New Life for 100 Year Old Furniture

Someone in my family has been storing/using this furniture set since my Great-Grandmother moved into a nursing home & left it to my Uncle over 30 years ago.  It is a solid maple couch and 2 chairs.  It is in such good shape & so old that no one ever wanted to get rid of it. 

My Uncle moved to Germany & could not take it.  It had terribly lumpy black cushions, but we used it in our play room as kids.  It was fine for playing Nintendo or building forts. It had more than 15 happy years with Legos, Barbies, Brio Trains, and Cheerios in the basement.

When my Uncle moved back to the states he ended up in Texas, so he still didn't want to move it.  He gifted it to me as a newly-wed, which, of course meant that it still lived with my mom because we did not have a place for it in our little apartment.  My mom, though, had bought a big farm house & decided to make new cushions for it & actually use it in a public room.  She made some very nice simple white cushions that were more attractive & placed the couch in the den/TV room where it lived quietly for only 2 or 3 years.

Then I moved into my first house and finally took the set with me.  It was not living room quality so I put it in my attic studio/kid room.  The couch was used a little but mostly just being stored again since the kids didn't really spend much time up there.  It spent 9 hot summers and cold winters in the attic where the chairs sadly remained uncushioned. 

Now that we are in a new, bigger house we the whole set regularly.  We are blessed with a living room and a "play room" which is more like a family room.  It consists of toys, games, TV, and art desks for the kids.  I originally made up some simple cushions for the chairs that did not match anything including the sofa.  It worked but was not great.  If you sat on the sofa for too long your butt would fall asleep.  If you sat on the chairs, you had to continually adjust the back cushions to the right height.

The whole combination needed a new life if they were to continue on as our main furniture in the room.  With Mom moving again, she gifted us with her 30 year old 7' sofa for our Living Room which left the other couch (that I recovered several years ago) with a question mark hanging over it.  Wouldn't you know, the seat cushions from it fit the 100 year old couch perfectly!  No kidding.  That settled it.  Those cushions moved to the maple set, the old living room couch went bye-bye, the old white butt-numbing seat cushion became the couch back, and the couch back (cut in half) became the chair backs.  Comfort all around, but more mismatched than ever!


 I have a huge stash of fabric samples from a furniture store.  I picked out a pile of yellow golds, brick reds, and sage greens.  I sewed for 2 days straight.  What do you think now?

Dining Room Tour

After a year and a half, my dining room is done and beautiful!  When we first moved in to this wallpapered house, one of the first things I tackled was the dining room walls. 

The main layer of paper came off beautifully so in no time I was left with just the underneath newsprint type paperiness.  This too came off fairly easily with some water and a scraper.  I did as high as I could reach and then quit.  This is what we lived with for the last year and a half!  I couldn't decide what color to paint and so I just didn't do anything to it.

Last week I had off of work.  All week!  My mom said, "which room are we going to do?"  "Dining Room!" we decided.  Monday we scraped the rest of the paper off.  Tuesday we scrubbed the glue-iness off and bought paint and tissue paper.

Wait!  What?  Tissue paper.  Seriously.  I knew I wanted a textured look.  We thought about a two tone or a glaze or a plaster, but in the end the tissue paper method was the easiest. I do not envy the homeowner who decides to try to take this off the walls!

Thursday we painted more.  Friday we recovered the chairs.

And we put everything back where it belongs.

Pallet Bird House - Completed

Well, It's about time!  Right?  I decided to paint my "Martin House" with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (R) in Old White.  With Annie's paint there is no need to wax or seal it for outside.  One less step!  I set it on a side table painted in Provence (also Annie Sloan).  I added a thin trim along the top edges of the table so that I could pour bird seed around the house itself. 

  I hung a black metal wall sconce with 3 little off-white pots on it from a hook that was inexplicably grown into the tree already.  I hope to plant ivy in the pots that will hang down over the bird house
in the spring.

I placed one of Grandma's painted birdhouses amidst some newly planted ferns and hosta.  When you transplant ferns they often look very dead for the rest of that season.  Don't worry.  They should reimerge in the spring wholeheartedly.

 I have not noticed any birds living in the house yet but several have enjoyed the buffet including chickadee, tufted titmouse, junco, blue jay, robin, cardinal, and chipping sparrow.

Pallet Bird Houses

If you know me at all, you know that I am not precise in most crafty endeavors.  Therefore, be warned, all measurements are in inches-ish.  Meaning I do measure before I cut, but I do not have a table saw with a straight edge, if the last piece ends up an inch shorter or longer I just go with it, and when fitting a piece in as an afterthought I just measure in "about"s.  That being said...let's make some bird houses.

Check pinterest for some bird house inspiration.  Here is mine from French Country Cottage.

I have always enjoyed these bird mansions.  I never knew that they are actually for a certain type of bird, Martins.  Apparently, Martins enjoy apartment style living. In a real Martin house each hole leads to its own section inside. This will not be happening in my bird house.  I know it would never fit together right. 

I surveyed my wood pile which is made almost entirely of broken down pallets and 2x2ish spacers that I get free at Lowe's.  I do not have any plywood so I decided that I would make the sides out of  pallet boards. You will need:

8 pallet boards (about 3.5" wide) cut to 20"

8 pallet boards (about 3.5" wide) cut to 12"

4 spacers (2"x2" or similar) cut to 14" (or 4 times the width of your boards)

2 trinagles with a base of 12"-13"

2 pallet boards cut to fit between spacers, about 9" CUT LATER

4 pallet boards (about 5" wide) cut to 24"

a bunch of screws

Start by attaching a spacer to each end of 4 longer 3.5" boards.  This will make one long wall.  Do the same for the second wall.  Once you have 2 long walls attach the shorter boards to the ends.  Hopefully you now have something that looks like a crate with no top or bottom

Now for the roof.  I admit I was a bit daunted by the roof at first.  Start by measuring the distance between the two spacers on the shorter wall.  Cut the last 2 boards slightly (1.8") smaller than that.  It needs to fit between the spacers easily but not wiggle around much.  The attach  to your triangles as shown above.  These will sit on top of the short ends.

