DIY Wood Pallet Potting Bench

Did you know you can make an adorable, functional potting bench from leftover (and usually free) wood pallets? Yes, you can!



My husband found this idea and ran with it-- his work has several leftover and free wood pallets each week, so he grabbed about 3-4 and brought them home. The only portions he had to purchase new were a couple of wood 2 x 4's, which we aged with a solution of vinegar, steel wool, and coffee grounds to match the rest of the wood.

The potting bench in progress:

The finished potting bench:

We will use this piece for much more than potting and caring for plants and seedlings. Since its home is on our screened-in-porch, it will be used to store coolers on the bottom shelf, act as a bar/buffet for parties and gatherings, and  will be a great place to attempt messy projects that we'd rather not try indoors. Most of all, it will be a great one-stop center for all of my gardening and planting gear that I don't want to keep in the shed!



If you are handy with a saw and building stuff like my hubby, click here for some instructions.

Sharing with: 

Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Friday

Miss Mustard Seed FFF

The Homestead Barn Hop

Savvy Southern Style

National Register of Historic Places Workshop: Part 2

Welcome to the second part of the National Register nomination workshop! Be sure to check out Part 1 in this series of posts in case you missed it- it is very important! Today we will focus on the background research and documentation that is necessary to complete the nomination form.

In order to compose a proper history and description for your historic property's nomination, you must first do your research. This will involve physically investigating and documenting the site as well as research at your local library, archives, historical society and/or court house on the history of your property. Key topics you will want to be thinking about besides the architectural features and physical description of the property are:

- geographical features
-owner history
-architect or builder
-changes to the property over time
-construction methods
-form and style of the property
-historic contexts
-association with important events or people
-how unique or rare your property type and its features are to your region

For advice on how to to better discover your home's history (the methods of which can be applied to any property), visit this post.

Developing appropriate historic contexts is a very important part of the nomination. Whether that context be architecture, agriculture, politics, military, or an aspect of social history, it is critical that you provide enough historical background information to illustrate how your historic property contributes to a greater historic context. For more information on preparing the essays for various contexts, refer to National Register Bulletins 15 and 39.

Documenting your property with sketches and photography is equally as important as recording its architectural features in writing. You will want to take a liberal amount of digital photos, especially since you can always delete the unnecessary ones later. Take overall shots of the house from each angle, of each elevation, and be sure to capture architectural details as well as larger context shots.

It is a good idea to also sketch a floor plan of the property if you do not already have one available to you. If you are documenting a farm complex or group of properties that go together, sketch out a map of the entire complex property showing the relationship of the various buildings to each other and to other nearby geographical features.

I hope this has helped shed some light on the National Register nomination process. Stay tuned for future workshops that will focus on making a case for your property's significance and completing the nomination form itself. Have fun researching!

Home Office Progress and Desk Transformation

Remember that desk I found off of Craigslist for only $25 a while back?? Well, I finally got around to working on it as well as getting the rest of the home office in order! Due to the rough shape of the desk (1951 Lester Bros.), I decided to paint the bottom rather than refinish and instead refinished the top. I cleaned and sanded the top, stained, and finished it with a coat of polyurethane.

the "before" picture of the desk;
although I like the original finish, it was in horrible shape

I decided to try out the Annie Sloan Chalk paint everyone has been raving about and was pleased with the results. It covers very well and doesn't require any sanding or priming. I used the color "Cream." The bottom of the desk is finished off with a coat of paste wax.

The transformation is certainly not complete, but I thought I'd share with you our progress so far...

For the tutorial on the slipcover for my $5 office chair, click here. 

The top didn't sand down very well for an even finish due to all of the deep
scratches, but that's ok with me :)

I found this vintage filing cabinet for $30 at my
local university surplus store. I love the brass hardware.

a basket for papers and bills

I can't get enough of old books

Linking to:

chair caning 101

Do you have damaged antique caned chairs that are in need of repair? This post will teach you how to cane an antique chair from scratch. Be forewarned, this is a long post.

