Reupholstered bench seat

The transition from soft neutral family room to grey + brights is one step closer to completion.

Long overdue, the avocado corduroy bench cover (which I learned today that Scott has always hated) is gone.

before

after

The avocado has now been replaced with the same charcoal linen as is in the curtains (Ikea RITVA in gray). In fact, it is leftover fabric from the curtain project. This update took me less than one episode of Mad Men, leading me to wonder why, oh why, didn't I do it a long time ago? Like, maybe in November when I'd originally planned to?
 

before

after

Oh, wait, I know why it took me so long to get to this. It's because I needed two weeks of cold and snow to keep me inside working on house projects instead of out in the garage building furniture. So far, I've cleaned out and re-organized my pantry, cleaned out and actually cleaned my fridge, taken five bags of trash out of Callie's room, built the gallery ledges, AND washed and put away all of the clothes from our trip (usually unpacking is a never-ending chore for me). So, yeah, the weather's been crappy.

Speaking of which, here is one of the unlucky deer who was hanging out in my yard today getting attacked by a bird. The bird hopped from back to back as it made its way through the herd, pecking away at their ears, necks, backs, bottoms, and seemingly trying to eat them alive. Gross. The deer, just for the record, were not fans of the bird.

Back to the bench...the next step will be to throw together some bright, patterned pillows to liven up the wall of grey, black, and white. With more snow in the forecast (April 18th, December 18th, what's the difference), I've got high hopes for the pillows happening soon. It's exciting, I know, but please try to restrain yourselves.

For more on how I built and upholstered the bench, check out this post.

For the curtains, see this one.

Provence Table

If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed me pinning the Restoration Hardware Provence table and accompanying Ana White plans. I am not sure how this plan flew under my radar, but I'm totally in love with the look.

As soon as I saw it, I really wanted to dive right in and build one for myself. We've been eating at a 2'x3' table since before Christmas -- I sold our old table and haven't had a chance to build a new one. I'd like this design to be our next table but I really wanted a chance at a trial run before building my own.

This is why I'm SO happy to be working with Sweet Pea Interiors in Fountain. I knew that this table would sell easily in the shop, so I went ahead and built it as a test version.

And I LOVE it. Love, love, love it.

But, alas, it is too big for my dining room, so off to Sweet Pea it goes.

I made a few changes from Ana's plan in order to get closer to the Restoration Hardware look, and because I had several reclaimed 4x4 posts in my yard that I wanted to use.

Ana's plan calls for 2x4s and pocket hole construction. I did use 2x4s for the top part of the frame (under the table top) and also for the V supports, but for the legs, stretcher, and end supports I went with 4x4s. If I'd had enough of them, I would have used 4x4s for the V, too.

Since you can't use pocket holes to join 4x4s together, I used my (new!) table saw to cut lap joints. I'm in love with the joints where the end supports meet the legs -- I love the hefty, farmhouse look of them.

For the table top, I used 1x6s cut down to 4.75" on my table saw. I really like ripping off the curved edges of framing lumber to use in table tops. It is a pain in the rear to work with framing lumber, but its got a great, rustic vibe. And, it's cheap. Bonus. Having said that, I think when it comes time to build my own table, I'll build it out of higher quality lumber -- lumber that is straight, precisely milled, and nicely planed. I don't mind spending that kind of money on a table for myself. I've offered the same option to clients, but the price always scares them off. I can't blame them -- it usually doubles what I have to charge for a dining room table.

For the finish, I primed the table base with dark brown primer and then painted it with flat paint that I custom mixed from leftovers in my garage. The top is oxidized with strong black tea, vinegar, and steel wool. I think this is the first time that I've oxidized in sub-freezing temperatures. It adds a whole new element of unpredictability to the process, one I'll avoid in the future if I'm working on a client piece. The two photos above are probably the most accurate in terms of color. The top came out much darker and blotchier than I've experienced before. I don't know what to attribute it to besides the cold. The wood stayed wet much longer than usual, which I guess gave the tannins more time to react with the oxidizing solution.

It's funny...I don't mind if something doesn't come out exactly as planned as long as I'm building it for myself. But when I'm building for someone else and it doesn't go as planned? It worries me and I end up pouring unending hours into the piece. Whew. Working for myself is much less stressful.

