I also did the repairs to the finish on the antique chair that I've been restoring (the one that led me to my new job). I went over it with some new shellac, which helped to even out the finish (without affecting the colour or the patina/texture) too much.
I then went over the whole thing with a buffing and wax polish.
This is a fabric sample that my boss suggested (and that I really like). It has great colours, and looks a lot like old needlepoint. The only issue is that it's 60$/yard. OUCH! I'll probably splurge on this (even though I had already wasted 15$ on another fabric), but since the chair cost me nothing, it's not too bad. It's like he said: "Don't cheap out on your fabric."
On this past Tuesday evening (trash night), I spotted a stash of old windows on my way home from work. They were just 1 block away, so I went and took a closer look at them. They're actually in amazingly great shape, so I took them home. I can use them to build cabinets, or even a glass display case. The large ones might be especially great for me to have saved simply because old glass is hard to find in long narrow sheets (for antique clock doors), and I may need to salvage those panes. There's just one of the large windows that's really beat-up and has one section missing.
3 complete windows (tops and bottoms). These are my least favourite style of historic windows, which are the "ladder style" with horizontal bars, rather than vertical ones.
Two large windows (tops & bottoms). These are around 4 feet wide.
They were heavy, and I was glad that I started with the large ones, since I had to make 5 trips to get these (two panes at a time).
ART WALL
Here's what I ***FINALLY*** did this evening. I've been tired of having all the frames and art on the floor, leaning against the wall in the office, so I decided to get the supplies I needed to finish framing 2 of the pieces I wanted to hang.
I finished framing both those pieces this afternoon, and then I decided which ones I wanted for this art wall.
To make things REALLY EASY I cut a large sheet of paper (I have a huge roll of this stuff, but you could tape large sheets of newspaper together) that was approximately the size I wanted my art to cover on the wall. In my case, I wanted to art wall to cover no more than 3' x 5' (36" x 60"). My final layout ended up at 30 x 59, which was close. I could have made the layout taller and added more paintings/art but I thought it was starting to look much too busy, and I was afraid I might not like it.
I also got to put my new work table to good use, rather than doing this on the floor.
These didn't make the cut, and will get used elsewhere. I may actually do a second art wall in the living room, we'll see.
Each frame was measured and traced on the paper (just mark the corners), and then each location for the nails was marked. Once that was done, it was easy to just slap on the wall with painter's tape, play around with where I wanted it (more left, more right, higher, lower, check it for level, etc).
Once the group is where you like it, just tap-in the nails. Here I just checked the first two to see how well they were lining up against my original outlines.
When all the nails are in, just remove the paper (I just did a combination of tearing, and making small cuts near the nail heads with a craft knife).
You'll note that the lower right frame is currently empty. It was the only size frame that fit nicely, and I'll find a photo to print and frame in there. All the art on this wall are either architecture or boats, so it will stay in that theme.
The lighting is pretty awful and yellow because they're all incandescent bulbs, but you get the idea.
The grouping is high on the wall because I also want to have a shelf just over my computer desk, which will likely have one or two small clocks, and possibly a plant on it. That will fill-out the rest of the wall.
I will take a better photo of the art wall, and give a bit more info on some of them. One piece has sentimental value, while the others were great thrift store and yard sale finds.
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