Saturday, July 5, 2014

The Silver Streak Continues- The 70's love of fake woodgrain

Ahh.... the 70's and their dear love of fake woodgrain.

I finally am delving back into the Silver Streak. I'm missing valuable camping time!

 I am focusing now on painting the kitchen area. Way too much mustard yellow and way way too much woodgrain paneling.

Before anyone gets upset about painting over wood- this is particleboard paneling with a veneer wood grain. AND it was covered in wallpaper AND much of it is water damaged AND I have no qualms of making it brighter and lighter..

I had an idea of using chalkboard paint on the entrance wall and then thought what the heck- why not do the eyesore refrigerator in chalkboard paint too? I would love a stainless fridge, or stainless and glass, but way too pricey.  At $15.00 for a quart of chalk board paint - this will do!

Here's my Streak's refrigerator before-






















I sanded with a sanding sponge and used white spray paint on the trim. After dry I taped the trim and  applied white primer to the paneling with a flocked foam roller in very thin coats for little texture.






















Then 3 coats of chalkboard paint over the primer. Again with a flocked foam roller.  After it dried overnight I rubbed chalk all over with the side of the chalk then erased to minimize chalk shadows.
























On a side note...this is what I call the over 40 speedball. I usually start my Streak projects in the eve on a Friday, and a beer sounds good, but I need the coffee to keep me awake. Funny thing is I could only drink one beer and I was still in bed by 12. So sad!





The final touches to the entry- an inspirational metal plaque, clear caulked into a blank frame (no glass) then I screwed the frame into the wall so there is no chance of it falling. 3 IKEA  hooks and I'm done other than brushing up on my writing!













































Now on to the cabinets!

Friday, July 4, 2014

Sandbox to Tabletop - My Rustic $23.00 Replacement


What does a old sandbox (aka super-sized litter box) and a shattered glass table top have in common?

Follow my post and find out!






















Sandbox built by previous homeowner.
Shattered glass tabletop.
New Tabletop.

I hated the sandbox. I don't have little kids and my cats were taking liberties with it. It was an eyesore and stinky.  I'm always thinking of ways to reuse stuff around the house to save a buck and to avoid unnecessary consumption of new materials. I had an idea- could the sandbox become a replacement top for the table that shattered last September in a 60 mile an hour wind gust?

I took measurements and counted the 2"x6" boards to make sure there was enough wood to cover my old table...and YAY there was enough!

Until I got it apart and found some of the boards were rotten :(

But there was enough to get started. I washed the boards and cut them with a chop saw, 8" wider than my tabletop frame at the widest point, so 48". I used the already cut angle boards for the end pieces. I had to re-cut the angles about an inch.

I hit Home Depot for two 2" x 6" x 8' boards to make up for the shortage in sandbox boards ($9.38) and two 1" x 2" x 8' pine strips. ($2.60) and grey beige paint (Martha Stewart "Mushroom"- mixed in Glidden Exterior Satin ($10.88).

I set the boards good side up on the table and this is how it looked with old and new boards;













I flipped the boards over, made a line along the boards outside of the frame width, and screwed the pine strips to the boards to hold them together. I screwed from the strip into the recycled boards to avoid more nail holes on the top. The original frame is curved but it was not necessary to follow that. I then made a hole in the center with a hole saw.

This is how it looks from underneath (this is NOT fancy carpentry FYI);













Next I filled the holes and knotholes in the top of the board from the sandbox days, sanded all over to smooth rough spots and edges. I could have left it at this point but that was a little too recycled looking for my taste.

I coated it with two coats of the grey beige paint in the direction of the grain of the wood;













I totally could of stopped here and had planned to, but it just seemed too "park table" like. Way boring.

I envisioned rustic barn wood or driftwood, and dug out some Faux Effect's Stain and Seal in American Walnut and Van Dyke Brown (on hand). Any polyurethane stain gel would work. I mixed in a little of Faux Effect's Clear Glaze (another glaze would work) until I had a translucent warm brown/ black easy to wipe stain. The glaze thins the color and slows drying time.

I  layered the glaze on with a brush, one board at a time. (See picture below.) It's very important not to do more than one board at a time as it dries fairly quickly, and you'll be stuck with an ugly mess that you will have to paint over. I wiped the glaze off lightly in the direction of the grain with a damp cheesecloth pad (a rag will do as well). This takes a little finesse as you don't want to take off too much glaze by pressing too hard. You want it to stay in the grain and the imperfections, and leave a grain striae behind.
















Two coats of Minwax Satin Polyurethane by brush (from a previous job) and I have a new heavier, wind proof tabletop!
Total time-four hours and $22.68 plus tax!















Regrets/ Mistakes? 

Yes, I regret I was too cheap and lazy to go to store to buy one more 2"x6" so the table overhung the frame on the ends. I did paint the end frame pieces to match...

2"x2" boards would have made a nicer edge under the table instead of 1" x 2" strips, and if I would of extended the table I could have used them on the end for a better finish.

This project could have been nearly free had I spent some time scrounging around for the extra wood from friends and/or recycle stores. Also, had I known I would be glazing it I could have used any grey brown in my garage saving $10.88.