DIY, Home decor and sewing for the home.

October 5, 2015 / diy projects, my house reno.

bookshelves – library wall in progress

Today I finally got started on my bookshelf wall or library wall as some may say.

Two Saturday’s ago the kiddos spent the day with cousins, so Beast and I had a date night. It was sort of unplanned so we winged it. When he asked what I wanted to do, my first response was ….thrift shop! I had a little dresser in my mind to live next to my new wingback headboard. I came up short in that regard, but I did score these two lovely bookcases. They were marked $24 each, but it was 50% off all yellow tags that day, so I scored both of these bookcases for only $12 each. And they came with six solid wood shelves each! They are solid wood, not MDF, and so sturdy with two fixed shelves and the rest adjustable. They complete what I needed to make a full wall of bookcases that I’ve been dreaming about.

In March I wrote this post about my desire to put bookshelves on this wall and started to collect the materials. This is the wall…

This stack of MDF has traveled around my house for a long time waiting for the rest of the supplies to build these shelves. Finally, they get to do their job.

bookshelf boxes I used my handy craig pocket hole jig again to fasten the top and bottom shelves. Since I typically work alone I come up with creative ways to hold my materials while fastening. Since MDF is kinda flimsy I made two additional shelves permanent to give the box more stability. I built right on sight so didn’t have haul these things.

This stack of crown moulding I got from my neighbor who just did a major remodel of her entire first floor. At some point I picked up this stack of wood 1 x12’s for $4 at the habitat for humanity. They were about 5′ long so I was able to get two shelves out of each one. One heck of a deal since each one would’ve been about $12 each at Home Depot. Plus they’re already primed!

One of the best things about finding these two shelf units at the thrift is the width of each shelf unit was decided for me. I was laboring over whether I should make all the shelves the same width or if I should do some wider some narrower. So they’re coming together…and for penny’s y’all. I had the wood for the three narrow units for years from my mom’s house actually, I got the wider units for a total of $24, the crown was free, I had all the fasteners I needed already, and caulk. Next up …

lattice trim for the joint between the shelf units
picture moulding to go across the top of the shelf units below the crown.
base board
a few more shelves on the narrow units
paint
booksI can’t wait to finish up and get all my books in one place!

September 21, 2015 / diy projects

diy upholstered wingback headboard

This DIY upholstered wingback headboard proved to be a little easier than I thought…not your usual DIY…right?

I finished my headboard over the weekend!

I had to work on it in bits and pieces in between the weekend activities, but it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. It was actually a pretty simple project with very little sewing since there are no cushions. Matter of fact, the only sewing involved was making the welt and sewing the welt onto the front arm panel.

It’s far from perfect, but for my own bedroom it’s exactly what I had in mind. I originally had a brilliant velvet on my heart as my first choice in fabric, but I went with this ivory hemp because I had it on hand and I think it will be the brightness that my dark bedroom needs. Plus, the velvet would have been a small fortune.

T he legs were definitely the hardest part to figure out. Next time, if there is a next time, I’ll make the legs slightly different. This was a trial and error, learn as I went kind of project.

The front fabric is 100% hemp fabric I ordered on clearance from BigDuckCanvas.com, and the back fabric is a herringbone burlap, also clearance from the same company.

I used brass tacks to close the sides because I didn’t have any alligator closures and couldn’t wait until Monday to get some.

Once the bed frame is set in place you won’t see the inside wing and the wood that’s exposed at the floor in the picture above nor the stretcher that goes in between the wings in the pic below. I could probably wrap that stretcher in fabric to improve the look but I need to make a box pleat bedskirt to match and want make sure I have enough fabric for that first. It won’t show at all under my bed so I’m not too concerned about it.

I’ll give you a play by play in the next couple days, maybe in two or three parts.

Once it’s in my bedroom and styled I’ll post about that too. I won’t put it into my bedroom until I find a new dresser or night stand for Beast’s side of the bed. Right now his dresser is 48″ tall and so is the headboard, so I certainly can’t have them fighting for attention… right?

This picture was my inspiration and I think I accomplished it.

