Little Dog in Yankee Mag

Last summer Yankee Magazine invited me to participate in an article about upcycling. You know, finding old things and giving them new life. Right up my alley, you say? That's what I thought, too, so I heartily agreed and a few months later met a Yankee writer and photographer at Todd Farm to hunt for a project. The idea was to get before and after shots of a DIY upcycle project to feature in the magazine along with a bit of detail about my process. The magazine came out this month, and while I do love the writeup, it doesn't include any "in process" pictures, so I thought it fitting to show some of those here on the blog.

I selected an old drawer box that looks similar to an apothecary chest, but was probably intended more as a tool storage box when built. Here it is in a fuzzy Instagram shot along with some other projects that sat around in my Vermont workshop for a while but eventually were finished...

The box is plywood and somewhat beat up - which I love - but wasn't appropriate for refinishing so I chose to treat the outside with a white pickling stain and leave the drawer faces unfinished for contrast. Pickling stain gives wood a whitewashed look while still letting the grain show through.

Next I swapped out the simple wood drawer pulls for brass card catalog pulls found for $1 each at a salvage shop. They were still on their original wood drawer fronts and had plenty of dirt and tarnish to go around. I used a screwdriver to remove them from the old drawer faces, then polished the brass with a baking soda/vinegar mixture and a fine grade sanding block.

Lastly, I wanted to add old industrial caster wheels to the bottom so the piece would be easy to roll around, but found that 4 piece sets of vintage caster wheels are not the easiest to find. Yes, it's possible to run into them at a flea market for a steal, but it just never happened for me. I turned to Ebay and Etsy, only to discover that the type of set I wanted would likely cost me $75. Too much for this project. I ended up buying metal caster wheels at Home Depot for $5 each and spray painting them a matte black color. Hindsight I wish I'd gone with more of a rusty brown, but in the end they turned out pretty well so I am happy with it.

Instead of selling the box as I usually would have done, I decided to keep it to store my lamp rewiring supplies that had long outgrown the small tool box I'd been stuffing them in for the past few years. Many of the drawers have divided sections, so it's perfect for sorting out small hardware like finials, washers, and the like.

 

It was a blast thrifting with the folks from Yankee, fixing up the chest, and eventually seeing the project in a magazine. Thanks Yankee for getting in touch. It's been a big thrill for a little shop like mine to be featured so!

Before & After: Covered Porch DIY Remodel

After a good 6 months of DIYing it, we've finally finished the covered porch remodel, or at least finished enough that the photos are worthy of sharing.  The covered porch space at our house started out as a concrete slab with rough plywood walls, open window holes covered with chicken wire, and a chain link door. The previous owner used the space as a dog kennel for two large dogs, and it showed. Here's what we started with:

BEFORE:

Let's just say it wasn't the best.

Our plan was to add windows, doors, and walls, tile the floor with natural stone, and finally install a ceiling and lighting fixtures. Here's a small glimpse at a what happened along the way...

DURING:

And now can I get a drum roll please?

The AFTERS:

And there you have it!

I don't think I can adequately convey here just how relieved we are to have this project finished. We may take a break from remodeling projects for a spell while we enjoy our finished spaces and non-construction zone house.

In the spring I would like to add a bistro-type table and chairs so that we can use it as a breakfast/coffee/newspaper reading spot in the mornings during warm weather. This porch is also adjacent to a guest bedroom, so when guests come they can use it as a private spot to hang out and relax. Who wants to come visit?!

Before & After: Covered Porch Entryway

Although we are still finishing up the last details inside the covered porch (we work at snail pace, I know), the outside entry leading to the porch is now complete! Let's get right to the shameful "before' photos. We had chicken wire covering open window holes, a chain link entry door, and junk everywhere. There were times we could barely walk through the space because of all the tools, supplies, and clutter. Sometimes it felt like we were one bag of clearance merchandise from Pic-N-Sav shy of a feature on Hoarders.

BEFORE

AFTER

What we did in the entry area:

• Poured a cement step
• Installed bluestone pavers on the concrete patio and step
• Sanded, primed, reglazed, painted, installed, and trimmmed out salvaged windows
• Sanded, primed, painted, and installed door
• Installed weatherstripping around door
• Added a fresh coat of red paint to the exterior
• Built a railing
• Wired and installed new wall sconce at the start of the patio (not shown in the photos)

You may be wondering what is happening to the left of the step where there is currently dirt. We are planning to add a few bags of gravel to that spot, then perhaps some nice potted plants or larger flower boxes on stands. All of that will wait until spring.

The inside of the covered porch needs a few pieces of furniture and some tweaks before it will be ready for photos. We also painted our boards for the house foundation eyesore mentioned here, but have yet to install them. Hope to make that happen this weekend.

All in all we are pretty pleased with how it turned out. It seems to flow with the style of the house, and you can bet we are glad to have one more piece of this remodel puzzle in place. Yahoo :)

Our DIY Retaining Wall Garden, Start to Finish

An added bonus from the wedding was getting a few nice shots of the house from the photographers. Now that we have decent "after" shots of the long toiled over retaining wall and kitchen garden, I'm posting the full process of building the retaining wall, garden, and fence.

Some of you may remember photos of the house from last summer that looked like this:

The deck wood was weathered and the space under the deck was awkward and non-functional. While the sloping grassy hillside next to the house had nothing wrong with it, per se, we thought it would be the perfect spot to plant a little kitchen garden. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into when Josh started measuring and digging the plot for a "simple rock retaining wall."

Throughout an entire year we hauled rocks, stacked, became frustrated, then kept going.

 

 

 Along the way we painted the deck and added lattice to hide the foundation and create an enclosed area to store sand for winter, shovels, trash barrels, and general yard supplies.

Eventually we began to have something to show for our work.

Once the wall was done we filled in the back with dirt dug up from another part of the yard, then set to work painting the lattice and putting up a fence around the garden plot.

The top of the garden had completely grown over with weeds by this point, so we set to work turning the soil and pulling out the weeds. Next we measured and installed hemlock boards that we coated with with linseed oil (to protect against rot and moisture) to frame out the garden beds.

By this time it was late September, with the wedding a few weeks away and winter coming soon. There was no time to plant a real garden this year, so we mulched the beds with hay, spread wood chips on the walkways, and planted some mums and decorative kale just to have something there. And here's where we're at right now.

There is still work to do. The fence needs a gate and either an electric wire or rabbit wire backing to keep critters out, but that will wait until next spring when we plant our seeds. For now we are just happy with all that we have accomplished. It's a different feeling driving up to the house now. The vision we had when we first saw the place is starting to take shape. And it feels good that, for better or worse, we did it all on our own.