WWII

Record Player Shelf

     Since we've moved, we've been in need of a room for our records and record player. I wanted something with an older, repurposed feel. I found some old doors, from a school, on craigslist. I got some inspiration from Queen of I Was Gonna. This also links to a spectacular tutorial from Ana White. I decided to add cleats to support the shelves. Since this shelf will be holding lots of heavy records, I figured it could use the extra support. I found this for help with cleats. (Which I'll also use when I update our closet.)

     I didn't get a good "before" photo of the door, but here she is on some horsies. First, I sanded it down and filled in any cracks and holes with wood filler. The bottom of the door was warped, so I had to saw off some bits to make it a nice, straight line.

     Then, I added the cleats. I used 1x2 boards. The first one was ~4 inches from the bottom. Then, I placed them 13 inches apart (from top of the cleat to the top of the next cleat). I didn't place the cleats all the way across the door. I left enough space for the shelves I was going to attach. Also, our garage and basement don't have level floors. So, I used my trusty carpenter's square to make sure things were level. All the cleats are at a 90 degree angle with the side of the door.

     Next were the sides. I needed the sides to be at least 13 inches deep. But, the widest boards available were 12 inches. So, I lined up 4 1X4's. I attached them together with the cleats. A kreg jig is on my Christmas list right now. But, for this project, I just let screws show. I filled them with wood filler and painted them, so they're not obvious in the finished project anyway. Again, the cleats didn't go all the way across. I left room, so that they would butt up against the cleat on the back.

     Then, I attached the shelves. I used two 1x8's. And because lumber has its own dimensions, two 8x1's does not equal four 4x1's. I had to trim a little bit of width from one of the boards. I just used drywall screws to screw them into the cleats. I cut the top shelf so that it would hang over a half inch on each side, and a little in the front. For no functional reason, I just liked the way it looked. Then, I filled all the screw holes with some wood filler and sanded away.

     Then, I taped away and painted away. I started with a coat of Valspar primer for bare wood. Then, I painted with a coat of Valspar Dark Truffle. The photos do this color NO JUSTICE. It is a gorgeous, mocha-colored brown. The leftover paint will be used to refinish our coffee table. After letting that dry, I slapped on a coat of Valspar Front Door Red. I only used one coat, because I wanted some of the dark brown to show through. It originally was my intent to distress it a bit. But, I ended up loving the way it looked, so it will stay this way for now.

Valspar Dark Truffle and Front Door Red

     I had to replace a window with one from another door. I didn't get any photos of this. But, I just popped off the frame, and the window easily slid out. It was just held in by a nail. The next step was to cover the windows with textured wallpaper. I used something called "craft goo" on the edge of each window, and then used plain elmers glue to fill in the inside. Then, I placed the paper on. I painted the tiles with Martha Stewart Metallic Textured Paint, Pyrite. It is VERY thick if you use it.

     So, here is the finished product. It's bad lighting, so the texture on the wallpaper doesn't show. I got a close up of that. I think I'll be going over the texture with a lighter metallic paint in the future. But, for now, it does its job. And our records are off the floor! 

Reupholstery Experiment

 So, we had a chaise longue, but it was quite rough. For one, it once lived in a bachelor pad. It also got a little beat up during the move. So, I decided to try my hand at re upholstery. Yikes!

After looking at a few websites for guidance, everyone pretty much said, just dive in. So, that was my plan. Armed with scissors, a staple gun, and a lot of patience, I dove in.

 First of all, remove all of the staples. There are a lot. A lot. We used a flat head screw drive.Luckily, the husband helped with this step.  Save each piece of fabric, so try not to tear them apart. You'll use them as a pattern for the new fabric. On each piece of fabric, I wrote where it was (top, front, back, etc) and which way was up. If there is piping, save it too.






Next, roll your new fabric out, and use the old pieces as the pattern. Emmy helped me with this step. I needed to add some new foam for the back. So, I added some cotton batting to that as well.

  









I forgot to take photos, but I made piping using this awesome tutorial.

Then, I started attaching the new pieces, in the reverse order that I took them off. This yucky piece of foam also got a new foam topper. I was too much in the zone to take a photo, oops.











 I removed two nail strips that kept the back on. And I used ply grip to replace it. I used this tutorial. They also let you know where you can buy it.

Ply grip for me was a two person job. I held it in place while Nick stapled it in. I need bigger muscles, I guess.











And there you have it. A brand new (to us) chaise longue!

After!

Before.

It doesn't look like it just rolled out of the factory. But, I don't think it looks bad at all :) Now it's not bachelor pad gross anymore either!