{finishing} Using glaze to add depth and age

This 52" farmhouse bench needed an aged, rustic finish. To get the look I was going for, I used a five step finishing process:

1. First I stained the bench with this alcohol-based stain in Dark Walnut.
2. Next I gave it one coat of flat paint (the color is Aged Mint by Ralph Lauren).
3. Then I distressed the bench using 180 grit sandpaper to reveal some of the brown stain under the paint.
4. Next came glazing, which I did using super diluted water-based stain in Black Cherry.
5. Lastly, I sealed the bench with a satin poly.

Here are a few things I've learned about this process. Your undercoat doesn't have to be perfect, so when you're staining, don't sweat it if it's not perfect. There's no sense in spending a lot of time on this step, because you're just going to cover it up!

After a coat of stain.

The distressing step is a lot easier if you use chalk paint instead of conventional paint. With CeCe Caldwell's chalk paint, all it takes for a good distressing is a damp sponge. The sponge takes off the paint, but not the stain underneath so there's no need to worry about revealing raw wood.

Glaze can get hairy if you don't work fast. Since I was using water-based stain instead of a product made for glazing, I had to work extra fast. Brush on one little section with my left hand, wipe like mad with my right. The depth and age that glaze adds is totally worth the work, though.

I actually wasn't originally planning to glaze this bench, but after I finished painting and distressing, it seemed like the contrast between the turquoise paint and the dark stain underneath was too much without a little something else to tone it down and add some age. Almost like the distressing looked contrived without some aging of the paint as well?

After paint, before distressing and glaze.

Finishes like this are probably 95% art and 5% science -- if you're working on something like this, I think you have to be willing to keep going and going until you like what you've got. Don't get frustrated. Just let your creativity flow. Or pretend to be creative. Fake it 'til you make it.

I promise, it works. ;)

Pssst...find the cut list for this bench here.

52" Farmhouse Bench

After I built this 6' Farmhouse Table a few weeks ago, the same client who ordered the table requested a matching bench. I used these Ana White plans as a rough guide (except I used pocket holes) but had to adjust the cut list to get the bench down to a size that would slide under the table.

Here's the cut list I used:

• 4 4x4 @ 16.5" legs (I used reclaimed fence posts for these)
• 2 2x8 @ 38.5" seat (my 2x8s were ripped down to 6.75" to get rid of the rounded edges)
• 2 2x8 @ 13.5" breadboard ends of seat 
• 2 2x4 @ 40" side aprons
• 2 2x4 @ 4" end aprons
• 2 2x4 @ 11" end supports

The finished dimensions of the bench are 18" high x 52" wide x 13.5" deep.

The only tricky part of building this bench was attaching the 4" side aprons. 4" doesn't leave you enough space to use pocket holes, so I ended up gluing and clamping the little aprons between the legs. Once I was ready to attach the seat to the apron and legs, I used pocket holes to screw the apron into the underside of the seat. I don't think that apron is required for structural support (since the end supports at the bottom of the legs provide support for the legs), but if they weren't there the bench would look pretty goofy.

The bench only took one day to build but, as usual, the finishing process took me a few days to complete. (Hence the frontloaders vs. paint sprayer question you might have seen from me on Facebook.) Don't you just love that aged turquoise finish? I've posted a finishing tutorial for you here.

{finishing} Using isopropyl alcohol-based stain

If you google "isopropyl alcohol-based wood stain," it's entirely possible you won't find anything that resembles what you're looking for. There's probably a tutorial out there somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. And although the bottle of concentrated tint that I use for staining with alcohol says, "May be be mixed with water or alcohol to create a wood stain," I've been told that the manufacturer recommends using water as the base.

But, you know...I'm such a rebel. I haven't been totally pleased with water-based stain and using isopropyl alcohol (aka: "rubbing" alcohol) seemed like it would solve some of the problems I have with water-based stain.

Alcohol is known for (among other qualities) its quick-evaporation which is why I thought it might work better than water. If you remember from my water-based stain tutorial, I don't wipe off water-based stain like you're supposed to (again, such a rebel). A quick-drying base seemed like it would work better for me since I leave the stain on.

