Blog

July 11, 2014 / diy projects

How to replace the cane on bentwood barstools

I finally fixed my bentwood cane barstools! The cane anyway! (I still need to polish/ oil the wood and tighten up the “Bambi” leg of the front stool).

*This post contains affiliate links…see my disclosure.

After shopping around for an alternative to these barstools I quickly realized I should just order the cane webbing and get to work. The more I looked the more I realized how much I love these vintage stools. The style is a perfect juxtaposition to the modern lines of my floating shelves, ship-lap siding, and concrete counter on the island. Plus they’re the perfect size. I just wish there was one more!

I ordered the cane webbing from the onlinefabricstore.com. There’s many different styles and sizes of webbing to choose from. I chose the same size and style as the original-1/2 ” open weave. To determine the size of the weave you measure from center to center of the hole. It comes in a variety of widths to accommodate any size seat. My seats required 18″ wide webbing and I ordered 8 feet but only ended up using about 7 feet.

I used this youtube video for instructions on how to put in the new webbing. It’s really simple. I used the same spline I removed from the chair because it was still in tact and unbroken. I didn’t buy any of the tools that he suggests in the video. I used a flathead screwdriver, a multi-tool and a hammer.

I soaked the new webbing in the bath tub after cutting it to the proper size. Then I laid it out on the first seat, made sure it was square, and pressed the cane into the groove around the edge of the seat using the flathead. Then I applied Gorilla glue (the best glue available)into the spline groove and pressed the spline in. Then I hammered the spline in securely with the multi-tool. Finally I used a very sharp razor knife to cut of the excess webbing off.

I’m really happy with how they turned out and so far they are holding up really well!

We’ve been using the stools for about two weeks and so far they are still tight and sturdy. What d’ya think of bentwood?

Check out the “before” pictures of these stools here.

April 24, 2014 / diy projects, my house reno.

bentwood cane barstools

I picked up these bent wood bar-stools at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. The caning appeared to be in perfect condition except for one small hole in one of the backs. They were marked $5 a piece, so scooped them up at lightning speed. For that price I figured I could just re-cane them. When I brought them home, to my chagrin, the caning was totally brittle and collapsed under our bottoms.

Fortunately they can be restored with caning by the foot. They have a groove all the way around the seat for cane(reed) spline, just like window screens have for screen spline. It’s pretty simple and the caning is only $6 per foot.

So with a little upholstery potion on the wood and new caning on the seats and backs these babies will be good as new. I considered getting different bar stools all together because I was feeling lazy and thought I might be able to find something I liked equally for not too much more than the price of the caning and the time it would take to do the work. But, after searching craigslist and the web I’m not finding anything with the vintage look and feel that I like as much as these. So I’m gonna order the cane and get to work. What do think about these stools? Would you take the time to re-do them?

April 22, 2014 / diy projects, my house reno.

how to turn file cabinets into kitchen cabinets

I wish I had taken more pictures of this “lateral file cabinets turned kitchen cabinets” project but I was so skeptical of the results that I neglected the camera.

I had these file cabinets in the garage for a few years and was about to load them into the trailer for the dump when it occurred to me they might fit perfectly in my kitchen. I had a long stretch of space under my kitchen window that was open to the floor with small drawers for utensils and junk. A breakfast bar, so to speak. I always kept stools under the counter but they were never used (except for toe stubbing). It was just wasted space. Plus the counter was table height so it was awkwardly low for a kitchen counter.

Everything is wrong with this picture, but it was the only picture I could find of my kitchen at this stage.

So I went to work and trimmed out the metal drawer fronts with lattice trim and 1/8 plywood(same plywood I used for the walls and the island ship-lap). I simply butt joined the lattice trim and glued it to the drawer front with liquid nails. Then I glued the plywood to the metal drawer face inside the trim thereby covering the recessed drawer pulls. The finishing touch is the wood filler between the metal fronts and the trim, across the top and down the sides, so it looks like one piece and not just trim glued to metal file cabinets(junky!)

Since the drawers are totally flush when closed I had to install handles(drawer pulls). I used a metal bit in my screw gun and it went through the metal pretty easily. I’ll probably change these handles soon but needed something pronto. Nothing a little wood filler won’t cure though.

I considered building a base for the file cabinets to lift them off the floor to make a standard toe kick, but I 86’d that idea in favor of keeping my utensil drawers(sitting on top of the file cabinets in the pic above). It’s a little odd but I prefer the extra storage and the drawers brought the whole deal to counter-top height. win-win.

The file cabinets are super heavy duty and no matter how much weight I put in those drawers they always slide nice and easy. They’re really deep so they hold my largest pots and tallest stack of plates.

This was a project I really wasn’t sure about when I started. I figured if it looked really junky I wouldn’t lose much, so I pressed on. They’re far from perfect but they look decent and they add soooooo much storage. Plus drawers instead of cabinets is heaven on earth! Right?

UPDATE: June 13, 2020…

I still love these file cabinets turned kitchen cabinet drawers! More than six years later and they are STILL going strong!

I have since repainted my kitchen cabinets a dark charcoal color. It’s called Graphite by Behr. It looks like navy but it’s really more dark dark grey in person. I love the color because it’s quite ambiguous, but also sort of a neutral color. My file cabinets turned kitchen cabinets still hold a ton of plates. I think all these plates may literally be a ton, and this drawer still slides like butter. We have a lot of company here at my house so I buy appetizer size plates at the thrift store so we have plenty of plates for apps and dessert rather than buying paper. I’m not big fan of throwing away paper products and buying paper plates is an added expense I don’t fancy. Plus, I’m always ready for company.

