Finished refinishing!

Well, minus drawer pulls. But I've varnished (several coats) and the decoupaging turned out wonderfully. If I didn't have a job this would have been an easy weekend project. I love the maps and I think they tie together a lot of my art from my travels that don't necessarily go together. You'll see that I didn't create holes for the drawer pulls (but I did for the locks) and that's because pressing the maps against the drawers doesn't give me a good indication of where they would align. A few times the paper even stretched out just enough so that it became too large and I had to use an exacto knife to take an edge off. All in all, it was a rewarding project and I hope it extends the life of my desk.(My carpet is hideous, I'm aware : )

4. Try wallpaper paste (it dries more successfully than a craft product like Mod Podge). I used a roller to apply it to both sides of the paper and overlapped. I'm pretty much a color-inside-the-lines girl, but I forced myself to attempt an organic feeling by having an image come over the green border on each piece.

5. After the paste and PLENTY of time to dry, I started applying the varnish. There was a paint "expert" at Lowe's and he told me the type of varnish I purchased is pretty much the only type that is safe to use over paint. I applied a few coats since a lot of my maps were thin paper and the desk gets a lot of daily use.

Desk:

Printer stand:I'm pleased, and probably more excied about having my apartment back in order.

Have a happy weekend!

Desk redo!

This project is SO much fun. Coming home from work and having two huge pieces of furniture to sand, paint and decorate is a blast. I'm 3/4ths of the way done, and here's what I've accomplished so far.

Some of these steps are taken from Shelia McGraw, author of Painting and Decorating Furniture.

1. First I sanded off the old finish. The desk was kind of an early 90's executive "power" desk.A brighter cherry maple color, with lots of shine! and gross gold drawer pulls I am excited to get rid off. I think the sanding was fun for me because I could do it by hand, without a power sanding tool. They sell sponge-shaped sandpaper now, instead of just sheets of sandpaper, and I think people are often worried they won't be able to sand evenly without help. Just sand and look, sand and look. (I prefer a coarser sandpaper, and they have parallelograms that are excellent for working with edges and wood under trim and in corners) It's hard to mess up a surface you're going to be painting over anyhow. The reason we do this step is so that the paint absorbs instead of sitting on top and being able to peel. You want a desk with this many layers to have the best starting hold possible.

2. I coated the top of the desk and the fronts of the drawers with a water-based primer. I taped off some of the old desk color and finish before sanding so that when I'm all finished it's a blend of the before and after. Keep tape on any edge you won't be painting: all four sides, any decorative trim, the sides of drawers, maybe the cover of key locks.... this is the most meticulous step so don't tape as you go.

3. After the primer I taped off an interior border. You can see this in the photos - I measured in a few inches from each side and placed tape around the surface area to create a nature looking "frame" for the decoupage on top. The edge of the drawers and other wood I won't be decoupaging now have this same paint color as well. I used the green color from my slide file drawers, since my offices for years to come will often have both in the same room. This green will tie them together.

Next I'll carefully peel up the masking tape and design the fronts of the drawers and surface area. I'm using maps. Yay, I can't wait to finish.

Always something new...

So I am recruiting assistance for my latest project - hope you can help.

My desk is 21" x 48" and I have a map I'd like to cover it with. My reason for wanting to do this (other than the fact that I love maps, of course) is because the desk is a hand-me-down, beat up and aged old friend. It has seen better times. But after months and months of considering trading it through Freecycle.org, or building one from old shipping crates and a weathered door as the table top, I've decided that keeping what I have is the way to go. I'll change the handle hardware, etc, but a glass or acrylic table topper seems to be too expensive. Decoupage seems to melt when under laptops (as I've learned the hard way), but is it save to sit a desktop computer on? Will either suffer?

And remember, I am on a budget. If not decoupage, what wallet friendly way can you suggest to protect both the map and the electronics on top?

-L

Three day weekend

Well the other white matted picture fell as well. So my advice is to not cut corners, and to not hot glue picture hanging wire on to the back of anything you wish to hang, even if it is lightweight. :(

But, at least I am not being haunted.

Lauren made a list of things that see likes about me by going around my apartment and taking photos of "examples." Some highlights are: I drink girlie drinks,

I keep paintbrushes lying around even when I'm not using them, I like to travel, there are always blankets and books open and ready for use,
I appreciate art, I keep a cluttered/happy fridge,

I use a table leg as a bracelet holder, the bed's always made, and I am fond of old books.
These particular books are mainly from my great grandfather McKenzie's collection.

