A Valentine Project

Good morning everyone!!

This week has actually been a very productive week at Second Chances. I am trying to work on finishing up anything in progress and cleaning up my inventory a little. 



Today I have for you a Valentine Decor item for your home!
During my hours upon hours of Pinterest I find so many different projects for inspiration. This Valentine project is called a string heart. I found lots of tutorials online, and it's very simple - you could do it on your own as well! Here is a step by step tutorial of my own project!

I had scrap plywood and had the hubby cut me two 11x11 squares. I just picked a random size that I thought was not too big, and not too small.

I then sanded the square smooth (both sides). I love my little Skil Octo Sander. The sand paper velcro's on and off! I sanded with 80 grit, then 120 grit, then 220 grit.


Then I stained the squares with Varathane Espresso. (I had this stain leftover from a table I refinished. Note - a little stain, goes a LOONG way!)  I used an old t-shirt to apply the stain - I love to apply stain this way, as it lets me to control how much stain is applied.

                                

Next, I printed off a heart from my computer, cut it out and taped it on the square. That's as technical as I can make it sound.



I didn't get super specific and measure out how far apart I wanted the nails to be, I just started nailing.  






I bought my nails at the local Wal-Mart (the only retail store in my small town). 

After all the hammering, I pulled the paper off and this is what I was left with. Not that exciting yet...but now for the fun part. 





For the string - some tutorials say to use embroidery floss, another said thin yarn...I found crochet yarn - which is a cross between the two, and the most economical. I bought this entire spool for $2.74 and even after two hearts, I still have lot left over. You can't beat that price. 



So to begin stringing I tied a knot around the center nail.
Then just zig zag all over the place. I tried to get to each nail at least once. Then I also outlined the heart to give it a better definition. I did this by zig-zag around the entire edge. 

For some added flair, I decided to write the word "love" on the bottom right of the board. I absolutely love the color copper so I wanted to use this Folk Art Metallic Antique Copper.


Here is my finished product!

Complete!!

 I made two of these and will be selling the other one. It was so simple and easy, but adds something special to my mantle. 

I will be making a blog post showing a few of my past projects. They will not be a step by step, but they will be able to show you what is possible. I have been trying to get better at taking before/after pictures, but sometimes I just get so excited and carried away. 

Yesterday was also very very exciting. I made a trip over to DePere to go to That Covers It - the only Annie Sloan stockist nearby me. In fact there are only 8 in the state of Wisconsin! I have to mention that they were incredibly helpful and the store is just amazing. They have a chip board to show the endless possibilities of color mixing, along with a station to try your own mixing. They also have a wall showing the layering capabilities. I cannot sing their praises enough. I wish I would've gotten the name of the delightful woman that was helping me - she was completely helpful to ALL of the customers in the store. I cannot wait to try these paints/wax out. There will definitely be projects galore coming!

Until next time everyone! It's almost time for the big Packer playoff game - GO PACK GO!

Happy Crafting!

Second Chances Design
Sarah

A little more info, and re-charging a dresser!

Good morning everyone! Hope you are all staying warm. We have been hit by some pretty frigid air this last week and today is no different - it's a balmy -5 degrees outside right now. This is perfect weather for inside projects!

A reader sent me a message stating that they would like a little bit of background information about me, and as to why I have so many projects going on in my home.

Where to begin...My name is Sarah. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. I was recently married to my wonderful husband in August 2013. We have three wonderful children in our blended family. Chloe is 12, Maddox is 10, and Joaquin is 6. In late November 2013, we bought our first home. We spent months looking for a home as we wanted one with enough space for our children and also for entertaining our large families. Our home is quite eccentric, and I am proud to say it has a wonderful history. It was built in 1947 and we are only the third owners. While our home was very well maintained throughout the years, it was never updated. When our realtor showed us the home, we noticed it had excellent "bones", but was in dire need of updating. We signed the papers the day before Thanksgiving and have been working on projects ever since! Some have been minor projects, others have taken months to complete. We take pride in doing things ourselves, and also try to do them economically. My husband and I both work full-time and are enrolled in school full-time as well. Thankfully we enjoy home projects, and it is what we do in the small amount of spare time we have. We will both graduate with our degrees later this year, so it will free up more time to work on the house.