The first thing you need to re-cane a chair is, of course, cane. There are plenty of sources for this raw material, ranging from your local woodworking shop to online sources. I use http://www.rockler.com/ for both the cane and the wooden pegs you will need to hold it in place while you work. It is important to match the original cane width, so make sure to measure the old stuff before you throw it away. There are two types of cane you will need: the 

Once the cane is pliable, take out one strand and identify which end to start from. You can do this by pulling the cane through pinched fingers. In one direction you will feel bumps protruding and in the other direction it will feel smoother. Make sure you are always weaving so you are pulling in the smooth direction, otherwise, the cane may catch and break. Start by inserting the end of the cane in a hole directly next to the back corner hole along either side rail so that a few inches of the cane protrudes from the bottom of the hole, then use a peg to hold in place. Weave so the shinier, curved side of the cane is always up. String the cane to the opposite hole on the other side rail, pulling the cane tight and put another peg in to hold it in place. String the cane up through the adjacent hole towards the middle of the side rail and repeat the process, moving the second peg as you go to hold the cane tight. Once you get to the end of the strand of cane, pull tight and keep the second peg in place.

Use additional strands as necessary until you have the first layer of cane completed. Next, repeat the process along the front and back rails so that the second layer of cane is underneath the first.

The next layer of cane should again go side to side in the same manner as the first layer but underneath both layer 1 and layer 2. The cane for this layer should be set adjacent to layer 1 as seen in the picture, so layer 1 and layer 3 end up side-by-side.

Since a lot of pegs are being used to hold cane in place, now is a good time to tie off the ends and free up some pegs. To do this, flip the chair, rewet the cane ends and loops on the underside of the chair, and then using the tip of the awl, gently lift a loop adjacent to an end and slip the end underneath.

The final layer will go the same direction as layer 2, but will be woven within layers 1 and 3. To do this, starting at the front rail, weave the cane under layer 3 and over layer 1, making sure the cane is side-by-side with layer 2. As you weave, make sure to rewet all of the already-woven cane with a soaked washcloth so that it remains pliable. Once you are finished, tie off the cane ends and using some caning pegs or the shaft of the awl and a hammer, gently tap the cane into place so that it forms a tight, even grid.

The next step are the diagonals, which, require the most forethought. It is easiest to start the diagonals at the opposite back corner holes and weave both diagonals at the same time. One diagonal will go under layers 1 and 3 (side-to-side strands) and over layers 2 and 4 (front to back strands), while the other diagonal will do the opposite. If you are weaving correctly, the diagonal strands should be on opposite layers where they intersect.

Once the diagonals are finished, tie off the ends and breathe a sigh of relief because the hard part is over. The last step will involve both chair cane and binder cane (soak some of both). Cut four pieces of binder into lengths that are long enough to stretch the length of 1 rail plus about 2 inches. Insert one binder strand into a corner hole so that the cane just reaches the bottom of the hole and lay it across the other holes along the rail. Using chair cane, weave up through the hole adjacent to the corner hole and underneath the binder cane, leaving a short tail of cane. Wrap the can around the binder and insert back into the same hole, pulling tight to loop the binder into place. Take the chair cane up through the next hole, repeating the process until you reach the opposite corner hole where you will insert the free end of the binder cane. Repeat this along the other 3 rails.

Tie off any loose ends, and, using scissors, cut the excess cane. Now you have a beautifully-caned chair for a fraction of the cost that a pro would charge.

This post was written by my multi-talented husband, BJ. Not only is he a chemist, handyman, musician, gardener, floor-mopper, glass blower, beer brewer and excellent cook, but he canes antique chairs too!

