Painted Thonet Stool, I Did It!

Anybody remember this post about my Thonet stool from last year?  Yeah, me either.  Of course, if I consider that I first attempted to refinish it in 2002 or 2003, putting it off for another 17 months doesn't seem so terrible. It is all a matter of (distorted) perception, I guess.

Aside for the terrible refinishing job I did, I also used (or abused) the stool as a plant stand.  The pot leaked and hence the cracks.  Normal blogging procedure would be to now show a series of pictures showing the step-by-step DIY.  I am going to break the tradition, mostly because I neglected to take pictures.  I did Instragram a photo showing the first coat of color going on.  My process was simply to agonize for weeks about color choice, decide on black, fill the cracks (standard wood filler), lightly sand the surface, spray a coat of primer and finally spray several coats satin paint.  When I first went to buy the supplies I was positive one can of spray paint would be more that enough, but I ended up using almost three cans.  Seems excessive, but most of the paint was wasted when I sprayed the legs.   That and I was obsessed with getting the finish as close to perfect as I could.

I am beyond happy with the results.  Notice the yellow vase?  That is my trade off for my paint choice.  Black is the new black, you know.

Mini Hack

More like microscopic hack.  Back in July I posted about the SORTERA bins that I bought to store our recycling bottles.  I am pretty happy with them, except for one tiny little thing.  When stacked (and they are meant to be) the flip tops don't/can't stay open.  Kind of pain when you are putting stuff in.  Enter these little guys.

A total of 4 mini, but super strong magnets.  Two in the upper bin and two in the lid of the lower bin.

A little super glue and ta-da my first IKEA hack. :)

Tomato Jam

The weather is still all over the place and my tomato crop is still the bomb. Luckily Pinterest came into my life a few months ago, because I would have never thought to look up a recipe for tomato jam.  The pin was a recipe from Bliss (please check out her blog).  I had a little less than 4 pounds of tomatoes, so I adjusted the other ingredients accordingly.  Actually I guessed. 

 

It looks pretty good in the glass.  It tastes so much better.  This afternoon I had a smear on my ham and sourdough bread sandwich.  Tomorrow I am trying it on grilled cheese.

Now my tomatoes aren't ripening fast enough.

Friday Flowers

Friday is always the day for fresh flowers in our house.  It was a tradition that I started while living in Brooklyn.  There I would go to a flower shop in Grand Central during lunch or stop by the Union Square Farmers Market on my way home.   I still get flowers on Friday, but now I can do it country style. :) During the summer months I pick them myself at one of the many pick your own fields nearby.  I was going to bring my camera and take pictures of the field, but I forgot it in my usual morning rush.  So, you will have to make do with pictures of my harvest, pickings, or whatever.

Snapdragons

 

Sword Lilies

Looking at the last picture reminds me that I still have some unfinished business with the Thonet stool.   I did buy a tub of wood filler and I am now pretty sure that it will end of being painted yellow. In my book that counts as progress.

Confetti

A while back I found a cool idea for gift wrapping via one of Juliette's pins.  When I saw all that confetti I knew I had found the perfect wrapping idea for my best friend's birthday present (we use to hide confetti in each others gifts).  This was the year to reinstate the tradition or at least allude to it.

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Packing paper, double sided tape, hole-punch art paper, sprinkle confetti.  Done.  Wait, forgot one thing.  Vacuum. :)

2 days down

And about 2,398 to go.  School days that is.  We made it through the first two and I am okay. :) Last week I posted about the German (& Austrian) tradition of giving each 1st grader a Schultüte and wanted to follow up with some pictures of how Sam's turned out.

Mission accomplished.

Schultüte

One more week and Sam will be starting school.  It is all new to us, since neither Milt nor I ever attended a German school.  One of the most important things about starting school here is the Schultüte that every child entering the 1st grade receives.  It is a large decorated cardboard cone that is filled with small toys, school supplies, and sweets.  The idea being that this gift will make the start of school a bit sweeter.  A nice tradition, I think.

There are plenty of pre-made ones that can be purchased, but I thought it would be nicer to come up with my own design.  My little guy is totally into dinosaurs at the moment, so I wasn't surprised that he choose them as a motive when I asked him.  I am still working on it, but this is how my project is doing at the moment.

