20 minutes flat

I HATE ironing. When I buy clothing, my number one requirement is that it looks like it won't need to be ironed, ever. I've watched my sister-in-law spend literally hours every week ironing, and I think she's insane. But, she probably thinks exactly the same thing when I whip out my knitting needles or my paintbrush and sander.

Unfortunately, ironing is something I still have to do occasionally. It seems silly even saying it out loud,. but for me the worst part is dragging out the ironing board and wrestling it open. I saw this idea for making a dryer-top ironing board when I fell down a link black hole. I just had to make one.

Luckily, I had all the materials on hand as scraps from other projects. I had leftover foam from my pallet bench, and scrap OSB from building my bed. I had squirreled away some fabric fat quarters from a JoAnn clearance sale, so I put one to good use.

It just so happened that I had a scrap of wood that was a good size for the top of my dryer, still leaving room for my laundry soap. It also fitted my fat quarter nicely. I found a fantastic iron in great condition at Goodwill for $2.16 to go with it.

Here's the result. I've even used it several times. I've amazed myself.

Feeling Blue...and White

The Goodwill by my new place is amazing. I scored a solid wood coffee table with matching end table for $25. Both have little drawers, which are useful. Currently, the drawer contains a remote for a TV that I was given but isn't hooked up to anything and the IKEA catalog. My friend also gave me a beautiful Restoration Hardware catalog for inspiration. I was inspired to cut it into strips and weave them into coasters, because homemade coasters are the only thing I can afford out of it. Anyway....

Before

After

Here is the finished result of the coffee table makeover. Total time investment was about 8 hours over 3 evenings. The primer and white paint were left over from my sorbet kitchen table, so the only cost was the small tin of navy paint. If you want to see the step-by-step shots, keep reading.

I know, I know. The lamp is grannylicious, but hey. It was free and has a matching one. You can just see the sofa in the pic though, and that beauty was only $65.

The coffee table had a layer of grime on the edges and a few deep gouges, but was in good shape. The end table was even better. I sanded them down roughly and used a bit of wood filler to smooth out the worst ruts. When it had dried, I used a finer gauge sandpaper to smooth the filler and wiped it all down. Then, the tables got a coat of primer applied with a brush. The midget even had a go at priming the top. A girl is never too young to learn some DIY skills.

Deep gouge. Ouch.

Primed and ready. 

Making sure that the white and blue had crisp edges was the trickiest part. Because I have to cut costs, I decided to forgo masking tape and cut in the colors with an angled brush. I painted the navy portions, being careful to cut in cleanly with the edge of my angled brush. I waited until the blue had dried completely, tackling the white application the next night. I flipped the table onto its top to paint the first coat of whit on the legs to ensure that I didn't miss anywhere. On the third night, I braved doing a second coat of both colors without allowing the first color to dry. It worked pretty well, but it was harder to keep the corners clean. The drawer knobs got poked into a box that I pulled out of the recycling bin so that they could be placed upright to dry.

Knobs. Heh heh. I said knobs. 

Anticipating feet and drinks on the tables, I got up early in the morning and applied a coat of spray clear coat to protect them. What do you think?

Outta my way, old man!

There's something about a kitchen that makes me want fresh colors. Or colours, depending on from  which country you're reading. I scored this table set due to the quick reactions of my friend. She was perusing the local amazing Goodwill superstore and spotted it while I was busily rummaging through an assortment of headboards. She saw an old man heading toward the table, so threw herself on top of it, sliding Bo Duke style, and snagged the tag before he could get there. We only felt guilty for a second.

The table was a scratched up, flat black. But it came with four chairs, it's solid wood, and it was $30. Sold.

Anyway, I figured that since I don't have any stuff to clutter up my space, I'd need some color to avoid things looking clinical. Plus, the table was already an ugly color, so if I screwed it up then it wouldn't be any worse. I chose paint in an orange sorbet and a lime sorbet. I think it turned out pretty cute. Don't look too closely, because I've still got some touching up to do. Here's the "after" picture. For those of you that are as weird as I am and find the in-progress tales compelling, keep reading.

Sorbet kitchen table.

When I got my bargain table out into the harsh light of day, it was apparent that whoever had owned it was a family of filthy pigs. I moved the table out onto the patio. I had to chisel off coagulated and hardened food from every surface and crevice with a screwdriver and then scour it off with sandpaper. A maggot actually fell out of some of the detritous. I followed it up with a nice dose of Lysol for good measure.  Oh well, soldier on, right?

Before: Sanding the crap off of the table.

Once the table was clean, the sanding began. My friend and my daughter both gallantly spent ages helping me out, but they both wanted to sand the paint completely off and take it back to the bare wood. At this point, I was pining away for the electric Mouse sander in my house 5,000 miles away. Since I was going to prime and paint everything, I decided to just rough sand by hand to get the loose paint off and give the primer something to adhere to. I'd read so many people's raving blogs about spray primer, but it didn't go as far as I wanted.

A can of spray primer doesn't quite cover it.