Linking to:

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

regular natural seat cane and binding cane, which is thicker and will be used to hide the holes around the perimeter (be sure and measure both). You will also need caning pegs and a caning awl (or a scratch awl), both of which can be found on Rockler. Once you’ve gathered the materials, soak the chair cane in hot water for at least 20 minutes to make it pliable enough to work with.  While it’s soaking, cut the old cane out of the old chair with some strong scissors and needle nose pliers, making sure all holes are clear. If you find yourself needing to re-cane an older chair that cannot accept prewoven cane, it might seem like your only option is to shell out big bucks to have a pro do it.  Chair caning is easier than it looks and you can do 4-6 chairs for the price of one on your own. However, it does take some attention to detail and patience, so plan on spending a few stretches of 3-4 hours to complete your first. With practice, you should be able to complete a chair in 5 hours or less. This tutorial is for the conventional weave of natural cane on a chair with curved side rails, but instructions for other weaves, chair types, and rush weaving can be found in The Caner’s Handbook by Bruck Miller and Jim Widess, which most consider the Caner’s Bible.

Vintage Door Knob Shelf

Love vintage door knobs but are unsure of what you can do with them? Why not use them as "hooks" for hanging everyday items in a mudroom or aprons in a kitchen?

This tutorial will show you how to make a small wall shelf using vintage door knobs:

1. Build wooden base (any size you want) or use existing wooden shelf. Add 1/4 in thick tack strip on sides to give the bolts that will hold on the door knobs room behind the base once hung. 

2. We painted the wood shelf red first, then off white. Next we sanded some areas to "distress" the paint to expose a little of the red. 

3. Prep the antique door knobs: Most have a square bolt receiver, but some still have pre-cut threads, which you can match to a bolt. For those without threads (the grooves on the inside of the doorknob), you will to use a thread tap slightly larger than the diameter of the hole on the knob to cut the grooves. 

Make sure the tap is not too large or you can cut out too much metal and break the knob. Keep track of the tap sizes you use for each knob so you can match to the right bolt diameter. For a quick tutorial on thread tapping click here. 

4. Determine the bolt length you will need by measuring the thickness of your board/shelf and then adding about a 1/2 inch to that number. If your bolts are too long, you can add washers to the back of the bolt. Drill holes just big enough for the size of your bolts (ours were 1.5 inches) into the shelf, spaced evenly across. 

5. Thread knobs onto the bolts on the front of the shelf.

6. Attach the shelf to desired wall and enjoy! 

A fun yet functional piece of vintage wall art! 

Linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special

The Shabby Nest
Common Ground's Vintage Inspiration Friday
The DIY Showoff

Office Chair Slipcover

I began working on my home office makeover by attempting to sew a slipcover for a vintage office chair that I got for $5 at a local university surplus store. I really liked the lines of this chair, so I decided to make the slipcover so that it could easily be removed for when I want to eventually have it reupholstered.

Before:

After:

I used some leftover fabric that I had originally purchased for window treatments- I believe the pattern is called "chippendale fretwork" or something like that.

This being my first attempt at slipcovering, I stumbled my way through this entire project. But here's basically what I did:

1. Measured and cut out my fabric for the top and bottom pieces, plus additional for the skirt.

2. Sewed together the pieces for the back of the office chair, leaving the bottom open so that I could staple it to the frame.

3. Sewed miniature piping for the seat of the chair (I had originally wanted to reupholster the seat entirely, but realized I didn't have enough fabric so instead I just made a "covering" for it). I should have used larger cording for the piping, but didn't realize this until it was too late.

4. Stitched together the piping and the fabric for the seat cover.

5. Hemed the skirt material.

6. Pinned, gathered, and stitched the skirt to the seat cover portion of the slipcover.

7. Sewed little "straps" together and stitched them on to the back of the skirt of the slipcover, allowing the back to be open but fastened at the same time around the hardware of the office chair.


8. Installed the top portion of the chair back onto its hardware and laid the slipcover onto the bottom of the chair. I decided to simply tie a knot with the "straps" on the slipcover skirt rather than doing something cute like sewing on buttons or something...(at this point I was getting very impatient).



Done! Whew.....

Next up is a refinishing treatment for my mid-century desk....

Linking to:

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special

BNOTP's Metamorphosis Monday

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays