Blanket Romance

Posted by Amber in Antiquing on May 30, 2012  ||  4 Comments

So it’s no shock that I love Pendleton. I have wanted the Glacier Park Blanket because it uses the classic Hudson’s Bay pattern. You can imagine my delight when an antique store in Weatherford had the blanket just hanging out in the window. I went in and demanded requested the blanket be removed from the window display and come home with me.

Yes it was faded and stained, but I couldn’t believe that I found an antique blanket with the Hudson Bay pattern. The guy said it was Pendleton, so I was blinded to all the wear and tear. It was only $25. I snapped this quick picture before I dropped it off with the dry cleaning.


via Rowell Photography

I had all these dreams that Nick and I would float out on the river cuddling with our Pendleton. (It would definitely look like this.) So romantic and draped in classic goodness that is green, red, yellow, indigo stripes.

We got it home and styled the PB chair with it. (Ignore the fact that it’s in the kitchen nook.) It was still stained and worn, but I was just so excited that I could one day have this baby hanging on a ladder in my living room (or bedroom…haven’t thought that far ahead).

Then I noticed the tag. (Rule #1 when shopping for antiques look for a tag or label that identifies the maker of whatever product you are looking at.) We violated rule 1. I was sad and should have known better. I knew the Pendleton blanket was a newer issue to commemorate national parks. You can still find these Hudson Bay STYLE blankets on ebay and etsy, so I wasn’t too upset. I mean there are worse things.

Ours is a JC Penny Golden Dawn blanket. It is 100% wool, so that’s a plus. It’s also really itchy, so I wouldn’t want to go flowing around all romantic on the water with Nick after all. However I only paid $25. A new Pendleton Glacier National Park blanket is $218. A new Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket is $479. I’m still counting this one as a win.

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A craft project revisited / Happy Memorial Day

Posted by Nick in Side Note on May 28, 2012  ||  4 Comments

About a week ago, Ramona found an old craft project of Amber’s. A jumper that she made using a pattern from the book One Yard Wonders. Ramona immediately wanted to wear it.

It was a great chance to do a quick photoshoot.

She was loving it!

After she had been wearing it a little while, she started pulling the top down (not a classy move for a young lady).  So Amber decided to add some shoulder straps for it.

Voila! She was ready to go. She actually wore it to school the next day and got a lot of compliments on how cute it is! Amber is going to have to add fashion designer to her business card now.

We hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day! We’re looking foward to spending time with our family and recharging the batteries a little bit.

 

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Gold Anniversary…kinda

Posted by Amber in Side Note on May 22, 2012  ||  4 Comments

Nick and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary. If you are doing the math we are both 27, so 27 – 8 = barely legal. I am sorry to say I only have 2 digital wedding pictures (and they are terrible/worst pictures ever not good), but here you go.

It’s okay to laugh. It won’t hurt my feelings. This is my family and new husband on May 22, 2004. So this year to be traditional we thought we’d celebrate with a bronze anniversary gift. I saw this gift guide last year by Nicole (who oddly enough shares our wedding date) and haven’t stopped thinking about bronze/gold/nontraditional flatware.

 


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This flatware from Anthropologie is by far my favorite on the gift guide. It calls to me, but it’s $36 per place setting. I would want 12 settings, so $432 before tax + shipping. Despite the fact that’s is way more than I want to spend, it’s sold out.


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There is also this option from west elm. I know it’s not bronze. It’s gold, but let’s get crazy and skew a little from tradition. It’s $29 per setting, so cheaper at $348 but still more than I want to spend. Can you tell I was stuck on getting flatware? I googled and searched and came upon this…

One Kings Lane had 8 place setting for $99. It is very similar to the west elm flatware. We bought it because it’s beautiful. Although technically not bronze (neither was the anthropologie one), it’s what we wanted. I ordered it before the sale ended for a total of $213.95 for 16 settings. Yes that’s 4 more settings than I wanted, but it’s still less than my other options and things tend to disappear around here anyway.  (Also can you believe the luck of a flash site having EXACTLY what I was searching for available at the time I was searching for it?? Never happens.)

Look at this amazing wedding table with similar flatware from the every girl. Also take note the chairs are bentwoods. Fitting don’t you think?

Just to make this post about our anniversary gift even longer, we also bought this brass (again not technically bronze but according to wikipedia there is a historically “unclear boundary” between bronze and brass…yes I did just wikipedia that) trinket box at an antique store in McKinney for $12. I thought it would be a good accessory to style with. Gold and brass are really trending in home decor now (sounds like a trend watch post).

Mother’s Day 2012 at my parents

Amazing what a difference 8 years makes. We are celebrating it 50th wedding anniversary style with gold flatware. I promise to throw a party when it’s our real 50th anniversary and use my gold flatware (so only 16 of you are invited).

In case you’re wondering what we’re doing tonight, we plan on keeping it pretty low key. My wonderful mother is coming over to watch Ramona, and we’re going to have some pizza at Cane Rosso in Dallas. We’ve been jones-ing for more good neopolitan style pizza since our amazing meal at apizza scholls in Portland. Plus it’s really close to west elm (What? A leopard doesn’t change its spots).

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Radio & Reasons

Posted by Amber in DIY, Side Note on May 18, 2012  ||  Comments Off on Radio & Reasons

If you follow us on facebook, you already heard/saw that I was on Down and Dirty with Frank Fontana Wednesday. The producer Andy found the shameful post about our dresser mess and asked me to come on the show to talk about it in their segment DIY Disasters.

You can listen to my babbling (yes I was completely nervous) here. I begin said babbling 43 minutes into the show. You can also watch it here in case you want to see the pictures. The video will start at the beginning of my segment. Despite being a nervous wreck, I am glad I got to share half of the story with our dresser (read the other half here).

It got me thinking about working with veneer and refinishing furniture in general. I thought I’d make a list of the reasons why (and possibly why not) to refinish veneer furniture. So there goes…

1. Veneer furniture is considerably cheaper than solid wood.
Although the craigslist ad said our piece was solid wood, it wasn’t. We didn’t know until we got there and honestly it was too cheap for us to care ($150 for 2 dressers). Painting veneer is not different from painting solid wood. You can repair chips with filler and not tell a difference (if you do your repairs correctly). Staining is a little different. Luckily the repairs to stained part of our dresser were not extensive, so it isn’t noticeable. Also it’s way cheaper than buying new even with supplies.

2. If the veneer furniture is just too darn sexy.

We don’t get a ton of mid century modern pieces in the south. (Thank you west coast hoarders.) Our dresser has clean lines and sexy legs that made it impossible to pass up especially at the price. If you love the look, don’t pass it up just because it is veneer.

3. It’s not impossible (or even difficult) to refinish, it just presents some new challenges.
If I would have stained furniture before, I would have avoid the 2 huge mistakes (stripper and sticky stain) that I made. Those mistakes happened not because it was a veneer piece, but because I followed advise I shouldn’t have. Moral: Don’t use stripper and let the stain dry completely…meaning it shouldn’t be sticky before you apply more stain or poly. The new challenges are simply that you have a limited amount of wood surface you can sand into. You have to sand the previous finish off and have enough veneer left to absorb the stain you will apply. It sounds scarier than it actually is. I had to sand the drawers twice, and it didn’t wind up being a big deal except the time I’d lost.

4. If things get crazy, have a plan B.
Frank gave a plan B which was painting the drawers and doing a faux wood finish on them. Painting the drawers was not out of the question. If things wouldn’t have turned around on my second attempt, we probably wouldn’t have had another choice. I don’t think I would have loved the afters as much, but I am so in love with the shape and look of the dresser I wouldn’t have hated it even if I had to go to plan B.

At the end of the segment, Frank talked about trial and error. He could not have summed up DIY any better. This was my first staining experience, so I had nothing but error on my first attempt. I learned (google > some Home Depot advice *note: I’ve had great advice from Home Depot just not in this case) and retried. I got more than I expected from the finished the piece. Oh DIY sometimes I wish I could quit you, but then you go and get all pretty on me.

Anyway that’s my general advice/warnings on working with veneer and heck DIY projects in general. I tend to be more design minded than DIY meaning I buy for looks (the bones of a piece) then figure what the heck I need to do to it. Now with all this being said I would much rather have a solid wood piece, but sometimes that’s not possible (budget, availability, etc.).

