Tag Archives: studio remodel

Vintage Signage: Aging Boards

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So… I wasn’t meaning to take a week off, but we had family in town for a visit and it was lovely to unplug and spend time catching up.  I’ll have more on what we were up to with the October Re-cap next week.  But for now, I’m feeling rested and inspired and ready to handle the 23 comments that got trapped in my spam folder.  For some reason, this photo is a HUGE spam attractor.

I’ve been flooded with spam comments attached to it and I’m not sure why.  So glad I’ve used it on my blog twice now.

Anyhow… after all that beautifully sanded and stained wood that I shared with you earlier, I have to show you what I’ve been up to lately.  Let’s just say it’s a little more… ahem… rustic.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been wanting to create a vintage sign for Tyson’s office.  He has this large wall above his computer and we both agree that it would be really cool to have an old, hand-painted sign that looked like his company had it hanging outside it’s establishment a hundred years ago.

Attempt #1: Our first thought was to use salvaged wood.  It comes already aged and you’re doing something good for the environment.  But as I walked around our local salvage yard, I was having a hard time finding exactly what I had envisioned and something that wouldn’t weigh a thousand pounds.

So through the magic of Pinterest I started keeping my eyes out for how to age your own boards.

Attempt #2: I found one tutorial that the gal beat on some boards with chains, a hammer and screwdrivers.  Once it was “textured” she then soaked a steel wood pad in balsamic vinegar and “stained” the boards with that.  I gave it a try and my results were not as wonderful as what I had pinned.  My “texture” looked a little too planned.  Also, the steel wool had something on it that turned the board blue.  And lastly, the whole thing smelled funny. (duh!)

Attempt #3: And just as I was starting to wonder if I would be able to tackle this project, Beth at “Sunshine on the Inside” created this beautiful lemonade stand for her kiddos and she gave a great tutorial on how she aged the boards herself.  YAY!!  You may remember that I featured Beth’s Houndstooth Pouf.  She is a very talented lady!

So for about $30 in supplies I picked up half inch plywood boards from Home Depot and the stains that Beth had recommended: Dark Walnut and Ebony.

This project was perfect for a staining novice like myself.  Because I was wanting a rustic look, once the boards were cut to size, I skipped any sanding and went straight for applying the stain.  I started with the ebony and my first attempt was WAY too heavy. Yikes!

I flipped the board over and started again.  With a minimal amount of the ebony stain, I went over the entire boards, wiping off the excess as I went.  I quickly got the hang of it and love the results.

It was really fun to take my time and keep applying stain until I got the vintage tone I was wanting.  I definitely want to try working with stain more in the future.

Then it was time for the dark walnut stain.

This second application really brought out the details in the boards.

Beth had also recommended staining the boards before assembling the project so the tint gets on the edges and in between the boards which was a great tip!  Once everything was complete, Tyson was able to hammer the boards together and get the sign ready to be hung.

He added three boards across the back to hold them together and give the sign support.

We’re still kicking around ideas on how we want to hang this on the wall once it’s finished.  But for now, it’s put together and ready for the design work.

Now comes the hard part… not screwing up these gorgeous boards.  I’ve got to tell you, I’m a little nervous.  I’m hand painting the lettering and this can be amazing or really, REALLY bad.  I’ve got my sketch and I’m ready… fingers crossed.

Have you worked with stain before and achieved great results?  Have you had any Pinterest projects that didn’t go according to plan?  Did you throw in the towel or did you find a plan B?

And I’d like to say a huge “thank you” once again to Beth for sharing her project.  She was a life saver and gave me the confidence to try something new.  Check out “Sunshine on the Inside” here.

Studio Rug Edition

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For months we’ve been kicking around ideas for an area rug in Tyson’s Studio.  The man really wanted a vintage style oriental rug (something a little rock and roll), but we still needed it to be durable and we were hoping it wouldn’t break the bank.

A friend had recommended FLOR and so we started there.  We picked out a couple of contenders and then sent away for samples.

There were a lot of good ones, but we thought we’d ultimately wait until we got the bookcase built and painted before we made any final decisions.

Now that the bookcase is in, we revisited the topic.  A few months have passed and some new options have become available so we ordered more samples.

Tyson really liked several of these but we still weren’t sure.

Luckily, FLOR’s website has a rug generator so that you can mix and match patterns and come up with a design you like.  This proved to be a huge benefit for Tyson.  A designer being able to play around with the cut and arrangement before making a purchase… score one for FLOR!

The site also allows you to upload a photo of the space the rug is going into so you can see your options even better.

