Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

little side projects...



Yesterday 

in between watching the 
stone masons
working their magic,
and running errands,,
and running the vacuum,
and buying groceries
and taking pictures of the
stone masons
working their magic,


I thought I would take some pictures
of the things I got done last week.

It doesn't look like much,
but believe me

it was much.


I had to sand down all the little
bubbles
where one of my children, 
or maybe two of them
left their fountain drinks
on the top too long
and made the wood warp up
in ugly lumps.

But I prevailed 
and now the orange bumpy dresser
is now ready for her jewelry.

I will sand the edges and stain those areas today
and apply a poly coat
and go pick out some new jewelry for her
and then she will be ready for her new job.

I think she will serve as a game cabinet
and buffet for the table that will
be downstairs in the rec room.
I have a black bookshelf 
who is looking for a partner
in this part of the new house
and he is liking this new chick
a lot.

Wait til he sees her all dressed up!







Some of you may remember that
I have decided not to carpet
the craft room.

It will be mostly storage
with my little craft area in whatever space is left.

But I have a thing against ugly.
Gray basement floors can be ugly.
As you can see here.
This is ugly.
Who wants to craft in a room this ugly?
Not me.




What is the solution?

Here it is!

Warm, inviting, intriguing.
Well, maybe not warm, but there will be rugs!

I am so pleased with the results!






It is so dark in there, Im having trouble seeing
whether I got it all right,
but who really cares?

I love it.

Here's how it came about.

1. Hand rub the solid concrete stain with wadded up paper towels.
2. Rub it in well in small sections.
3. Let dry.
4. Repeat #1.
5. Repeat #2.
6. Repeat #6.
7. Rub with color #2, a translucent color
8. Let sit for a few minutes.
9. Dab the stain off with a paper towel that is pretty much saturated with the stain
( a dry paper towel might take off too much.)
dab out all the swirl marks, blending and dabbing til you get the look you like.
10. Spray with a 3rd color, also translucent.
11. Let this set for a few minutes while you go dab a new section.
12. Dab very very lightly at the spots you made with your cheap sprayer that leaves spots
instead of spray.
Don't even touch the floor, just flop your paper towel around, barely touching the floor,
you dont want to remove the spots, just soften them.
My paper towels were in shreds and once they start leaving little bits behind you have 
to start an new one.
13. where your sections overlap, dab to soften the edges, but you can use these areas to look
like shadows and darken them some more if you like this look.
14. Walk away, if you can even move at this point.
15. Check for places you might have missed and dab at them with the translucent stain
16. Let dry for several days.

I used Behr Concrete stain from Home Depot and have since watched some videos on U tube
to see how this is actually supposed to be done and gasp, this is nowhere near what they said to do.  First, all I did was sweep the dust off...no water was involved.
They refer to acid stain and I have not seen that any where around here, so we'll see how long this will last.  I am planning to seal it with whatever HD has on the shelf.

For an amateur gig, I think it looks fine and remember it's a storage room/craft room,
so I don't expect anyone to be going around with a magnifying glass to see if I did it right. 

Wear knee pads and gloves for this job...it's an old lady killer!

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures....

3 comments:

  1. Wow I should have proof read that one more time before I hit Post! Disregard step #6! and any spelling errors please! that project pretty well drained my brain apparently! Behr Conctrete stain colors that I used were: Desert Sand in the solid, Natural Henna next then Loden in the spray bottle. These are about 25 bucks per gallon but I had them leftover from the egress wall project and wanted to use it up. Each can still has some left in it and the room is big...it doesnt take that much so come up with some other projects using stain! Stay tuned!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my goodness, MIL!! That was a lot of work! It looks lovely. T-minus 12 days until PW. Woo HOOOOO!

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  3. What is PW? the floor looks amazing! so does the dresser! (whose was that?) oh i wish i was there to do some of these projects with you! maybe we should do a project together while you are here? i hate my coffee table. . . but we don't have Home Depot, so we're a bit more limited. i think you're very smart to not carpet the craft room so you can make messes and it's ok.

    ReplyDelete

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Welcome to my happy place. A place where I can share ideas, projects, and dreams. I am a nester, a crafter, a creator and a dreamer I hope you will find inspiration and encouragement for the journey you are on. I am a Jesus follower, wife, mother and nana. Blessed beyond measure, just trying to live my life gracefully and make a difference in my small world. Join me!