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Showing posts with label paint pen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paint pen. Show all posts

8/17/12

FREE TABLE TRANSFORMED TO GAME TABLE~ IC#12


Welcome back to Pondered Primed Perfected for another dose of Inspiration Cafe!  It's been a crazy, busy time around here but I can't wait to show you my little DIY project.


Scott brought this free table home when he went to pick up something off Craigslist and they said "You want any of this other stuff?"

You can guess what he said.  :)

It was pretty messed up so I sanded it down and then stained the square leg portions with clear poly to bring out the detailing in the boxtail joints.  :)  I thought they were dovetailed at first but looked it up to make sure...they're called boxtailed if they are squared like this.  Good to know, right? 

I stained the tabletop portion with a dark brown stain and left it otherwise unfinished.  I knew I wanted to do something fun with it, but at that time I had no idea what....

We've been working on what we call the NOOK upstairs.  It's a little gaming and movie viewing area we added to our upstairs space.  We needed some type of lightweight table for setting a cribbage board or a game of checkers on...maybe some game controllers and a juice box from time to time.  So...


Just the perfect size for board games, right?
So using our cardboard checkerboard as a sizing guide, I marked out a grid with pencil and straight edge.  I measured the tabletop and marked the center point and measured out from there so it would all be centered nicely. 


 
Once the lines were all marked I went over them again with a white paint pen.  I wasn't going for perfect so I didn't get too concerned if the lines were a bit wobbly or the amount of paint coming out wasn't exactly consistent. 
Once I had the grid done I started filling in every other square...you know...like a checkerboard!  ;)


I didn't try to fill them in completely but kind of scribbled them in from one corner to the other. Then I went around the outer edge again to make it stand out as the border.


That's it!  Simple really.


Then I got all artsy-smart and wanted to take some cool photos in the yard since the NOOK area is too dark for good photography.
A couple of stumps as chairs.  Cool, huh!?  I thought so!


Add the checkers and you're ready for some friendly competition.
BUT I decided I just had to climb on one of those cute little stumps to get a better angle.  I got a better angle alright...when it dumped me on my Patootie in the grass!!!!!

Here's the angle from down there!!!
(You'll notice the slightly broken "boxtailed" table joint...yeah...I did that when I used the table to break my fall.  :)  It hurt.  A LOT.  That'll teach me to get artsy-fartsy with my photos!  I couldn't figure out if I should laugh or cry, so I did both.  I think the table's okay.  The camera survived too.  My leg may be scarred a bit...that little stump took out a nice section of my shin.  I uttered a few choice cuss words.  I can't quite remember.  I quickly snapped this last photo to check that the camera was okay, then crawled to the bench for first aid.  Thank you Scotty!)

Little bit of wood glue and this table will be ready for some gaming action!  I hope it hosts many fun games and happy moments.  That might make up for the pain!!

I love how it looks with our glass chess set!



Time to brush up on my chess playing skills!!!


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12/23/11

Rustic HomeMade Chalkboard

We are the last minute gift making King and Queen!!!

We have been working on this chalkboard for awhile now so it wasn't completely last minute. It took some trial and error. We wanted to make our own chalkboard paint as we had heard about it working well for others.

I did an Internet search and found that there were a couple of different "recipes" out there.

1. Paint and Plaster of Paris

     or

2. Paint and Unsanded Grout (one cup paint and 2 TBSP grout)

We already had paint and unsanded grout on hand so that was our recipe of choice.

We mixed our ingredients well (or so I thought), taped off our surface and started painting.








It was a bit chunky even after all of the mixing and squishing that I had done. I really had nothing to compare it to so I trudged on. 
Maybe it takes an electric mixer to get this concoction to smooth out?

Maybe it will settle down once it has been applied to the surface and dries?

After the first coat dried it was still rough and some of the little chunky areas would "burst" and have a spot of whitish grout showing through.  

Grrrrr. Really? Will this work after all...or will we be down at True Value buying a can of spray chalkboard paint?

My Calm and Collected Partner sanded it down again and we started over. (This man really balances me. You don't even know.)

He put some grout into an empty spice container.  Then he brushed the paint onto the surface, sprinkled the grout over the wet paint, and brushed the surface again. Wallah!

Once we had the chalkboard surface figured out, I stained the "frame" of the chalkboard.  This was done with a small piece of towel that had been saved in our rag bin and some Minwax stain.


Then we added some simple hooks for keys and a bucket to store chalk and an eraser in...or whatever little things need to be stored.  I added the personalization by printing our friends last name and wedding year with my trusty white Pen-Touch paint pen. 

Scott poly'd the frame and we called it good.  This was meant to appear somewhat rustic and home-made.  We don't really want our projects to look "perfect" or appear to be factory machined and finished.  There is something to be said for well-aged, patinae'd, or distressed looking items.  Whether they have achieved that look naturally through age, or by someones hand.  It adds personality and character if you ask me.  :)

Our finished chalkboard was created using only the items we had on hand (including:  unfinished wood cabinet door, black semi-gloss paint, unsanded grout, Minwax wood stain, painters tape, empty spice jar, towel remnant, paintbrush, sandpaper, drill, mini hooks, silver metal bucket, and a metal hanger for back).

Here she is:






And if your last name is Johnson, and you are Treasured Friends of ours, then this is your official unveiling.  Merry Christmas!!!  Come by and get your chalkboard today...we love you!

All Our Love and Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and Superb 2012!!!

Scott and Sherry




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