Two Stools and a Door and No Sleep

So what do I do with 2 stools and a door when I can't sleep? This...

Remove the seats...

Line up the stools where I want them placed...

Screw them in place...

Attach a board below for stabilization...glue and screw from the sides...

Paint the board to match, screw the seats back in at the bottom

and add a piece of wood under the door in the middle to act as an apron...glue and screw in place and paint to match...

Add a vintage wood piece as a back splash...glue and screw in place...drill holes in the bottom of the feet and add vintage wheels....

Shabby it up and coat with polyurethane...voila!

Now on Instagram???

Just yesterday I finally got my account up and rolling with Instagram, because apparently that's where all the cool people hang out, and I like to pretend I'm cool and pretend I know what is going on and what is trendy, so I opened an account. I have absolutely no idea what its all about, even after using it for two days.  I had my coworker show me how it works, and I still don't get it. But that's ok.  It's another tool we are using to get the word out about what we do here at The Shabby Attic. So though I am a reluctant social media person (I've been told i'm good at it, although I still have no idea what i'm doing), I will add it to the list of internet outlets I am staying up to 3am using, to make sure our business is a success. Although in my opinion, nothing beats the old fashioned word of mouth. Even though secretly I wish one of my vids would go viral. So here are my thoughts about Instagram. I am confused by the name, so I came up with what this social sight should really be called:


Instagrammy/Instagramps:   Where old geizers like me try to do social media, but really have to have a ten year old show us how it works. And we are still lost.

Instagrammar:  Trying with frustration to read and decipher screenames, because the English language just got put in a blender. It took me several minutes to figure out that wxyzalphalovr was a friend. Kikilave is my neighbor and I had no idea she even was a Kiki since her name is Mona.

Instacramps: Spasms in your lips from making too many duck faces from individual and group selfies

Instapounds:: Sitting on my arse eating oreos while I post selfies instead of doing my P90x workout.

Instaman:  Another venue for creepy guys I don't know to stalk me. And maybe even some creepy guys I DO know.

Instaglands: This site seems to be  overrun by 14yr olds with raging hormones.

Instapants:     People taking selfies in clothes that don't fit ....too much spandex girls! and pull up those pants boys!

Instaplans:  Planning your vacation around how good your pics at Disney will look in sepia tone.

Instabland: Pics that are posted without using rockin effects that make them look edgy or vintage. Basically, FB pics.

FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR OWN IN THE COMMENTS SECTION...

The Time Has Come....finally.

Well, it seems like this is now the end of a long road. We are finally moving into our new store.  It has been a challenging and exhausting journey since May.  And like a long labor that had no epidural, this baby is finally gettin born, and it's about time. And man, did it hurt. But i'm sure the pain will someday be a distant memory (although I know for darn sure i'm never doing this again without some good drugs on hand).  Like so many things in life, some things just can't be rushed. Things take on a life of their own and you just have to ride the crest of the wave until it crashes on the shore, dumping you on the beach with sand in your suit and seashells in your hair.   Then you get up, adjust the boobs and pick out the surf wedgie, and head back to the ocean to watch for the next wave.  And the waves will eventually come.  Thank you to all my lifeguards who kept me from drowning...Rachel, Audrey, Ryan and Lori, my folks and family, and all my other support people.  I love you guys. The Shabby Attic isn't just a shop. It's a haven. It's a retreat. It's an escape,  It's a mission. Let's see where the ocean takes us next.

Wrap It Up

You all may not know that I am currently renting a house, and of course, renting creates decorating dilemmas.  I have a small bathroom and I've been dying to give the bare walls some "punch". Here is a way (I'm attempting) to give a designer look to the walls without causing damage to them when the rental ends and the paper must come down.  (I anticipate that a sponge and some solvent cleaner (acetone) should do the trick to remove glue residue in the future) .

I am doing this look only on one wall in the bathroom, and I would suggest the same for anyone else, to keep the area of coverage somewhat small.

I found a heavy grade gift wrap at Homegoods that I found  for $4 per roll that I figured might work, heavy enough to take pulling and cutting, etc.

I would think that you could also use unpasted wallpaper to do this look too, I just didn't find any with a pattern that I liked.

 

I measured out how long the strips should be, and I used Elmer's Adhesive Spray to spray the back and put it up just like wallpaper, wiping/pushing out the bumps using a dry rag. Use an exacto blade to cut off any excess.

There are a few bubbles in the paper but I'm not going for perfection or permanency, just pop.

So far, so good....everything seems to be laying and sticking pretty well and I love the silvery gray look against the white and orange.  I used the shower and the paper seems to be holding up with the steam and moisture. I am anticipating that if any corners or edges raise up, I will reapply come of the adhesive to reattach.

 Anyway, for us apartment dwellers, this is a creative way to put up color that is not permanent.  Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know if you have other suggestions regarding rentals and putting up color...