My newest acquisition is a dress form (found at my favorite little hole in the wall: Bubba's Garage). It was a GREAT deal, 1/5 the price you'd find on eBay for the same basic thing. Plus, if you ever went to a B. Moss before they went under you'll know just how nice theirs were, with the canvas-type fabric and the great metal hardware and wheels. That's exactly where this one came from and I couldn't be happier with it.


Hope you're all doing well and that your new years are off to a great start!

Although I have work to be doing...

I just wanted to let everyone know that the picture of the yellow chairs is off the wall because it fell last night, hitting two others on the way down. I think the original owners, affectionately known by their fictional names "Bernadette" and "Henry," might be haunting us.

We shall see how this unfolds.

A little hope and beautiful

Things I am working on:



Not hogging the covers.(actual photo of me sleeping - I'm in there some where)



My wall of inspiration!
Finally got it "off the ground." I hot glue-gunned some picture hanging wire on to the backs of the large white matted images. I was tired of waiting to take it somewhere to have plastic hangers applied. I am excited. I have no doubt it will become more and more cluttered as time goes on.


This is one of the shadow boxes I put together after Christmas. It includes some of my great-grandmother McKenzie's jewelry and images of her I am a particular fan of. I always loved sitting at her vanity and playing with her costume jewelry. I wear a lot of it from day to day now.


This is one of Lauren's I love. It's a print from a slide we purchased at a second-hand store. She surprised me with it for Christmas this year. It was the big kicker when we were weighing the pros and cons of owning boxes of some strangers' travel images. We needed these yellow chairs.


This is one of my cousin Jordan Reed's that I bought in April. This glass broke during shipping so they are just mats now, but I kind of like their look this way.


Here is my favorite. One of Lauren Lamb's prints from her show this past December. It's a triptych of me sleeping (perfect for the bedroom). It you want to see more of her work (and you should) take a look at The Click Shutter.


Another one of Jordan Reed's. If he has a website I'll add the link in here later. Both of these were taken in Columbus, Ohio. (www.myspace.com/redshebled is all I could find for now... not really an "artist page")


My second shadowbox. It contains a photo of Lauren's that I developed in the darkroom (she was trying to teach me how) and a strange piece of red construction paper that came as a secret bonus when my slide projector came in the mail. It was masking taped to the side of the original box containing the projector. But my favorite part of this is the paper on the left - you can't really tell, but it's this sweet little piece of paper I found in a book in a Buchanan, WV antique store - a sampling of handwriting on a folded piece of paper titled "Penmanship." I adore it. I spend a lot of time in the classroom and this just makes it dreamier - the ideal, you know?


Well, anyway. School starts Monday the 11th, and even though I started this blog on the 4th and it's labeled wrong, it's taken me forever to post because I got incredibly sick and have basically been laying around the apartment watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and taking antibiotics.

Hope you're all doing well, and those of you going back to the classroom enjoy your first few weeks without too heavy a workload (we all know the pressure will mount). :)

New Year

Quick update on the Christmas cards I sent out this year: an increasingly senile relative of mine opened hers with my aunt present, and after a few puzzled seconds she said "I know she loves them, but those sure are some ugly dogs." We all got a kick out of that. :)

Hope your holidays went well! My time in Virginia with family was great. I spent two weeks in town, saw a few old friends, mostly family though, and I had a cavity filled two days before I fell off my dental insurance. Yay for the little blessings, I suppose.

I went to the clinic here at school on Wednesday for an ear ache and received ear drops... but the pain had increased so tremendously by new year's day I ended up in the emergency room (this is the day after I lost my insurance, mind you). Oh well, I got antibiotics and pain meds on top of my drops so lets hope that it clears up soon. I thought I had a pretty high threshold for pain... but this was just intolerable.

Me sick on NYE:

New Years Resolutions:

Get second job, keep second job, and attempt to enjoy and balance working two jobs.
Save money for trip.
Keep up with school work - eg. earn good grades and set aside the important time needed to enjoy learning.
Live frugally.
Be more active/live a healthier lifestyle - this coincides with being frugal. It's cheap to work out :)
School starts up in 9 days... so if I can get super organized before the semester begins I think I can teach better. I'll have everything set up before (handouts, scheduled readings) and this way I don't have the added pressure of prep the night before classes (esp. if I have to wait tables the night before). I get exhausted easy, and exhaustion leads to sickness, so I think this year it's really all about BALANCE. Live in balance with my responsibilities and find time for me and relaxation.

Seems like a hefty list all written out like that but I think it is completely doable. What's on your list of resolutions?

<3
-L