No-Sew Roman Shade

I'm BAAAACKK!  And with a no-sew Roman Shade, no less!  Ok, so it's not my finest DIY, but, it's functional and easy to do.  And it was FREE!  I followed a couple of different tutorials out there to get 'er done.

Dramasaur's blinds were a mess.  Broken ends, and one side did not go up.  I took them down, and dismantled them according to some of the suggestions I found online.  I do not have a photo.  I was IN IT.

I simply used a navy blue blackout panel I'd bought at Target many, many moons ago.  The thing had been moved with our linen closet to three different houses, so, it was past time to use it!

I measured the width of the slats, and folded my panel accordingly, using Heat-n-Bond to secure it.

I decided how many pleats I wanted the blind to have (5), and divided my panel, subtracting 2 inches for the width of each slat.  My slats ended up being 9 1/4 inches apart, with the very top of the shade 10 inches from the first slat.  Confused much?

So, I glued the slats down with craft glue meant for fabric and plastic.  I piled everything heavy I could find on each one as I went, making sure the glue was dried tightly. 

Then I just hung the blind/shade back where it came from and, VOILA!

Sorry again for crappy photos.  I promise, I'll be investing in a decent camera come tax time!  Of course, shooting a window in the intense summer afternoon sun is never an easy thing.

Looking back, I wish I had measured according to the window, rather than the existing blind, to eliminate that gap between the wall and the blind.  But it does the job.  Almost too well!  My son never wants to get up now, as he thinks it's still night time!

Grandma's Cedar Chest

Hey there!  I'm finally taking some time to catch things up around here, after being off work for almost a month (that's a whole 'nother post).  I was able to finish up a slew of projects that had been languishing in my garage and giving The Man a twitch.

First up, my grandmother's blonde MCM cedar chest.  Now, this chest was given to me back when I was a teenager, to serve as a hope chest.  Which it did, for a number of years.  I remember sitting and embroidering pillowcases and tea towels with my great grandmother, then carefully storing them in my chest.  I picked up new and useful things at yard sales and tucked them away in my chest.

The chest and it's contents moved many times with me.  When I graduated high school, the chest helped me furnish and stock an otherwise empty apartment in Santa Barbara.  It served as extra seating and a place to throw my blankets for years.

The poor thing kicked around several houses since I got married, never really fitting in, never living up to it's potential as a pretty, useful, heirloom-quality chest.

Fast forward to, oh, about a year ago.  I finally began sanding down and messing around with paint.  I knew I wanted the play of dark and light on this piece, because, well, I just did!

I removed the lid and drawer, sanded down the veneer on the body and lid, and then, it sat.  And sat.  And my husband's eye twitched and twitched every time he cleaned out the garage.  I mean, this wouldn't make your eye twitch, would it?

Pint-sized elbow model not included!

Fast forward again to August.  I had the twitchy man help me drag this thing (it's HEAVY!) into the back yard so I could make something gorgeous out of it.  I had swiped some paint from Dad's stash (thanks Dad!) and mixed up a DIY chalk paint for this beast.

Imagine four coats of creamy white in various stages of dry all over this thing.  Oh, and imagine the drawer with stormy blue sides to play off that creamy drawer front.  Out in the yard.  YES!

Here she is, all purtied up.  I used my custom mix of Dark Walnut, Golden Oak and Ebony stains by Minwax on the lid before I reattached it.  I love how the dark and light work together on this piece.

Now we finally have a good place to store our knock-out blankies in the living room!

Not a great shot, in front of the black fireplace.  But a worse shot would be where she
ended up, next to the couch!  Though, she's styled much more prettily in her new home.

You can see where all the bums perched over the years, just by the way the stain took! 
I love the variation and patina on the lid - it tells our story.

Facebook Freebie Made Fabulous

Have you see those new facebook sell/buy/trade groups? I belong to about four of them. 2 weeks ago, I ran across a free antique buffet on a Facebook group. Didn't think I had any hope of being first in line, but I was! This was the type of piece I'd been secretly wishing for, but didn't even pray for, as these don't typically just show up in re-finishable condition where I live.  

