Project Working: summer

Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Summer Beach Themed Bookshelf

Yesterday we gave the bookshelf a summer makeover! We went with a beach theme ... naturally since we are currently living at the beach :) We made a welcome to Pismo Beach sign, added sand, beach rocks, drift wood and some summer themed prints!

A few months ago I found a piece of bark that had fallen off of a tree nearby, loved the texture and decided that we could use it for something. Over the weekend we found its purpose ...

We used two rows of bark putting them closely together and adhered (using craft glue) them to 3/8" plywood (leftover from the headboard)

We filled in the larger cracks with little pieces of bark, and let the whole piece dry for an hour or so

Created a design ... and printed on several 8.5 x 11 pieces of paper so that it was the same size as our plywood.

The sheets of 8.5x11 paper were taped together - then the text was cut out of contact paper (Id recommend flattening the contact paper first by cutting off a piece and laying heavy books etc on top)

We squared up the edges and cut with a jigsaw ... to keep the line straight we attached a straight piece of wood to run the saw along

The temporary board was screwed into place outside of the area to be used - once the cut was made the board was removed - a great solution for someone without a table saw!

Once the contact paper was adhered - we spray painted with Rustoleum Heirloom White

Removed the contact paper and painted the edges with Benjamin Moore Citron

Let it dry and then attached it to the wall over the bookshelf with 3M Command picture hanging strips

and there you have it, a custom beach sign!

We collected driftwood from a beach when coming back from a trip up north ...

added some local sand ...

I love the texture!

One of my favorite photos of Annabelle sticking her tongue out "sandy toes and salty kisses"

Love how a quick coat of citron paint finishes the edges!

"Summer Sun Makes Me Smile"

The best part about this sign is that I only had to buy a can of spray paint ... pretty good for $3!

Im loving the summer addition to our house!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

summer 2013

well, ok, this is gonna take a minute ... loyal readers might think that since i havent posted many new projects lately, that not much has been happening. they would be wrong. its summer, and there is more going on at dorset custom furniture now than there has been for, literally, years. lots of projects in the works, on the board and committed, and in the design stage. im thinking that maybe this time its for real, that the economy is finally rebounding, though i have been fooled several times in the last few years. cautious optimism creeps in ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

the kitchen we started back in may is slowly getting finished ... were on the home stretch, and the painters have taken over now .. here are a few progress shots, the last being from wednesday, the third.

weve got a little cornice work, and some pantry pullouts to construct and then we put it all back together when the paint is done and the appliances arrive ...

its starting to look like the model ..

next up on that project is a nice 8 x 8 master bath vanity, again painted. this is an early elevation that has since been revised.

this is the inspiration photo, with notes ...

we made the round corners and the main drawer box on tuesday and well be assembling the rest of the boxes later next week.

saw it, plane it, sand it ...

lots of parts to this project .. two other interesting vanities ...

this one in reclaimed barnboards, with their original, exterior texture intact ...

and some unusual corner shelves involving a hand hewn beam salvaged from the restoration process and some 3" thick torsion box shelves to fill the notches in the beam that were formerly occupied by the floor joists ..

plan view

above is the cardboard mockup, with some assorted door frames ... its a busy site

and for the same builder, on a different project, were going to get to do a slightly smaller, 8 version of this 10 cherry shaker style wall piece we did back in 2006, in the same house .. itll be old home days ..

and sams busy in the metal shop .. working on some new railings for the dorset church ..

there will be a nice handrail and some forged scrolly things .. more on that later ..

he is finishing up a couple more steel lounge chairs for a landgrove client, and weve got 3 or 4 more steel and wood furniture pieces on the board ... coffee tables, two dining tables ... i just noticed a couple sections of recently completed railings in the background of this photo .. and so it goes ...

and wills off to west virginia for next week to take an instrument repair course with bob smakula ... in the near future, hes intending to really focus on his banjo business and see where that goes. banjo, i think, #17, above. cocobolo and brass, fretless .. cherry and walnut neck and pot ... more info on wills banjos at seedersinstruments.com

and, weather permitting, which lately we certainly cant guarantee around here, well be having some walls for the new metal shop. drawings are finalized, windows are ordered, used slate has been purchased ... its all good. but did i mention the tropical monsoons we have been having here in vermont? like clockwork, most afternoons were getting an inch or so of fresh rain daily and its supposed to be 90+ degrees again today. sams backyard trout stream is running at 10 times its typical cubic feet per minute for this time of year. ten times its typical july flow, i said. blown out, is, i believe, the term.

walls monday ...