I also thought using alcohol would probably reduce blotchiness (I can't explain why I thought that...just a gut feeling and probably something to do with the stain drying quickly) and also thought it would limit the grain-raising of the wood, cutting out at least one step in the finishing process (no wetting the wood before hand and then sanding the raised grain back down before staining).

While isopropyl alcohol is not non-toxic, when using the 70% concentration with adequate ventilation I've noticed no harsh fumes. The final finish is not as perfect nor as easy to achieve as an oil-based finish, but the lack of fumes and easy cleanup totally has me sold. And probably, as the "woodworker," I'm a much harsher critic of my work than anyone else. I doubt that most people (my clients included) would see the difference between my alcohol-based finish and an oil-based finish.

There's a huge variety of woodworking dyes and tints available in a rainbow of colors (especially in specialty stores like Woodcraft) but the only ones I've worked with are from Vermont Natural Coatings. I've used their Early American tint and their Dark Walnut tint, both in a base of isopropyl alcohol, which I purchased at a drug store. The tints seem expensive at first glance (high price, small bottle) but they go a very, very long way. The alcohol, on the other hand, is super cheap, coming in at only a couple of bucks per pint.

So, here's how I do it. You know I'm all about trial and error and so if you try this, I hope you'll embrace your artistic side and experiment with scraps before you finish an actual piece of furniture.

I start with a measured amount of isopropyl alcohol in a jar that has a top. For this table, I started with one pint of alcohol. To it, I started by adding 10ml of concentrated tint. I put the top on the jar, shook it, and tested the tint on a scrap of wood from the table. I could tell immediately that I would need more tint, as the color was not dark enough and had sort of a purple hue to it. So, I added another 10ml of tint and tried again. I was keeping track of my ratios, so at this point I was up to 20ml to a pint of tint. Dark Walnut is meant to be a dark color (obviously) and getting the depth I needed was important. A color like Early American, on the other hand, is meant to be much lighter and for me it is easier to work with.

I used this 20ml to one pint ratio to stain the underside of the table so that I could be sure I was happy with the color. As it turns out, I ended up needing an additional coat to make the color work at this ratio. As much as I'd like staining to be a one-coat process, using an additional coat actually gives me some wiggle room in finishing. If the stain is a little too concentrated in one spot or a little bare in another, the second coat evens it out. It also gives me the opportunity to lightly sand a spot that might have come out too dark.

For stain application, I used a foam brush to apply a generous amount of stain (not so much that it drips or puddles, but close) following the grain of the wood and starting and ending my strokes at the wood joints. Since I know I can't go back and wipe off the stain, laying down the stain on the wood has to be done carefully and with some precision. (This is where oil-based stain has a clear advantage -- it's much more difficult to mess up than working with water or alcohol.)

On this table, the aprons needed three coats of stain while the rest of the table was fine with just two. The aprons were different species of wood and absorbed the stain differently.

For the sealer on this table, I used the new Heirloom Wipe-On PolyWhey. When you're using poly (any kind of poly) you have to lightly sand between coats in order to make the next coat adhere to the one before. Occasionally I'll sand with too much gusto and take off some of the stain. In order to deal with those little bare spots, on this table I added a few drops of tint to my final two coats of poly, replacing the color that I accidentally sanded out. Using 400 grit sandpaper and a really light hand can keep this from happening, but when I'm working I almost always end up with a little bare spot somewhere, so this trick saved me a lot of frustration!

If you're looking for a less-toxic, non-fumey stain that is easier to use than water-based stain, this might be your solution. Just keep track of how much tint you add to your alcohol so that it's easy to replicate later!

Square pedestal table -- a table of firsts

A friend recently requested a small square table for her kitchen. She wanted a small version of the farmhouse table, preferably using reclaimed wood. I didn't happen to have the right reclaimed wood on hand, but I did have leftovers from an earlier table -- in fact, all I had to buy to build this table was one 2x6, some bolts and screws, and finishing supplies.

Besides being built from what were essentially scraps in my garage (which is always an exercise in creativity), it was also a good test of my skills in creating a piece of furniture without a plan to follow. I used Ana White's Triple Pedestal table as inspiration for the pedestal, but spent a lot of time standing in my garage with the table pieces upside down, trying to figure out the best way to put it all together.

