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We're two avid DIY-ers raising two rambunctious boys while tackling large and small projects, living to share our tale. All with the hope to inspire and encourage others.
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Assorted tutorials to help you learn something new.

I Chickened Out

This is about those five dollar chairs I snagged at ReStore got a little overhaul. Great lines and deceptively comfortable, but not in the best condition or colors.

Before I started anything, I took pictures of the upholstery detail. Because this is my first time upholstering something like this, the pictures could jog my memory if I ran into a problem.

With the pictures on my card, I started pulling each staple out. One at a time, prying with a flat screwdriver then pulling with a pliers.

Roughly one trillion times. I counted. Okay, I didn’t count, but there were a lot. of. staples.

At that point, I wondered what the h–e double hockey sticks I was thinking. Too late now, I had to keep going.

So I did. After pulling off the vinyl, I sanded the wood frame down using an orbital hand sander with 220 grit paper. And loved the lightness against the dark fireplace and the subtle grain. Two coats of Minwax Polycrylic in a satin finish brings out the grain and protects the wood. Conveniently, it’s water-based which makes it a breeze to clean up.

Then my indecisiveness kicked in. Upholstery time, but which direction to go. I stopped in a leather shop, gathered samples and prices, and thought it over.

Leather is super durable and easy to clean, but far more expensive than fabric. Not to mention I could only buy the leather as a full hide, roughly twice as much material as I needed. Perhaps if I had another use for the leather I could justify buying it. Instead, I hit up two fabric stores where I found a beige subtle herringbone pattern upholstery fabric for 9 bucks per yard.

I bought it, then stopped in the second store where I found a greige subtle herringbone upholstery remnant for six dollars per yard. And bought three yards. Now that I could justify. Yes, I chickened out on a bold color. Pillows can fix that. Right?!

To get started on the upholstery, I used the vinyl pieces I pulled off as templates, tracing it to the front of my fabric to keep the pattern straight. Don’t do that! Add at least 1/2 inch around the sides for a little wiggle room. I don’t have four hands, so I used a clip to keep my pieces straight while I worked.

First tacking the arms, folding the fabric under, wrapping around the back.

From the front, it looks like this:

With the arms secured, I stapled along the top and bottom, pulling tightly. Then the sides and finally the slightly rounded corners.

That covers the front of the back rest, so now for the back. Like the vinyl predecessor, I folded the fabric under, creasing it with my fingers. Using that crease as a guide for the outer edge, I stapled just inside the crease and worked around the top.

The corners are tricky to staple under, so then I tacked the bottom of the fabric to the underside.

Satin nickel nail heads, placed using a needle nose pliers, hold the sides of the fabric in place.

I’ve upholstered chair seats before, so I thought the back would be more tedious than the seat. As usual, I under estimated.

Turns out, the slight curves of the seat were a pain in the arse. No matter how hard I tried, the fabric puckerd at the turns. Finally I gave up and let the slight puckers stay. So, if anyone has pointers, please share! I’ll leave you with that, because I have to clean up the family room to take pictures of the finished chairs. Let’s pretend it’s because there are already 17 pictures in this post, okay?

6 Comments

by Our Humble Abode on May 17, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Crafts & DIY Decor, Deals, Steals, & Thrifting, Furniture Building & Makeovers, Tutorials & Tips

Posted by Our Humble Abode on May 17, 2013

http://ourhumbleabodeblog.com/2013/05/17/i-chickened-out/

When Pins Collide

I’ve had a major crush on this pendant, dreaming of having it, or something similar in our entry since we bought this house.

While lying in bed last week, I remembered the traditional Christmas Finnish Himmeli ornaments.

Eureka! Couldn’t I merge these two together? I ran my idea past Ben, but he worried a single bulb wouldn’t light the entry adequately. Determined to give this a try, I decided to scale down the size to make a pendant for our bedroom. Goodbye old fan.

I started with my supplies, 36 one foot pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe (under two bucks for 10 feet!), wire, and black spray paint.

Using the wire, I threaded three pieces on and twisted the wire ends together.

Then strung through one of those pieces, adding two more on, securing the ends with a few twists.

