Sore Bum: Stool pillow top

A log stool is just a log if you don't spruce it up!

My log stool was hard and not that exciting until I added a pillow top to it!

Materials:

Stiff Fabric

Foam or Round Pillow

Long screw

Washer the bigger the better

Big Button

Strong glue

First determine how big to make the pillow. I made mine 1" wider than my stump so that it had some overhang. I had some old foam lying around so I cut that to the right size. I wanted the seat to be soft, so I cut an additional circle slightly smaller to go on top for extra padding. If you are using a pillow skip this step.

Making a pillow, I quickly learned, is a very simple task and does not require a pattern. Measure the diameter of the foam and add 3" total to the measurement to account for the 1.5" seam on each side. Fold your fabric in half and cut a circle out of your fabric with the new diameter. To cut a circle I tied a pencil on one end of a string and cut the sting to be the correct length. Hold the sting in the middle and draw a circle with the pencil all the way around keeping the sting tight. It was not 100% accurate for me, but it should be close enough that it will correct when you sew it together. 

Next measure the distance around the outside of the newly cut circles Add a few inches for 'safety' this will be the side panel. Measure the height of your foam/pillow. Mine was 6" tall but I wanted it to squish down inside my pillow case so I only cut 6" total (3" + 1.5" seams on each side). 

Fold the side panel stip in half, and in half again. Pin the corners (3 pins and 4 even sections). Next fold the one circle in half and pin the edges (do this both ways so there are 4 pins dividing the quarters). Match the pins so that the side panel stip is evenly dispursed around the circle. Make sure you do this right side to right side (so when you flip it inside out you see the good side of the fabric). 

Sew the circle on to the side panel strip. Do it again for the other circle but only sew 3/4 of the way around. 

Put the pillow or foam pieces inside and hand sew the opening closed. 

Take a long screw. Mine was 5" but that might have been over kill. Place the washer on the screw. This gives extra security so the fabric doesn't rip and pop over top of the screw. Place the pillow on the stump just how you want it. Find the middle of the pillow (I eyeballed it) and screw down through the pillow into the stup. Go down almost as far as you can so that when you sit down the screw doesn't poke you. Finally glue a big button on top of the screw to hide it.

Finished!

Rustic Cabin: Stool and side table

I don't know if its because I'm Canadian, British Columbian, or if its just me, but there is something fantastic about that deep in the woods Cabin. The kind where the owner says, my grandfather built this cabin and everything in it from the trees on the property. Then you cook the fish you just caught for dinner over a wood burning stove. That to me, sounds delightful!

I have a friend with a cabin like the one I am describing. Its near Egan Lake in BC, which is 1.5 hours to the closest town of under 2000 residents. Its really in the boonies! My friends dad built the entire house, and all the furniture inside. Its probably close to 500 sqft which is very squishy in -15 C  with 8 other people inside...But I love it so much! Unfortunately I can't find a good picture of that cabin, so I will have to update this post next time I go up there.

That being said I made some wooden stools that are very log cabin-esk.

Materials:

Large log stump

Skinny log stump

Sand paper (palm sander if available)

Large circular saw or chainsaw

spray varnish

3 Dowel Screw

What I did:

I started with two big log stumps and two skinny stumps from the pile in our back yard. You can get your from anywhere, I often see free fire wood on craigslist.

Brush off the sides with a coarse broom to get rid of any groseness and any loose bark. Then sand the top and bottom to remove any slime and to level out the surface.

Varnish all sides. I used spray varnish because it was much quicker and easier to get in the cracks. Trust me on this one, when I discovered varnish came in a spray can...my life was very simplified!

Next cut three even pieces from the smaller log. Keep in mind that a chair is about 19" tall. I wanted mine 21" for a bit of a higher stool so we cut the feet to be 3" tall.

Clean up and varnish the feet the same way as the main stool. Use the dowel screws to screw the legs into the side you choose to be on the bottom. Dowel screws are also revolutionary. If you have never used them before. Grip the middle with a pliers while you twist it into the foot. Only twist 1/3 of the way into the foot. Then flip it over and twist it into the stump using the foot as your handle. Once the stump side is tight the foot side will tighten up as well.

If you want a side table or a hard top stool thats it your done!

Pillow Tutorial coming soon...

Stain Glass Windows: Its Like Home Church

This project is probably one of my favourites. It was such a rare opportunity, that I don't think anyone else could have such a thing. I was in the right place at the right time.

My church was doing some renovations, and my Dad and Uncle were in charge. Our church sanctuary (where the Sunday morning service is held) had stain glass windows on both of the side walls. Since, due to previous renovations, one of the side walls was actually an interior wall, the windows were going to be taken out to be replaced with a simple flat wall.  As soon as I heard this, I asked my Uncle if I could have the windows. Thankfully our church had no use for them, so one day after the Sunday service my Dad loaded two windows in the back of his truck to take home.

They were a lot different than what I expected when I received them. I was expecting a window with a small simple, but as you can see in the picture, that's not what I got. I had to change my plans a bit, but I think it worked out in the end.