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Small Changes

Posted by Amber in Bathroom, Side Note on May 14, 2012  ||  2 Comments

Okay so not every improvement is time consuming or expensive. Our hallway bathroom (otherwise known as the guest/Ramona’s bathroom) needs to be updated. The tub is almond. The tile is underwhelming to say the least. The vanity is cream yellow marble with a shell shaped sink. I could go on forever, but you get the point. I don’t like anything in the room except the toilet which we have replaced as a phase 1 (??) of the updating process.

This post is about a small change to make this room more pleasing since an overhaul isn’t high on the priority list right now. We bought this shower curtain from Home Goods a while ago. It’s okay, but pattern wears on you as months go by in a room you don’t like to begin with. It was time for a change…

I saw that Kate Spade has a new line at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. (Thanks pinterest!) I rushed out and bought this shower curtain. We’ve had it for about a month now, and I love it as much as I did when I first saw it. You can’t tell in the picture but 5 of the stripes are actually ribbon.

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Here is a much better picture in a way cooler bathroom. I’d love to have to claw foot tub in ours, but probably won’t happen at this casa. However I will be pushing for white subway and penny tile because that looks a-mazing.

Isn’t it lovely? It’s classic and neutral. No matter what we do with the bathroom in the future. Here’s the best part. It cost $34.55 for this small bathroom upgrade. I saved $8 by using those 20% coupons you get in the mail. It’s not a knock-your-socks-off, wow-look-what-you-did-to-this-room upgrade, but I like the bathroom just a little bit more. Sometimes you have to decorate around ugly until you can afford to improve it permanently (or move, whatever comes first).

So there you go. A small change that makes me smile (and makes me feel rich because I have a kate spade shower curtain). Make sure you follow us on facebook because there are some exciting things happening around here this week, and you don’t want to miss it!

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How to Stain & Paint Veneer Furniture

Posted by Amber in DIY on May 9, 2012  ||  20 Comments

So after all the DIY drama I shared Monday, here’s the tutorial on how to stain & paint veneer furniture the right way.

I am not going to go into too much depth on how to paint the furniture (see our tutorial on that here), but I do want to touch on the differences with this piece. I chose to hand sand the shell with 80 grit paper. There were some chips in the veneer as well as scratches. I filled them with Elmer’s wood filler (note: I used this wood filler because I painted the shell. You cannot stain this filler, but see below for that product!) and sanded it with 220 grit paper.

I wanted a lacquered look, but without the headache of lacquering a piece. Enter Behr hi-gloss enamel in ultra pure white. Hi-gloss paint is much simpler to apply than lacquer. When you paint a piece white (or another light color), you cannot use polyurethane as a protectant since it will yellow over time. The wonderful thing about this hi-gloss paint is it has enamel in it, so I didn’t have to protect it with anything. It cures completely in 3 weeks to a hard, durable finish. You can use the dresser during that time, but I wouldn’t put anything heavy on it until it’s completely cured. If you don’t want to paint hi-gloss, you can protect light paint colors with polycrylic.

Sand the drawers with 80 grit paper with the wood grain. I used a Ryobi corner cat sander. I filled in the holes with Minwax stainable wood filler and sanded that with 220 grit paper. Make sure you sand evenly and get the finish off. Wood (in this case wood veneer) absorbs stain, so if your piece isn’t sanded evenly it won’t absorb evenly. Make sure to clean all that dust off your furniture before you paint or stain. *You cannot skip sanding when you stain. You must sand for your stain to adhere to your furniture correctly and evenly.

I chose Minwax Dark Walnut stain for the drawers. Apply it in the direction of the wood grain with a foam or natural brush. I used a foam brush. I let the stain set for 20 minutes before I wiped it off. I wanted the drawers to absorb as much of the dark color as possible.

Use a clean white cloth to wipe the stain off after you’ve let it set. You can see how it is coming off black on the rag, but the drawer is noticeably darker. Wipe slowly with the wood grain (as with everything else). I wiped until the drawer looked evenly stained. It is still wet at this point, but you can see how much of the stain has been absorbed.