I made a group of four, brought it in the house and realized it would hang down too far. So, I took it apart and cut the pieces down to 8 inches.

Treating each triangle individually made easier and tighter connections.

After twisting the ends several times, I cut the wire and pushed it inside the pipe.

The easiest way to think about this design is a hexagon turned to a six-sided star, like this:

To make the three-dimensional shape, connect the outer points with another piece. I’d suggest hanging it to make work easier.

String on the last six pieces, connecting all to the center point. And time for spray paint. We had beautiful weather, so I strung it up between two trees and got my spray on.

I thought I had a pendant kit, but used it in the guest bedroom. So this guy hasn’t been installed, but is finished. Off to ReStore to snag a cheapie pendant to hang this dude.

Now that it’s assembled, I wish I had made the top and bottom six pieces a little longer than the rest. The points aren’t nearly as noticeable as the Restoration Hardware version.

Not perfect, but for $16 in materials I can’t really complain.

What do you think? Are you crushing on an expensive light?

16 Comments

by Our Humble Abode on May 6, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Crafts & DIY Decor, Get Inspired, So Pinteresting, Tutorials & Tips

Posted by Our Humble Abode on May 6, 2013

http://ourhumbleabodeblog.com/2013/05/06/when-pins-collide/

It’s A-Door-able

More appropriately titled, “How I paint paneled doors.” I’ve got six finished and three more to go and I’ve learned a lesson (or two) along the way. The first being, we have two completely different doors on the main level. Most of which look like this:

But a few that look like this:

I’m not sure what type of wood the majority of the doors are (maybe birch?) but the odd ones seem to be pine. Not only is the wood different, making the grain drastically different (and not in a good way), but the wood is noticeably softer and easier to scratch/dent. Oh, and the panel measurements are slightly larger. Regardless, I start each door with a thorough-ish sanding. To cut the dust, I tape the shop vac hose to the sander output.

Using 120 grit paper, I cover all the flat parts. I’ve found 120 to work best. 80 is too rough and 220 takes a while longer to get the job done. If you’re painting, just sand until the surface looks matte.

Some parts will need more attention, but it doesn’t take much.

For detailed parts, a coat of liquid deglosser wipes away dirt, grease, and grime, but it won’t take down the sheen. On one door, I used Citristrip on the detailed insets. And quickly became annoyed. For being low odor, it worked really well. But the wait time, scraping, and clean up with odorless mineral spirits wasn’t worth it. Not to mention it still didn’t come off completely in some areas, so I had to scrub with liquid deglosser. That one door took longer to finish than the previous three combined. Simply put, unless you’re planning to re-stain, stripping the coats isn’t worth it.

In the past, I’ve followed the previous steps using traditional primer followed by two coats of paint. Instead, I experimented with Glidden’s Duo paint (paint and primer in one). I’ve gotta say, I love it. Two coats and I’m done. For the smoothest finish, I use a small angled brush to cut in the inside detail of the panels. It helps to paint along the outside and inside flat areas at this time.

Then use a foam roller to cover the brush strokes and fill in the flat inside.

Once all six panels are done, I start at the top painting the frame. Horizontal first, then the three verticals, then the horizontal below, working my way down. Keep a wet edge to blend the paint. Applying the paint with a brush, then rolling over to cover the brush strokes allows me to work quicker because I’m not having to load up a roller each time.

Here’s something else I learned. To quickly and thoroughly clean out a brush, first wipe off the sides. Then hold it upside down under running water. Keep your hand wrapped around it to prevent the bristles from splaying out. Hold it under until the water runs clear, wipe off the sides, squeeze out the water and let it dry.

No more stiff, gunked up brushes because the center of the brush is clean, too. Obviously there are dozens of ways to do the same task, so tell me, how do you do it? What products do you love for refinishing or painting? And how was your weekend?

6 Comments

by Our Humble Abode on February 11, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Our Mountain House, Small Improvements, Tutorials & Tips

Posted by Our Humble Abode on February 11, 2013

http://ourhumbleabodeblog.com/2013/02/11/its-a-door-able/

Quick Trick

Still sick, so I’ll make this quick. Here’s a trick I use because I change art out often. Use washi tape to hold art in place. I know, I know. Not revolutionary, but it is easier to use than regular clear tape.