For me, that's a fun process.

But then, on the day I delivered the table, Ana posted plans for a square pedestal table, also inspired by the Triple Pedestal table. Those plans use only one leg for a center pedestal instead of a trestle like the one I built. Maybe next time...

This was also my first time using alcohol-based stain on a table (I've used it on chairs once before). I'll post a tutorial this week for working with it. I think it's easier than water-based but it doesn't stink like oil-based. For this table, I used Vermont Natural Coatings' Dark Walnut tint in isopropyl alcohol followed by Vermont Natural Coatings Heirloom Wipe-On PolyWhey in satin.

That wipe-on poly is the best sealer I've used yet. Not kidding. I'll do a post on it, too. Promise.

In addition to all the other firsts, this was my first time using hex bolts to attach a table top to the base. Actually, it was my first time using them for anything other than decoration (on the X Tables). For me, it's fun working on a project that stretches me, that forces me to learn something new.

What about you? Have you been learning anything new lately?

{backyard redo} Protecting our Outdoor Furniture

It seems that our backyard redo series has been interrupted by...well...winter. Bleh.

But even in the dregs of winter, there is still work that can be done to move things along.

Do you remember these chairs? The bright red tabouret chairs I bought after Thanksgiving? I know I told you they'd end up outside, but things move slowly sometimes around here, and so they're still inside.

They will go outside. Eventually.

But, the instructions that came with the chairs very clearly stated that they are not intended for outdoor use.

Ha. We'll see about that.

We live at high elevation (around 6500 feet, I think) and the sun here is intense. To keep it from fading the bright red paint on our chairs, I decided I should make some slipcovers to protect them.

Luckily, these chairs stack easily, as many as four high. I've got eight chairs so I only need two covers to protect them. The chairs won't be covered all the time, but probably from November through April all eight of them will wear their covers, and during the summer I imagine that at least four of them will be covered most of the time since we won't be hosting parties every night of the week.

At least that's not the plan.

To keep the chairs covered, I headed to Lowe's and bought a 12ft x 9ft canvas drop cloth. It was bigger than I needed, but it was a better value than the small drop cloths. I know I'll use the leftover fabric to make covers for the backyard furniture I'll be building (like maybe a table to go with these chairs?) but using a cloth this big was a bit unwieldy. I think next time I'll sacrifice a few bucks and buy a couple of smaller cloths.

Also, I bought the heaviest cloth (10oz) in order to get the best protection from the elements.

Would a fabric made for outdoor use probably hold up longer? Like Sunbrella fabric, with UV protection built in? Yeah, probably. But have you looked at the prices on it?

The drop cloth I bought cost about $27. For that much Sunbrella fabric I'd probably have spent a good $100. So drop cloth it was.

The first thing I did was wash the drop cloth in hot water to maximize shrinkage. Once it was good and dry, I draped it over my stack of chairs and started pinning.

It took a bit of trial and error to get the pinning right. That might be because my only experience with slipcovers comes from watching Trading Spaces (faithfully) about ten years ago. But I think all that time I put in with Hildy and Laurie and Paige must have paid off, because for a first try these covers actually came out okay.

Meaning, they fit. And probably won't blow away when the wind kicks up. I'll count that as success.

I pinned the sides first using the factory edges of the drop cloths, then I pinned the tops. Once I was happy with the shape, I trimmed off the excess and then sewed up the seams. After that, I put the slipcovers on inside out and folded up the hem.

I pressed the crease for the hem before trimming off the excess fabric and turning the hem under (this is how my mom taught me to hem curtains and it works like a charm). I actually only had to hem the back of the cover -- when I pinned it all together, I used the factory hem for the front, making sure it was parallel (or almost parallel) to the floor as I pinned.

Once the hem was stitched, I pressed out a couple of seams. (Not all of them because, really? It's going to sit outside in the snow.) Then I flipped the cover right side out, and tried it on the chairs.

Much to my surprise, it fit! Those of you who follow me on Facebook already know this, though...I couldn't help but post a status update about rocking my first slipcover. I'm not even sure you can call it a slipcover, actually.

This stack of chairs is now sitting out on our new (unusable because it's too dang cold) patio. I'm so looking forward to spring summer when we can finish up out there. In the meantime, I'll keep finding ways to make progress, even if it's just pinning the furniture I'm going to build so that maybe by July I'll have a place to drink a beer in the sun.

