I got an email from dear reader, Carla, asking if I ever have distressed my furniture. Now, it is not that I hate distressed furniture. I really don't mind it. I have distressed furniture before - I just didn't use sandpaper so that I could save the detailing on the furniture. (Really - a little wax is a miracle). I have an old sideboard in the dining room that I distressed, as well as a table I got at Pottery Barn on mega clearance. It was a mahogany Parker table that normally went for $1400 and I got it for $99. It had scratches on the top, and while I could have refinished it, I primed and painted it white and distressed it with wax. I always have the option of stripping it and staining it a dark color since I used wax.
I haven't recently distressed anything. I sort of think just being in the old house with a bunch of old furniture is the spot where I am at. I actually am gravitating a bit more toward black than white, but I do adore beachy white rooms. I feel I tend to live my life in color. I feel like my rooms need color.
Anyway, Carla... to answer your question, yes, I have distressed furniture. Just not very recently. For those interested in using wax to save the edges of their furniture, jsut run a bit of candle wax, parrafin, whatever you have, along the edge where you want the "distress" marks to be. Paint it up, while it is still tacky, wipe off the paint. The wax will let it come right off. For contrast, use black paint under the white so black shows through. Or you can use some light stain over the white to give it aging. Antiquing paste or wax also works great for that.
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
DIY: build your own screen door
Ta-Daaaaa!!The new screen door was installed this weekend. We are so proud of how nicely it turned out. Following is, well, the longest post ever on Cottage of Stone, but we thought we'd share with everyone the process of building our door... in case anyone ever needs to make their own!
First of all, part of the "uniqueness" of owning an old home is that you will find your doors and windows are not the "standard" size. All the screen doors they sell at Home Depot are a foot too short for our massive front door. Rather than spend $500 or more on a custom one via the internet, we (and by "we," I mean "I") decided we (and by "we," I mean "Steven") should build one.
I drew out a basic design for my door. I knew I didn't want a cross-support piece on it. I felt it would break up the door, and the glass door we have is a rectangle. I wanted the screen door to echo that. I decided on using dowels and L-brackets, as well as a double-decker door, to make sure this massive door would be sturdy enough.
A super-helpful employee at Home Depot helped me pick out the best kind of wood, as well as explained how the dowel jig set-up worked. Once we bought all the materials, Steven got to work. First, he cut the boards for the "inside" frame of the door. I wanted to use dowels, so he butt-jointed instead of mitering:
Once the pieces were cut, he used the dowel set-up to drill the holes for the dowels. Here he is using a rubber mallet and one of the "pointy" things to mark where to drill:
The "pointy" thing leaves a mark to show you where to set up the dowel jig for drilling the holes:
Here is a board with the holes drilled and ready for dowels:
Once the pieces were cut, he used the dowel set-up to drill the holes for the dowels. Here he is using a rubber mallet and one of the "pointy" things to mark where to drill:
The "pointy" thing leaves a mark to show you where to set up the dowel jig for drilling the holes:Here is a board with the holes drilled and ready for dowels:
A job for me! I glued the dowels in:
After the glue is set up, we chisel out where the L-brackets will go. If we had a fancy router, we'd have used that... but we don't... so we took turns hand-chiseling the wood out:
We painted the wood and attached the brackets with screws:
Once the "inside" part of the door was built, Steven cut the pieces for the "outside" part of the door. This was all made from the wood you find in the fancy millwork section of the store:
Everything tested fitted? Check! Time to attach. When in doubt, we pre-drill! I remember someone on another blog complaining that they kept splitting the trim pieces they were using and ended up just using glue. Glue is not a permanent solution. Pre-drilling will save your sanity by keeping the wood from splitting and using a clamp will keep things from slipping around:
Once everything is countersunk, a little wood filler and sanding makes everything look clean. Just add paint! That black piece you see here is what is going to keep our screen in place. I wanted to build a removable screen - in case one of the kids accidentally tore it or something:
An inner trim piece with fancy beading detail is added and painted black (still wet and shiny here):
The only annoying part of the job for Steven was assembling the screen. He had to add extension pieces to the sides since our door is so tall. Once he got the frame assembled, he used a screen tool to push the cord (and screen) into the frame:
Once the cord was all in, he trimmed the excess screen off:
He is working so hard!
