Towel Bars Beware

Oh, towel bars.  If I didn’t already have a nemesis, you would be my greatest foe.  I fucking hate towel bars.  Hate them super hard.  You can’t fit more than one towel on them without knowing some odd form of linen origami and when they’re folded up, they never dry fully.  Reaching in hope for a nice dry towel after getting out of the shower and wrapping yourself in what is essentially an annoyingly damp mold factory is one of the worst things ever in my fluffy bubble of a world. 

When the fella and I moved into our new house, one of the first things I did was install hooks next to the shower in the master bathroom.

Did they really expect us to comfortably fit two towels on that piece of crap bar?

I think maybe one box had been half unpacked before I declared, “Screw this noise!” and ran out to purchase two $1.99 hooks.  Still one of my favorite changes to the house.  Cut to over a year later and I have declared war against the towel bar in the guest bathroom.  Granted, the shower in this bathroom has only been used a handful of times (mostly as a wash basin for beer brewing equipment) so the issues I have against my second greatest adversary don’t pop up all that often but still, all towel bars must be exterminated. 

For once, the Daleks and I agree.

My plan of attack was to build a simple shelf with hooks so the towels could be hung sans linen origami and the shelf could hold some cool decorative/display items.  Due to my lack of woodworking knowledge, building something entirely from scratch was a little daunting so I opted for the most functional yet simple design possible.   Seriously simple.  Its two pieces of wood connected with a couple corner brackets, screws, and glue.  There are also hooks....did I mention the hooks?  Because they are kind of essential to this whole party.   

First step was to cut down and stain the plank of wood being used which was in no way pilfered from the scrap piles of a dozen or so construction sites located around our house thus making the main portion of this project free.  Made one cut and turned a 5x6x1 piece of wood into two 2.5x6x1 pieces of wood.   The bathroom this shelf is destined for is currently rocking an octopus theme so I wanted something more rustic and maybe nautical looking, like the shelf was created from old pieces of a pirate ship, all weathered, worn, and imperfect.  To create some distressing on the wood I used a crescent wrench and banged the shit outta this thing to create dents, divots, and scratches.  It was super fun. 

 

Top: untouched wood.  Bottom: banged up and stained...similar to a hooker on a rough night

The wood stain (Miniwax Wood Sheen in Colonial Walnut) pools in the flaws of the wood created from the cathartic wrench swinging session coloring these pieces darker and creating an aged look.

Once my wood was all awesomely banged up and the stain had dried it was time to start assembling this thing in way that it would hopefully stay together.

Ran a line of wood glue along the edge

Set with clamps during the drying period

For some extra security, I also added wood screws going through the back section of the shelf and into the actual ledge portion.  I marked where the hardware needed to go, drilled pilot holes, and then added the screws.

Yea, screws!

There was a slightly annoying issue with the hooks I bought in that they did not come with screws.  After digging through our large mish-mash of hardware, I managed to locate the six necessary to complete this step.  The other lame detail was my hooks were a bronze color whereas all the screws found were silver.  Silver screws on bronze hooks looked stupid so I painted them oil rubbed bronze with leftover spray paint from a previous project.  

Inferior stupid silver screw on left.  Amazingly awesome painted screw on right.

The corner brackets/screws also got a coat of spray paint

 After all the hardware had dried....or mostly dried....I'm really impatient, I rinsed and repeated the whole marking where things needed to go, drilled pilot holes, attached the hardware, and ended up with this.

I could not be more pleased with how this turned out.  Funny thing is, after I put this whole shebang together, I realized that I didn’t have the proper hardware to hang it on the wall.  So, this post will be split into two parts my friends.  In the follow up post, I’ll show everything involved with attaching the hanging hardware to the shelf and then removing every last trace of the old towel bar from the bathroom so that we may forever forget its existence and replace it with the glory of my newly constructed apparatus.

TO BE CONTINUED......

Bookcase Redo: Wine Bar Edition

So let’s make a long story short and then make it medium length.  One day I looked at the bookcase pictured below and thought, “That could totally be a wine bar.”  In probably what will prove to be record time, I thought of an idea and managed to execute it in the span of a day.  Good for me. 

On to the medium length story, the below bookcase sits in the corner of my kitchen with his buddy Wine Fridge where they hang out having grand adventures of keeping my booze at the proper temperature and storing serving pieces/cookbooks.  As you can see, the contents of the bookcase are pretty sparse and no matter how many times I wandered through the house looking for other pieces to make this look like a real space and not something that was thrown together in a corner (which it totally was) I kept coming up empty.  The husband and I just do not have that many decorative pieces.  Moving from a one bedroom apartment into a three bedroom home left a desire for a lot of different items and we’ve focused our extra money towards other things, like a kitchen table, bookcases, computer desk, etc. and not necessarily towards items to help beautify and personalize our home.

