Paint Stripper - Product Review & Ideas

I've been feeling very productive lately. Yesterday was a painting day with two projects completed. 

Here's one of them. 

I experimented with a new (to me) product to get several layers of paint off the pulls and knobs so I could spray paint them and have a smooth finish.

This paint stripper is in spray form. There are pour-able types too, this was the cheapest one on the shelf so it won.

Here is a pull and three knobs before being stripped of years of being painted.

My husband did the deed of spraying everything since I am pregnant and didn't want the fumes. 

A few minutes after being sprayed. 

I also tested it out on the drawer front that was in the worst shape. 

The first attempt wasn't as successful as we had hoped for two reasons:

1) The stripper instructions specify that it works best in temperatures from 75 to 85 degrees F. Even though we did this in the evening, the temperatures here were well exceeding that, possibly close to 100 degrees. So, although the can says to wait 15 minutes for the spray to work, we shouldn't have waited that long because it dried during that time, leaving the remaining paint very goopy and stuck. The one knob that I had rushed and didn't wait the full 15 minutes is the one shown in my hand (below) that has most of the paint off.

2) We did not have a wire brush or steel wool to assist in scraping the paint off.

The drawer front cleaned up well even in the hot weather and without a wire brush. Here it is the next day after I sanded it again. 

The next day, I purchased a large metal brush and we tried again with the spray with success.

We didn't wait as long (only 8-10 minutes after spraying), scrubbed hard with the brush and wiped them clean with a damp cloth.

Then, I rinsed them with water to be sure no chemicals were remaining and then spray painted them black.

I am enjoying the new little dresser as an addition to my girls' room and it coordinates very well with the large dresser that we painted a few years back.

~ Chelsea ~

Starting on my Cabinets!

It has been a long time coming, but my kitchen cabinets are so close to being refinished and looking fresher than ever! I have all my materials and tools and myself psyched for this big project. 

I started today by using a flat blade to get all the existing (and not-so-effective) door bumpers off. 

Then, I started cleaning. 

I am excited to share a new product with you. It's called TSP and maybe you've heard of it. I never had before visiting this website in preparation for doing my cabinets.

It's a heavy duty cleaner that comes in granular form and you add it to warm water. It works incredibly at getting the dirt and grime off the cabinets and I also had a good time cleaning my house walls. It's relatively cheap and it definitely worked better than anything I have ever used before. 

It would be great also for preparing any hard-surface furniture for refinishing.

After I finish cleaning all of the cabinets, my next step is deglosser.

I'm excited to share my photos as I make my kitchen beautiful!

Homemade Cards - Block Printing

Mass production of a unique piece of art made by you - block printing. 

This was a new concept for me and a very rewarding one. I received a Speedball Block Printing Kit for Christmas last year, and I've been thinking all year about what I wanted to carve into the block.

I penciled my design on paper, transferred it onto the block, carved out the white space and made my own mini printing press. The carving took some patience and time (and a few cuts on my fingers), but it was very enjoyable overall.

Hot off my press...Christmas Cards for some friends and family who I won't be able to personally spend Christmas with.

They were sent in the mail yesterday coupled with a recent photo of my family.

My work space while the newly stamped cards are drying.

My design carved into the block after being inked.

The stamped card before the top and bottom are trimmed off.

Very fun craft that I'm sure I will be touching again in the future. I love the imperfect look it gives to the cards. Each one is a little unique but they all have enough in common to make me excited! 

Try it sometime!

~ Chelsea ~

Fabric Banners - Simplified with a Pinking Rotary Cutter

I've made a few fabric banners and I tend to love them! I love how they use such a small amount of fabric, how they only take 20 minutes max to make and the cute look they produce over a window in celebration of a party or a season.

I recently purchased a pinking blade for my rotary cutter and it is wonderful, well worth the money for the time and hand muscles it saves. I used my mother's pinking scissors for my first fabric banner and it was less than ideal, but definitely did the job.

I had a hard time finding a rotary pinking blade. I ended up finding one, but a different brand, OLFA, and I was not sure if it would be compatible with my FISKARS rotary cutter. I looked online for answers and it was split about 50/50 with responses saying it definitely would not be compatible and others say they had used them and they worked fine. So, that left me just to try it for myself and I was thrilled to see that it works great. It cuts through several layers of even heavier fabrics with ease.

My mom made this banner for her home that ties a lot of her decor colors together:

Below is my first banner I made for my daughter's birthday party. I've used it since then for a baby shower too. Blurry picture, but you get the general theme.

