Taking a Stand

Elyzabeth reporting.

I know you are all on pins and needles waiting for us to finish our kitchen remodel saga, but I thought I would take a break and show you all a little project I've been working on.  I decided to do a little woodwork and make use of some of the fallen pine branches.

As you may or may not know, our house sits on over an acre of land. All but the part near the house is pretty much as mother nature grew it. We've got an assortment of wild palm trees, cypress trees and long needled pine trees. This whole area used to be swamp land until sometime back in the late 1950's when a developer had the brilliant idea to drain the swamp and sell the land.  Yep, we are living in the middle of "You want to buy some swamp land in Florida?"


All of which brings me to back to the pine.  We have a lot of fallen branches, which given the amount of thunderstorms in the summer, are a bit of a fire hazard.  We've been gathering them up and using them for firewood.

I've been working on hats again lately and I decided I needed to throw together a few more hat stands out of the scrap lumber we have lying around.  And then it occurred to me that I could make a much nicer hat stand out of fallen pine instead of scrap lumber.

I have to say that I love the way they turned out.  Fortunately for me, my husband has a pretty well equipped work shop.  We did all the wood cuts quickly and easily with his big radial arm saw.  I chose parts of the limbs with some interest; knot holes, broken bits and branches.  Stained a nice mahogany and with two coats of urethane, they look amazing.

The part I love the most is the way the surface ends up looking like it has been carved. Well, I guess that's because they have been carved, just by nature, not by people.

By the way, the top picture above, with the rustic brick background is one of the results of my new uber-photoshopping skills.

If you are interested in owning one of these or a similar hat stand, I will be putting some up for sale in our Etsy shop soon.    Feel free to check us out any time at https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnElyz or you can just click the link at the top of the right sidebar on our blog page.

Regards,
Elyzabeth

White As Snow, Black As Ebony

Ann reporting.

Our black and white kitchen looked so beautiful except for the horrible old laminate countertops to say nothing of the big gaping space next to the refrigerator that I had covered with a board.  At least the board was useful and allowed me to use the space.

Old Laminate Counter Tops, Before

BUT we had all sorts of problems with obtaining new countertops.  Everyone we talked with wanted to install granite.  Granite was not in our vision.  We wanted black quartz!  Nothing doing though.  We even called the manufacturer of one type that we would have loved, however, after talking with a representative - we found that no one in this part of the world stocked the product.  What to do?  After a lot of thought, we came up with the most awesome and affordable solution.  We decided to go with a stained and finished butcher block.  After all, we did know where to obtain butcher block and how to install it, right?  The Ikea butcher block we used for the island had turned out perfectly.

 New Ikea Butcher Block Counter Tops

How did we get from the stacked boards in this picture to the beautiful black countertops we wanted?  It took a lot of elbow grease, sweat equity, and hard labor but the results were certainly worth it. 

Freshly Installed Finished Counter Top

First we cut everything to fit including the cutout for the new sink.  Then we sanded and sanded and sanded!  We followed that up with a coat of sanding sealer and the fun really began.  I used three coats of Minwax Black Satin Stain and Poly.  I did one coat each day. I rubbed the tops with 00 steel wool between coats.  

Right Side Finished Counter, With Tile Backsplash

Despite all my care and caution and using very good brushes, there were still brush stroke showing in the finish.  I, personally, think this was due to the length of the counters - certainly not the fault of the painter.  So once again, we're back to sanding to remove the brush strokes.  Once, the super sanding was complete, we had the beautiful color we wanted but not a good finish. 

Left Side Finished Counter, With Tile Backsplash

  
Minwax Rub On Poly came to the rescue.  We did a test board to make sure this would work out the way we wanted.  It did!  So, we installed the countertops before applying three coats of Minwax Rub On Poly.  Again, rubbing with 00 steel wool between coats is mandatory.  They look wonderful thus fulfilling our vision for the kitchen.

Our next kitchen blog post should be the last one we write about the kitchen.  We can give you the big reveal and show the whole finished space.

Keep Reading!
Ann

Cabinet Space, The Final Frontier

Some More, Before

Elyzabeth reporting.

Remember the issue I mentioned about the air conditioner/heatpump unit that was installed next to the kitchen, with the giant intake panel on the kitchen wall? We needed a new unit anyhow, so we had them move it. Part one is up in the attic now and part two outside behind the house. The empty space became our much needed pantry.

The crew needed to replace part of the under flooring in, and in front of, the new pantry space. The old unit had been leaking moisture for quite some time and the plywood underneath the old flooring was pretty spongy.