The light tack won’t tear the art or the mat when you’re ready for a change. But check to make sure the tape is acid free so it doesn’t damage the art or photos.

How about a few favorite Washi tape favorites and sources? Dots and Stripe, Grey Star, Gold Dots and almost everything else in the Pretty Tape shop.

The Washi Shop has oodles of fun washi tape designs like Orange Chevron, Gold Stripe, and Hot Pink Hearts.

Modern Tape in another shop stocked with washi eye candy. Glitter tape, Gold Plaid, and Navy Waves are my favorites.

Of course Target is another favorite source. Check in the office supply section for a pack of four. What are you using washi tape for? Care to share your favorite sources?

P.S. The Our Humble Abode 50% off sale ends tonight. Use the coupon code RINGIN2013 to activate the discount.

I’m Board

Oh yes, I know that’s the wrong type of board. That’s a hint for you. I’ve gotten a few questions about mood boards, so here’s what I do. Professional designers probably have a quicker, better method, so if you’ve got tips or tricks, feel free to share in the comment section.

Are you ready? Here goes nothing. First, open a new document in Photoshop. The canvas can be any size and resolution, you can always change it as you go. I typically make mine 9 inches wide by 5 inches tall at 180 dpi. Now, find an image of the items you want to add. To make it easy on myself, I go to a website and take a screen shot and paste it (Control + V) on my canvas. This automatically adds each item as a new layer. When possible, use an image against a white background.

To remove a colored background, select the eraser tool, adjust the diameter, leaving the hardness at 100 percent.

For me, the easiest way to erase a background is using a small eraser tip, holding the shift button, and carefully clicking around the edges. For straight lines, click once at the far end, hold shift and click at the opposite and it will make a straight line. To go around corners, follow this same procedure, making smaller clicks to go around.

After tracing all the edges, erase the remaining background with a larger eraser tip. If you want the item larger or smaller, click the rectangular marquee to make a box around the item. Right click and select ‘Free Transform’. Hold shift to enlarge proportionately and hit enter when you like the size.

You’ve made one item! Go back to another image, screen shot, and paste it in. Rename the new layer right away so you’re not searching through once you’ve added several items.

Erase the background on this one, too.

After tracing the outline, go back in with a larger brush tip to make this quicker.

Keep on adding items. If you get an item you want to rotate, select the marquee, right-click, and choose ‘Free Transform’. While holding shift, turn the item.

See that rug above? Well, I don’t want it to lay over the couch. Find that layer and drag it under the rest, making it the first layer. Now the rest of the layers will sit on top if it.

If you want to add two of one item, select the layer, right-click on it, and select ‘Duplicate Layer’.

Photoshop places the new layer over the existing one, so move it where you want and you’ve got a pair. If you want to flip it, use the marquee tool, right-click, and select ‘Flip Horizontal’.

For paint swatches, I think this method is the quickest. First, paste the screen shot of the color. Use the marquee too to make a square on the swatch. Push Control and C at the same time to copy, then Control and V to paste the selected square.

Delete the screen shot of the swatch and move your new little box over to fit in your board.

Then you can choose accent paint colors and layer those on top.

It’s up to you if you want to arrange the furniture to look like a room. Or just group pieces together to get an idea of the elements as a whole.

P.S. If you’re having a hard time seeing the details, click on the picture to enlarge it.

P.P.S. All keyboard short cuts mentioned are for PC, not Mac, though they are similar.

Our Humble Abode

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Favorite Posts

Rope Wrapped Pendant

X Pillow

Large Print Art

Stenciled Star Curtain

Butterfly Print

All posts in category Tutorials & Tips

I Chickened Out

When Pins Collide

It’s A-Door-able

Quick Trick

I’m Board

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Our Humble Abode

About Us

Find us on:

Subscribe!

Search

Categories

Archives

Favorite Posts

Rope Wrapped Pendant

X Pillow

Large Print Art

Stenciled Star Curtain

Butterfly Print

All posts in category Tutorials & Tips

I Chickened Out

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When Pins Collide

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It’s A-Door-able

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Quick Trick

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I’m Board

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