Sanding the chairs

Stripping is such a messy job.

Once I started stripping (the paint, much to the relief of the nieghbors), it was obvious that the chairs has been painted twice. They'd been painted black on the base, but white on the tops. That must have looked bad, because the white was later covered with black. The paint was sort of gummy and hard to sand, so I splashed out on some aerosol stripper. What a mess. Since all of my tools are far, far away, I sacrificed a plastic spatula that had a chip in it for scraping off the paint sludge. This was not effective.

I wanted an orange sorbet color, and the one I found was actually called orange sorbet. Perfect.

I used a spray primer on the table and then used an angled brush to apply three coats of paint to the top of the table over the course of several evenings while sweating my proverbial bollocks off. It's still 90% humidity and 85 degrees, even at 10pm. The chairs got Kilz applied with a foam brush. Two were spray painted white, and two were painted with the lime sorbet. I'd just like to add here: Painting spindles is a gigantic pain in the arse.

You know how the back of the paint cans always tell you about ideal temperature and painting conditions, blah blah blah? Apparently that crap means something. Paint will not dry in conditions that create swamp ass. It just sort of bubbles and runs. After 2 days, I had to move my still-tacky chairs in so that the air conditioner would dehumidify them a bit. Hence the touch-ups that I need to do.

After a spray of clearcoat on the table top to ensure that daily wiping won't destroy my paint job, the table was good to go. all in all, the project probably took me 5 or 6 evenings, some with 5 hours of work, some with just an hour. I'm quite happy with my pretty little table. Next up, the coffee and end tables. I just need to gear myself up for another round of sanding and painting. Yee hah. Maybe next week.

A Whole New World

This is repost from my other blog, but it gives you an idea about why this blog was started:

I'm not a commuter anymore, so it's time for the blog to have a fresh focus. Drawing from my current situation, it's about starting over and making a home from very little. Or, more concisely, trying to make frayed ends meet without it being too ugly. So, I'll be blathering on about furniture makeovers, bargain hunting, and the strange shit I observe being a stranger back in my own land.

It's now been just shy of 4 months since I've had to take the train journey from hell. It took an international move and total life upheaval to rid myself of the accursed trains, but it was worth it. We now live in a sunny place where weird stuff happens regularly.

Here's the quick and dirty version: After living in England for the last decade, I moved with my young daughter and 2 suitcases each to start a new job. It's probably no coincidence that we did so without any savings, considering that between trains and buses, the commute was costing over £5000/year for the last 4 years. The transition hasn't been easy. We've temporarily left behind Mr Commuter, the dog, our friends and family, and all of our stuff. It hasn't been easy, but the two of us are lucky to have a pair of amazing friends who have taken us into their family. We stayed with them for months while I tried to sock away enough cash to get us started and they have been unbelievable in helping us to start from scratch.

Even when eschewing "things", there's a lot of crap that we all take for granted until it's not laying around the house anymore. In addition to the things that you might think of right away like beds, sheets, plates, and towels, there are lots of small things too. Dishtowels. Toilet paper. Screwdrivers. Scissors. Sponges. Toilet brushes. Pantry food. I could go on, but will spare you. Trust me though, this junk adds up. Throw a kid in the mix, and it's never ending. Over the last few months, I've been squirelling away various necessities and bargain hunting like mad.

Our friends here and their family have been incredibly patient and generous. In addition to letting us stay in their lovely, previously kid-free home for three months, they thought of all kinds of things that we would need. They set the midget up with lots of books and craft supplies so that she would have some things of her own when she arrived. They even knew that the school systems were slightly different, so they got her lots of ready-for-school activity books. We take a lot of cultural knowledge for granted - she struggled with math problems that involved money, because it's hard to add a nickel and a quarted when you have no idea what the hell that means or what they look like. How do you sort which object doesn't fit when you see an American football, a baseball bat, and a catcher's mitt? She's never seen those sports before. They got us a membership to the science museum and set her up with a week of summer camp there, plus so many other fantastic things, it is impossible to name them all.

 There were lots of things to sort out to get started. I saved up the down payment for a 14-year-old car. I am paying over the odds since I have no credit history in this country anymore, with the exception of student loan payments that are in default because I owe a third of my salary every month just to meet the interest payments. But, providing that the duct tape holding the car together works for at least the next 2 years, it should be okay. It will be paid off in about 15 months and then I can save the car payment money from my salary for the inevitable down payment on the next one.

Then, I had to find a place to live that was zoned for a decent school. If I was on my own, I could stay in a smaller and cheaper place, but I had to consider schools. We also need a place that is big enough to accomodate Mr Commuter working from home if his visa ever comes through, as well as the inevitable influx of welcome visitors from across the pond. Rental places mean rental deposits, so that was another thing to save for. There have been car repairs, a computer destroyed by milk, a smashed window, summer child care, and loads of other financial setbacks that seemed to suck up money at an alarming pace, but we have managed to get into a cute little townhouse and are making what started out as an empty place into a home.

Come visit the progress on junkjedis.blogspot.com