Almost There

With the AC unit and air intake panel gone, we could move the refrigerator all the way to the right. This allowed us to add a few much needed cabinets to that side of the kitchen. The upper cabinet we added had been hanging out in the master bedroom closet when we bought the house. It was just the right size to fit between the existing wall cabinet and the fridge.

On the low side next to the refrigerator, we added a three drawer unit and a skinny cabinet. These we purchased new from Home Depot. They are their in-stock bottom-of-the-line product, which fortunately has a door front style that matched our cabinets perfectly. We bought them in the natural wood, light oak finish, because we needed the wood grain to match what was already in the kitchen. If we had purchased it already in the white, it wouldn't have been wood, and wouldn't have had wood grain. These we treated like the rest of the cabinets, with a sanding, a coat of Kilz, and two coats of white semi gloss paint.

New Corner Cabinet

We also replaced the funky corner quarter-round open shelf that was in the corner by the window with a cabinet. Finally, we put together a very custom unit on that odd bit of blank wall space. We put together three wall cabinet units; the glass door unit, top, an open shelf unit, middle, and a solid door unit, bottom. When we painted these, we left the blond wood color on the inside of the glass door cabinet. The whole thing added quite a bit of new storage and we love the way it turned out.  It's become one of our favorite things about our remodel.

Custom Built Wall Cabinet

By making use of previously wasted space, we gained quite a bit of new cabinet storage with no real changes to the existing footprint of the kitchen.  

We took quite a while to decide on what to do about the counter tops. For some months, we left the old laminate tops and put a bit of board across the top of the new lower cabinets. Next time I will show you our unique and very affordable counter top solution.

Regards,
Elyzabeth

Living On Island Time

Popcorn Ceiling

Elyzabeth reporting.

One of the first things that happened for the kitchen remodel was the removal of the "popcorn" texture on the ceiling. The only good place for popcorn in your house is in a bowl, with butter.

We had the crew remove the popcorn on all the ceilings in the house, re-texture and add a fresh coat of paint. They also installed new ceramic tile flooring throughout the downstairs. That set the stage for us to start on our part of the fun and games.

New Pot Rack

First, Mum and I switched out the black recessed lighting fixtures for new white ones. They just looked better. Then we installed a brushed stainless pot rack right over the island. Anyone who has been in our kitchen in the old Phoenix house will recognize the style. After looking at numerous styles of racks available, we chose one that was identical to our old one.  Fortunately for us, the ceiling joists were conveniently located so that we could anchor the thing into the wood and still have it centered over the island.  This insures that we can load it down with plenty of pots and pans and not have it crash down on us someday.

The Island, Before

Next, we gave all the kitchen cabinets a fresh coat of white paint.  First we removed all the doors, sanded and then gave everything a coat of Kilz. Last, we finished with two coats of interior semi-gloss white.

The old tile top from the island went away forever and we decided to add a new butcher block top to it. We bought it unfinished from Ikea. It's their NUMERÄR counter in beech. Very affordable and worth the drive over to Sunrise to pick it up. The only finish on it is several coats of Watco's Butcher Block Oil.  It gives a nice hard, non-toxic finish and a lovely gloss.

Island During

There were no handles on any of the cabinet doors, so we added them.  These are an oil rubbed bronze finish, which is essentially black with a faint copper sheen to it. The island cabinet doors have hidden hinges, but the remainder of the cabinets have visible hinges. We saved those and painted them all a flat black which matches the handles and knobs pretty well.

Finished Island

In this picture you can also see the new ceramic tile. It's a creamy taupe color in a smooth finish. Our last home we remodeled, we went with a textured finish for the tile and later discovered how hard it is to keep that clean. Dirt settles in every contour and crevice.

Stick with me and tomorrow, I will show off some more of our awesome and affordable kitchen remodel.

Regards,
Elyzabeth

The Old Kitchen

Elyzabeth reporting.

Mum and I have been working on the kitchen, slowly but steadily, for the last six months.  We have finally just about finished out an awesome DIY remodel. I thought I might devote a few blogs to the before, during and after.

Kitchen View Front to Back

The kitchen was a miserable mess when we bought the house. The cabinets were solid oak in good shape, but the tired white wash finish was badly dated. The counter tops were a blah brown laminate, except for the island, which had a crumbling tile job. The faux wood laminate flooring didn't add much to the ambiance either.

AC Vent and Ugly Shelves

Worst of all was the bizarre placement of the refrigerator. It was sitting right across from the island, leaving a narrow space between them that left barely room to open the fridge door. The awkward placement was due to the location of the air conditioning/heatpump unit.  That was in a closet space at the back left side of the kitchen. There was a giant air intake panel situated low on the wall. This meant that nothing could be in that space, leaving a large chunk of the kitchen floor space completely wasted. The area wasn't made any lovelier by the ugly shelves stuck between the fridge and the intake wall.

