Scrap Wood/Coffee Sack Bench

Construction on the second floor is on hold for now. It's literally like a sauna up there now in the summer. But we can salvage a lot of scrap wood from that room and make new cool things out of it. Like that chest. I think that came out so awesome. 
I posted on FB that I started collecting vintage grain sacks. Some friends brought me the Basmati bags, the other friend got me this large coffee bag from Netherlands. She does a lot of traveling there buying old furniture for her store (www.mooblisahver.com). Thanks Piret!
So first we made a box using 2x4-s and 1x2-s from the construction room.

The coffee sack material is sturdy but very sheer and wimpy, I sewed a different fabric under it to make it sturdier by sewing a grid all across the material. 
I get foam from work, we pack heavy stuff there so foam is free. It was a pain to make the trim. It sheared like crazy. But in the end it looks pretty neat I think. If the cats start scratching that I will be very very mad.

Chicken Chair - not ready yet

I finally started reupholstering this giant chair I got for free. No this is not leather, if you are wondering. 
So we totally stripped it and cleaned it from millions of staples. Took the legs off

Then I was on a mission of finding a cool fabric for it. I found this natural, black printed chickens on it. It's closest what I had originally planned. 

Brian stripped the legs but surprise surprise, part of the leg structure is plastic! I wanted to have a natural unpainted look. Now we are a bit stuck. But will see. To be continued...

IKEA/Scrap Wood Serving Table

We recently bought cabinets from IKEA and as usual, checked out the "As is" area for some "garbage treasures". We found this storage drawer frame for $2.50.

I came home from work one day and Brian had made a top on it and it looks just so cool. We have a lot of free 2x1-s from the ceiling that we are currently tearing down and he salvaged that scrap wood for this awesome table top.

I think it looks so amazing, I can't wait to get the grill going!

Apple Tree or Just a Tree?

Every year we spend two weeks of the summer in Estonia. It's such a sweet treat to see my family and enjoy all the happy hugs, late nights, food, drinks, laughs..  But then again comes a time to leave and sadness breaks even the mountain of happiness in the beginning.
I promised my dearest friend to paint an apple tree on her wall. It could be any tree really  but it's an apple tree if you know it. I think it came out pretty cute. She liked it.

Backyard - progress and reflections

Is this yard ever going to be finished? Here is where we started.

1st day, 2007

Kitchen cabinets piled up, 2007, temporary tent

Awning not built yet

Tree removal and wall building

Using old pavers to build walls

2010 April started with a great makeover. Removed old brick wall and bought pavers to build a new larger half circle for plants.

Both half circles built, half way done with pavers. Gravel will go in between.

Almost ready, now we are just waiting for the plants to grow lush and green.

Wooden Tile Wall

We used to have a mirror on that wall but decided to move it to a better location. I have heard that it's not recommended to have a mirror facing the door. Maybe it's just in my head but it really seemed like it reflected the energy back outside.

So we painted and framed the wall and decided to make wooden tiles. I have always been mesmerized by the rings of a cut wood.
We bought two 4x4 pine posts from the Home Depot and started chopping them into 7-8 mm tiles.

Using a chop saw, Brian made about 500 of them the house smelled so good! Then we sanded the edges. Any thinner tiles started to warp. 

I used a hot glue gun to put the tiles in place. they didn't always match up but somehow the patterns always stayed straight. It was a miracle .

The wooden tile gives the room such warmth now. I's been up for three days but I don't know how the raw wood will behave in the long run (expanding etc.) So it will be our little experiment.
UPDATE 3/3/10! Some tiles fell off, Elmers Glue is better. Thin ones warp a bit but nothing major.

Some Older Makeovers

We used to have a tiny apt in Fort Lee (love that town!) We needed a tiny couch and we found this yellow one and turned it into a cow. I know I know, cow print is long overdue,.. still :)

Before

After

This was a fun little side cabinet.

Before

After

Scrap Wood Chest

My work room upstairs is finally done. I needed a place to put all my millions of fabrics and swatches. We figured this weird corner could hold a giant chest and all my materials would be in one place. From demolition in the room next to it, we had piles of beat-up 1x3's. So we decided to build a chest, using only scrap materials from the ceiling.

It looked like a pig crate at first :)

After we managed to make it durable enough, stained it ebony and added a lion head knocker for easy pulling. Looks pretty nice ay? Cost $0.00 plus the wheels and hinges of course.

Our baby Cash likes it too

Tray Table Makeover

This table had such a great potential to be an ottoman instead. I re-stained the legs, cut a cushion out of foam and covered with heavy plaid upholstery fabric. Sold to a friend.

Before

After

Tiny Cork Table

This was another Thrift Store "beauty" $1.00. I didn't even have a good idea for it at first but after giving it a light sanding and painting it white, I discovered that I have some cork paper I bought from Europe last time we went. I used Mod Podge to glue it on top and it turned out pretty cute.

Before

After

Bathroom Makeover

This is was our bathroom before

Gotta make a plan first! Objective -Get rid of the bathtub, install glass mosaic tiles in the shower area and glass block to separate the shower area.

We found all kinds of weird stuff inside the walls, like hidden mirrors

Bathroom - totally gutted. Brian removed the tub alone! The floor was rotted, wood needed to be replaced in some spots.

We made two little ledges into the wall for the shampoos and stuff. I did the tile again but realized that this time it was much more difficult to get it straight. Got the tile again from www.cooltiles.com. I looked at everything on clearance and found a nice yellowish color for $5.00 per sheet.

Thanks to our friends who helped at the end to get it done. Mirror - Thrift Store $2.00, Vanity cabinet - Thrift Store $5.00 Brian refinished it, sanded, stained, clear coated and waxed.

Storage was an issue, so in between two beams we left this opening for the rolled up towels.

And where that hidden mirror was, we also left a tiled hole for a candle? Or a perfume..

It was hard to find a fexible shower head that mounts on the wall.

Just the Frame

$10.00 at the Thrift Store! It actually had padded covers on it so I spotted it on the second time when I saw the back of the chair. I removed the heavy padding at the store and "Hello awsome frame!" I left the padding at the store and took just the frame. I don't think anyone noticed.

The bottom was very rusted. I used wire brush but it still remained quite coarse when closely examined. Then some spray paint and I used this cool printed fabric for padding. I wanted to make it narrow so the frame could be visible all over. I figured, when somebody wants to sit on it, they can just put a pillow under?

Before

After