How we make FABRIC BANNERS:

First I look through my extensive fabric stash and find several fabrics that coordinate and represent the theme desired. I use my simple triangle template and cut around it for all the fabric triangles. Then, I lay out the triangles in an eye-pleasing order on the floor. Then I put the triangles in order into a pile and take them to the sewing machine. I sew across each top and together at overlapping corners (about 1 inch overlap) going aln the way across about 1/4 inch from the top, securing a ribbon/ piece of ric rac to each end for hanging and back stitching each time I overlap two triangle tops. Done. I then hang it up, wash my windows and take pictures of my accomplishment.

Here's another one I made for Autumn Time. 

~ Chelsea ~

A Beautiful Heap of Mahogany!

Chelsea's neighbor wanted to restore this old china cabinet, but then changed her mind. So, Chelsea asked me if we would like to have it and I said "sure", of course! I love all wood funiture! Even old, damaged & dirty pieces.

 We have many pieces of furniture come our way and feel that it is such a blessing in our life. Many times I sell the pieces after a good refurbishing and it has definitely helped our income.

 We brought all the pieces home and first glued parts together & fixed hinges. Then a good cleaning with this wood cleaner happened. After deciding to keep the mahogany wood color and not painting it, I applied a lot of dark "Old English". It really absorbed the oil since it had been sitting on the neighbors back porch for many months and the wood was very dried out. Then I took the darkest furniture touch-up marker and filled the stain color in where some of the scratches were deeper and the veneer was missing.

 I'm so excited to keep this beautiful piece of furniture. It's still old and worn looking, but also gorgeous!

 I think the white milk glass and touches of blue decor look very lovely in contrast with the mahogany.

 The only thing that I don't have yet are pulls for the bottom two drawers. I keep looking around for some old ones on a different old piece of furniture, but more than likely, someday, I will just need to buy all new ones.

 I'm so grateful to have this addition to our family room!

~*~Lynda~*~

Paint Quality & Price

I remember not so long ago when I didn't know there were different qualities of paint. I remember purchasing paint at Walmart and not knowing the difference between flat, satin, semi-gloss or glossy and I didn't know what enamel or latex meant. I still don't profess to be any sort of expert on the subject of paint, but I have learned a bit from smart people around me and from my experience. 

This past week, I tried out a new brand of paint since I got it with a rebate from Rod's Ace Hardware in Mesa, AZ. I love that place by the way (small tangent...) They are very helpful, informative and friendly. I went there first for a free quart of paint and was impressed that they treated me so well when I was there for a freebie. They gave me my free quart in a color I chose, with a paint can opener and a stirring stick. Wow, I'm a fan. So, anyway, the brand of paint I got (quart for free and then purchased a gallon of) is Clark+Kensington, Paint + Primer In One.

This is black Satin Enamel. It was about $28/gal after the $7 rebate. 

And I will have fun with many future projects and this little black gallon. 

And my first project completed with it last week was my simple entertainment center that we were given right before our family started in 2007. 

I love how it turned out. I loved painting it with this paint. The paint went on great (I used a foam brush), dried great and looks really professional. I love that it is not gloppy or thick and it lets the wood grain show through. Because it is enamel paint, it dries hard and durable. 

I am impressed and happy. 

I will be using this paint (but in a cream color) again for my dining set... big job... but coming soon!

~ Chelsea ~

GO ON AUGUST 4TH TO GET YOUR FREE QUART OF FLAT ENAMEL PAINT FROM ACE HARDWARE.

Using Wax - Smooth Sliding Drawers

I am always amazed at how well wax works to make drawers open and close smoothly and quietly. 

I'm currently working on a little old dresser that has the basic wood drawer guides. Those drawers were so hard to open and close and loud too! So, I rubbed the wax over the areas were the wood rubs together and now it glides open and closed wonderfully. 

I also used this method to solve loud, squeaky drawers on these nightstands.

Here are the points both on the drawers and the dresser body that need to be rubbed with wax to improve gliding. 

One of the drawers.

I am excited to make this free-off-the-side-of-the-road dresser cute and functional as a perfect place for my excessive amounts of fabric in my craft room/office. I look forward to showing it to you once it is done too!

~ Chelsea ~

Area Rug Color Change

Having hardwood floors required the purchase of a new (new to me) area rug. I looked and looked for something affordable (super inexpensive) and that would coordinate with my decorating style. I found this beautiful rug on Craigslist for only $30.00. The only problem was it had some colors in it that I wasn't real excited about. I loved the blues, greens and cream background, but the pink & burgandy not so much!