What do you think?

xoxo

mimzy

September 16, 2015 / diy projects, my house reno.

diy upholstered wingback headboard part 1

One of the many projects on my master bedroom renovation list is an upholstered wingback headboard. I’ve been researching plans for wingback headboards for years. Ever since my mom a made a wing back headboard for her bed out of a sleeper sofa. She made a slipcover for the sofa and replaced the thin sofa mattress with hers and made it her all the time bed. It looked amazing and I thought it was genius.

I’ve looked at all kinds of plans over the years. I even checked out furniture making books from the library. I wanted simple plans but a slight curve to the wings. So far everything is either too simple and straight lined or just too complicated and above my skill level.

So yesterday when I was in and out of the garage a billion times working on the wall pocket, it occurred to me this wing chair that’s been sitting in my workroom unfinished for six months, would make the perfect headboard!

See… lovely curved wings and graceful arms! Sorry about the lousy picture.

So I schlepped the chair to the driveway and deconstructed it. I only need the wings and arms. One of the best parts about this transformation is that the chair is already padded and it has plenty of cotton and dacron. So I don’t need to buy that stuff. A huge money saver!

I used a sawzall(reciprocating saw) to cut the chair apart. It only took four cuts. I cut out the piece of wood at the top of the chair between the wings.

And I cut right in front of the arm to remove the front legs. Oh….then I made two more cuts to take off the back legs. So six cuts all together. The hardest part of the whole deconstruction process was removing the decking fabric and four staples that held on the seat springs.

That’s the decking fabric and the spring that were the last thing holding the chair together. The deconstruction took a maximum of 20 minutes. No joke.

I had two long 3″ pieces of plywood left over from my closet cabinet that I cut down to 60″ each, because my bed is a queen and that’s the spaced I need between the wings. I used my handy dandy Craig pocket hole bit set to join the pieces of plywood to the wings. That Craig pocket hole bit set is the best and probably cheapest tool investment.

I fastened one piece at the top of the wings and one at the bottom and it’s surprisingly sturdy.

Tomorrow…

attach legs to bring the whole thing up to bed height.
jute web or maybe some thin luan to support the center back.
then on to upholstery….woo hoo!!!

I feel like a kid before Christmas…can’t wait to go to bed so it will be tomorrow faster.

xoxo, Mimz

September 15, 2015 / diy projects, paint projects

DIY wall pocket

I’ve needed an organizational solution in my kitchen for years. Since we bought the house in fact. This corner of my counter has been the landing spot for everything from mail, to tools that don’t quite make it to the garage, to school paperwork and everything else. I’ve been just leaning paperwork against the wall and generally making neat stacks of stuff for too long. This is the usual state of the things. When I clean up the kitchen daily, everything just ends up here. Most of it has a proper place, but the paperwork, mail, and calendar(which I like to have handy at all times) really never had a place to call home. For a while I had a little caddy type thing on the counter top and a coffee cup for pens, pencils, glasses, paint can openers, seam rippers, drill bits, paint brushes, rubber bands, etc., etc.(I know you know what I mean) but I really hate the clutter on my counter tops. That’s when I realized I could hang a wall pocket in this space. duh?!

Of course I went straight Home Goods to see what was available. Twice I left Home Goods empty handed! Unheard of right?! Nothing fit the bill. All I found were scroll-y wire and basket types. Blah.

While at the Hospice thrift store I found this…

It was less than $1, so my first thought was spray paint it white and be done. It sat in the stack of stuff on my counter for a few days and the more I looked at it the more I knew I wouldn’t be happy with it for long. So yesterday I decided to just make one. I had plywood left over from my closet cabinets so I used the plastic wall pocket as a template and made my own for free in a matter of a couple hours.

I traced the pieces and cut them out using my jigsaw and my chop saw. I simply joined them with wood glue and nails. My cuts were not exactly perfect but I knew it would be painted, so no matter.