I chose to put another coat of stain on for an even darker finish. (2 coats is the max you can apply because at that point the wood has absorbed as much as it is able to.) Even though you can typically recoat within 4-6, I was staining in high humidity and waited 48 hours. If the stain is sticky, then it’s not dry. Give it more time. If it’s still sticky after you give it more time, you can wipe your drawers with paint thinner (it cannot be low odor) to remove some of the stain that way. A Minwax rep that I spoke to recommends wiping every stain project down with paint thinner to remove any excess stain. I don’t think it’s always necessary but if you are doubting your stain job at this point do it just as a precaution. It will lighten the stain so you will have to wipe the whole drawer face not just the sticky spot.

*The light on the photo makes the right side look darker, but the stain is even across the drawer face.

Apply a THIN coat of Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane in clear satin. I used a foam brush to slowly apply the poly to the faces. I applied 2 coats. Sanding between coats with 220 grit paper. On the final coat of poly, I placed the drawer faces down to keep as many bugs and dirt particles from getting stuck in my smooth drawers. Let them dry for 24 hours and cure for 72 hours before heavy use.

It. Is. Gorgeous. If you look closely you can see that the shell has 3 braces between the drawers (those nice curvy things that make the dresser so pretty) that were also stained and protected with poly. I used Frog Tape (and craft brushes close to the edges) to keep the stain from getting in the way of the paint and vise versa.

Right now the newly refinished dresser is working as a buffet in our formal dining. It’s not practical as a buffet since my platters are too large to hide in the drawers. However, it does have the same feel as the organic modernism buffet we want. Eventually the dresser will make it’s way into a nursery, but obviously I couldn’t refinish the dresser when I was pregnant so I did it before! Now I just have to work on that whole making a baby thing since said baby has a dresser waiting for it.

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DIY Dresser Mess

Posted by Amber in DIY on May 7, 2012  ||  2 Comments

When we picked up this mid century dresser, we knew we wanted to paint the shell white and stain the drawers. I know how to paint furniture (table, chairs, and dresser), but I haven’t stained furniture before. The concept is the same sure. However, the drawers are veneer, so here’s how something simple turned into more DIY than I anticipated.

Problem #1: Not all the drawers were chipped, but here’s the worst not terrible as far size of the chips. However, it was chipped down to the particle board. I did some googling to see if I needed something special to repair the veneer. One site said veneer tape would work for corners, but I would have to cut the tape out in the shape of the chip. It seemed a little more tedious than I wanted, but I figured since I didn’t have to do all the drawers I’d check into it. I went to a specialty wood store. They had no idea what I was talking about. (Great.) They said I would need to buy all new veneer to apply to the drawers after I scraped the old veneer off. Um…no I was out for multiple reasons. First, that was way too much work for a few chips especially since it was really only semi-bad in 1. Second, it was going to be $100 for the veneer (technically more than I paid for the piece when you consider I got 2 dresser for $150). I just filled the holes with stainable wood filler.

Problem #2: I didn’t want to sand the drawers. The veneer wasn’t Ikea-thin, but I was still uneasy about sanding too much of the veneer off especially now that I knew how expensive it would be to replace the veneer. I bought Citristrip stripping gel (which smells like some kind of orange alcoholic fun time beverage). You just brush it on and 30 minutes later scrape it off.

It looked like chocolate icing. It wasn’t easy to scrape off clean either. I would not recommend you using striping gel on curved surfaces. In fact I wouldn’t recommend it at all, but in case you decide to ignore me and do it anyway just trust me and don’t apply it to anything with a curve. After struggling with all 9 drawers for hours, I decided to call it a night and try again in the morning.

Problem #3: The stripper would not all scrape off. I used mineral spirits to try and rub the stickiness away, but it only half worked. At this point I had lost a full day struggling to rid the drawers of sticky stripper (I know it’s as awful as it sounds in DIYing too). I had to give in…

I sanded the drawers anyway. The drawers had to be even or the stain wouldn’t absorb evenly which of course would look terrible and be a complete disaster. I knew sanding was the only option to achieve an even stain on the drawers. I wish I would have just begun with this. I used 80 grip paper and my Ryobi. I just kept in mind that I needed to get to the bare veneer and STOP.