Here are a couple of ideas for your amusement:

Choice 1 – Has some fun Union Jack (yay!) and a lot of grey (not so yay!)

I should mention for those that have been following this process from the beginning… we haven’t added doors to the base cabinet yet.  Tyson got a little creative with Photoshop so that we could get a good idea of the final look.

Choice 2 – A lot more patchworky (it’s a word) and Tyson really liked the pop of the center square.

Choice 3 – A little more oriental rug pattern mixed with the Union Jack.  Still too grey.

Tyson did about 15 comps so in the interest of time I’ll jump to:

The Crazy Choice – We went from Crazy AMAZING to Crazy NO!

The Final Choice – It has a little bit of everything and picks up the colors we’ve used throughout the studio… blue, green, gold and black.  Subtle, but still fun.

With our options locked in, Tyson sent away for the rugs.  We had decided to do rugs for both the lounge and office areas of the studio.  Tyson picked out similar/complimenting designs for both.

It felt like Christmas when they arrived!

For those (like us) who haven’t used FLOR, it was SUPER easy!

We laid out the squares using the design Tyson had created.

Once we got the carpet tiles set out, we were then able to start playing a bit more with the design.  We realized that the rug in the office was too large for the space, so we peeled off a row.

The most challenging part of the process was working with our “helpers” who wanted to test drive the FLOR before we got everything laid out.

Some of the squares, even though they come from the same overall design, have more pattern on them than others.  We mixed and matched our squares to get them the way we wanted them and then we used the FLOR tabs to stick them all together.

The completed look is exactly what Tyson had imagined for the space.

The pups like it too.

So that’s pretty much it for the studio right now.  We still have a few things left to do… like add the cabinet doors and a booth for meeting with clients on the opposite wall from the bookcase.

However, it’s time to move along to some other items.  I have a summer project on deck as well as a few other stories to share.

But before I do, I thought it’d be fun to share one last before:

And after:

Thanks for following along through the process.  I still can’t get over how much this space has transformed!

It should be noted that we were in no way compensated by FLOR.  We just loved the flexibility of their system for this project and wanted to share the experience with you.

Project Notes: Secret Storage

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Well, I’m back from itch-fest 2012 and so excited to share our latest update…

I’m always captivated watching a movie where someone sneaks into a high security library or office, searching for important documents that are being stored in some sort of hidden compartment.  Things aren’t always what they seem and I love it!  Once, I had the privilege to visit a friend of a friend’s beach house and when you slid out a particular book, a secret door opened taking you down to a hidden wine cellar. I seriously about died!!

So guess who has some secret storage in their new bookcase?  Shhhh… don’t tell anyone… that’s where we are storing our secret documents AND miiiillllllions. (Okay… that’s a lie… please don’t break into our home!)

The original cut-out in the wall is really deep so that it can hold a large screen TV. Remember back in the day when you needed a big space to hold a behemoth TV with all it’s tubes and casing?  They required such a huge space.  But now we’ll be using the area for a flat screen computer monitor… we don’t even have to store a monster hard-drive. We have a ton of room just begging to become a hidden compartment.  Yay!

The plan was to put a shelf in for storage and have space for speakers and whatever else we might need to store in the studio, but don’t need to gain access to often.  Last week, we got the shelf installed and were ready to create a screen to hide the area.

Originally we were thinking about putting in a door, but decided a fabric screen would work better for the speakers.  The screen will go just in front of the wood frame here:

I picked up two tension rods and a yard of black, opaque, polyester fabric to create the screen.

I measured the opening 34″ wide (edge to edge) and determined I would want to cut the fabric 35″ across allowing for a .5″ hem on each side.

I then measured the length which is 29.5″ tall.  I have a little flexibility in the height since I’ll need to leave a gap at the bottom for cords to connect between the power outlet, speakers and computer.

I cut the fabric 32.5″ long so that there is a 1.5″ of extra fabric to fold over on each end, creating a pocket for the tension rod to slide into.  To figure out that magic number, I wrapped a tape measure around the rod to measure how much fabric I would need with a .25″ seam; much like you would when measuring and cutting fabric for piping.

Once both pockets were stitched, I inserted the tension rod and adjusted them to the width we needed.

Then my Hot Assistant climbed onto the book case to finish installing everything.

Thank you, Hot Assistant.

With the screen in place, the space looks like this.  Ta-da!

Oooohhh…. aaaahhhh…. it’s a black screen.  Okay… this may be the most anticlimactic reveal ever.  But that’s exactly the point!  You’re not suppose to see it there.