Photo by David Chung

What I did:

Photo by David Chung

I started by sanding down all the wood. There were layers upon layers of hideous 80's church color oil based paint, so it took a long time. I then tapped up the windows with painters tape so that I didn't get paint on the glass when I painted.

I was hoping for a beachy/vintage look so I wanted a lot of the wood grain to be showing. To do this I added some leftover white paint to my clear varnish. I painted the whole thing with the faintly white varnish. I liked the effect on the wood after the first coat, and didn't want it any whiter, so I used a different un-tinted can of varnish for the second coat. After the varnish dried for two days I took off the tape, and scraped all the dirt and old paint splatters off the windows.

Photo By David Chung

There was not a lot of steps, but the sanding took forever, so it felt a lot harder than it was. I also later found out that the windows are fake stain glass and not real. It looks the same to me in the end.

Window Shutters: When your blinds just wont cut it

I hate blinds. I especially hated them when I was a kid. In my parents old house we had Venetian Blinds, which are the skinny metal blinds that were probably popular in the 80s and 90s. I think I hated them for a number of reasons.

Photo by David Chung

First of all, as a teen, the cool thing to do is to sleep till noon in the summer and on weekends. Blinds do not keep enough light out of the room to sleep until noon. You need to have curtains if you want to keep a substantial amount of light out. I'm sure there is a logical reason, that I have yet to discover, why a person would want both curtains and blinds. In my mind they serve the same purpose, why have both. Since my parents made the choice for blinds, which are not effective at light blocking, I didn't like them.

Another reason I don't like blinds, is because of the amount of dust they collect, and the difficulty to clean them. When I was a child I cleaned my blinds when I would get in trouble. I was a bit odd that way. I didn't clean them as a punishment, I cleaned them out of guilt. I would get in trouble from doing something that I knew was wrong, and I would just feel so guilty, that I would go to my room and clean my blinds(and other parts of my room). Now, looking back, I wonder if I was subconsciously trying to get back into my parents good books. As a result, I don't like blinds now, probably because I associate them with getting in trouble.

Photo By David Chung

Finally, I don't like blinds, because they are hard to use. I moved to a new place when I was about 16. I was not a weak 16 year old girl, I was unusually tough. However, the first time I tried to open my blinds, I actually couldn't do it. I had to have my brother come into my room, and pull on the cord as hard has he could,  just to open my blinds. I don't know if they were stuck, or the inside parts were rusty, but never the less, I could not open them. There are many other frustrating time I have had with broken blinds, such as when you pull on the sting only one side goes up(which is why I cant open the blinds in my room right now), or you  try to lower them and everything is too tangled to figure out what happened, and other annoying things.

As a result, when I moved into another room in my parents house, I immediately took down the blinds, and started to look for a solution  One day shortly after, my Mom came home with four random shutters from an antique store.  We decided they would be my new window coverings. To be honest most of this was not completely my project, but my dad's, because I cant use the table saw.

Photo by David Chung

What I did:

I started by giving the shutters a bit of character. I sanded the corners and some of the slats to give it a bit more of a worn look. I painted the blue one because it was red originally, but I didn't need to paint the others because they matched the colours of my room.

My dad had to build a frame around my window to hang the shutters on, because the window didn't have a frame to start with. I painted and sanded parts of that as well so that it matched the shutters.

We put small hinges between the two shutters so that they would fold in half. Then, we put larger hinges onto the shutters and the frame, so that the shutters would open off the window. 

The project was not particularly complicated in the end, it just took some time trying to figure out which direction to put the hinges on, so that it would open properly. 

Photo by David Chung

Medicine Cabinet: Long over due

I went to this garage sale because it was a fundraiser for some friends going to Seeds of Hope, an orphanage in Zambia. Since I had been to Seeds of Hope with them before, I had a soft spot for the ministry, and was defiantly going to check out their garage sale. Also, I just love garage sales.

It was a huge garage sale that took up our entire church gym. Being that I lived with my parents at the time, and was in university, not only did I not have money to spend, but I didn't have a lot of space to put things. I saw this beat-up medicine cabinet that was missing a mirror, and knew it had potential. I bought it for a very discounted price of $1. I was busy in school at the time, and didn't have a specific plan for it so I put it in my parents garage for the time being. 

Two years later my Mom asked if she could throw it out because I wasn't using it. I obviously protested! I was going to fix it up immediately! Again a year or two later when we were having a garage sale at my parents house she asked if we could sell it. Though I successfully convinced her that I would fix it up, I knew I needed to get on it soon. 

Six months later, it was summer, I was done school, and I was ready to finish up (or in this case start) some of my old projects. 

What I did:

Since the Medicine Cabinet was small I decided to sand the whole thing by hand. It was tough, but really only took about hour. I made sure to sand some areas alot more than others so that it would have the worn look. Around the handle and on the corners mostly. 

There was a lot of nice wood grain on the sides so I didn't want to paint over that. Again I wanted it to match my other furniture in a way, but I didn't want it to blend in. I did a nice dark varnish as the base coat and then added a bit of white paint in the second coat, as I had done before, to give it a beach look.

