Dremel Design

Power tools….. bloggers usually love some power tools and most people think of power tools as largish, as in circular saws, drills, etc.  Today I am talking about a power tool that should be in your arsenal…..for design and  for fun! The Dremel multitasking tool.

I found a wood changing table at the thrift store and then was able to score two very old bar stools from a house around the corner from my shop. 

This how I found them…..

And this is how they came together to form a fun partnership!

I removed all of the seat padding and then glued and screwed the changing table to the stools after I  sanded and spray painted the stools so they looked fresh. And although I liked the overall look, it needed something. So I made a triangle template, outlined them and then used my Dremel tool to score the top of the wood. I used the smallest burr that comes with the set and it was easy. I just took my time and made sure that I was going the same depth and keeping my lines straight. 

Here she is all shaped up. This only took me about 30 minutes to complete but it added a unique and modern touch to this industrial marriage of found objects.  The girl who purchased it saw it at a night market I did in Downtown Pittsburgh. She didn't purchase it that night but called me 2 days later and said she couldn't stop thinking about it and could she come to the shop to buy it? Of course! 

I love it when people fall in love with something that I have created. I know I preach think of ways to use something in a different way. Well now you can think of the Dremel in a new way…..I think I'll be seeing triangles on more things!!

Always being renewed,

Back door troubles

Between swimming and softball, packing for vacation next week and just plain having fun with the kids, I haven't felt the need or desire to post for a while. But I haven't forgotten about projects! There is always one cookin' at my place! This one finally got started a few weeks ago, I just couldn't find time to  get ti up on the blog but here it is today!

My sweet neighbor Dee found a back door for me when she knew how much I hated my current one.
Let's take a look at pure loveliness…..

This has always bothered me but other projects have been more pressing. As you can see, one project that I should probably get to is cleaning the actual back porch as well as cleaning the brick…another time.

I am at a loss on this one….but it too will get done this summer I hope. I can't stand looking at that ugly thing.

Gotta love poor DIY. When I removed the casing of the aluminum door this is what I found…."Yes, let's stuff some old strips of cotton to stabilize the frame!"

 OK, enough grousing about the previous owners… Here's the wooden loveliness that I wanted to use.  All my other doors are wooden so I had been on the hunt for one for a while. Thank god for neighbors with eagle eyes!

The door was about 1/2" too wide for the opening so I needed to take off a bit on the hinge side. Now my house is 100+ years old so that also meant that I had to measure at several different points on the door opening because nothing is square. I took those measurements, transferred them to the door and then used my circular saw to cut off the excess. Ever heard the adage measure twice, cut once? We will get back to that…..

I was hanging this door by myself because I am too impatient and my husband was at a golf outing. But  these surface mount hinges did make it ridiculously easy to hang. Attach the fully assembled hinges to your door first.

Place your door in your opening and use shims to get it off of the bottom a bit, otherwise it will scrape.

Come to the inside of the door and mark  your hole with a pencil.

Take out the hinge pin….

Take off the hinge and screw it into the frame where it is marked. Then you just slide the two hinge pieces together and replace the pin! Admire your handiwork from the outside, open and close your new door several times because you can not believe you did this yourself and then go inside to have a look...

And see how wrong you were. There should not be this much light all around the edge of your door!

Since it was 4 o'clock by now, I had to calmly put my tools down and start dinner and go to a swim meet. Stew on this the entire meet….and wake up the next day to start all over again….

Again I did not wait for my husband but I can't remember why he was not available at this point….nor can I remember why I thought I should continue to do this by myself. 

Some might say I can be a bit stubborn but he was not around to say it.

Okay, so to fix this debacle, I removed the door, built up the frame on the hinge side with two layers of lattice because a 1x2 would have been too thick and one layer of lattice was not enough. If I had taken off any more of the door from the hinge side, the window/screen would have looked off center.

So I measured, cut, glued and screwed the lattice strips into place.

and re-hung the door using the exact same procedure as the day before….Now the door was too big again! I might have pitched a fit at this point. Looking at it from the outside, it just looked a bit too big so I started sanding the handle side of the door……and sanded….and sanded…….and saaaaaannnnnnded. Hmmmmm, maybe I should look from the inside? Oh bigger than I thought.

Yep, off the door came and a smidge was removed using the circular saw.

I was so happy when i hung it the THIRD freakin' time and it fit, it closed, and the only light that was showing through was from the worn away stone from the bottom step. That I am not touching!

Lessons learned?

1. Have a helper. That way you can see what you need to see

2. Look at the door from the inside. That way you can see the light. If I had down this I would have not taken off so much and I would not have created twice, actually three times the work for myself.

3. MEASURE three times, cut once.

4. Keep your inside door closed while you work……pain in the neck to keep opening and closing while you work but MUCH less flies.

Now all I need to do is build a screen…..my track record says that will take me double the time of the door.

I think I will wait until after vacation to start that one!

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99       

 

 

http://www.remodelaholic.com

What The…."Rust"?

I think I may have found my secret jedi ingredient for making new things look old and rusty!

I saw two new silvery wire baskets at the thrift for $2.95 each. I almost passed them up because it was super crowded due to Senior Discount Day. Those seniors go crazy on Wednesdays! So it was more that a little difficult to get to the shelves on this day. But then I realized that big wire baskets don't come along every day, much like a good man, so you snap them up!

I took them down stairs to my secret lab and got to work. I really had no idea how I was going to make them look rusty. I could soak them in a vat of water for a year but i also have crafting ADHD so a year never cuts it.

Then I saw these:

and my jedi mind powers started to zen out and in until an image formed of rusty goodness and it just took about 20 minutes to create rust. I kinda felt like a rusty jedi/scientist but without a lab coat or a light saber……just a spray can and drop cloth.

This technique is all in the finger let me tell ya'!

Ok first lets see where we started:

spray two thin coats of the brown and let dry. No need to show you this because I know as my fell jedi's, you know what this would look like….

 Here is the secret finish…..Do not shake too well, let the red and the yellow inside the orange mix as it sprays. Then spit the orange on using a pulsing action with your finger on the spray can trigger.

Here it is straight on…..

and here you can see it from the side to show the spray pattern.  Rust is pitty, so it can't look uniform. By pressing really fast on the trigger and holding it close and then far away from the basket, you will get large and small blotches of orange paint. Some of it will even come out with a bit of yellow too which is good.

I layered the brown and the orange a few times to build up the finish so it looked more bumpy and therefore rusty and raised.

 The up close shows the detail better.

I can't show you how I am going to use the baskets yet but if  you concentrate really hard….

your jedi mind powers will become one with the DIY universe and you will foresee the future of the baskets…..

or you can just check back in a few days……

I say use your jedi mind powers but then again easy for me to say…I've already graduated from being padawan DIYer….

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!

Read more at http://diyshowoff.com/2013/04/01/that-diy-party-10/#xgMAcRCgRocl5vmh.99       

 

 

http://www.remodelaholic.com