Ahhhh...summer.

psst...for more about our backyard redo, check out these posts.

{finishing} Water-Based Stain

You all know how I try to use the "friendliest" materials when I'm working around the house, right? Oil-based stains and conventional finishes give me headaches and I know they're not good for the environment.

But, as much as it hurts to say this, it seems that most "friendly" finishes have a ways to go before they achieve the look, durability, and ease of application of more traditional finishes.

I'm always experimenting with finishes, trying new things to figure out if there is something I've missed, something that works well and looks great and won't make me (or my kids or the earth) sick. That's how I ended up trying water-based stains.

Here are the drawbacks that I've found with water-based stains:

• They raise the grain
• They have less "open" time (not easily wiped off)
• They seem more opaque than traditional stains (this could also be a benefit)
• Not widely available
• Hard to predict the color when you dilute the stain

And the benefits:

• Easy to dilute using water (rather than having to keep mineral spirits on hand)
• Super easy to clean up (you can wash applicators in the sink rather than worrying about how to dispose of them "appropriately")
• Have very little, if any, odor. Most of what I smell is just the smell of wet lumber
• Available at specialty stores with employees who *might* be able to give you good finishing tips (or they might not have tried water-based stains and will tell you to try something else)
• Environmentally-friendly

Through lots of experimenting, I've managed to find ways to get around a few of the drawbacks with water-based stains. If you're used to working with oil-based stains, the transition to water-based takes some practice but it's worth it.

First, when I'm using water-based stains, I do two things before I start staining. I always rub or paint water onto the raw wood before the final sanding. This raises the grain in the wood. Once it's been raised and dried, if you sand lightly the grain-raising will be minimized when you stain. If you sand too hard, you'll get down to wood that wasn't touched by the water the first time around, and your grain will end up raising later.

Second, I usually use wood conditioner. I really don't know whether the wood conditioner helps after I've already done the water step, and it probably depends on how dark I want the stain. If I'm going to let the stain be pretty opaque, then I might not need wood conditioner. If I want to see lots of grain, then I absolutely will use wood conditioner in order to prevent blotchiness. When you buy wood conditioner, be sure to look for one that is meant for water-based stain. Minwax has one, and so does General Finishes.

Third, if I want to see the grain at all, I dilute my stain even more than the can says is appropriate. I don't follow any of the other directions on the can, so why follow that one? The can says not to add more than 10-20% water, but I find that 20% just isn't enough. Sometimes I add as much as 50% water or even more. The problem is that sometimes a diluted color can look very different from the full strength color. With the colors I've worked with (usually darker, less yellow-based tones), the stains tend to get cooler as they're diluted, so I test it on scrap and then mix in warmer tones as needed. If I need to warm it up, I actually really like mixing in a tiny bit of General Finishes Yellow Ochre glaze. I'm sure it's against every rule in the book, but it seems to work for me and I only need a touch to get the warmth I'm looking for. I've considered mixing in some honey-toned stain to add warmth, but I never seem to have any around, so I go for the next best thing -- yellow glaze.

In the image below you'll see some photos of different pieces I've done using General Finishes Espresso stain. The top two are full strength (100% stain) and super opaque. The bottom two let some grain show through. One is 60% stain/40% water, and the last one is around 15% stain/85% water The last one, where I used mostly water with a touch of stain...that was kind of a mistake. I was nearly out of stain so I thinned it enough to get through the project. I was finishing some closet shelves and just needed to get them done.

I'm sure nothing like that has ever happened to you, right?

But I'm actually happy with the rustic-ness of it and it was a great lesson in how much water I could add to the stain and still get some color out of it.

 I think it's also important to remember that you can always go back and add more color to your stain for a second coat, but if you start out too opaque and you're not happy with it, you pretty much have to sand the whole finish off and start over.

That, my friends, is a total drag.

Lastly, I try to avoid wiping off water-based stain. The directions say to put the stain on, wait a few minutes, and then wipe it off, but I haven't found a way to wipe it off evenly. That's what started me diluting the stain, so that I could just lay it down and leave it. You have to be more careful with your brush strokes when using this method (the fuller strength the stain, the more the brushstrokes show), but it seems to work for me.