The piece of resistance(as we like to say) of the project, which I think really makes it look professional is the iron on wood veneer I used on the ends to cover the cut end of the plywood. I had this leftover from my kitchen renovation. (available at Home Depot btw) I traced the outline onto the veneer and cut it out with kitchen scissors. easy!Just make sure that the wood grain is going in the same direction as the rest of the piece…not like I did and cut it with the grain horizontally(below). Oh well, again paint saved the day.

The only thing I didn’t have on hand was edge banding or wood filler, so I used caulk to fill gaps and seal the cut edges of the plywood. It works just fine in a pinch, and there was no way I was gonna stop in the middle of this short project to run to Home Depot.

The other tip I have for this project… is to use luan or some other 1/4″ plywood or hardboard for the bottom. Since I don’t have a table saw I couldn’t bevel the bottom edge of the box so the plywood is at a slight angle at the bottom and the thin bottom is more flexible and unnoticed. You can see a tiny gap in the corner of the picture above, due to the angle of the front and back plywood. Nothing a little caulk can’t handle.

Boom…there it is. I couldn’t be more thrilled with this little addition to my kitchen! It sounds ludicrous but this guy’s gonna change my life. It’s almost as good as when I made that cabinet for my garbage can.

This picture is real life…keys, coffee pot, and I-phone charging. I love it! Simple but oh so good.

If you want any clarification on any part of the post just comment. I know it’s kinda vague but my camera battery was dead when I started the project.

xoxo, Mimz

August 9, 2015 / diy projects

glass and brass closet door pulls

I received my hobby lobby brass and glass door pulls in the mail yesterday and immediately installed them. For months I’ve been using my foot to pull the doors open from the bottom. Not fun.

When I was about to click the order button I realized the permanent screw attached to the pull was too short to get through my 1.5″ door and the metal canopy. I boo-hooed for a few minutes until Beast reminded me I could use my new forstner bits(the ones I bought for the hinges on this post) to bore out a hole on the inside of the door so I could still use these pulls-duh! I expedited shipping. Super simple but you have make sure you don’t drill all the way through to the front of the door and end up with an enormous hole on the front of the freshly oil painted door.
The canopy’s make a huge impact in my opinion. If I didn’t have them I would have used a different pull all together. Something solid and much more substantial. These pulls were on clearance for only $2.49 so, combined with my free canopy’s this was an easy low cost investment.

These pulls were so economical I could change them on a whim, but for now I really love them.

It’s the small things y’all.

August 2, 2015 / diy projects, my house reno., paint projects

painted closet cabinet

closet cabinet painted I finally decided on a color and type of paint to use on my closet cabinets. I was debating between charcoal grey and some shade of dark blue or teal. Like this post. Charcoal grey won the race…the decision was based on a combo of a few different elements. I have a tendency to change things frequently and feel like the grey will be longer lasting since it’s a neutral color. Also, I still haven’t found the perfect fabric for my headboard so this grey will go with anything. Finally…this paint is inexpensive! I used two quarts of Rustoleum oil right off the shelf. I mixed a quart of black and a quart of almond and this is what I got for a mere $16. Can’t beat that with a stick. And I really love it! I still need to create the toe kick which I want to extend out farther than the doors slightly and will need to match the base board of the rest of the room. So…I’m waiting on floors for that.

But look at that shine!!!

Next up…door pulls. I had these round metal canopy’s in my garage for years. I think that’s what they are… the thing that goes against the ceiling when you install a chandelier. I almost threw them away so many times but knew they would be useful some day and now is the time for all good canopy’s to come to the aid of their country(typing class anyone?). I’m gonna use them in combination with these drawer pulls from hobby lobby.

I’m thinking of using some library lights like these above each of the three sections. Not completely sure though.

I feel like I want the walls to be a similar color to the cabinets only a tiny bit lighter and flat.

I’m delighted with how my closet cabinet is turning out. Not so delighted with how long it takes. But that’s life…so many projects, so little time.

So what do you think of high gloss paint? Love it or leave it?

P.S. If your going to use oil paint on anything please make sure your in a well ventilated area. Preferably outside. Oil paint is super stinky and toxic. I would not recommend using it inside at all! Also let your piece dry sufficiently before bringing inside so it has time to off gas.

mimzy & company