Paint fumes and layers

 Soooooo…..like I mentioned I have been giving-it-a-trying around my house.  To put it mildly I was super freaked out to buy the kits to cover the formica, or whatever you have for counter tops in the bathroom.  In a moment of sheer bravado I made the cocksure purchase of the kit you can see in the pics. This fancy little, and reasonably priced, box contains a plethora of instructions in written and video form and 5 lil cans of paint that are labelled in order that you use them. So essentially fool proof right?  

So I taped everything up and went to town.  Starting with the black base coat…sweet baby Jesus this made me nervous but I pushed through.  Partially because after one stroke of the roller you’re pretty committed to the task and the fumes are cray strong and I hadn’t learned that just yet or increased the proper ventilation at this point.  Note to self:  do that next time before you start huffing.  

Each layer requires dry time varying between 4-8ish hours, so this is a lengthy process.  Next I got to get creative with the three complimentary colours.  My kit was called Sand or something soothing and awesome so you can see the tan, chocolate and brown shades I was working with.  If this isn’t your style there are other variations, ya dig?  

Best part of this step besides the fun little spongy thing you get to use for each can is that they encourage irregularity.  The smart little box tells you it actually looks better.  So thank you box and fumes for taking any lingering concerns away.  I embraced the recommendation and smashed around those little sponges (dry time in between each can)…here is where I was actually getting pretty psyched to see how well this turned out.  So after the third drying time I was checking out my almost finished counter top and decided to go back with some extra little touches of the black base or other colours to correct what was bumming me out, or perhaps just feeling more comfortable with the whole process and really enjoying doing it. 

WARNING: when you first start this with one colour you may hate it….keep going.  I wasn’t happy with the first run at all but as I kept at it I began to enjoy the colour development.

Almost last step a super sheer top coat to seal and protect.  Clean up required the usual tape-peeling-touch ups but aside from that it was relatively painless.  And when all was said and done,  I took at fume-induced dizzy step back and gazed upon my counter top of awesomeness.

Until next time  #wink  

Just a lil punkin

So get this…you know those gourds that are sold at the grocery store when we begin to say good bye to the summer?  There are four or five in a weird orange non-biodegradable mesh bag or you can pick and choose the ones that you like from a giant bin. 

White with green specks; orange with white stripes; the ones that look like miniature pumpkins and the irregular ones that look as though like they tried to squeeze into a pair of jeans that were waaaaaaay to small. 

Anyhew….two years ago I grabbed some to add to the fall centerpieces around the house and to keep the pumpkin company on the front porch Halloween night.  Then the time came when you have to say goodbye to the jack-o-lantern you spent more time deciding what kind of design you were going to try than it took to carve the silly thing.  So I dropped mine over the fence into the alley, otherwise known as the failed plant graveyard.  Now heed my warning should  you choose to walk this line – the following summer you will see an unfamiliar plant spring up and within 2-3 weeks it will cover a five foot diameter with leaves bigger than your face.  So the gourds returned from the deteriorated state I abandoned them in and burst forth in a 
GI-NOR-MOUS pumpkin plant (insert Duh duh duuuuuuuh…...)

Who freakin’ knew?  No tending too, a not so friendly pile of dried dirt and those lil’ buggers pushed through.  I have to give them credit.

Now we are in the second year and the plant is twice as big.  I can’t say I mind really….looking outside and seeing bright yellow blooms the size of my hand make me feel like I really know what I’m doing in the garden.  So amidst my harvesting which equals 4 cherry tomatoes and one eggplant along side some dependable chives and rosemary springs I start to wonder about the squash blooms and begin investigating recipes. 

Findings:

1. If you stuff a squash bloom with an egg and cottage (or ricotta) cheese/egg/garlic mixture, cover it in a light panko breading, bake it and serve it with a pasta sauce you feel like a culinary genius.

I researched some recipes beforehand but this one will give you the idea.  I just went with the ingredients I had on hand and baked them at 400 C for 20 minutes.  So I suppose this isn’t exactly food porn, maybe it’s more like food hang out.  Translation – you won’t feel gross after. 

Ricotta Stuffed Squash Recipe  

b. Confidence-fueled from the above….I attempted a squash blossom and roasted corn soup.

Results:

Squash blossom soup booyah!  This was a nice creamy soup medley of squash blossoms, spicy peppers, potatoes, corn, and zucchini.  I’m a diehard substitute-er so I usually end up using whatever I have on hand.

This was a fun one to make…I like making soups.  I think it’s the hands on, involved, process that is satisfying  and you really have to mess it up for it to suck.  Homemade soup, awesome smelling house...pffft please…it’s an automatic good day.

Squash Blossom & Corn Soup Recipe

Lil brown toad....these guys have been everywhere this summer

Cypress Hairpinleg accent table

DIY Round One – ding!

Well peeps…here we go.

I recently found myself with some time on my hands, a house that could use some extra special touches, a screwdriver that made me look like I knew what I was doing when I held onto it, and just enough motivation. The idea to make an incredibly cool table came to me when I was introduced to hairpin legs. I wasn’t familiar with the concept, nor the crazy interesting look they had. The sizes and colours alone had me scrolling along the screen to make sure I saw every single option before I committed to the 24inch steel beauties you can see in the pictures. I should also acknowledge how lucky I am to have a woodworker in the family, so I had a beautiful unfinished piece of cypress that needed just the right legs to create an awesome accent table.

What I started with:

• An unfinished piece of cypress

• Minwax Polyurethane

• Minwax Wood Finish Golden Oak

• LePage Wood Filler Light Oak

• 2 natural bristle brushes – one for the stain, one for the clear coat

• Fine sandpaper

• 3 – 24inch hairpin legs

• One pink screwdriver

• 9 - 1 ½ screws

• A couple rags for clean up

There are detailed steps on both the filler, stain and polyurethane cans…I’m giving you the crib notes. As you can see the wood needed a few spots filled. This was a relatively easy - smear, smooth, allow to dry, and wipe the excess off with a damp cloth process. Once the filler dried I applied the first coat of stain. The can says it will take between 4-6 hours to dry. I did this outside so the warm sun sped up the process. If you think it needs it you can gently sand the wood, wipe off the dust and re-apply a second, or even a third coat. This is totally your call. When I was satisfied with the stain I moved to the clear coat stage (polyurethane). This leaves a nice sheer finish on the wood and made it look like I new what I was doing. Again, here we wait another 4-6 hours for the clear coat to dry and if you think it needs it you can reapply a second coat. Now for the exciting part! Once the final coat had dried I turned the cypress finish side down onto a towel and started to arrange the hairpin legs. Each leg has 8 holes so it gave me tons of placement options. When I decided on a position I was happy with I turned to my trusted screwdriver and went to town. I secured each leg with 3 screws and eagerly turned my table right side up to see the final product. And what did I create you ask? My first woodworking meets hairpins legs project – a beautiful, completely original, conversation piece.

Until next time #wink