Final touch-up painting:
And Steven installs the hardware. This antique (Victorian) doorknob we rescued from a house that was being demolished. A coat of flat black paint and it is gorgeous:
Steven sprayed the hinges black, too. We used spring-loaded hinges that are self-closing... so we didn't have to install one of those long springs. I worried about pinched little fingers:
Little spinny things hold the screen in place. If we need to make a repair, it pops right out:
And here it is in place! Look close inside and you can see my dining room all torn apart. I am in the middle of plaster repair:
And a shot of what it look like with the glass door closed:
Friday, April 24, 2009
please don't ruin your wood furniture with sandpaper. please!
Oh what a busy time Spring always is...
I feel I have neglected my blog here in order to, oh, I don't know, get stuff done. And this is supposed to be some sort of record of that, right? I am afraid that without pictures, it is not very interesting though.
I hope to get some pictures up tonight or tomorrow of the finished antique dresser / pie safe marriage. I finished painting the antique dresser up. Like the pie safe, it's Laura Ashley's Edelweiss (white) with Valspar's Boathouse (blue) on the back and Ralph Lauren's Black Truffles for the shelves. I am not intentionally using every freaking paint out there. I just happen to have a lot of leftovers and figure they might as well get use!
The dresser also got frosted glass knobs that match the pie safe.
Steven just has to marry the two together, and we'll be all set for pictures.
OK... now I would like to talk about something a bit controversial... at the risk of hurting a few reader's feelings... (yikes!)
I need to talk for a moment about furniture distressing. Now, since the stuff I buy is old, I don't really feel the need to make it look old by mussing up the paint. I do recognize, however, that some people really like this look. And even more like to buy new things and give them character or whatever.
My problem is this... when I buy antique furniture and someone has hamfistedly "distressed" it -- it ruins the wood. An example would be the antique dresser we picked up for our son, Bowie. The person had painted it pale lavender and went at the corners like there was no tomorrow with sandpaper. I plan on painting this piece in black, but all those corners are now rounded. All the lovely detail is gone.
You CAN distress furniture without rounding corners and ruining the wood. One method involves the use of acid - but I won't go into that here since I don't find it environmentally friendly. OK, the easiest way is to run a bit of candle wax along anywhere that you want to look distressed. If you want paint to show through, just rub a candle there. Then just paint as usual. Before your paint is dry, lightly run fine grit sandpaper where you applied the wax and - voila - the paint will come right off, looking old and without ruining the wood. You can then apply antiquing wax or a thinned-out stain over the top to really make it stand out.
Another thing that really bothers me... a few blogs have given a DIY on cabinet painting (as did I). Please do NOT use a foam roller on your cabinets. A few bloggers recommend this to leave out brush marks. This is what light sanding is for. If you use a foam roller, you will get weirdo bumpy texture which is fine for drywall or plaster, but silly looking on wood. No pro painter would ever break out a foam roller to paint cabinets. They use a power sprayer. Lacking a power sprayer, or wanting to forgo the mess, just use a paint brush.
OK... I am off my soap box.
Stay tuned for pie safe and garden pictures. :)
I feel I have neglected my blog here in order to, oh, I don't know, get stuff done. And this is supposed to be some sort of record of that, right? I am afraid that without pictures, it is not very interesting though.
I hope to get some pictures up tonight or tomorrow of the finished antique dresser / pie safe marriage. I finished painting the antique dresser up. Like the pie safe, it's Laura Ashley's Edelweiss (white) with Valspar's Boathouse (blue) on the back and Ralph Lauren's Black Truffles for the shelves. I am not intentionally using every freaking paint out there. I just happen to have a lot of leftovers and figure they might as well get use!
The dresser also got frosted glass knobs that match the pie safe.
Steven just has to marry the two together, and we'll be all set for pictures.
OK... now I would like to talk about something a bit controversial... at the risk of hurting a few reader's feelings... (yikes!)