Lavender

I love lavender and a walk through my garden should give you an idea just how much.

It bloomed pretty early this year as can be seen in this post from May and gave me a wonderfully long and fragrant season. 

I took this photo about two weeks ago and you can see that the blossoms were already a bit past their prime.  The bees where still all over it, so I decided to keep it around a bit longer.  This weekend it was time to trim it though (thanks Honey).

This year I couldn't bear to just through it out, so I decided to make lavender oil.  As you can see I was optimistic in this picture. See the three empty jars.  After a perceived eternity I plucked enough flowers to fill one jar and topped it off with extra virgin olive oil.

I have placed the jar by a north facing window and will try to wait two weeks I have been told it takes for the oil to be infused.   The remaining lavender is stored in a large plastic bag with the idea to fill another jar for oil or to make some sachets.  Note to anyone interested: plucking lavender is highly tedious, but relaxing. :)

Thonet Stool

I have had this Thonet stool for close to, well for a long time.   The finish wasn't really in the best  condition and a few years ago I decided to stain it.  Dark brown.   I sanded it, applied the stain and it came out looking like this.

A little mottled, yes?  It is photogenic though and looks a lot better in this picture than it actually is. Probably the good bones. 

Now it is time to take up the project again.  This time around I plan to paint it and most importantly finish the job (notice the bottom ring).   The big question now is color.  I have been thinking black, off white, yellow, red and have even considered hot pink (an idea I got from Anna's post).  At the moment yellow is a strong contender, but the field is still wide open.  I am thinking I should use spray paint rather than whip out the old brush.  Any experience?

Doormat - Part Deux

Painting a doormat, how hard could it be?  Well, a little harder than I thought.   On the Monday after my initial post I jumped right into the project and bought all needed supplies. Since I was making my own template for the pattern I decided to alter it slightly.  The H&M doormat was a little too pointy.  So, I widened the spacing between the tips of the zigs and zags.  I started the stencil and was almost finished when I realized that not only did each row need to be centered (with a tip in the middle in each), but the spacing and angles needed to be (fairly) accurate. 

So, on to stencil number two. You might be able to discern the center line that I penciled in.  I made the pattern template using equally sized rectangles taped together at 90˚ angles and then used it to trace all of the rows I needed.
 

Then I cut out the stencil wearing down the blades of my box cutters in the process.  It took up a, felt, eternity.

There it is the plain doormat, about to be transformed.  In case you are wondering I did for a moment consider running back to the store to get yellow spray paint, but then I thought of hoards of small muddy shoes.  FYI, I used a whole can (small one) of spray paint to get the black I wanted.  Turns out coconut fiber is a natural fiber (duh) and absorbs paint, lots of paint.

And here it is all finished and stuff.

Doormat - DIY

How is that for a post title?  I think obsess about a lot of things and doormats can, on occasion, be one of those things.  I have been searching for the perfect one ever since we moved into our house almost two years ago.  Last week the H&M Spring 2011 Home catalog arrived in my mailbox and this is what I found on page 2.

Cute, right?  I have been looking for something with a print and I like the chevron pattern. Our entry is somewhat exposed to the elements so the typical doormat just becomes a soggy mess on a rainy day.  Coconut fiber should do fine, I hope.

Unfortunately, it only comes in 50 x 80 cm and that is too big for our entry.  My first thought was to buy one and cut it down.  Then while writing this post I had an idea.... Make, or should I say paint, my own.  Plain coconut fiber ones are widely available and so is paint. :)  I have plenty of masking tape. No idea if this will work (well), but I figure if Anna can renovate her house, Benita can paint her house, and Dan can upholster his bed  then I can paint a doormat.  We will see.

(image: h&m)

Pay it Forward Crafting 2011 - I am in

This morning I was going through my reader with a nice cup of coffee at my side and found an interesting post by Juliette of Zuhause in Germany: Pay it Forward Crafting 2011!: I will send you something.

Here is the deal:

I promise to send something handmade (by me) to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They must in turn post this on their blog and send something handmade to the first 5 people who comment on their blog.

In the past I haven't done much crafting, but since it is the beginning of the year I am thinking what the heck.  Not sure what I would be sending out, perhaps something knitted.  Anyway,  I am officially throwing my hat in the ring.  So, scarf anyone?