Problem #4: I applied the stain to the bare veneer. I let it cure for a full day. It was sticky. I went to Home Depot to ask if that was typical of stains before you sealed them with polyurethane. The guy said it was sticky because I hadn’t applied the poly yet. Made total sense to me, so I applied my 2nd coat. I waited another full day. I LOVED how rich the stain was, but it was completely sticky now.

I knew it couldn’t be right. I sanded and knew my prep work was not the issue, so I googled (should have done that first) then called Minwax (yes the pros). Well it was like 90% humidity that week. The first coat wasn’t dry yet, so adding the 2nd coat sent the drawers over the edge. The edge of no return…like I can’t fix it…like I have to start over all over. Technically, I tried using paint thinner to remove the stickiness (the stain) since Minwax recommended that before I started over. I got streaky drawers. That method probably would have been more successful if I didn’t have 2 layers of stain. MORAL: If your stain is sticky, let it dry longer.

I’m all for attempting a DIY and pushing yourself to learn and experiment more. You can do surprisingly more than you think, so challenge yourself. However at this point in the project, I was considering finding a professional. We figured we could sell the other dresser and use that money for the pro. I was frustrated (yes there were tears), but mainly I didn’t want to completely ruin the dresser. Ultimately, I decided to give it 1 more try before hiring someone. I’m glad I did. I’ll share how to stain and paint a veneer dresser (without all the mistakes) later this week!

Anyone else found themselves knee deep in a DIY disaster? Did you stick it out? Or pick another route?

**Update: See how the dresser looks now that it’s finished!

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April Goal Check

Posted by Amber in Side Note on May 3, 2012  ||  4 Comments

I feel like I should have somewhat of a free pass on some of my goals for this month because (1) I was out of town 1 weekend, (2) my grandma came to visit for 2 week, and (3) I caught up on both season of Downton Abby. Needless to say I’ve been a busy girl regardless of what my goals say.

1. Complete at least 1 crafty project per month.

Technically I did work (and actually finish) our plans for our mid century dresser. However, I have not blogged and shared the project with you. Can we count this as a half done crafty project? Or is it a whole because it’s been finished since early April? Who cares I’m counting it. Look for the proof sometime next week as for now take my word for it.

2. Read at least 1 book per month. (I totally killed this goal by reading 2 books. I’m not going to brag or anything but that’s some pretty good reading skills I have.)

The first book I read was The Girl in the Italian Bakery. I picked it for 2 reasons: I liked the name, and it was free on amazon since I have a prime subscription. Mainly the second reason. I liked about 3/4 of it. I could have lived without the entire girl in the Italian bakery bit that seemed really insignificant to the guy’s life. I was really into it before that because people’s lives are interesting and the guy had a very interesting childhood.

Also I couldn’t stop thinking about his 9 year old friend that disappeared. Unsolved cases are so unsettling to me, so I googled Andy Puglisi to see if they ever solved it. Apparently another child from their project made a documentary called Have You Seen Andy? I wanted to watch it, but it wasn’t on HBO Go. Maybe one day.

My second book was a Ender’s Game. Someone told me a long time ago if I liked young adult books, then I should check this one out. I thought hey this is perfect I can read another book real fast so I won’t look like such a slacker on my goals. (Not. Even. Kidding.) I have mixed feelings about it though. I was expecting more fantasy (think Harry Potter or Hunger Games), but it’s Science Fiction. I don’t really do SciFi because the idea of aliens has never interested me. I’ll might finish the series. In fact I probably will, but I am not in a big rush. I don’t know didn’t love, but didn’t hate it either.

3. Do more fun things with Ramona. (Sorry Ramona’s hair is a mess, and the picture is blurry. She was running around outside like a crazy women, and I apparently can’t take photos on my phone.)

The family went to a hibachi restaurant for my mom’s birthday. Of course Ramona freaked out with the fire business. She has been asking to go to the fire restaurant at least once a day since. We still go to the park while it’s not 110 degrees outside. In fact we even made some friends! (My child is in need of friends in a desperate way. She tries to play with everyone when she’s at the park. She even shares her toys and snacks, so call if you’re interested!)

