Monday, January 27, 2014

Building a Pallet Daybed


This is pretty much a post referring you to another post.  Really.  Because the instructions at Prudent Baby are so concise, why re-invent the wheel.  ;)

I had a customer that saw this image on Pinterest:


It was pretty serendipitous that I had recently pinned the same photo!  She wanted one and I was off to find me some great pallets.  After I finished it and moved it into the living room, my kids didn't want to give it up.


The only major change I made was adding a "backboard" so the pillows wouldn't fall off when pulled away from the wall.  Just make sure you leave enough room for two cleats in each of the back corners.


What a fun little bed this turned out to be.



So make your way over to Prudent Baby for a knock-it-out-of-the-park tutorial!


Have a great day,
Debbie

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

DIY Personalized Tray


We all have a use for a tray in our lives.  Treating our other half to a breakfast in bed, carrying BBQ items out to the picnic table, serving snacks during the big game.  There is ALWAYS a use for a tray.  So why not make it unique?  You can create one for you or a wonderful gift for someone special in your life.

You simply use pine boards.  You need to decide how wide and long you want your tray and cut them to size.  I chose to use different width boards for my planked tray.


I wanted this tray to be rustic, as it was a gift to someone living on a lake in the mountains of Vermont. Distressing your wood is a quick way to make it rustic.  These are some of my favorite tools to distress: hammer, nails, screwdriver, and chisel.


I like to chisel some of the wood out of the middle or even down the edge.  I also create "worm holes" by tapping a nail over and over again in a small area, or just jabbing the wood with the screwdriver will also do the job.



I knew I wanted the boards to have different depths of stain, so I decided to stain them before attaching them.  One coat to some, more coats to others.  The stain will also bring out where you beat up your wood. ;)  I left one board raw because I knew I would add one last coat of stain after I attached them together.


Next, I flipped the boards over and  used my Kreg Jig to attach them together.  If you don't have one, you can pick one up at hardware store for about $20.  VERY useful for just about any building.



I wanted a nice clean bottom, so I used 1/4" plywood cut to the size of the tray, glued and nailed it to the bottom.  (This photo is after I attached the frame -- forgot the before photo.)


Next I added a frame around the edge.  This creates a nice ledge so items don't roll off the tray and makes for a nice, clean look.  I mitered the corners and attached with nails.  Make sure your frame is flush with the bottom so the tray sits flat.


After my final coat of stain, I was ready to get creative.  To personalize, find or create your image.  Just enlarge it in a word processing or photo editing program and piece the printed pages together to get a larger size.  Use a carbon paper on the back to transfer or cover the back with pencil and when you trace the front, the marks will transfer.



Then I used a variety of paints to fill in my image.


After the piece had dried, I added many coats of sealer to protect the finish.  The final step was adding the handles.  I countersunk the screws so the tray would lay flat.


And then she was finished.






You could be serving Valentine's Day breakfast on one of these bad boys if you get a'cracking!

Have a fantastic day,
Debbie

Monday, January 6, 2014

The Secret to Painting Furniture Pulls


I love furniture handles, pulls, and knobs.  It's that bit of accessory that can dress up the furniture, kind of like your favorite pair of earrings that completes the outfit.

Replacing or refinishing the hardware is always a question I need to answer before starting a piece. The last dresser I worked on had 12 handles that needed an update.  It would have been a pretty penny to replace all of them.  And often I will come across very dated hardware and brand new pulls won't fit the original holes.  In these cases, I choose to paint them.


In the past, I would lay out the clean hardware on a flat piece of cardboard and spray paint them.  But that always left a little pile of dried paint where the handle of the pull would lay.  And I would have to flip the pull over and get the other side, leaving another little pile of paint.  I knew there must be an easier way.  So I created one.


I've had this rough piece of 4X4 sitting around for quite sometime.  (NOTE: Since taking this photo, I have screwed into the bottom a square piece of plywood so it would sit easier on any surface.) I wanted my "painting station" to be freestanding and this fit the bill.  I had 12 handles, so I used 3 nails on each side.

It can also double as a medieval torture tool.


I just hung each handle on the nail, using the screw hole in the back.  Before I painted, I made sure the pull part of the handle was sitting in the middle, so as not to touch either side.



I then spray as directed.


Just a few light passes and these babies were done.


Here they are accessorizing their new home.


This method created a beautiful finish.  And I love that my painting station is re-usable.  I hope this little tip helps you the next time you are pondering painting or replacing your furniture pulls.

Have a fabulous day,

Debbie