If you're curious about trying water-based stain but you don't want to go buy a whole can, grab some leftover paint and water it waaaaay down. Now you've got water-based stain. I know, it's crazy simple but it works. This is a great way to get colors and greys or whitewashes. For traditional wood colors, I buy a can of stain. But for fun and funky colors? Just grab some paint and start mixing!

6' Farmhouse Table

 Recently I built another beautiful farmhouse table for a client, but made a few modifications from the original Ana White plan and I thought I'd share them with you here, as well as the modified cut list and shopping list, in case you need a scaled-down version of the 7' table.

Plus, if I write it all here then the next time I build a 6' farmhouse table I won't have to lose my mind doing addition and subtraction with fractions.

I started with 2x8 and 2x10 stock for the top, but in order to make the top flat (no grooves from the rounded edges of framing lumber), Scott and I ran all of the lumber for the top through the table saw and ripped off a little over a quarter inch from each edge. It wasn't a super precise process, but it did the job.

So, for the top, we ended up with 2x8s that were actually about 2x6 3/8 and 2x10s that were about 2x8 3/8.

The top was made of 3 ripped 2x8s and 2 ripped 2x10s, giving it an overall width of about 36 1/2". When I placed the planks, I alternated them 2x8-2x10-2x8-2x10-2x8.

Another modification I made was to use one of the ripped 2x10s on the breadboard, to give a little more depth for a person sitting at the end. I also flipped the legs around so that the end support, which holds up the stretcher, is on the inside of the table instead of the outside. That gives the person sitting at the end an extra inch and a half for their legs. I know it doesn't sound like much, but with the wider breadboard, it totals about ten inches of space for that end of the table versus about six inches of space in the original plan, making the head and foot more comfortable seats at the table.

Here's my cut list for the 72"x36 1/2" farmhouse table (keep in mind that my 2x10s and 2x8s are ripped down to narrower sizes):

• 2 - 2x10 @ 55" (top)
• 3 - 2x8 @ 55" (top)
• 1 - 2x10 @ 36 1/2" (breadboard ends -- build your top first, then measure and cut this to get a precise fit.)
• 2 - 2x4 @ 53 1/2" (side aprons)
• 2 - 2x4 @ 24" (end aprons)
• 2 - 24 @ 31" (lower supports)
• 1 2x4 @ 56 1/2" (stretcher)
• 4 4x4 @ 29 1/2" (legs)

And here's the shopping list:

• 4 - 2x4 @ 8ft
• 1 - 4x4 @ 10ft if you can find a straight one, or 2 4x4 @ 8ft if your ten footers are as twisted as ours.
• 3 - 2x8 @ 8ft
• 3 - 2x10 @ 8ft
• 1 - pack of 50 2 1/2" pocket hole screws
• 1 - pack of wood plugs (you'll need 12 wood plugs to fill your countersunk holes)

This plan will leave you with quite a bit of leftover wood; maybe even enough to build a second, smaller table. I've got plans for my leftovers -- as soon as the weather here warms up, I'll let you see what I'm creating!

Here are a few more photos of the 6' Farmhouse Table.

Pssst...check out the cut list for a matching Farmhouse Bench. It slides right under this table!

Little grey side tables

They're kind of like your favorite little black dress, only more fun.

Little grey side tables finished in CeCe Caldwell's Pittsburgh Gray paint and clear wax.

I wish I had before photos. What is wrong with me? Laziness? They were so hideous. For more on their before, check out this post.

Now they're done! The center panel of fabric is super cute, covered by a 16x20 pane of 1/8" glass and trimmed out in 1/4"x 2" wood painted to match the tables.

I don't think I told you this...my original vision for these tables was to turn them into little ottomans. But after I got the center panels upholstered with foam underneath I wasn't happy with the result, so I took the tables apart and kind of started over.

I also considered using burlap for the fabric in the center. It probably would have made selling them easier, but the fabric that's in there now is so unique and textural, I just couldn't pass it up.

It's funny how a simple Goodwill purchase like these tables can take on a life of its own.

These two tables will be for sale at the Sweet Pea Boutique in Fountain, beginning at their grand opening on January 26th!