My 9-year old son and I drove out to the boonies after church, and managed to muscle and shove that thing into the back of my SUV with about a quarter of an inch to spare. We got out of there quickly when the guard-goats started showing up, and drove home with spider eggs, webs and all. 

It then sat on the front porch (yeah, we redneck up in here!) for a week.  Of course, a week is nothing in DIY land. My husband and I finally brought it to the back yard so I could start working on it about a week ago. This thing was in pretty harsh shape.  The veneer was crumbling into dust, parts were missing, and it was overall just nasty dirty and infested with incubating spiders. But, it had dovetail drawers, original hardware, and excellent bones. I knew I could make it beautiful.

Dirty & nasty, sitting on my front porch.

Redeeming factor #1: Original, solid brass hardware.

Redeeming factor #2: Dovetailed drawers!

First step?  Hosing it down with bug spray!  I used the new Raid kill 'em all spray in the auto-trigger bottle.  This stuff is awesome, and even kills flies (which are everywhere in Central California in the summer).  Once that was done, I gloved up and just pulled out all of the nasty before giving a good scrubbing with Simple Green and Mr. Clean.  Overkill is better than under when it comes to spiders, right?

I mixed up a quick quart of DIY chalk paint using a can of oops paint I pilfered from Dad's stash and some unsanded grout.  I had originally wanted to paint the frame white and stain the drawers, doors and top, but man did that cherry veneer bleed like a stuck pig!  I ended up with HUGE neon pink spots all over the place.  On to Plan B I suppose.

This was my original vision: white frame + stained fronts and top.  Bleed happened.

Plan B involved two pots of sample paint in Valspar Stonemason Grey, a gorgeous blue-gray color.  I mixed them into chalk paint, and started brushing.

Valspar Stonemason Grey

Pretty, no?  But I wasn't getting good coverage, and I wasn't about to head back to the hardware store AGAIN.  Then I remembered I had a whole quart of My Color by Pantone in Cloudburst that I had won in a blog contest a couple of years ago.  I mixed the Cloudburst with the Stonemason Grey, and ended up loving the color.  Pantone paint is self-priming, has excellent coverage, low VOC and cleans up with water.  What more could a girl ask for?  

I decided to spray the sides of the drawers in a light blue color called Slate Grey by Rustoleum.  Keep in mind, I've had most of this paint lying around for a couple of years, so, you may not be able to find the colors!

While the paint was drying, it was time to assess the hardware.  It is solid brass, and has a beautiful wheat pattern with rope detail.  It was pretty tarnished, and I knew I didn't have any brass cleaner.  I figured, white vinegar gets out pretty much anything so, I might as well try it.  

It worked beautifully, and with a minimum of toothbrush scrubbing!

Yes, one of those cabinet pulls is bent.  I still love it.  It just shows the age and use of the piece, which is fine by me!  Besides, we all know that nothing stays perfect in a house full of boys...

Once the frame was painted, I started sanding down the top.  Turned out that only the lacquer was crumbling, and the veneer was in near-perfect condition under all that mess.  I sanded it all down smooth, and left the "age spots" alone.  I stained the top in my go-to mad-scientist mix of Ebony, Golden Oak and Dark Walnut stains by Minwax.  

Once I brought this beast into the house, I had to find a place for it!  I'd always envisioned my oak bookcases up in my room (painted white, with a stenciled back of course, but that will have to wait) in sort of a library configuration with my desk/table.  This was the perfect opportunity to do so, and would leave me with the best spot in the house for my new/old lovely.

I muscled both 7-foot solid oak cases upstairs, by my lonesome, on two separate days.  God and I were worn out after the first one, but the second went quickly after a day of rest!  I transferred everything up, and now have a nice place for my "office" things, as well as prettily styled shelves in my room.  SCORE!   And, to keep things real, here's a shot of the progress: 

Dog beds, DVD's and junk, Oh My!

Why yes, I do have two different candles on those sconces.  Don't judge.

And here she is, all styled up and gorgeous in my newly airy entry!

The light in this area sucks.  I had to open the front door to get enough to keep the flash off!

Pretty drawers and fluted columns.

See the "age spots"?  I love an authentically aged piece.

And one more, just because I love it so much I smile every time I glance it's way, and run my fingers lovingly over the surface when I walk by:

Sharing at:

House On The Way