I need to talk for a moment about furniture distressing. Now, since the stuff I buy is old, I don't really feel the need to make it look old by mussing up the paint. I do recognize, however, that some people really like this look. And even more like to buy new things and give them character or whatever.
My problem is this... when I buy antique furniture and someone has hamfistedly "distressed" it -- it ruins the wood. An example would be the antique dresser we picked up for our son, Bowie. The person had painted it pale lavender and went at the corners like there was no tomorrow with sandpaper. I plan on painting this piece in black, but all those corners are now rounded. All the lovely detail is gone.
You CAN distress furniture without rounding corners and ruining the wood. One method involves the use of acid - but I won't go into that here since I don't find it environmentally friendly. OK, the easiest way is to run a bit of candle wax along anywhere that you want to look distressed. If you want paint to show through, just rub a candle there. Then just paint as usual. Before your paint is dry, lightly run fine grit sandpaper where you applied the wax and - voila - the paint will come right off, looking old and without ruining the wood. You can then apply antiquing wax or a thinned-out stain over the top to really make it stand out.
Another thing that really bothers me... a few blogs have given a DIY on cabinet painting (as did I). Please do NOT use a foam roller on your cabinets. A few bloggers recommend this to leave out brush marks. This is what light sanding is for. If you use a foam roller, you will get weirdo bumpy texture which is fine for drywall or plaster, but silly looking on wood. No pro painter would ever break out a foam roller to paint cabinets. They use a power sprayer. Lacking a power sprayer, or wanting to forgo the mess, just use a paint brush.
OK... I am off my soap box.
Stay tuned for pie safe and garden pictures. :)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
DIY: deep cleaning woodwork
Steven is away from home a few days for a work-related seminar. No fun for him, and well, no fun for me either. I am wrangling our four busy boys and trying to keep the house in some sort of order. Progress has stalled a smidge on the dining room since powersanders and toddlers don't really mix.
Anyway... In the effort to appear efficient, organized and productive, I spent a little quality time with the staircase. It is the first thing you see when you enter the house, and even though it gets cleaned every now and again with some nice citrus cleaner, it really needed a deep Spring cleaning.
For those of you doing your own Spring cleaning, follow along. It's easy!
Step One: Deep Clean
Spray down your woodwork with some TSP substitute. You can pick this up at Home Depot, Lowe's, or most any hardware store. Let it sit a minute. Then wipe down with an old rag. To get in the nooks and crannies, I put an old rag on a plastic putty knife. You can drag the edge around and get into the edges. And when you look at the rag, you will see just how dirty it really was!
Step Two: Restore & Polish
After you deep clean, your wood will be dull and ugly. You will wonder why the hell you spent all that time scrubbing just to make your wood look that bad. Don't fret - you just need to nourish it and shine it back up. Pick up some wood restore/polish. I used one called Howard Feed-N-Wax.
Note: Old wood does not like oil. Always use a wax instead of oil.
Step Three: Watch your kids walk all over the wood you just spent hours cleaning
Look how shiny! Before it was grungy, even though it was just dusted! The steps will shine up more as well. Usually, you put the wax on for 20 minutes or so and then give them a nice buff.
Anyway... In the effort to appear efficient, organized and productive, I spent a little quality time with the staircase. It is the first thing you see when you enter the house, and even though it gets cleaned every now and again with some nice citrus cleaner, it really needed a deep Spring cleaning.
For those of you doing your own Spring cleaning, follow along. It's easy!
Step One: Deep Clean
Spray down your woodwork with some TSP substitute. You can pick this up at Home Depot, Lowe's, or most any hardware store. Let it sit a minute. Then wipe down with an old rag. To get in the nooks and crannies, I put an old rag on a plastic putty knife. You can drag the edge around and get into the edges. And when you look at the rag, you will see just how dirty it really was!
Step Two: Restore & PolishAfter you deep clean, your wood will be dull and ugly. You will wonder why the hell you spent all that time scrubbing just to make your wood look that bad. Don't fret - you just need to nourish it and shine it back up. Pick up some wood restore/polish. I used one called Howard Feed-N-Wax.
Note: Old wood does not like oil. Always use a wax instead of oil.