All in all, I like the placement of the bookcase, it helps adds some nice height to the corner and seems to ground the eating area.  But it lacked something to make it a stand-out piece.  And then the wine bar idea came to me. 

 

The only materials I needed to purchase were two of the upside down wine glass hangers.  One trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and $20 bucks later, I was all set to go.  After empting the top half of this bookcase (actual shelf area and cupboard are not connected) I enlisted some help from the muscles of the family i.e. the fella, and finagled the shelving half to the floor to get to work.

Attaching the glass holders took all of ten minutes.  The only tricky part of this process was I was attaching them to a fixed shelf (could not be easily/at all removed without taking the entire thing apart) so I was working sideways the whole time.  However you are working on this step though, whether it be sideways, from the top, upside down, or perhaps under water, simply place the hangers where you want them and mark the holes where the hardware is going to go.  I drilled small pilot holes as well, taking extra care not to drill straight through the shelf, so there was less chance of splitting the wood and the screws went in really easy.  Honestly, I probably could have skipped this step, but I like using power tools so I'll take any excuse to bust out the electric drill.

Not pictured: Hobbes on the other side of this shelf attacking the back of the bookcase.  Bookcase backings are apparently really threatening.

This project also allowed me to do something I’ve been dying to try which is add a paper or fabric backing to a bookcase. The pop of color and texture poking out from behind items displayed on a bookcase just makes me smile.  After digging through my fabric stockpile, I found a couple yards of a neat geometric pattern in a kelly green color.  The backing on this bookcase was the flimsy kind that was held in place by tack nails so it was easily pried up using the claw side of a hammer.  Once that was up, I used a staple gun to fix the fabric in place, trimmed the excess off, and then replaced the flimsy backing using some fresh tack nails being careful not to hammer them into the newly added staples.  Am I the only one who has a ton of leftover tack nails from assembling furniture?  I can never seem to use all of them up on their designated piece.



Back of shelving with backing removed



Hold the fabric tight as you staple around the edges. 



Kitten interruption: one of the many hazards of crafting



Shelving dekittened and excess fabric trimmed off.

Once the backing was back in place, the fella and I returned the shelving to its proper place and BAM, instant wine bar….well, almost.

A few glasses and accessories later and then BAM, instant wine bar.  Pictured here are a variety of wine glasses including our only set of champagne glasses that have Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas printed on them because that’s where we got married and they were free with the wedding package we chose.  So yea, we’re pretty fancy.  Also pictured is a half drank bottle of wine which used to take up space on the kitchen counter before I made this beautiful new home for it.  To help with the drinking of wine, I also snagged a small tray (pilfered from another room) to house a couple bottle openers, a foil cutter, and a glass container to collect corks. 

Yep, vintage milkshake tray to hold wine stuff.



Overall, I’m pretty stoked about this project.  It still needs a little tweaking, maybe a small piece of artwork to go in the glaringly empty space between the bottle of wine and the tray.  But, next time we have a party, I can totally see a couple open bottles of wine along with small bowls filled with antipasto goodies for snacking being stationed here.  Also, bonus, having the majority of our wine glasses in this spot cleared out some much needed space in our kitchen cupboards.       

My husband has issues

Sure, I mean, we all have issues right.  Nobody is perfect.  My almost complete lack of knowledge for the proper placement of commas is proof of that and I'm an English Grad.  Thanks college.  Anyways, the actual issue I am referring to are the Deal a Day T-shirt sites (like this one, this one, and then this one) that my husband previously frequented ALL THE TIME and managed to amass a ridiculous amount of graphic t-shirts.  He then chose to drop a ton of weight (around 40lbs) so most of his shirts no longer fit him and he had to amass a whole new crop to fit his slender new physique.  Way to be wasteful, sweetie. 

We ended up storing most of the shirts in a bin till we either donated or crafted the pile away. Now, the most obvious project for all these shirts is a t-shirt quilt.  So, yea, that's what I did.

First things first, sort through the pile of shirts (the below picture is only a fraction of what we have too) and select shirts to try and fit into the quilt.  An additional part of this step is to cover Hobbes in a pile of shirts because he's a blob and we can.      

See, he loves it under there.  He's like the Junk Lady from Labyrinth. 




Once all the shirts had been picked out, I arranged them in a pattern that seemed to work.   My main goal was to mix the shirts up enough so that none of the black or gray shirts, of which there were many, were lumped together in too big of a clump.

