Category: DIY

Slightly Less Mud

I’ve mentioned the mudfest before and I have been slowly tackling another area that was starting to bug me…outside our bedroom.  Where the L shaped deck ends at the living room, there begins an area that goes behind the house and leads to top of the trail through the woods.

It was mud and weeds when we bought the place…..

I had already started a little planting when I remembered to take pictures…but this is the channel we had to dig since the water was still pooling in this area despite new walls and drains, and we didn’t want to dig another french drain…compromise.

I had envisioned smooth river rock in the channel, but there are so many rocks in the yard it seemed silly not to use them instead.  Every time I’m out in the yard, I pick up a small bucketful and dump them in the channel…soon it will be a little rocked river bed.

When I found some of the trillium popping up on the trail, I transplanted it so it wouldn’t get trampled….it’s about done for the year.

Way happier looking out the bedroom and seeing these instead of a stagnant cesspool with mud and rocks.  Ah, baby steps.

Faux Lacquer for Lazies

Well, as is the way most projects are going lately…these babies have taken awhile to get done.  Remember them when they first came home?

Their humble beginnings seemed to cry for a bit of orange lacquer, but that’s too much work for an impatient one like myself.  Let’s start sanding!

I decided to cheat and use spray primer instead of brushing it on because of all the thin areas…and because I’m lazy.

Then, it was paint time!  We have an HPLV (high pressure, low volume) spray gun attachment for the air compressor that we used for painting.  I bought a high gloss, oil based enamel (a Ralph Lauren color matched in Glidden since Ralph didn’t have high gloss enamel.)  At first we thinned the paint with paint thinner, but it was still clogging in the nozzle.  After a little research and polling of paint pros…I needed Naptha.  It was still early spring and weather made these stages go by in weeks rather than days.

Now, if we were professional-like, we’d set up a spray booth in the garage or something…but nooooo….

….So you get this…now it has to dry, and that bug has to be sanded off…crap!  At least there are multiple coats of paint so it will disappear.

Then after sitting around without glass for a couple of months..I finally got it done.  Glass inserts in…and NO WHERE TO PUT THEM.  I’m sad.  I really want to keep them, but they aren’t working anywhere right now.  If I don’t figure out a place soon, I guess they’ll have to go to the booth…which makes me sad….maybe the attic for future rearranging possibilities?

Sad…and lazy….did I mention the sad?

The 4 Month Table

Due to some insane and ridiculous series of events, it took over 4 months to transform this table.  It sat in the garage in between phases and taunted me, louder and louder with each passing month….”Finish me…Finish me…FINISH ME!”

OK!!

Here’s how I found it…$4.00 at the Goodwill Outlet.

I didn’t take enough before pictures, but the top is MDF and was gouged, and even burned in a few places….I think this table’s owners had anger issues….

So the CC filled all those places with epoxy….

sand down the epoxy and old paint….

Then sandblasted the metal base when we were blasting the outdoor furniture.

I never showed you one of the tricks we find necessary when sandblasting…sieving the sand…..

We pour the sand through a window screen to catch the coarser bits that clog up the nozzle of the blasting attachment.  It really makes all the difference!

See?  That stuff will mess you up.

Much better.

Then, prime, paint, sand, paint again…nothing exciting…just plain white.  Sorry for the crappy photos…this room is way dark with difficult angles away from the window and I had no time for styling….then again, I never do…I’m a renovator first.

Where Do I Start?

Big weekend for ModFruGal.  I attended the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show, scored at the first decent estate sale in months, AND had nice weather, so the outdoor furniture painting extravaganza has begun.

First up was this pair of chairs I picked up for the booth.  They needed the lipstick.. some light peeling paint, but no rust and no sandblasting required…YAY. Recovered the seats with a staple gun and this project was done in a couple of hours.

I needed an injection of spring into the booth and I think these will do the trick.

Jack Frost Action

We had a freakish warm front come in over the weekend, so I spent every moment possible outdoors…mostly sandblasting.  It became apparent that I would not be able to accomplish the painting of the newly blasted furniture before the weekend was up, and the cold was on its way back in.

I needed to paint something since I might not get another warm day like this until mid-March.  I remembered a really OTT pic I’d seen in MSL, also found here …..

When I saw this, all I could think is how great it would have looked if they hadn’t put all that crap on there.  As much as I love my birdies…this was fugly to me…yet I tore it out because I loved the idea of a metallic bonsai.

I didn’t have a faux bonsai, but sadly…I had a dead one.  (BTW, This is why I need to stick to terrariums inside!)   I looked at my recently deceased bonsai and thought, “…well…why not?”  I hadn’t had the heart to throw it out yet.

I started to mask off the pot, but it looked weird, so I just went all the way and gave it the shiny, icy, frosty in a can treatment.

Since I’m far too deep into my spring fever, this can hang out for the week, then it goes to the attic with the other wintry decor.  Maybe I’ll perch a single, tiny bird on it next Christmas.

Once Upon a Time, I Had Basil…

….and it was OBSCENE.

This is a photo from my last house….2 of many, many planting beds I had to feed my gardening fix.  I made and froze enough pesto to last 2 years and I still gave half of it away to my neighbors.  These beds got SO much sun that anything I planted there became overgrown quickly.  It will be interesting to see if the deer will let me ever have anything like this again, but you know I’m going to try…maybe in the tallest part of the new beds at the side of the house.

Early spring brought lettuces, spinach, arugula…..ahhh….spring….I’m ready baby!

After a long day of digging in the dirt…I’d rinse off with a nice, hot outdoor shower.  We’ve GOT to build another one of those.  It was probably my favorite of all our DIYs at that house.  I’d love one facing out to the forest with a Japanese zen vibe…better put that on the To Do list.