Step Three: Watch your kids walk all over the wood you just spent hours cleaningLook how shiny! Before it was grungy, even though it was just dusted! The steps will shine up more as well. Usually, you put the wax on for 20 minutes or so and then give them a nice buff.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
DIY: how to steam wallpaper (and what were they thinking with that nasty paper?)
I am sure it happens to other DIYers... you are talking about a project you are working on, and when people find out that you are doing things yourself, they say, "Really????" Putting a HUGE emphasis on the really like they cannot possibly believe what you just said. I could have told them I poop purple leprechauns and gotten the same reaction.
There hasn't been a project yet that we have been afraid to tackle, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, plaster, all that... Yet, I can understand some people's hesitation at some things. Electrical can seem a bit scary, yes. But other projects are darn right easy, if not a bit tedious. Steaming wallpaper is one of those. I know people who'd rather paint or wallpaper over the top of existing wallpaper than to remove the old. They say, "It is too difficult and time-consuming."
Time-consuming, maybe. Difficult? No way. Not if you have plaster. Now, if you have drywall and you need to remove wallpaper, well... you have my sympathy. That job sucks. You will need to use a Paper Tiger (a little rotary tool that pokes walls in the paper), a chemical remover (or vinegar in a spray bottle) and a ton of elbow grease. Do not use a steamer. Drywall does not like water.
But if you have plaster, you are in luck... removal is pretty easy.
First, you will need to assemble a couple supplies. You will need a wallpaper scraper. I have one made by Zinsser that you will see in the photos below, and I like it. But there are others so do experiment and find one you like.
You will need a wallpaper steamer. I bought a Wagner Power Steamer 705. It was reasonably priced, and felt it made sense to buy rather than rent when I have wallpaper in so many rooms of the house.
Finally, you will need a bunch of towels to put along the floor since the water will run down and you don't want it pooling on your floor or base boards.
Now that you've rounded up your tools, you are all set.
Step 1
Lay out your towels. Put water in your machine and get ready to have fun. Well, not really. But I do like to put on some wallpapering music. Tonight it was Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits. I don't know if Alice is a home improvement guy, but I am sure he could mess it up with a steamer if he wanted to. But I digress...
My wall was papered half way up and then they put a thick foam border along the middle like a chair rail and along the top like crown. Bonus! Pull off the face paper so that you can start steaming off the border. If you don't have border, skip down a few steps.
Step 2 
Step 6
Step 7
There hasn't been a project yet that we have been afraid to tackle, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, plaster, all that... Yet, I can understand some people's hesitation at some things. Electrical can seem a bit scary, yes. But other projects are darn right easy, if not a bit tedious. Steaming wallpaper is one of those. I know people who'd rather paint or wallpaper over the top of existing wallpaper than to remove the old. They say, "It is too difficult and time-consuming."
Time-consuming, maybe. Difficult? No way. Not if you have plaster. Now, if you have drywall and you need to remove wallpaper, well... you have my sympathy. That job sucks. You will need to use a Paper Tiger (a little rotary tool that pokes walls in the paper), a chemical remover (or vinegar in a spray bottle) and a ton of elbow grease. Do not use a steamer. Drywall does not like water.
But if you have plaster, you are in luck... removal is pretty easy.
First, you will need to assemble a couple supplies. You will need a wallpaper scraper. I have one made by Zinsser that you will see in the photos below, and I like it. But there are others so do experiment and find one you like.
You will need a wallpaper steamer. I bought a Wagner Power Steamer 705. It was reasonably priced, and felt it made sense to buy rather than rent when I have wallpaper in so many rooms of the house.
Finally, you will need a bunch of towels to put along the floor since the water will run down and you don't want it pooling on your floor or base boards.
Now that you've rounded up your tools, you are all set.
Step 1
Lay out your towels. Put water in your machine and get ready to have fun. Well, not really. But I do like to put on some wallpapering music. Tonight it was Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits. I don't know if Alice is a home improvement guy, but I am sure he could mess it up with a steamer if he wanted to. But I digress...
My wall was papered half way up and then they put a thick foam border along the middle like a chair rail and along the top like crown. Bonus! Pull off the face paper so that you can start steaming off the border. If you don't have border, skip down a few steps.