*Forewarning, I constructed this thing in probably the most complicated manner possible.*

Working column by column, the shirt with the widest graphic was trimmed down so there was about an inch of plain t-shirt fabric surrounding the picture.  The second step was to trim the rest of the shirts in that column to the same width.  Once all the columns were set, I cropped a bit off the top and bottom of each shirt so that the columns were the same length.

All in all, this process maybe took me around four episodes of Simpsons.  Not a huge chunk of time but there's probably an easier way to tackle this step.  What that way is, I don't know.  Obviously.  Or else I would have done it that way.       

After all the shirts were cut down, I started sewing the columns together.  Easy peasy for even a beginner, nothing but straight stitches.  Pin the edges of the shirts together, graphic facing graphic, and sew together.  

Repeat this step until all of the columns are assembled.  Also, make sure that the shirts are not upside down when you sew them together as evidenced in the top right corner with the Halloween shirt.  If this happens, use a stitch puller to separate the shirts so that they can be sewn back together in the correct positioning.  Extensive muttered swearing is highly recommended during this time. 

Next is to sew all of the columns together.   Pin graphic side to graphic side and sew.

Now, as pictured above, some of my columns were not the same length as I had previously thought.  This....was a bummer...but only a couple inches of the Phantasm shirt would be affected and you'd still see most of the creepy tall man so I didn't stress out over it too much.  Also, even though my construction method was a bit haphazard, I really like the final results where the rows are staggered.  Most of the other t-shit quilts I've seen were made by cutting each shirt into the exact same size and sewn together in a neat little grid so it was fun to try something a bit different.  

Unfortunately for my desire to whittle down my fabric supply by avoiding purchasing new stuff whenever possible, I didn't have enough of any fabric on hand to use as the backing for the shirts so I had to buy something new.  After wandering through the fabric store, this adorable and crazy soft super fleece fabric jumped out at me.

To assemble the shirts and the backing fabric, I laid the fleece on the floor, placed the shirt quilt on top, smoothed everything out, and cut the fleece so it was the same size as the quilt.  Very precise sewing science in the works here.

Next, you guessed it, pin graphic to graphic and sew.  However, be sure to leave a small opening between the two layers or else you'll be pretty disappointed in the end with your weird inside out blanket.  Of course, if that's what you were going for, then you get to skip the next step.  Hooray! 

If you did not want to create a weird backwards blanket then use the small opening to pull the entire thing inside out and stitch the opening closed.

BLANKET ACTION SHOT!!!!

Thank you Silent Hill for distracting him enough for me to snap some pictures.

Blanket action shots are not as dramatic as one might think.  Unless maybe the blanket was on a tiger or something.  That would be pretty dramatic.  Or adorable.  I'm leaning more towards adorable.  Oh man, comfy tiger purr would be the best thing.

A Somewhat Oldie but a Goodie: And the Owl Goes

People must do a ton of searches for snow owls because this post from my short lived first blog has garnered the most views.  Decided to bring him on over to the new one slightly edited.  Eventually, I'll delete my old blog, but for now I'm going to bring over two or three of my favorites in order to fill up some space since the husband and I are going to be way busy over the next month putting in our backyard so I'll be posting even less than I already do.  IF that's even possible. 

And the Owl Goes.....

Another painting project?  Yes, and it's awesome so deal with it.  While perusing the aisle at Hobby Lobby during one of their big clearance sales I came across this fat little gentlemen.

 

With only one and a half eyes, how could I resist?  This is one of the most odd planters I have come across.  His body had a porcelain like finish with that flowery curly cue pattern but his eyes and feet looked like someone had smeared brown and green paint on them.  It is pretty ridiculous to look at in real life.  But the shape of him had so much potential I had to snag him.   

First I made him a lovely little cardboard perch and then went to work with some spray paint.  Next, after many, many, many thin coats of white spray paint I was finally able to cover up that extremely persistent and therefore annoying blue flower pattern which resulted in a nice clean white owl planter.
 

I was half tempted to stop at this point and leave it white but I figured if I didn't like it with the colors I had planned on adding I could always just spray paint it white again.  That's why spray paint is so awesome.  The plan was to color his eyes, beak and feet with black paint and use blue to fill in the space around his eyes.  Why those colors you ask?  Mostly because I thought it would look nice and was partially inspired by this actual owl.



Not sure what he's looking at but I'm pretty sure he wants to eat its face.


Also, I already had blue spray paint and a tube of black acrylic.  Yep, decorating inspiration can come from many places including feelings of laziness and not wanting to spend money.  In order to add the blue spray paint, I had to section off the eye area so as to not ruin the rest of the now perfectly white body.  To achieve this I had to concoct a tape and Sunday comics mask.    



