Dresser Update

You've seen my hand-me-down dresser on the blog before.  I painted it a few years ago so I could have a full matching set of bedroom furniture.  Well now that I have replaced most of the old set, the only piece that doesn't match is the dresser.  The piece is great, it just doesn't match.  So I went about stripping it.  I didn't think that I'd be able to do it while living in an apartment.  Sanding it with a power sander is out of the question.  It just kicks up too much sawdust and it gets all over everything.  In addition to inhaling all that stuff.  Next option is stripping it with a chemical stripper.  Also out of the question because of the enclosed space and dog, or so I thought.  I found a product while looking around online called Citristrip.  It promises to strip off layers of paint without the bad smell, the toxic fumes, etc.  I went to Home Depot and picked up a bottle of it, a pail, and a plastic scraper.  I already had drop cloths and sponges to use. 

The product is really easy to use.  You just wipe a thick coat on and leave it.  As you can see from the photos, the product bubbles as it removes your layers of paint.  My dresser had a few layers of polyurethane, paint, and then the original covering on it (I'm not sure what it was).

The package says to leave it on for 20 minutes to 24 hours.  I covered my piece and by the time I was finished covering, the first area I worked on was ready to be stripped.  I didn't have to use any force, just push the product off the surface. 

There was still a bit of reside left from the original finish that didn't come off, so I put another layer on those spots.  

This second layer got most of the rest off.  I'll sand the little bits that are left and it will be ready for my new stain!  

I can't believe how easy this product was.  And completely safe to use in an apartment, around pets, and it doesn't hurt you if you get it on your skin!  

DIY Avengers Masks

I love when I get strange sewing requests from people.  Usually the requests I get are pretty normal, like will you fix a seam for me.  Not this time though!  I got a request through work to make a set of Avengers masks for a skit to perform in front of children. 

I had to find a way to make the masks recognizable while not completely covering the actors' faces.  I ended up using pieces of craft felt in different colors and different layers for effect.  It was all hand sewn, though it probably could have been sewn on a machine.  I was doing it at work, so I didn't have access to one. 

I also made a Captain America shield (it was for a synagogue, hence the different star in the middle), and a helmet out of cardstock for Thor. 

With a few other costume pieces, the skit went off smashingly.  Yes... I went there... Smash.

Painting Custom Art

My husband loves maps.  He spends free time just looking at maps online.  He even has a favorite map representation.  So for our anniversary this year, I knew exactly what I had to make him.  A gigantic map of the world.  I guess I can't really call it gigantic though... it's very tiny compared to the actual world.

I found a picture of his favorite map and printed it onto a transparency.  Luckily, the place I work at had a projector around that I was able to use.  I projected the map onto the canvas and traced the outline.  Once home, I painted the map with teal and copper acrylic paints.  To get texture in the paint, I applied the paint liberally, practically just globbing it on.  I had to do a few coats to get the canvas completely covered, but the paint dried fast so there isn't too much down time.  Now I just need to find a way to frame it on the wall!

Decorating a Small Bathroom

We moved into our current apartment about three quarters of a year ago.  One of the hardest rooms to decorate and organize has been the bathroom.  Bathrooms usually do not have much storage, and this is even more true living in a big city.  We have a pedestal sink too, which means the only storage is behind the mirror.  I don't do my hair in the bathroom anyways, which is mostly a holdover from years of never having my own bathroom.  I've always shared it with a brother, floormates (oh college bathrooms), roommates, and now my husband.  But this still leaves many items that need to find a place.

The first big project was new shower curtains.  The previous one was my husband's from college.  We upgraded from a stiff plastic curtain to essentially curtain sheers.  I found the fabric at a fantastic fabric warehouse in Chicago.  I love having sheer curtains in the shower.  The let lots of light pass through, which is even more important since our current bathroom has a window in the tub.  I bought enough fabric for the curtain so that I could hang them near the ceiling.  We have wonderful tall ceilings in our apartment, so this makes the whole bathroom feel much bigger than it actually is.  Shower liners do not come this long, so I ended up buying two of them and just sewing them together.  No one is looking  that closely at the inside of my shower liner... I hope.

To add more of that rustic flare to our apartment for my husband, we put an orange crate in the bathroom below the pedestal sink.  We can store our scale, extra toilet paper, and any other extra stuff we need without it looking like it is just piled up in the corner.

Toss a few baskets and art pieces up and you're done!

Yearly Resolutions: Woodworking, Staining Furniture

This has also been the year of staining.  I refinished a midcentury coffee table that we had gotten from a friend.  The finish on the top was partially scraped off and it was chipping a bit.  So I sanded it, stained it, and tossed some poly on it.  A note to all the other DIY'ers out there... don't power sand in your apartment.  It doesn't work.  Well it does work, you just have dust everywhere.  I didn't have anywhere else to do it, but I also wouldn't do it again.

And my current project, which is a holdover from last year, is a new set of bedside tables.  My brother built the tables for us as a Christmas gift.  I wanted something that had midcentury lines to cater to my taste, but was stained in a rustic dark color for my husband's taste.  I did a few layer so of stain and lots of layers of poly.  Now we have a partially matching set of bedroom furniture!  

Here are the boxes post stain.  Now they are just waiting for the legs to arrive!