Sink and Corner Cabinet

The other bit of wasted space was the area on the right in the back of the kitchen. There was a good four feet of wall space completely unused. In one of the pictures of the house that was in the real estate listing, I saw they had a bakers rack on that wall. I wish I had saved the picture, just to show how junked up it made the kitchen look.

Bay Window Dining Nook

We were not fond of the odd quarter round shelf unit in the corner by the sink either. Before the remodel, we were using it as a spice rack, but it just looked cluttered and awful. It definitely needed to go away.

What did we like about the kitchen? Lots of things really. It is a large space with plenty of natural light.  At the front of the kitchen is a large bay windowed dining nook. The island is a nice size. The layout, aside from the air conditioner and refrigerator placement was really very good. The appliances that came with the house, black and stainless, were good quality and in good shape. All in all, the bones were there and worth a redo.

Tune in next time, and I will share with you some of our updates and refinishes.

Regards,
Elyzabeth

Green Sleaves

Completed Project

Elyzabeth reporting.

What girl doesn't like edged weapons?  I know I do!

I recently completed a small project, pretty much just for fun. I have a lovely claymore (long sword) which was purchased secondhand and a pair of daggers (bowie knife style) which have a double sheath. The sheath of the claymore is rather poorly made and was inexplicably ugly. The sword itself has a green stained wood handle and the sheath, in black with a red tip and an odd gold eagle embossed in the middle didn't seem to have much in common with the sword. The daggers, also green stained wood handles, came with a sheath that was a plain brown color.

Materials

I will be the first to admit that I am no leather worker, but I do occasionally have some leather projects. Some time ago, I bought  some leather paints. Not dye, but paint. Angelus Acrylic Leather Paint.  I had a project where I needed to turn a pair of brown boots into black boots. The boots turned out beautifully, by the way.

Because I bought the leather paint online and was already paying for shipping, I went ahead and also picked up a thing of green and one of purple (my two favorite colors) for later usage. I didn't know what I would need them for, I just knew I needed them.  Later I bought a pair of great sandals, at a great price, but they were pink, a color I do not voluntarily wear.  I painted them purple and they turned out amazing.  I highly recommend the Angelus paints for updating an already finished leather project.

  

Claymore Sheath Before

I also used some fabric glue to repair the claymore sheath. It appears the front and back are not a single layer of leather, it is a double layer of leather and it was was separating.  I think it was two layers of split cowhide, joined together. Since the fabric glue is both waterproof and flexible (plus I had it on hand) it seemed like the right product for my purpose. It worked very well.

Daggers Before

Before starting, I cleaned both sheaths with acetone and then rubbing alcohol. This removes any oils and some of the original leather dye.  

I then painted them each a base coat of the green and let it dry thoroughly.  

For the claymore sheath, I used both the black and green paints to create a marbled type color. The formerly red tip I painted solid black and the sides solid black as well. I didn't do anything about the embossed eagle. It is still there, visible at the right angle.

For the daggers, because they had a stamped design in the leather, I used the black to highlight the design and blend around the stitching. The sides are also the solid black.

Claymore Sheath Close Up

Daggers Sheath Close Up

My large picture of the completed projects don't show you the full impact of the color. For whatever reason, the only way I could get the green to show in my photos was to hold the camera no more than 3 inches away. Anything further and it just looks too dark.  

I am very pleased with the result and perhaps one of these days you can see me sporting my blades at a renaissance faire near you.

Regards, Elyzabeth

A New Year, A New Life

Elyzabeth reporting.

The Beach, Naples FL

And now it's been ten months since we've moved to beautiful Naples Florida.  Our lovely new home is sitting on a wonderful one acre lot, out in the country and covered with trees.  The beach is only a twenty minute drive away.   The weather is perfect and there is no smog.  What more could you ask for?

We have remodeled the house inside and out, and it looks amazing.  Finally realizing that we are no longer spring chickens, we hired out almost all the work.  I have to admit, it's a lot more fun to give directions than it is to do all the hard sweaty work.

Home Sweet Home

Now that things are more settled, we are ready to revive the old blog here.  In the coming days, look forward to our post regarding our latest DIY projects.  We have been having a ton of fun with our home decor, handcrafted jewelry and accessories,  hand dyed clothing and vintage inspirations.

Looking forward to AnnElyzing our new lives!

Regards, Elyzabeth