Splendid ~ I added some touches of brown & black to match it with my home decor colors.
Here are the fabric markers I used to cover the lovely pink & burgandy colors. I was blessed to find these FabricMate dye markers half off at Hob Lob!Here is a close-up picture of the rug before I changed some of the colors.And here it is after. It looks better not so close, but I just wanted to show you where I applied the dye. It was a very tedious job, and a tiny bit of the burgandy still shows through, but I am really pleased with the results!
~*~ Lynda~*~

Preparing to PAINT!

Hello Everyone!

I hope your summer is full of happiness with the many simple things that life gives to bless you with!

I found some great videos from Lowes that shows instructions on painting. The videos show how to paint cabinets. Painting wood furniture is pretty much the same process, so, I thought you might like to see it step by step.

There are a couple of things that I do different than the folks at Lowes ~ I use diluted Dawn dish washing liquid to clean any grease & grime off of the piece I am about to paint. Also, I often use a wide foam brush to apply paint when we aren't using the sprayer.

Here is the link to get you on the Lowes video site~ Then look for the video "How to prep for painting cabinets".
http://www.lowes.com/cd_Lowes+Video+Center_94400869_?ytID=oxOJbS-1AiM
Happy Painting! ~*~Lynda~*~

Pretty Coffee Table

Here is a beautiful coffee table that I picked up at Goodwill. It is loaded with detail! In this first picture I had already given the top a very good sanding leaving it stripped away of the previous finish. You know, that dark stain with pepper flecks that was so popular in the 70's? That's what it looked like.Here's how it ended up!!!!!! Black with some distressing on the bottom and stained on the beautiful oak top.
It had a little damage on the other side, but wood filler and sanding fixed that right up.


I used the Watco stain in a medium walnut color on the top. Then I used my favorite polyurathane over that. That little pile of plastic on the table is something that I want to tell you about. I usually put 2 or 3 layers of the wipe on poly on stained wood finishes. So, while the first coat is drying I wrap my rag right inside of the vinyl glove I am using. This keeps the rag from drying out in between usage. You just have to take your glove off in a way (turning it inside out) that won't be too hard to put it back on later.

In-lays are so amazing to me! This top had 2 of these.


This is a pic before.

And this is a pic after!!!!

I hand painted the black satin paint on with a foam brush in 2 thin coats. I love the look of some wood slightly showing through. Also, I distressed a little to give it that beautiful aged worn look! I also like to spray some clear lacquer over the painted areas for extra protection.

Even though there is no drawer, a pull was added just for extra gorgeousness!

Love the Look! Rustic, Tuscany, Spanish, Country!

~*~Lynda~*~

Irwin Quick-Grip Clamp

I have been working on a coffee table for over a month now. I guess you could say I haven't had the time to work on it or that the time just hasn't worked out perfectly with a certain little girl's nap schedule. But, I hope to see this coffee table done soon. 

But, I finally invested in my own clamp and I want to show it off! Really, I would like to recommend it, even though my experience has been limited I can tell we are going to get along.

I really like the ease of use and the effective clamping ability. Thanks to the Irwin Quick-Grip Clamp (and some wood glue), this $1 yard sale coffee table is a little bit closer to being beautiful. 

This clamp can go up to 12 inches and I bought it at Lowes for $17 on sale, which isn't cheap, but I have no buyers remorse thus far. They have all sizes available.

You'll be seeing more of this coffee table hopefully very soon!

~ Chelsea ~

A Tip with Toothpicks

Here's a little trick I learned from my dad. 

When you have a hole for a screw that has become stripped, to the point that the screw has nothing to grip to inside the hole and just goes round and round, there is an easy solution. 

I recently used the "toothpick method" in 2 different places in my home. Once, while installing a new doorbell button by my front door. The holes were stripped and the screws couldn't secure correctly. And then again when I was fixing up our glider rocking chair. 

Here's how it is so simply done.

All you need is some wooden toothpicks (flat are best).

Break a few toothpicks to be about the length of the hole you are screwing into. Drop them into the hole and stuff in as many as you can to fill the space. 

Then screw right into those toothpicks until the screw is securely in it's hole. The toothpicks give the screw some new wood to grab onto and makes it nice and tight. 

Thanks dad for knowing everything there is to know about screws (as well as many other things).

~ Chelsea ~