Step 2Once you have peeled off the border's face paper, steam the backing paper off. (Getting rid of the border first gives you access to the main wallpaper, which is probably buried under the border). Just a minute in each spot will get the paper good and steamy. Too short a time, the paper won't get wet enough and you'll leave a bunch of adhesive behind. And for some reason, the adhesive on borders is the worst!
Step 3
Use you scraper to take off the border. You'll need to dig in a bit to get rid of the glue gunk. If it doesn't all come off, you can use some cleanser later to get rid of any stragglers.
Step 4
With the border out of the way, we have access to the top edge of our wallpaper now. (Lucky you if you didn't have a border... you can start here!) Fingernails are handy for getting the top edge of the facepaper... tear all the face paper off. Some people will swear by using the Paper Tiger and punching holes in the paper and steaming it off in tact. But I find it just makes the paper tear off in annoying little strips. I like to do it this way.
Step 5
With the face paper gone, you can start steaming the backing paper. Again, just a minute will give good saturation.
Step 6Use your scraper to remove the wallpaper backing paper.
Step 7
Repeat, repeat, repeat and do a happy dance when you are done. Then cry when you see the ugly paint the previous owner left behind for you. Then quickly, cover that crap up with new paint!!! HURRY!!
P.S.
All those little wallpaper scrappies on your floor... hurry and sweep those up before they dry or someone steps on them. When they dry, they will stick down to your floor and are a total pain to scrape back up.
Oh, you might notice I am wearing a sweater here. 1) It freaking snowed today - where is Spring? and 2) steamers will drip/leak very hot water. Don't wear short sleeves - long sleeves offer some protection. Even through your clothes the water is very hot and will let you know if it hits you!
Monday, February 16, 2009
DIY: how to paint hardwood floors in a bathroom
We are in the process of a bathroom transformation. Phase 1, to be exact... those following along with my bathroom project may share our excitement in that we are almost done! I am finished with the floor, and Steven is working on baseboads and installing plumbing fixtures!
Our floor was completely trashed out, and we had to start from scratch on a new one. Since we don't have the budget now for the totally pimp sea glass hex tile I wanted, I had to compromise. We decided on a hardwood floor since Lumber Liquidators has dirt cheap white oak lumber.
Hardwood in a bathroom? Am I crazy? Well, possibly. I do have 4 insane male children. But hardwoods CAN work in a bathroom... and I thought I would share with you my process for making my hardwood floor as watertight as a dolphin's butt. I shall dub thee "Bathroom with Robin's Egg Blue Floor."
2. The subfloor was covered with 15 pound asphalt felt. This comes in a giant roll from the hardware store for under $30. Overlap the seams by 3 inches, and a few staples to tack it into place and you're golden.
3. Install the hardwood floor. We had such a small space to do, we decided to hand nail everything in rather than rent a floor nailer. Just remember to pre-drill the holes because hardwood floors are, indeed, hard. Steven broke so many bits on this little project. There are entire sites devoted to installing hardwood, so go there if you need excrutiating detail.
7. Paint. I used a high gloss enamel paint. Here's the deal... I used floor paint in my kitchen, and you could totally use that. I went for high gloss enamel since I knew I was going to be sealing it anyway. The floor paint can will say "no need to seal." Yeah, that's a load of bull. I didn't seal my kitchen floor and in 6 months it looked like crap. I did 3 coats of paint. Because I am obsessive and I don't want my floor to look trashed in 6 months ago.
Our floor was completely trashed out, and we had to start from scratch on a new one. Since we don't have the budget now for the totally pimp sea glass hex tile I wanted, I had to compromise. We decided on a hardwood floor since Lumber Liquidators has dirt cheap white oak lumber.
Hardwood in a bathroom? Am I crazy? Well, possibly. I do have 4 insane male children. But hardwoods CAN work in a bathroom... and I thought I would share with you my process for making my hardwood floor as watertight as a dolphin's butt. I shall dub thee "Bathroom with Robin's Egg Blue Floor."
