Progress!

Sh*t got done today! And I'm quite happy to report with photos, too!

Work has been slow lately (not in a good way, either), so we got a 4 day weekend (Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada). Since I had the day off today, but I knew my boss and his son were going to be in (for phone calls or in case any clients might drop in), I decided it would be a perfect time to do the finishing on my vanity.

I got in to work at my usual time (7:15), and I only left near 2:00pm. I had everything set to be able to do the wet/sand/stain/seal/sand/glaze/lacquer on the vanity (yes those are all the steps involved to get the look I want), but unfortunately, a wrench got thrown into my plans, and Léo (boss) told me that I wouldn't be able to use the spray booth today since the fan belt was busted.

I was still able to do the wet/stain/seal portion of the project, but I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't be able to fully finish the vanity this week.

The stain I decided to use (for the first time) is a water based Aniline Dye. This is a powdered dye that you mix with hot water to make a stain. The amount of powder you use determines the intensity of the colour, and you can mix and match different powders to create just about any colour you want.

Water based dyes have drawbacks (as do traditional oil based stains). One of these is that you need to pre-wet the entire project, and leave it to dry (which took less than an hour - surprisingly), then re-sand the whole thing. This is to pre-raise the grain, before the stain goes on, to eliminate a rough finish, since water swells the wood and gives it a rough texture.

The actual staining was also a bit more of a challenge than a traditional stain. I have about 10+ years experience with stains and finishes, so I didn't have too much trouble, but a novice would have had a nightmare of a time getting a beautiful, even colour.

The instructions suggest staining a light "first coat", followed by a second, stronger coat, but I skipped this, going straight to the full-strength colour with no issues.

It's a lot more work than with a regular stain, but I think the results are more than worth the trouble, especially when dealing with figured woods (curled grain, bird's eye, etc). The dye REALLY makes the variances in the grain POP, unlike a regular stain, which more often than not, will mask the grain, and make things come out more even and "blah".

Here's a teaser photo of the finishing up to this point. The colour is not 100% accurate, since this was in bright light, and with fresh (wet) sealer applied. There will also be a dark glaze added in the cracks/crevices, which will be the next step.

The actual colour is less orange, and appears darker (see other photos below, where the vanity is in the background).

Look at that magnificent grain! I showed it to Léo, and he wasn't that fussy about it, which kind of surprised me. What do you think? Gorgeous, or is it just "too much"?



So while I was working on that, and in between stuff drying, I decided to finally build the doors I need for the rest of the built-ins. These would be the two glass doors for the office display case built-in, and the door for the linen closet upstairs.

Here's the set of 2 doors for the office. They will have some sort of fancy glass insert that I'll make at some point. (Note vanity):



Here's the linen closet door. I'm actually not happy with how it turned out. In hind sight, the frames should have been thicker, and I should have done 5 panels, but it's too late, and I'm not making another one. Once it's painted and installed I'm sure it will look just fine. I STRUGGLED with the decision between raised panels (like the vanity door above), or flat panels, like the original house doors. I decided to go with flat panels for all the built-ins. This will match the little mini door in the office, too. More than likely, I'll also go with flat panels on the new house doors (same as the originals), but when it comes to the kitchen cabinets, those I'll do with raised ones the same as the vanity. That seemed like the best plan.



Lastly, I did some shopping. I went and picked up some black-out fabric (4m/yards) for my roman blinds (which was only 1.50$/m). I also picked up 4 Velcro strips (on sale 50% off) to use along the top of each curtain panel, so that they can be yanked-off and cleaned. In total, that cost only 14$!

I also popped-in to Zellers and had a look around (they had a bunch of stuff on sale, too). They had some nice bedding sets on sale and I REALLY wanted to buy this particular set (with birds), but they only had it in a double.



But I did end up getting a different one. It's brown with a bluish grey pattern that looks a bit reminiscent of Gothic scrollwork. This one wasn't on sale, but the set was only 49.99$ (no photo yet).

Nature Shots

Alright, sadly, still no progress on the house. I've either been too busy on weekends, or the heat has been insufferable.

To pass the time, I thought I would share some recent photos I took while at work. As most of you know, I work at a high-end custom kitchen/cabinetry shop. The shop is on the same property as my boss' home, and the property is several acres. He keeps the vast majority of it in very good shape, and I decided to walk down to the woods the other day on my lunch break (since the heat was not too bad that afternoon).

I purposefully avoided photos that included the shop or house.


The main "lawn" closer to the back of the property:





The first little section of trees are all trimmed low, then there's a stream with a metal bridge to cross it.