4. Journal every day (or fill in when you realized you haven’t done this in a week)

I don’t know if you heard but at the beginning of April we had some crazy tornadoes in Arlington. Ramona was at school that day while I hunkered down in the bathtub by myself. Crying. A lot. I have never been so scared in my entire life. Not for me of course for my daughter who I couldn’t protect. I knew the tornado was in south and central Arlington near Ramona’s school. I was stuck at home. It was the most helpless and overwhelming feeling. I rushed out to get her between the passing of 1 tornado and the beginnings of another. We spent the next hour cuddling in the bathtub. Thank God he protected us and everyone else in the metroplex. There were no deaths but serious damage. First time I ever thought maybe I should leave Texas and all this tornado business…

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Shop: Pendleton Woolen Mills Portland

Posted by Amber in Shop, Side Note on May 1, 2012  ||  Comments Off on Shop: Pendleton Woolen Mills Portland

Since we were killing some time due to a delayed flight, Nick found a Pendleton Woolen Mill outlet. We headed over with about 20 min to spare.

I knew they wouldn’t have our Ace blanket, but they did have a huge selection of throws and blankets in traditional patterns. They did have my favorite pattern (Glacier Park), but I don’t have an immediate need for it. Who says I can’t practice discretion??

The real reason we came to this store was for the fabric. They sell Pendleton fabrics by the yard. I know wool isn’t exactly Texas Summer fabric, but I’ve got some ideas.

So we got a ton of red and gray buffalo check wool along with some plain black wool. It was in the remnants bin for $5 per pound. We bought 9 pounds. One of the red pieces is sewn on all sides and could be a throw without any sewing.

Here’s a close up, so you can see the texture. We also got a yard of gray wool. It was originally $54 per yard, but was 20% off. Luckily we bought a duffel bag at Ace and stuffed it full of fabric. We spent $88 total, and I seriously need to get on making pillows or something. Wool is definitely a winter fabric since it’s heavy and warm, but I don’t know if I will be able to wait that long to make something out of this.

PS. A big happy birthday to Nick! He turns the big 2-7 today!

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Shop: N. Williams (Portland) / The best brunch ever

Posted by Nick in Shop, Side Note on April 30, 2012  ||  1 Comment

A bit of a preface: sorry if the pics in this post suck. They’re all iPhone photos. If you think I’m a terrible blogger cause I didn’t take the DSLR…… you’re probably right.

The last day of our trip was Sunday. Our goal was to pack up, check out of the hotel and find a place to have an amazing brunch (side note: we are totally brunch obsessed, just hearing the word brunch makes us visibly salivate).

The place we landed was Tasty N Sons. The wait when we got there was about an hour and a half, so we decided to explore the shops a bit (and boy are we glad we did).

The first place we stopped into was ink & peat.

We knew we’d love the store from the moment we walked by it. It’s filled with an amazingly well curated stock of home goods in the front and a flower shop at the back (Amber’s dream shop).

They carry a lot of brands we know and love (ie DwellStudios, Rifle Paper Co), but also had quite a bit we were not familiar with.

The staff was incredibly friendly and if only we didn’t have to justify suitcase space for every purchase, we’d have loved to buy a lot more. If you’re ever in the area, check them out. If you don’t make it that way much (we realize our readership is mainly N. Texas focused), check out their website and their blog for some great design ideas and inspiration.

The next place on the block that we ended up was Lark Press.

It’s a small shop filled with all kinds of amazing paper goods.

Letterpress art, cards, home goods, wrapping paper…you name it.

 The selection was fantastic….and their letterpress machines were in the open behind the counter. Super Cool!

The last place we hit before brunch was Queen Bee.

They had a really cool selection of tea towels hanging in their window.

 

The rest of the store is filled with handmade wallets, bags, pillows, etc. The lady working was sewing some new products while we were shopping. Gotta love that!

So that was our shopping excursion while we waited for brunch. If you’re in portland, we can’t recommend this area enough. So how was the brunch, you might ask?

Can you say chocolate potatoe doughnuts with creme anglaise? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The whole meal blew our doors off (in a good way). The rest of the meal can be perused in Nick’s instagram. The morning pretty much cemented our love affair with the city as a whole.

During the meal, we found out that our flight was delayed, but even that couldn’t ruin the mood of the amazing day we were having. We decided to make the best of it, more on that tomorrow…..

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