1. Here you see our subfloor which was just installed over the 1 x 12 planks.
2. The subfloor was covered with 15 pound asphalt felt. This comes in a giant roll from the hardware store for under $30. Overlap the seams by 3 inches, and a few staples to tack it into place and you're golden. 3. Install the hardwood floor. We had such a small space to do, we decided to hand nail everything in rather than rent a floor nailer. Just remember to pre-drill the holes because hardwood floors are, indeed, hard. Steven broke so many bits on this little project. There are entire sites devoted to installing hardwood, so go there if you need excrutiating detail.4. Use wood filler on your counter-sunk nail heads. Then sand!
5. Clean your floor 800 times more clean than a floor has ever been cleaned. If your wood has some type of coating on it, use Simple Green or a TSP substitute to get the grease off.
6. Primer. I like Kilz, but Zinsser or Bin are fine, too. I like water-based paints. Hey, oil-based are being discontinued anyway.... So a primer meant for latex is always good. They even make mildew resistant and all that. I did 2 coats of primer.
7. Paint. I used a high gloss enamel paint. Here's the deal... I used floor paint in my kitchen, and you could totally use that. I went for high gloss enamel since I knew I was going to be sealing it anyway. The floor paint can will say "no need to seal." Yeah, that's a load of bull. I didn't seal my kitchen floor and in 6 months it looked like crap. I did 3 coats of paint. Because I am obsessive and I don't want my floor to look trashed in 6 months ago.
8. Sand. A super fine grit with a palm sander worked just nifty.
9. Clean again like you've never cleaned before.
10. Seal. I used high gloss Varathane. I know some people use polyurethane on their floors. I wanted something super resilient and, dammit, this is a bathroom. Varathane is specifically made for floors and I wanted that super-deep gloss finish. The floor is the statement in my bathroom, so it has to be just right. I did 3 coats of varathane. You could do less, but the more coats you do, the "deeper" the paint looks. Sort of like the difference between a paint job on a Ford Focus and a Porsche 911. I don't want my floors to have the "krylon touch."
11. Do a happy dance on your new floor. And be terrified every time you have to give the dogs a bath and their nails go clackety-clack across your gorgeous floor.
Next we will have pictures with baseboard and plumbing... Stay tuned!
Monday, January 12, 2009
DIY: de-odorizing furniture OR smoke be gone from my sofa!!!
DIY: de-stinkifying furniture
We purchased a beautiful Queen Anne-style sofa off Craigslist. The sofa was a prefect fit for our living room as I was looking for a charcoal sofa, preferably Queen Anne. So I was elated to come across an ad for a black and cream brocade sofa. The ad said smoking home, but I thought, well, how bad could that be?
Steven went to the little old lady's house to pay her for the sofa on Wednesday and we'd be back to pick up the sofa on Friday. He called me a minute after paying her and said he'd been in the house for 5 minutes and his teeth tasted like smoke.
Rut roh.
We both went on Friday to load up the sofa. Holy moley. The lady had a custom slipcover made for it when she bought it, so the original fabric was in perfect shape. The slipcover used to be white with a shabby chic floral thing happening. It was now corn-tooth yellow except for the part folded under the cushion which was cream.
Yikes.
He got the sofa home and immediately I used the steamcleaner vacuum with the upholstery attachments, filled with extra strength upholstery cleaner. After three passes with that, we doused the thing with about 50 coats of extra strength Fabreeze.
Our sofa was slightly less stinky, but under the Fabreeze smell was eau de ashtray. Gross.
I did some research and discovered a product called “Room Shocker.” Room Shocker is a chlorine dioxide airborne cleaner which is supposed to clean smoke, mildew, pet urine, vomit, mold, you name it. It is eco friendly, and safe for kids, pets and furnishings. I ordered the product hoping for the best.
$25 later, my Room Shocker arrived. It included an insert talking about how the government uses the ingredients to kill off anthrax. Well, if it can kill anthrax, surely it will kill stanky ashtray smell.
We got all set to “bomb” the living room. I tore open the pouch, put water in the cup and placed the cup in front of the sofa. Immediately my living room smelled like a pool party. We let it run through the day and decided to go ahead and let it run the full 24 hours.