Past the bridge, the small shrubbery is all trimmed (quite far in), but the ground has full coverage in low plants, mostly ferns, and a ton of spotted jewelweed (see lower).



Jewelweed (not yet in flower). The juice from these can be used to counteract poison ivy/poison oak.





My favourite shot. It looks like light is shining up onto the branches (like with a mirror or something reflective), but it's coming from the top, and through the leaves.







I have Monday off (for Canada Day), so hopefully I'll do something productive.

SCORE!

Alright, so the first yard sale I went to (I only had one I wanted to go to since I'm on foot) was a total bust. Nothing. I had brought my cheque with me so since I was near the bank, I went and dropped that off. I took a different route home, and I saw that the neighbours down the street (who are sadly muddling-up their foursquare) were having a yard sale. This is the first one I see them do, and it didn't look like they had much, but I popped over and saw a nice antique table & chairs.

I asked her how much, and she said 30$ for the set. I knew I was going to buy it, and I was just thinking about how I'd get it home (if I wanted to come back and pick it up with my Mom), and then the husband says 20$ and it's yours. So I said yes. And I decided I'd just walk it down the street right away.

What a steal! The set is in TERRIBLE condition, and it will take HOURS of labour/stripping/disassembling/patching/regluing to bring it back, but it's gorgeous.

Have a look!





The chairs are in the worst shape. One has been painted with one of those textured marble spray paints (ewwww). There's only 3 chairs, but they seem to closely match the table both in style, and the type/colour of the wood under the paint. I think it's birch with a dark stain. Birch is a beautiful wood.



What's fun about this table is that it's built very similar to another antique table that I am halfway done restoring. That table had been given to me by my great aunt (I think... It's my grandmother's sister) and it was in worst shape than this table since it was covered in about 10 layers of glossy oil paint, the top has been chopped down, one of the aprons is damaged, and one leaf is missing. But that one was free.

The table from my aunt has the same kind of "pocket screw" setup under the top, and hers had HAND FORGED leaf hinges(!) and old style wood screws (I can't remember if they were hand cut, flat tip screws or not). Either way it was a VERY old table. So I won't know until I take it apart, but this new table looks nearly as old. I'd guess at least 1880, perhaps even older, but definitely pre-1900.

It looks like most of the paint on this table will flake off easily, since it's separating from the shellac. I have no idea when I'll start working on it, since I have so many other projects, but for 20$ I couldn't pass it up.

For comparison, here was my aunt's table (as received):





I also bought an antique mirror on Thursday after my dentist appointment. It's actually a twin to another mirror I already have, but I'll post about those later, since I have to go pick up this second mirror later (today/tomorrow). It was much too heavy to carry around.

***

I finished the attic door last weekend, but I was waiting for a day with nice natural sunlight to photograph it, so I did it just a while ago after I photographed the table set.



I like how it turned out. It looks like a traditional opening with mouldings, but it's recessed into the ceiling, which I prefer. I also like that the glossy/matte difference between the door and ceiling paint isn't really noticeable.

***

Since I just posted about work, I thought I would share a recent, and somewhat nice project we did for a client. This is a custom kitchen island on wheels. It has 6 drawers (full ext soft-close), and the two side panels open up to some narrow cabinets (like a spice cabinet with a few shelves). The back side has 3 panels. It is mostly made in MDF (which is why I said "somewhat nice" since I'd prefer solid wood doors/panels), and custom 1/4 fluted columns (wood). The finish is a sprayed-on opaque lacquer (that's fancy talk for: white coloured lacquer - we can have it tinted ANY colour). The top is curved on the ends, with a laminate top, and Corian edge (which we made at the shop). Don't ask the price, since I honestly haven't got a clue. I almost never see the invoices.





So yeah, that's the kind of stuff I make at work. The projects are not always this nice, but the quality is always there. This island was insanely heavy.

Also, as a side note, this was going in a gorgeous old house out of town. Look at that BEAUTIFUL floor!!! *envy*

OMG This Was Funny!

I decided this morning (since I'm up so early) to look for yard sale postings on my local web pages, and I ran across an add for a house for sale. It came with a link to a YouTube video, and when the video got to the shot(s) of the basement I immediately recognized this as one of the jobs we installed last year. This was a rather huge (custom) entertainment centre, with turned columns, a very custom (oddly shaped) wine rack cabinet (to hide plumbing), and a fireplace mantel (which I mostly made myself).

Check it out!

Edit: The video thumbnail is actually the basement room I'm talking about.