The kitchen that was...then wasn't...and now finally is! PART ONE

PART ONE: 7 DAYS WORK

Having just moved into an apartment where all rooms had been brought up to date except for the kitchen, I was delighted when my landlord told me that I could give this spacious, but ugly space an overhaul.  I mean seriously, I couldn't live with a yellow Formica kitchen with dark cabinets. It felt like a cave and swallowed up the light.

 

And so my game plan was this: off white cabinets with some antiquing, just like the ones I had done last month for a customer of mine. And I was doing my first trial run with a product I had never used before, Rustoleum Countertop (comes in 16 different colors). I was seriously excited!

The Countertop product is about $20, so this made me giggle with frugal glee, knowing I could get a fresh look for so low a price tag. At this point, I had no game plan for the backsplash at all. I assumed I was going to get some sort of glass tile on clearance at Home Depot. ( Now that hindsight is 20/20, I don't know that I would have gone with this countertop paint product, but I will discuss this in depth in part 2 of this blog tomorrow.)

 I started by following the instructions on the back of the can, and sanding the counters down first.  It is critical to get all of the shine off of your counters. If you do not do this, this paint will not bond with the surface! FYI...THIS PRODUCT STINKS BEYOND BELIEF! Do not try this product unless you have appropriate ventilation and a mask. You will feel like you are being given mustard gas. I'm not kidding. If you have asthma, I would not go near it. It made me feel like my lungs were closing. You also absolutely must use a roller to apply the paint to the surface...the paint may look very watery but believe me it adheres very quickly and thickly to the surface once you start rollering. With this product you will have roller marks visible in certain lighting (along with little tiny bubbles that will drive you mad)!  PLEASE be aware of that! This is not meant to be a product that creates a flawless surface!  If you are anal retentive this will make you nuts! I do believe this product is intended to be something you use to buy you a few more years with the old countertops until you get good countertops. Just my opinion (again, I will go into more detail in part 2). the instructions say to apply additional coats within 1 hour or 24 hours. I found this a little confusing...so I added an additional coat within 1 hour. This product dries incredibly fast. BUT DO NOT be deceived!! Don't even dare to put a single thing, even a finger, on this counter for a good 3 or 4 days! At least! you will rip your hair out when you go to put your coffee maker on the counter after 3 days and you discover that it is still soft and it leaves behind mini crop circles!  I did.

But then again, anything is an improvement over what was already there. 

Now, what to do about that backsplash...

I had remembered that I had some leftover embossed wallpaper, paper that can be used to imitate tin or copper when painted. I threw a scrap piece up against that new countertop and I knew it would be perfect. It is at Lowe's for $20 per roll which covers about 25ft by 2 ft. Because a kitchen is an area exposed to a lot of heat and moisture, I decided to spackle on floor adhesive to ensure that the paper would stick on there forever.   NO, I wasn't concerned about using embossed paper for a backsplash because I have used this paper before and it is very thick and durable, especially when painted with a couple coats of enamel spray paint.  QUITE WIPEABLE as long as you don't go crazy nuts with your scowering pad on some cleaning tirade. This paper also hides a multitude of sins, especially since the backsplash had a couple of cracks in it. And it hardly shows any dirt because of the busy pattern.

I spackled, and then rolled the paper on, using the bottom metal strip as a guideline. Then used a razor blade to cut as I went along, cutting around sockets and cabinets. The floor adhesive takes about 15 minutes to really stick so it's flexible if you make mistakes. 

Once finished, it was time to spray....but only after I discovered that I had my pattern mismatched in a section and I had to take an hour to redo it. Ugh!

 I sprayed the whole thing in a nickel finish but found it was not shiny enough like tin, so my second coat was spray Chrome (very shiny silver) which, over the nickel, gave it a more true metallic semi-tarnished look.

Now that the backsplash was looking so good, I just knew something wasn't right about those countertops! They had dried for 4 days and were just too plain and showed every hand print and spec of dust and drop of water! 

So I had a light bulb moment. Paint a faux stone countertop. 

I grabbed my copper and bronze metallic paint glazes (Martha Stewart...$5ea), put some of each on each side of my sponge roller (you can use a plain sea sponge), dabbing it in random patterns, being sure not to overload the sponge with too much paint when reloading.

VOILA! Faux finish and it hides mistakes, dust and roller marks! Let this dry for at least 24hrs.

THEN get surface free of dust and apply a thick coat of semi to high gloss polyurethane with a foam roller. Make sure you get every square inch of your counter top covered with poly.  If you don't, water and heat may damage the faux you just did, either washing it away or fading it out! Let dry for 24hrs! Then apply again! and then I would wait at least a day and a half to two days, maybe more, before putting ANYTHING on the counter.  With the humidity being the way it has been, I would also suggest putting cork feet or mats under the appliances to be sure feet don't stick.  Fyi ...I'm not particularly concerned about having polyurethane as my counter surface because I use cutting boards to do all of my food prep. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED....

PART TWO TOMORROW!

How I painted my kitchen cabinets, paint choices, and how many many mistakes I made during this processs, and how I learned from it...

Night folks!!