

I had to drill holes in the drawers for the new handles, this was also an excuse to use a variety of drill bits. I ended up needing the 1/4", which is the largest in my set, and thus a possible message that I might need a wider range of drill bits.

After one coat of Valspar 'Sea Swirl' (applied with a roller) I knew there would need to be a second coat. There were also a few sort of vague bubble-lumps that looked like they had been caused by the top getting wet. Maybe from too much primer?  Not super obvious, but visible in a certain light.  I didn't see anything similar in the drawer fronts or the sides.

After the second coat and the ready to proceed with hardware installation.

Here it is all staged in a corner, not where it will eventually live, but good for the photos.

Love the drawer pulls! They strike me as greek-key inspired.  Perhaps they will get a new shiny metal coating some day.

The total project-specific cost was approx $20, here is the break-down:

Primer, $12 (with plenty left over for future fun)
Paint sample, $5 (approx half a can left)
Drill and bits, already owned
Hardware, $0 ( freecycle salvage)

I had thought about adding some little legs to raise the height, but that would involve adding some wood to make a base. I have scrap wood, so this makeover might just have a sequel. Stay tuned!

Happy freestyling.

Freestyle A Room - 2018 Challenge - Part 2

The room to be furnished as part of this challenge is not exceptionally large, but it is well-proportioned with expansive windows.  Wanting to take advantage of these windows, I've been looking for storage piece (shelving or dresser) that would fit under the windows and not block the tree-filler view.

I had an option of black metal metro-style shelving.  This is such a useful products because it is easy to adjust the shelf height, easy to disassemble and move, and could work with the 'industrial chic' style.  Later I came across some white MDF small shelves, they were small and free so I took them to see if they would work, and they would have been ok too.

However, fortune continues to favor this challenge because I discovered that a neighbor was giving away a 6-drawer dresser in the perfect height.   My first glimpse of it in person was through some chicken wire. Perfect.

As promised by the generous donor it was in good condition, and lightweight enough so that two people could easily move the carcass and drawers separately.  How much more could you ask for? 

So far this challenge has acquired:

- bed frame

- dresser as storage solution

The challenge is still waiting on the perfect finds for:

-desk and chair

-lighting (although I might find some acceptable pieces in my random stockpile of lamps. Seriously, do you need one?)

I haven't even considered artwork as part of this challenge, but if something unique and quirky pops up that would be icing on the caaaaaaake.

Happy freestyling.

Freestyle A Room - 2018 Challenge - Part 1

Years ago, in a different city, in different state, I learned that a friend would be moving to town with no furniture in tow. Thus the 'freestyle a room' self-imposed challenge was born.  It turned out well, the fish picture on canvas still ranks as one of the most awesome freestyle finds to date.

However, my consistency in blogging about the whole 'freestyle challenge' thing was somewhat haphazard, or so it seems across the mists of time.

So when I learned that a new (different) friend would be moving to my city and didn't want to bring much furniture (save for a mattress) with them I thought, "aha! My second chance for freestyling a room!". So here it goes. 

My goal is to find, find and remake, or otherwise acquire (legally!) for free the following items:
-bedframe
-lighting
-storage solutions
-desk and chair

Luckily at the time of writing this I've already found the first item on my list! See how I set myself up for success?

Before I knew about the challenge I found a foldable metal platform bed frame, with attachment pieces included.  These metal platform frames are really convenient because they fold up small enough to fit in the trunk of a regular car, no SUV or truck needed to move them. Also they are lightweight, I can carry each piece with one hand.

When buying new these frames sell for around $100, depending on the size. The only thing this cost me was a cab ride home, some things are a bit too large to fit on a bike.

The bedframe is now in place in it's new home, which in a super-convenient turn of events happens to be a place nearby.  The adventure continues.

Happy freestyling.