A New Life for Old Beads

I would like to share with you a new product that I am offering. They're earrings! We all know them, we all love them and I have extended the wastenot theme to them. The thought occured to me - when my daughter and I were making necklaces out of a set of disfunctional doorway beads - that there are probably enough beads in the world to avoid creating any new ones for at least a few hundred years. So, armed with some hand-me-down necklaces and thrift store finds, I embarked on the mission of creating jewelry from spare parts. I have found that older jewelry findings are typically tarnished and/or gold-plated. I'm not into either look, so I do start with new findings (aside from a wonderful silver chain I found at a thrift store). I am currently looking for a jewelry findings supplier that is based and manufactures in the U.S.A. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Here's the first batch of earrings ready to go to market.

Besides the earrings, you may also notice the attractive display, compiled of a picture frame I found at a thrift store and wood scraps. I removed the glass and backing from the picture frame and infilled within the frame using wood scraps. Wood scrap feet and some 'big box' hooks were all I needed to complete this simple little beauty.

I'm branding my earrings and other jewelry I make as christilou, affiliated with the Wastenot Workshop. I'm going to be selling this first batch of earrings at a friend's yoga studio in Carmel, New York. Thanks Amy! Here's your plug!

The YogaScape and Spa
http://www.theyogascape.com/

Mid-Century Night Table with a Twist

Recently, I started dwelling on the fact that our bedroom is not the relaxing, soothing place that I want it to be. In fact, it had become quite the opposite - a dumping ground for everything we didn't know what to do with - piles of unfolded laundry and plastic containers full of bedding and other miscellaneous items. The worst was part was that my books had no home next to my bed other than the dusty floor. Something had to be done! After doing a simple reorganizing of my closet, I was finally able to put away all the laundry. I cleared out the boxes and sold two disfunctional dressers and an oversized bed set on Craig's List. Sometimes you just have to start with a blank slate. I decided the first thing I needed to get the bedroom redo going was a proper night stand with a drawer and a shelf for my precious books.

As usual, I hit the thrift stores. I had in my mind that I wanted the room to have a mid-century flare, so I kept my eyes peeled for an old piece in need of some work. When searching for items like this, I specifically do not want a pristine piece of furniture - one, because of the price, and two, because I would never get over the guilt aquired from comprimising the integrity of an antique. The third store I went to turned up a fantastic result. One corner of the night stand was a little banged up, but I had an idea for that so I laid down my ten bucks and got out of there.

To deal with the banged-up corner, I added some wood trim and used a little wood filler. After a good sanding, I painted the entire thing a deep chocolate brown and sprayed the handle with silver paint. Now, this would have been fine. But these days, fine just ain't good enough. I wanted to add a little something extra. Knowing what the accent color of our room was going to be, I got out the orange spray paint.

Now what? I thought for a while. I really wanted to make this easy on myself and I knew I wanted circles of some sort - i.e. no hand-painting. Then it came to me that I could simply cut blue painter's tape into any shape I would like. So I cut out little circles free-hand, stuck them onto the drawer, and spray painted it orange. I had to put a plastic bag over the parts of the drawer that I didn't want to be orange.

I was able to peel off the circles without too much trouble. If you ever try this method, however, I recommend using a pin or needle to get each peel started. Don't use your fingernail as it can gouge the base paint.

 

Among the other projects I have planned for our bedroom are building my own platform bed and jazzing up a torn paper lantern - both projects to be featured in future blogs. Stay tuned!

Scrap Paper Valentine's Day Hearts

I know it's not Valentine's Day, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it anyway. Plus, if I don't post this now, I may never remember to do it. So, let's talk Valentine's Day in September, shall we? My four-year-old daughter and I had a grand time making these scrap paper Valentine's Day cards for her classmates this past year. It's a perfect project for young kids because no accuracy is required - just pure creativity (and plenty of glue, which we all know they love!). First, we took some scraps of pretty craft paper I had saved from other projects and cut them up into smaller pieces. Then, we filled up whole sheets of construction paper by gluing the scraps on. Finally, I made a heart template, traced it onto each piece of construction paper multiple times and cut them out. We wrote the 'to' and 'from' on the back and we were done. Easy and fun - not to mention unique and green!

Cra-table

You're gonna want a saw for this one. (Oh, and a compressor and nail gun would be nice, too.) If you're a novice with power tools heavier than a drill, this is the perfect project to learn on because it's simple and perfection is not required. Ask a buddy with some of these basic tools to give you a lesson. Who knows - this time next year, you might be so hooked on it that you own your own tools.

For this project, you will need some kind of crates or boxes that can be stacked on top of eachother. I had these wooden crates laying around, but resale shops and antique stores are both excellents sources. Additionally, you will need some decorative trim and some bun feet. I had the trim leftover from other projects. You can check out local building salvage store for reclaimed trim if you don't have any laying around. I purchased the bun feet from a big box store, but it would have been really cool to have found some feet off an old piece of furniture. I am constantly seeing old, worn couches out at the curb that likely have feet that could be reused.

The process is pretty simple. Screw the crates together with screws of the appropriate size. Cut and nail on the trim. Drill holes and screw in the feet. Lastly, paint. A simple coat of one color will do, as I've done here. If you want to step it up a notch, try painting on some hip, cool design or decoupage your favorite material onto key areas. (See the blog from November 8, 2009 for an example of applying material using decoupage.)