Next, place one of your wider boards on top of the triangles (lined up with the peak and hanging over the edges evenly).  Attach to triangles.  Line up next board under the first.  Do the same to the other side of the roof.  Remember to line up the top board with the top board on the other side, Not the peak of the triangle.

I know, there is something important missing.  This step may involve meeting your neighbors.  Mine is Tom, and he lives a few doors down.  His garage is full of furniture that he is refinishing so I knew he must have tools.  Besides, the other neighbors told me he does.  I got a tour of his garage/workshop, yard, and garden and finally left with a 1.5" drill bit.  Thanks Tom.  I'll have that back soon.

Stay tuned for the full reveal.  I have to go drill holes now.

my long desired dining room table

First and foremost let me say that although pallets are free, they are terrible to take apart, they come in more that one standard size, and the slats are of varying thickness.  That being said, if you have work gloves and some basic tools you too can make this...

No, wait, wrong picture.  How about this one?  The dining room table I have been dreaming about.  This has been in my Try This file for ages.

I make no claims that I am a professional woodworker.  I always seek advise from others first including Joseph (the Jewish Carpenter), Bob the Builder (who builds whole towns & his tools talk), or Bob Villa (enough said).  I did however find a post on little paths so startled by simply Goggleing (that's not actually in my spell check) "wood pallet dining table."  Here is a picture of hers, made by her husband.

I think I used 6 pallets or at least the equivalent of 6.  I used the 2x4s from the pallets as legs and supports and the edges.  I chose ones with those funny cut outs for the fork lift.  I build that part upside down so it was all flush to the floor.  That way when I flipped it the top supports were (mostly) all even. 

When choosing the boards you want to use, make sure they are the same thickness otherwise you will end up with a bumpy table.  Or you will end up fussing a lot more than necessary.  I gave each board a good sanding with a power sander using 120 grit before assembling the top.  Then again once it was assembled to even out the joints.

Tips:
pre-drill holes for nails
layout top BEFORE nailing
measure often with a tape measure that is LONGER than you table
gather MORE pallets than you will need
understand that this will NOT be perfectly straight or level
make sure you get to a point of no return and THEN enlist your husband for the really hard parts

Lastly, be willing to consider you may have a bonfire in the end instead of a family meal.

My Summer of Finishing Things

I have decided that this is going to be 

my summer to finish things.  

What have I finished so far?  Let's start with these fun place mats inspired by Maureen Hensel Cracknell at Maureen Cracknell Handmade.  She is an AMAZING quilter who happens to be my mom's best friend's brother's daughter.  Seriously!  I know that sounds made up but it's TOTALLY true.  My mom grew up in a town in western PA of about 450 people.  Her neighbor was her best friend.  They both ended up in Rochester (Mom because of Dad, and her friend because of our great hospitals) so they are still best friends.  Anyhow, Maureen made these dish towels (click link above) as part of a sew along based on The book Patchwork Please! by Ayumi Takahashi!  I have too many dish towels so I decided to make place mats instead.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner were obvious, but we have 4 people in our house so I had to make a 4th.  Dessert seemed appropriate because my daughter is for ever asking what's for dessert.

Then I really got going.  I thought why not?

 "What about...

?

 Luncheon?

? 

"Dinner? 

"Supper? 

" He knows about them, doesn't he?"

"I wouldn't count on it, Pip."

I know about them and I had great fun making extra place mats for at least some them.

Thanks again to Maureen and Ayumi.  

You can follow and sew along with them at LRstitched and A Quilter's Table.

Mail Art & Mailbox Art

If you are anything like me, which I would guess you are since you are reading my blog, you LOVE real mail.  Not junk mail of course, but mail in your mailbox that provides inspiration and insight and even long lost love.  How would you like to open your mailbox and find this?

 or this?

 or how about this?

I just started making these and they are so fun and addicting. 
I have made so many that you can find them in my Etsy shop now. 
I can't keep them all.  

Of course, I wish I were receiving them in my mailbox instead. 
But then again, every trip to my new mailbox is fun. 
Take a look at my other newest endeavor.

Buyers & Sellers

I am a little depressed and annoyed today.  We have been looking at moving to a 

new house nearby for a few months, and we finally went forward with an offer this 

past Sunday with the expectation of a response my Monday evening.

Unfortunately, it was BINGO night so the sellers were, as a result, unable to speak 

to their lawyer.  Tuesday, the lady had a hair appointment, so that was no good either. 

(huh?)

Yesterday, we got a response.  Not a counter offer, as you might expect.  It was a list.  

That's right, a list.  Of their new requests regarding the sale.  These included, among 

other things, a HIGHER asking price.

Higher by $8000.  Who does that?!  Who does that?

Ok, I'm calm.

Anyhow, you can see why we are so frustrated.  But here's a laugh for us all...

One friend told us to counter with an even lower offer.

Another friend said to wait until the new asking price is actually listed and then 

just offer the original asking price.

Well, say a prayer, please, that Jehovah will put us where he wants us.