50 Projects: 52 Weeks (19. Repurposed Glass and Metal Entryway Table)

Well. It seems like I've taken a big hiatus from posting anything on my blog. Summer has been challenging in so many ways. Though I might be eons behind everyone else doing the 50 Projects, I thought I'd keep trying anyway. This is out of order, but I'll start with this project [It's for sale!]

This started as an old iron aquarium tank stand. Matte black and slightly rusted. It had an odious piece of plywood screwed to the top. I removed the plywood and bought a can of Krylon metal, hammered finish spray in Grey. Then, thanks to Freecycle, I had some 1/4" glass, repurposed from a glass-faced cabinet. Voila! A couple of silicone feet for the glass, a little bit of elbow grease and this table has clean modern lines. And a little flirty detail in the front legs. 

Great for an entryway, especially our own entryway because it's transparent and appears to float in such a small space! It also would be stellar outside since it's made to handle the elements.

What we hope to do is sell it. I am not attached to anything I own; we hope to sell it for a little more than it took to repurpose it. Any takers? 40 bucks? ;)

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (15. Amber Necklace)

I've been meaning to post this project as well. I made earrings to match; sadly, they have disappeared where all good earrings go - to that mystical Land of Good Jewelry, Missing Dryer Sock, and Other Notions...My friend, Jen, and I shared beads one afternoon at her house. This necklace has bits and pieces from our afternoon together; it also has a few beads leftover from my wedding necklace and other memories of my mom and I making jewelry together (her Christmas present also has a similar theme to this amber-stone inspired necklace)!

I'm really diggin' mustard-colored beads with sea-glass accents...

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (14. A Little Bit of Perfect)

Collaboration. 

I cannot take 100% credit for this, as the idea and the gift was not my own. Steve had been waiting over a year to finally be able to create this project. The only thing I can take credit for is the clashing of creative minds to figure out how to make the mounting happen.

You see, my wedding present is a love letter. And with that letter came this photo - a picture of the sunset at Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand (2009). We camped there. The photo hangs across from our bed as a reminder of some of the most amazing moments we've had as a couple (don't worry, I bawled when I read the love letter this past Christmas)!

Steve found inspiration in a photo that was adhered to "floating glass" at a Caribou Coffee shop. The glass was thick. Really thick. And we were drawn to it. He wanted to recreate that. Together, we found a really great glass company in town - Black's Glass. The price was VERY reasonable and they are very creative and knowledgeable people. We also found these clips to offset the glass from the wall and it gives it a finished look. We, ideally, wanted holes drilled in the glass and these stainless steel offsets would appear to float. If you ever need a hole drilled in glass - just know this - it was cost you more than the glass itself. And we needed four holes. So we nixed that idea.

Here is the final project:

This photo is a little piece of Heaven.

So, consider this project a 1/2 project, as Steve was the creative genius! 

This is another photo (at sunrise) of Hot Water Beach:

I wish I was there. . .

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (13. The Seaside Dresser: A Dresser from Hell)

This project was "completed" a LONG time ago; however, I couldn't get the courage to post it to my projects until I was certain that this was the status that we were planning on leaving it in. The dresser was a mega-awesome find at ReStore in Loveland ($20). We loved the clean lines and even the original handles looked pretty neat.

We looked past the color, which was a horrible pea-green stain that had been applied to the wood. It was spotty and it took a couple hours of sanding to get it to a workable state.

We had to glue just a small corner that was splitting on one of the drawers. We figured with all the knicks and scratches the best solution was to paint it white. 

Let's talk about the negative side of this project (sadly). 

1. Do NOT buy cheap white paint. Walmart is a horrible place to buy paint. Don't skimp.

2. It was a mistake to sand it down to bare wood. You should only have to do that if you are planning on staining it again. If your goal is to paint over it, lightly hand-sand the previous stain/paint to remove the shine, buy a can of Kilz, and go to town, 'ja brotha!

3. The previous "stain" bled through again and again. We got to about the 5th coat of white paint and gave up. It isn't sparkling white; our dresser has bands of a dull cream color that has bled through. We chock it up to "artistic disorder" because we didn't want to apply (yet another) coat of paint! Lesson learned!

The only thing left to do (once we acquire a drill) is attach our new hand-made handles.

The handles are from deadwood and we created little spacers for the handles (not shown). It would be challenging to attach everything together unless we pre-drill. And, so, we wait!

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (6. The Chalkboard Coffee Table)

January is simply flying by. Steve and I have been getting into some home-improvement projects, one of which being this coffee table. It was an old laminated round table that my dad found while dumpster-diving and it has traveled with me to various apartments and counties as we've moved. At the moment it's a little out of place because a round coffee table is conducive to conversation and more than just a couch (it needs more seating around it); so instead of trashing the whole thing, we decided to spruce it up with our leftover chalkboard spraypaint. It's a success! 

It took only an afternoon and one can of paint and the beloved sander to dull down the clear coat on the top. Eventually, we'd like to paint the rest of it. Any other creative ideas for the sides? I was even thinking of trying to do a mosaic tile...

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (2. Homestead Laundry Soap)

The Joys of Simple Cleanliness

My mom supplied me with the Fels Naptha bar soap and the Washing Soda; I bought the Borax. That's it. I followed a simple recipe which you can find here! Was so worth it, but it made so much soap that I don't even have enough containers to, er, contain all the runny/gelatinous great-smelling laundry soap. It smells great, too!