The next morning, I went into the living room full of hope. I picked up a pillow and it smelled like.... absolutely nothing! Success! No ash tray smell. No Fabreeze. It didn't smell like anything at all.
We purchased a beautiful Queen Anne-style sofa off Craigslist. The sofa was a prefect fit for our living room as I was looking for a charcoal sofa, preferably Queen Anne. So I was elated to come across an ad for a black and cream brocade sofa. The ad said smoking home, but I thought, well, how bad could that be?
Steven went to the little old lady's house to pay her for the sofa on Wednesday and we'd be back to pick up the sofa on Friday. He called me a minute after paying her and said he'd been in the house for 5 minutes and his teeth tasted like smoke.
Rut roh.
We both went on Friday to load up the sofa. Holy moley. The lady had a custom slipcover made for it when she bought it, so the original fabric was in perfect shape. The slipcover used to be white with a shabby chic floral thing happening. It was now corn-tooth yellow except for the part folded under the cushion which was cream.
Yikes.
He got the sofa home and immediately I used the steamcleaner vacuum with the upholstery attachments, filled with extra strength upholstery cleaner. After three passes with that, we doused the thing with about 50 coats of extra strength Fabreeze.
Our sofa was slightly less stinky, but under the Fabreeze smell was eau de ashtray. Gross.
I did some research and discovered a product called “Room Shocker.” Room Shocker is a chlorine dioxide airborne cleaner which is supposed to clean smoke, mildew, pet urine, vomit, mold, you name it. It is eco friendly, and safe for kids, pets and furnishings. I ordered the product hoping for the best.
$25 later, my Room Shocker arrived. It included an insert talking about how the government uses the ingredients to kill off anthrax. Well, if it can kill anthrax, surely it will kill stanky ashtray smell.
We got all set to “bomb” the living room. I tore open the pouch, put water in the cup and placed the cup in front of the sofa. Immediately my living room smelled like a pool party. We let it run through the day and decided to go ahead and let it run the full 24 hours.
The next morning, I went into the living room full of hope. I picked up a pillow and it smelled like.... absolutely nothing! Success! No ash tray smell. No Fabreeze. It didn't smell like anything at all.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
DIY: painting kitchen cabinets
Since I promised a few people that I would post up some DIY information on kitchen cabinets, I figured I would put up some how-to info (and give a sneak peak of the kitchen).
One of my first steps was to paint the cabinets. My lower cabinets I did in a sage green color ("Fairy Wren" by Ralph Lauren) while the tops I did in white ("Picket Fence" by Ralph Lauren). I removed some of the doors to create a pretty display for my dishes... which the more I looked at, made me hate the rest of the cabinets. So I decided to remove all the doors from half of the kitchen and refinish those the same way. (The remaining cabinets will get new hardware, trim and a cool caning treatment which I will post up later).
I used Kilz primer, flat latex paint, flat enamel paint, and flat polycrylic sealer. I wanted a chalky finish like old milk paint, yet I wanted to be able to scrub them. If you don't care about sheen, use a satin. I use enamel on furniture I want to make "kidproof" for my 4 little boys, so it is a no-brainer to use on lower cabinets. Always take the time to degrease first. And use a good quality sealer unless you really want to redo them in a year.
Step One:
If you are removing the doors, use wood epoxy to fill in the holes. Sand. Then you may need to refill the holes a second time and sand. Give all the cabinets a good sanding down if they are "slick."
Step Two:
Prime. My primer here is still wet and shiny. Sometimes it takes another coat since that cheap particle board likes to soak up the paint. Primer is cheaper than paint - when in doubt, PRIME! If your primer doesn't seem to be sticking, so note above about cleaning them... they may be greasy. Simple Green is my favorite for deeping cleaning.
Note on primer - if your cabinets have been stained, you may need to use a primer for covering oil-based rather than latex. Kilz Original formula is oil-based good for sealing and priming woodwork. For a latex-based, Kilz Premium is nice because it is mildew resistant (nice for when water gets splashed on a cabinet.)
Step Three:
Paint! Use a good brush - it makes all the difference. My dad recommends Purdy, but any good quality brush will do.
You may need to do 2 or 3 coats, depending on the color and finish you have chosen. I used flat latex on the top cabinets and flat enamel on the bottom. Why? Well, my lower cabinets take more of a beating than the top ones. You could do enamel on both sets (and your trim) if you like. Personal choice.
Step Four:
Sand using a fine grit. Get out those brushmarks and, horrors, any runs. If you don't mind brush-strokes, you can skip this step. I like a nice finished look, so I sand. If you are a shabby chic person, you can run a piece of sandpaper along the edges on the cabinets and give it a distressed look. I tend to go for a traditional look, since I am a preservationist.
Step Five:
Seal in your hard work! I use a poly-acrylic by Minwax. I like a matte or satin finish to go with my flat paint. If you are all about scrubbability, you've probably been using satin or glossier, so pick satin or gloss in that case.
I will be covering up that bright yellow paint with a creamy white, and I don't have everything rearranged yet, but I wanted you to see an after.... so I threw up a few things for a picture.
My kitchen cabinets are completely cheap. The doors are warped and open/close rather wonky. My room layout is terrible. The whole kitchen had horrible spongepainting and borders everywhere. The floor was peel & stick floor tiles. Pretty nasty. Since I cannot afford a full, wonderful, renovation now, I have to settle for an "interim" fix. Just making it livable and not hideous.
One of my first steps was to paint the cabinets. My lower cabinets I did in a sage green color ("Fairy Wren" by Ralph Lauren) while the tops I did in white ("Picket Fence" by Ralph Lauren). I removed some of the doors to create a pretty display for my dishes... which the more I looked at, made me hate the rest of the cabinets. So I decided to remove all the doors from half of the kitchen and refinish those the same way. (The remaining cabinets will get new hardware, trim and a cool caning treatment which I will post up later).
I used Kilz primer, flat latex paint, flat enamel paint, and flat polycrylic sealer. I wanted a chalky finish like old milk paint, yet I wanted to be able to scrub them. If you don't care about sheen, use a satin. I use enamel on furniture I want to make "kidproof" for my 4 little boys, so it is a no-brainer to use on lower cabinets. Always take the time to degrease first. And use a good quality sealer unless you really want to redo them in a year.
Step One:
If you are removing the doors, use wood epoxy to fill in the holes. Sand. Then you may need to refill the holes a second time and sand. Give all the cabinets a good sanding down if they are "slick."
Step Two:
Prime. My primer here is still wet and shiny. Sometimes it takes another coat since that cheap particle board likes to soak up the paint. Primer is cheaper than paint - when in doubt, PRIME! If your primer doesn't seem to be sticking, so note above about cleaning them... they may be greasy. Simple Green is my favorite for deeping cleaning.
Note on primer - if your cabinets have been stained, you may need to use a primer for covering oil-based rather than latex. Kilz Original formula is oil-based good for sealing and priming woodwork. For a latex-based, Kilz Premium is nice because it is mildew resistant (nice for when water gets splashed on a cabinet.)
Step Three:
Paint! Use a good brush - it makes all the difference. My dad recommends Purdy, but any good quality brush will do.
You may need to do 2 or 3 coats, depending on the color and finish you have chosen. I used flat latex on the top cabinets and flat enamel on the bottom. Why? Well, my lower cabinets take more of a beating than the top ones. You could do enamel on both sets (and your trim) if you like. Personal choice.
Step Four:
Sand using a fine grit. Get out those brushmarks and, horrors, any runs. If you don't mind brush-strokes, you can skip this step. I like a nice finished look, so I sand. If you are a shabby chic person, you can run a piece of sandpaper along the edges on the cabinets and give it a distressed look. I tend to go for a traditional look, since I am a preservationist.
Step Five:
Seal in your hard work! I use a poly-acrylic by Minwax. I like a matte or satin finish to go with my flat paint. If you are all about scrubbability, you've probably been using satin or glossier, so pick satin or gloss in that case.
I will be covering up that bright yellow paint with a creamy white, and I don't have everything rearranged yet, but I wanted you to see an after.... so I threw up a few things for a picture.
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