That's it - an affordable, eco-friendly side table (or two) with character finished in a weekend!

To go with the nightstand, which was for my daughter, I also put a new coat of paint on an old trunk and made a simple clothing rack with hooks. For the clothing rack, I used some scrap wood from previous projects - just a 2x4 and some trim. I had the hooks, but you can often find hooks at a place like the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Otherwise, your local hardware store will do. I like simple projects like these because you get a lot of impact for a small amount of time and money.

Campsite Crafting

Every year, we get together with a group of friends and take over a campground. Okay, we don't really take it over, but, there's a lot of us and we may seem a bit overwhelming at times. We've spawned so many children that we need a group site! This year, I thought the kids might enjoy doing a group nature craft. After more pondering than was necessary, I came up with the idea of making ornaments. We are all nature lovers and start to feel a little restless during the long, cold Wisconsin winters. So, what better to have on the ol' Christmas tree than an ornament that reminds us of sunnier, warmer times and what we have to look forward to (and be thankful for).

To start, I purchased some blank carboard  ornaments from the craft store. (Yes, they actually had Christmas stuff out in the middle of summer.) I would have preferred to slice up some thick branches or other found objects and attach our own strings, but time was becoming a major factor (probably due to the over-pondering). What can I say? I'm not a purist. Practicality must come first at times.

During the first few days of the camping trip, my daughter helped me collect little rocks and shells from the beach as well as sticks and nuts from the campsite. Then we got to the crafting. Kids and moms both enjoyed themselves. The dads pretty much stayed out of it. Here are some of the results of our camping creativity. I can't wait to see them on the tree at Christmas!

"Aw screw it, get the sledge hammer!"

There are times in life where it is best to listen to your father. This was the case recently as we began the remodel of our first floor bathroom. You see, Dad's more of the philosophy that we should totally gut rooms, get it down to the bare bones, and start fresh with new drywall and such. I am more of the school of thought that we should work with what's there, patch things, fill in the blanks, smooth things out, etc... as long as it looks beautiful, of course. So, it being my house, I have the right to trump any and all of Dad's opinions if I so wish. So I decided to have a few friends over to do some minimal demo to prep the bathroom for the construction stage. All went well. Thank you Colleen & Lucas!

Only problem was, the bathroom still looked so gross to me. And, more and more, I was shying away from the idea of just working with what was there and was leaning toward the whole fresh start approach. It could have been the fact that both of my parents were laying the convincing arguments on extra thick or it could have been my pending fear that the moldy areas would never really be clean even with bleach and paint. Or, maybe it was just that I finally came to my senses and realized that sometimes, you just gotta say, "aw screw it, get the sledge hammer." So that's exactly what my Dad, Jon, and I did one hot summer day in July. We strapped on the dust masks and safety glasses, picked up our hammers and wrecking bars, and embarked on the fourth major demolition project this house as seen since we graced it with our presence two years ago.

Here is the state of the bathroom now - bare bones, cleaned out, and ready for a fresh start - just the way Dad likes it. Next steps include moving the window, a new bath fan and lighting, insulation, and finishes. I have some more reuse ideas up my sleeve so stay tuned for what's to come. 

Breaking Down the Wall

Frugal Remodeler Episode 4

In 1926, when our house was built, a typical home was divided up very formally - a separate parlor for gathering, a separate room for dining, and of course, a very separate kitchen for women to cook in. Now-a-days, family life is much different and many prefer a more open plan, frequently creating a "great room" that includes the kitchen, the dining area, and the living space. I see the good in it. Families enjoy just being by eachother even if they are doing different things. We like that, too.

In order to get that in our house, we needed to create one large room out of our very separate dining and living rooms. We knew that breaking down the wall between them would give our family a larger and more flexible space. So, my friend Tamara and I decided to just go ahead and tear the thing down. I'm tellin' ya, this was not just any wall. It was more like a a wall within a wall. So really, it was two walls and one very large set of pocket doors. Here's the wall is in all of its glory. (And, oh yeah, there some nasty old panelling, too.)

We started by removing the wood trim and baseboards. Then we hit the plaster, using hammers and crowbars to chip it away and gathering it in garbage cans. We wore masks and safety glasses for this - very important. Here's Tamara sportin' the wear.

The last step, breaking down the wall's structure was a real pain. Apparently, this thing was not going down without a fight. I still can't figure out how they built it because the inner wood sleeve for the pocket doors was nailed to the studs from the inside. They must have built each side separately and then titled them up into place... but who knows. Then, there was the matter of removing the pocket doors, presumably installed in 1926 using hardware I did not recognize or understand.

In general, the whole wall was over-kill. It was completely over-built and made for a much bigger pile of wood than I would have preferred. Luckily, Madison has a great recycling program so we were able to recycle most of our construction debris. I still have the pocket doors complete with mystery hardware - destined for reuse.

We started this whole process at 8:30am and finished at 8:30pm - 12 hours minus a quick lunch and dinner. The shower afterwards was the best part of the whole day, with eating the dinner my mother made for us a very close second. Thanks Mom!

Above are the results of our labor. It's not perfect yet - obviously. There's a scar on the ceiling and walls where the monster divider used to be. And... there's some exposed ductwork, but hey - nothin' a few studs and some drywall won't fix. Here's the preliminary plan that Jon and I come up with. It's gonna be a little while since there are some other projects to tackle first. But, when it's done, I promise to share.