One rod hangs at the top and the other is at the bottom.  When we need to gain access to the storage area, the bottom rod can easily be moved to the top, folding the fabric in half. Of course, I could’ve taken a photo to demonstrate that, but I clearly needed to make this a little challenging for anyone every needing to break-in to the secret storage.

And once everything is in place, you definitely don’t see anything behind the monitor. The fact that the whole built-in is black helps too.

I’m thrilled to be in the home stretch of this project and have one last item to share before I give it a rest.  It wasn’t my intention to share SO much about the studio when I started this blog, but for better or worse, it’s helped keep me focused on one project at a time.  And the last project is a doozy. (Who say’s doozy?!)

Painting 101

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In the midst of my family news that I shared with you here, that same week I was also getting an education on Paint.

The short story is that through a series of events and several trips to hardware stores around the Portland area, I discovered that I got some bad advice on the paint that we used on Tyson’s office bookcase.

Remember this 12 ft. wide, 7 ft. tall guy that I just finished painting?

Yeah… it started to chip as we were moving things on it.  And I wanted to cry.  Seriously… there was an actual moment when I was standing in an aisle between paint rollers and tarps, on the phone with Tyson trying to not burst into tears after dealing with a rude sales associate who told me no matter what I did (priming, sanding, oil base, sealant), they would ALL chip.  It wasn’t very encouraging.  Especially since this was the same store I had received the original paint recommendation from.

But I’m stubborn.

So I went home, took a deep breath and did what I should’ve done from the beginning… read and read about paint.

There is so much great information online, but it can definitely become overload.  I quickly realized I wanted to hear from individuals with real life experience; who have used products that have held up and they were satisfied with the results.  So I started digging through my favorite blogs.

My criteria was simple: I needed a highly durable paint with an ultra smooth finish.  After much discussion, Tyson and I had decided that we would install a melamine counter top and paint it black to match the rest of the bookcase. Durability was going to be key.

Surprisingly, not everyone includes what they use for their projects on their blogs.  Some had used the Glidden paint that was originally recommended to me.  This is great for walls, but didn’t have the durability we were needing.  Young House Love said that they used Benjamin Moore Advance Paint for their desk and kitchen with amazing results.  I started there.

After a few more trips around town, I found Pacific Paint in Tigard which carries the Benjamin Moore paint.  They were a fantastic resource and I learned even more from them.

1. The right primer is important.  The primer I mentioned here is a great stain blocker, but since I wasn’t worried about the wood underneath (we were working with white melamine) the guys recommended a primer that would lay down smooth.  This Pratt & Lambert primer was truly flawless.  Easy to work with and awesome coverage.

2. High durability comes with a price. The paint and primer I used runs about $15 to $20 more per gallon than other brands like Behr and Glidden.  However, it is so worth it when you save on applying numerous coats and repainting/touching up chipped paint.

3. It’s as easy as 1 – 2 – 3.

Step 1: Prime.  Wait 4 hours.  Lightly Sand (220 Grit).

Step 2: Paint.  Wait 16 hours. (Yes, 16 hours.  It takes that long to fully dry and self-level.) Again, Lightly Sand (220 Grit).

Sorry, no in-between photos.

Step 3: Paint Final Coat.

That’s it!!

Being patient was the hardest part.  That and not over brushing.

4. Don’t Over Brush.  The guys had warned me to apply the paint and then avoid going back over the paint to smooth out any paint strokes.  The paint needs to be able to do it’s thing and self-level.  You mess it up by going back over it.  (I might know a little about that first hand, but luckily it was minimal.)

The results were EXACTLY what we were looking for.

5. Call in the experts.  I love Pacific Paint and now consider them my “Go-To” guys. When I arrived in the store, they listened to what my project needs were and directed me to products that would help me successfully accomplish it.  Before I left the store, they made sure I knew what I was doing and how to apply the paint to get the best results.  I know that if I have any questions on projects in the future, I can call on them and get reliable advice.  If you are planning on doing a lot of DIY projects, it’s so worth finding knowledgeable people who can really help you get the results you want.

 

I can’t even tell you how happy and relieved I am with the new paint.  The paint label said to wait about 5 days from final coat for it to fully cure.  We waited about a week before we started really using the counter and climbing on it.  Told you it HAD TO be durable.  More on that to come.  And it’s all holding up beautifully!  Not a single scratch…  Yay!!

PS. Pacific Paint and the paint brands mentioned above have no idea that I’m singing their praises.  There was no compensation involved… just wanted to share my huge appreciation!