So there you have it, file cabinets in the kitchen. When I installed these file cabinets, I figured it may or may not work. I thought if they look completely junky I wouldn’t lose much by just taking them to the dump. I’m pleasantly surprised that they don’t look like file cabinets plopped in my kitchen and they have worked so perfectly all these years.

If you want to see my whole kitchen refresh(including my epoxy counters and backsplash) for less than $500 check out this post… https://mimzyandcompany.com/kitchen-refresh-500/

April 21, 2014 / diy projects, my house reno.

kitchen reno phase 28

I finally got my island! This was the plan since we moved into this house more than five years ago. It was a daunting task for me because the wiring to the old double oven would have to be moved and I’d need help to move it. So I got everything done around the wire so the only task remaining for the electrician would be to pull the wire through the ceiling, down the wall, and through the conduit.

Cutting the concrete slab proved to be somewhat simple. The circular saw with the masonry blade was quite effective. It took two blades to do the four foot section.

We tarped off the area after a warning from my brother-in-law that we’d have a cloud of dust that would engulf the neighborhood. While Beast cut the concrete I stood outside the tent and fanned the dust out the window with a pizza box.

We were advised by my very wise contractor friend to cut the concrete on a 45 degree angle to avoid making the concrete weak by cutting straight down. It also made it very easy to chip out the concrete after cutting the two parallel lines.

Turned out we didn’t need to cut all the way to the electrical box. I just wanted to make it as easy as possible for the electrician.

Once the electricity was installed I plugged in the oven and built out the rest of the island. It’s two 30″ drawer banks on each side of the 30″ range. I used 6″ slats of 1/8 inch plywood ship-lap style just like my walls above the counter to finish the island. I used 4 x 4’s to support the over hang of the counter, which is plywood skim coated with concrete to look like a slab. Everything still needs another coat of paint and some 1/4 round trim here and there, but it made it through Easter like a pro. I love it!!!

Totally changes the house. Here it is before:

after:

What do you think? I need barstools now. Have any suggestions?

April 8, 2014 / diy projects, my house reno.

kitchen renovation phase 27…how I made my “U” shaped kitchen into a kitchen with an island.

My kitchen has gone through so many phases of renovation, I’m not sure where to start. As soon as we moved in I took down all the upper cabinets, removed an eight foot vent hood that separated the kitchen from the living room, and relocated the refrigerator and water heater. That just made it workable. Then I installed floating shelves made of hollow core closet doors from our old house. I trimmed out the cabinet doors with lattice moulding and painted them out. I made cabinets out of file cabinets, removed a bar sink and built another pantry cabinet to replace it, and what feels like a never ending list of projects. So, to avoid a run-on post I’ll just write about today’s phase. Changing my U-shaped kitchen to an island kitchen.

This is how the kitchen looked the other morning. Beast had the morning free so I recruited his help. He’s usually willing to help if there’s demo involved. The strategy was pretty simple. Take out the oven, remove the cabinet and move base cabinets down to make and island. We started by unhooking the double oven and removing it. Then we simply cut away the cabinet around it with the sawzall.

That alone made a huge difference, right!?

Then we sawzall’d the cabinet away from the corner cabinet and slid it on down the line. I thought I would be able to re-use the cabinet as the island but it proved to be to difficult to make it work with a slide-in range. Instead I found two 30 inch drawer cabinets at habitat for humanity that I’ll use on either side of my range for the island.

So here’s my kitchen this morning.

Next up:

cut a trench in my concrete floor with a concrete saw to accommodate the conduit and wire.
pull the wire out of the electrical panel(which is fortunately in the kitchen wall) to re-wire it through the floor.
finish the garbage cabinet next to the dishwasher (possibly my favorite part of this phase). I love having the garbage put away in a cabinet!
take out this island of cabinets and replace it with my new drawer cabinets and slide-in range.(you can see the tip of it in the pic above in the middle of my family room).
make a new concrete countertop for the island.
put ship-lap siding on the back and sides of the island to match the walls in kitchen.
paint the island.
possibly take out the bulkhead above the island.
put in a range hood above the stove.
replace my decoupaged floor with wood to match the rest of the house.
epoxy paint the fridge white.
re-organize and get rid of stuff.

What do think? I think its coming along nicely.

This is the other end of the kitchen behind the wall. Just wanted to give the full layout.

March 25, 2014 / paint projects

create a faux brick wall

after...finished faux old brick. Much better right? Looks just like the original. I ended up doing the outside of the building also, which was painted solid at some point. — after…finished faux old brick. Looks just like the original.

This is a project I did in Historic Ybor City due to a failed attempt by another paint company. It’s a beautiful historic building that was partially renovated some time in the 90’s. The ground level is office space and the second floor is a residence. When my client bought the building most of the original interior brick was covered with drywall. He wanted to restore some of the original brick beauty so he called a paint company to do a faux brick treatment over the drywall. Look what he got…

faux old brick re-do — …blech! Not at all like the original brick! So I went to work with my trusty assistant, A.K.A. my mother in law, Donna, A.K.A. fabulously talented painter, and we fixed this wretched attempt at old brick.

So we set out to make those bricks look authentic. First we covered most of it with drywall mud to make the mortar lines less straight, the corners less square, and to give it all a little more texture.

during...first we covered the old, too perfect brick, with some drywall mud to give it some authenticity. Then we painted most bricks and then made them look old. Just like the originals. — during…mom’s repainting the brick we covered with drywall mud.

Then we repainted all the bricks individually with a brush and many color combo’s. We hit’em again with some more drywall mud to make the brick look like they were uncovered after years of paint and plaster. And finally we hit’em with a little black and brown to make the bricks look a bit dirty(sooty and aged).

What do you think? We were extremely pleased with the result! It was a super fun project!

Blog

Footer

Get updates right to your inbox.....