Few Bits

So, this company, Vecco, sells DIY spray painted rug kits, starting at $49.99 and up to $269.99. They claim a “unique Vecco painting technique” but ummmm, I dunno.  Looks to me that it’s just spray paint, sealer, and a doormat. Oh, and don’t forget the free stencils you can find just about anywhere online! Or you can get even more creative and make your own stencil.  I mean, anything has to be better than these lame-ass peace signs, amirite? This picture makes me mad, even with the pretty cat in it. IMHO, this is a

One class left!

So I had a lot to do this week, starting with hanging the doors.  After staring at my stand for about 10 minutes, I decided to inset the doors about 1/4 inch. 

First I attached the back plate to the hinge; the plate gets screwed onto the stand and so I can remove the doors later when I paint this bitch. How cute is my nail polish?

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This is literally the dirtiest photo I have of my crotch.

This was after about 2 hours of sanding.  I am making my first commissioned piece.  It’s not done yet but here is a teaser:

Stay tuned!!

These photos make me re-think my painting options on my TV stand.  These are GORGE.  Find them here.

Three classes left this semester, it’s crunch time.  Time to make the doors.

I needed to route out a resting place for the metal screen to sit in the openings of my TV stand doors.  I used a rabbet bit on the router to cut a groove, using the opening as a guide.

My door went from this:

to this:

Close up detail:

You can see some burn marks where I held the router in one place too long.  I am not really comfortable with using the router yet, so I go slow.  It doesn’t matter, I’m painting it.  That seems to have become my motto the last couple weeks. 

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There’s a post on Curbly (my favorite DIY blog) today about how to sew a summer shirt from 2 scarves.  I wonder of this shirt would work on someone with boobs.  Maybe if I come across 2 scarves that I absolutely LOVE, I’ll try this. It looks very easy. The original tute is here.

DIY INSPIRATION: EMBROIDERED SCREEN DOOR

I watched this come to fruition and I think that her helpful hits are invaluable.  Enjoy!

substances:

Who’s there?

Hint: Not a person who thought they would embroider their screen door in a couple hours.

That’s right! I stitched up the screen door and it took FOREVER. I had planned to do Knock Knock..get it? But given that took me three weeks to complete, I think we’ll just stick with the…

As the number of classes left in the semester gets smaller, the amount of progress made on my TV stand gets larger.  Last night I learned to use a new power tool, the plunge router.

I want to hide the components (DirecTV, Wii, etc) in the TV stand but be able to use their respective remotes without having to open the doors.  So my solution is to cut out a section and attach a perforated metal screen to the back of the cut out, to allow usage of the remotes. Great idea, right?

So how to cut it out and make it ultra straight? That’s right, use a plunge router!

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I did something stupid last night in class.  I didn’t lose a finger or anything, calm down.

So, remember last time, when I messed up the slot placement for a biscuit and had to fill it in to fix it? Well, last night I tried to make another slot in the correct position (higher) and accidentally set the biscuit joiner to a lower position.  Now, the smart thing would have been to test it on a scrap piece of wood first, but I was excited to get everything put together and just went for it, with horrible results.

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Get it? Biscuits and jam? But I meant wood biscuits and door jamb, not like strawberry jam?

Get it?

Anyhoo, more progress!! I mitered the front edges of the tv stand on the table saw and it really changed the look of the piece.  Really loving the look of it now.  Then I used the biscuit joiner again on the corners for extra sturdiness.

(You can see on the left, I totally messed up the location on my first cut and had to put half a biscuit in there to fix it.)

Then I planed and cut the front doors and the jambs for the doors to close on.

Next week, gluing it all together and (hopefully) attaching the door hardware. 

It’s all very exciting.  Right, Dorothy?

To see how far I’ve come, check out PART 1 and PART 2 of this series.