He could totally be a crime fighter




Featured in the background:  Our lovely, soon to be gone, dirt yard.



 

A few more thin coats of spray paint and the careful removal of the tape we have blue eyed perfection.


Is it weird that his eyes now match our great room?

The next step was to add some black paint to the eyes, beak, and feet so that he no longer had that creepy dead blue eyed stare.  Using a small paint brush and a mostly steady hand, I added black acrylic paint to the eyes, beak, and feet to add some more definition and a bit of personality.   

I think this planter turned out pretty adorable.  Now I just need to figure out what kind of plant needs to call him home.


**Update**

So, instead of getting a plant for my owl planter I decided to use him for something a bit more practical.  Turns out he was the perfect size to house all of my contact paper, cellophane wrapping, sign vinyl, and other vaious tube shaped items.  Much better than my previous storage solution for all this stuff which was leaning everything precariously in a corner of the closet. 

And Then a Space Became Useful

After long last, the craft room, my mecca of creative glory, is no longer random piles of crap piled on top of other piles of crap.  The craft room had turned into one of two rooms in the house where things ended up if we didn't know what to do with it or if we were cleaning up real quick before people came over.  After attempting to clean and organize my space and repeatedly failing for it to stick, we are now on the road to recovery.   

Anyways, enough rambling, onto the projects!

I whipped up three quick and easy projects that helped to organize my work area.

Project 1: Less than stellar thrift store shelf into awesome display area

Step 1. Purchase or barter your way towards owning a shelf. 

Step 2. Lightly sand and then spray paint shelf a color that will be visually appealing to your face.

Step 3. Hang shelf on wall.  Nail into studs or use anchors when necessary.

BAM!  A beautiful purple shelf for various glues and my random awesome things.  I’m pretty in love with this little guy.  The dark purple against the light purple appeals so much to me that now I’m hunting for other shelves of various sizes that I can paint the same dark purple and hang elsewhere in this room.  Shelf collage of purple happiness.  

Project 2: We Can Rebuild It, We Have the Technology

Might I introduce you to my previously used thread holder?  Don’t get too attached, the little guy shown below is no more. 

Step 1. Use a claw hammer or some other prying tool, like maybe your teeth, and pry or gnaw bars off of base.

Step 2. Glue to already owned or freshly snagged bulletin board.

*Quick side project: Get an empty frame and glue a piece of thick cork or a hacked off chunk of an old giant bulletin board into it.  Results in a nicely framed bulletin board.  Take advantage of your local thrift store and this would probably cost less than $10.  

BAM! New thread holder/bulletin board.  This was a spur of the moment project in the style of use anything within a five foot radius.  Now, the extremely detailed and highly specific directions above may not apply to you but I'm positive that you can improvise your way into creating something similar or better.  Probably better.   


Project 3: About Damn Time This Got Done

In addition to the gold framed bulletin board now bulletin board/thread holder pictured above, there was a second gold frame hanging above my desk, as well.  This one however, was empty.  It mocked me each and every time I walked into the room.  Why, you might ask? Because, it's a jerk.  It was a reminder of my procrastination.  The empty frame's fate was to have a pegboard mounted in it to hang my various shears, pliers, and scissors from.  An empty frame that I hung up around two months into moving into our home.  Ten months later, empty it still hung. 

I shall be mocked NO more!

 
Step 1: Acquire a frame, empty of its junk if necessary, and paint if an undesirable or gross color.

Step 2: Obtain a piece of pegboard that will fit in empty frame.  Paint, or stain (as I chose to do) pegboard so it is pleasing to your eye and the area it will be hung in.

Step 3: Use some wood glue to attach pegboard and frame.  Be sure to allow proper drying time for glue so your stuff doesn't get messed up.  Watch a movie.  Or do some laundry maybe.  I don't know.  Don't be so damn impatient.

Step 4:  While you were getting pegboard and an empty frame you should have also picked up some pegboard hardware.  A hardware store, garage sale, or craigslist could be helpful.

Step 5: Hang frame on the wall.  Arrange crafting tools on board in an orderly fashion.

Upon finishing the above three projects, your desk area might look something like this.

I'm hitting a bit of snag when it comes to adding color to this room.  The gold frames and the dark purple shelf look great but it would be nice to add a bit more variety.  There is also a bookcase and a cupboard storage piece in this room that require makeovers.  Two chairs reside in this room as well, both of which are partially pictured above that need reupholstering.  Making everything dark purple and gold or silver seems a bit overkill and crazy ugly.