I found a spare door nob and put that on in place of the broken one that was there.  Since I had no intention of putting it in my bathroom and using it for medicine I didn't feel a need to put a new mirror on the front. I wanted to make it a chalk board. I love being organized and writing lists, so chalk boards appeal to me. 

The company I work for owns the building, and one of out tenants is a Tile company. I went over there with a plastic container and asked if they had some fine tile grout left over. They did and filled up my container for free! To make the chalk paint I mixed 2 TBS fine tile grout with one cup of paint. I painted onto the empty space and let it dry.

I am finished. I have it mounted on my wall, and am very pleased with the finished product.

A breifcase: From Trash to...Cosmetic Organizer

I have always loved vintage briefcases and suitcases. I remember when I was a little girl, and would go antique shopping with my mom, I would always want her to buy either sewing dressforms, or suitcases. I still threaten to buy her dressforms every year for her birthday and Christmas, but since I have my own place now, I want all the suitcases to myself.

I was leaving my parents house one day and just two houses down I spotted my prize. It was garbage day and there were two briefcases sitting on the curb. My day was complete!

One was brown and only need a 5 min polish to get rid of some dirt. The other was a hard black case that was nice, but now really what I was wanting. So I went on Pinterest to get a few ideas; honestly I didn't find much I liked. Since I don't actually need a briefcase for normal use, I decided I was going to use it as a cosmetic organizer. So I decided to start, and hoped for the best.

What I did:

Photo Credit: David Chung

I taped the metal frame so that I could paint freely. I started with a primer because the case was plastic, and I didn't want the paint to chip off. I then found some blue paint, and mixed a few until I came up with a blue that I liked. I did two coats of the blue to be sure it covered really well. I waited probably a week before I went to the next step, because I want to be sure the paint had time to harden.

I measured out where the green lines should be, and taped the space off for perfect lines. I again mixed a few colors to make sure the green matched the blue. Again, I painted two coats of the green, just because it didn't fully cover the first time. Finally, i took the tape off and was very pleased with the result.

Once I finished the outside I started on the inside. I pulled out all of the insert parts so it was just an empty shell. This was harder than it sounds, because this briefcase was made tough, and the seams were no exception! I cut up an old cereal box and shaped it into small boxes, to use separate the sections.

It is big enough inside to hold almost everything except my hair dryer. Now I can get ready in my bedroom, and not worry about my room mates showering when I want to put on my make-up. Better yet, it is decorative at the same time!

Photo Credit: David Chung

Dresser: From Boy to Adult

I was in need of a new dresser, because my new place didn't have enough drawers for me to store my clothes. My boyfriend was only using one of the dressers from his bedroom suite, so he offered me the other one.

I already knew that I was only going to be living in my current house for 4.5 months, so the dresser was not a permanent thing. Regardless I could NOT put this dresser in my room. With the combination of sealed pine, and forest green stain, it looked like it belonged to a 7 year old boy. I'm sure it was appropriate when he got it, but it was going to be the downfall of my perfect room (which still, two months later, has only two small pictures hanging on the wall). On top of that I was hoping we were getting married this summer, so I knew this dresser was going to end up in our house eventually.

Since it was still technically Mark's dresser I had to get his approval. I presented him with a few inspirational pictures I found on the internet . To no surprise he picked the one with nautical charts. So I went to work!

What I did:

I took off the nobs and started sanding. I sanded everything down so there was no varnish and almost no forest green stain left. I had to sand the cracks by hand, but I still never fully got all the green out. It was ok to leave a little green in the cracks, because I was planning on having a darker stain on it.

I stained everything, except the front of the drawers, in a medium/dark brown stain. It was my first time staining so I got it everywhere-I have no tips to avoid this. I'm a messy person. The stain dried quickly and I was able to seal it the next day. I added a very small amount of spare white paint to the varnish.* This allowed me to lighten it up and to achieve a greyish vintageish look that I was wanting. I have done this to most of my other projects so it all matches. I applied a second completely clear coat of varnish for extra protection. I was able to move it to my room the next day, but didn't put anything on top for at least a week to give time for the varnish to harden.

Photo Credit: David Chung

I went to my local marine store and bought a chart. I picked the one of Quadra Island because it had significance to Mark. I pulled out the drawers and measured how the chart would fit on them. I was delighted to find that the chart was the perfect size! I cut out the chart so it was slightly bigger than the surface of the drawer. I then put a glue and water mixture on the surface of the drawers and placed the chart on top. I folded over the corners onto the back, and sealed everything with more glue and water.** I gave 3-4 coats of glue depending on how thick each coat was to fully seal the chart.

Finally I spray painted the nobs with a metallic bronze, so that they would look brassy and not woody.
Here is the final product!

Photo Credit: David Chung

*Water base with water base
**Tip: The chart bubbled a little bit after it began to dry (right side of middle drawer). This can be prevented by sealing the chart with glue and water before placing it on the drawer.