Now onto the project of the post! 

Shortly after we moved, one of my closest friends also moved. Luckily for me, she needed to downsize and get rid of some extra furniture. I was more than willing to help her with her problem! One of the items she gave me was a dresser.

I should have taken a better picture of the dresser "before"; I apologize for the bad (and lack of) pictures now. I was just so excited to get going on it.  

The top drawer of the dresser actually has three "panels", while the other two were only one large flat panel. 

Just plain white, and a little boring for my taste. 

I wanted to cover it with fabric, but have a finish or seal of some type, so that it was durable enough for the 12 yr old Chloe. 

I only wanted one knob on each side. I used wood filler on the extra hole.

A little light sanding and we were ready to get started.

I found some wonderful fabric at JoAnn's that is heavier duty, almost light canvas.

I also picked up some Matte finish Modge Podge. This is my very FIRST bottle of Modge Podge (MP). Yes, it may be hard to believe, but I have never used Modge Podge before this project. I was very excited to say the least. I read several tutorials about using fabric and MP to cover furniture. I combined them to come up with my own method.  

It was very hard to take pictures during the entire process as I didn't wear gloves and my hands were covered in MP. 

I cut the fabric about 3-4 inches larger than I needed, as I knew I would trim it down.

I first put a medium-thick layer of MP down on the drawer front. (I would recommend either a foam brush or at least one better than shown in the above pic. I was loosing bristles like crazy and was constantly picking them out of the MP.)

After applying the MP, I then laid the fabric down. Since my fabric had a pattern, I had to be very careful that it was as straight as possible. Luckily since I had an almost thick layer of MP, I was able to manipulate the fabric and adjust it as needed. I did pull it up to reposition it a few times, but I think I got it pretty straight. 

I then used my hands and a spackle spatula to flatten the fabric and push out all the air bubbles. Be careful when doing this - when fabric gets any kind of moisture it can distort the pattern if you push/pull too much.I then applied a layer of MP on top of the fabric as well, working the MP through the entire fabric.

The MP only takes about 10-20 minutes to set up and begin drying. I did one drawer at a time, so by the time I was done with one step on all three - I could go back to the first one. After covering the top surface, I then trimmed the excess fabric. I held it tight around the edges and then left about 3/4" that will only be seen on the interior of the drawer. I applied MP to the ends of the drawer fronts, repeating the same process from before. MP layer underneath and on top as well.  For the corners, I tried to wrap it like present.  and they turned out pretty well. My ends did get a little "muddy" from too much MP, so next time I will try to either wipe the excess with a rag or just not apply too much in the first place. 

After all of the MP has dried, you can take a 220/320 grit sand paper and lightly sand the make smooth. Do not do this too much or you could actually start to damage the fabric. Follow this with a fine grade steel wool to lightly buff. I used a 0000 grade. For a final seal, I used a polyacrylic clear satin. Purchased at Wal-Mart for $3.97.  A small amount goes a long way. After applying two coats I still have more than 3/4 of the little container left. I applied this using a small foam brush. Once completely dry, I used a 320 grit sandpaper for a very light sanding to make sure 

I used the same knobs that were on the dresser, but I repainted them with the same Sherwin-Williams "Synergy" that the room is painted - now it ties together.

I should mention that I did clean up the dresser itself with a fresh clean coat of white paint. I wanted to make sure that it was all uniform and was a complete fresh start. 

For a first time MP project, I think this turned out alright. There are a few tips and tricks I will use next time, but I still LOVE how it turned out.

I do have to thank my hubby for the idea of painting the knobs "Synergy" - he's turning into my consultant. I love the POP of color!

This dresser will be going into my daughter's room, which will hopefully be complete sooner than later.  The flooring is done now, and the trim was put in last night. A few paint touch ups to the trim and DONE! We are picking up her new bed today, and will hopefully find new bedding as well - later today when we go shopping. 

Earlier this week I picked up two small end tables with beautiful wooden spindle legs. Plus I already had two other larger end tables. Today, we will be shopping and making a few stops to look for furniture and decor items. I'm always on the lookout! 

I'm also very excited to hopefully be stoping at a stockist for Annie Sloan chalk paint. (Annie Sloan does not retail at your average paint or home improvement store. They call their locations "stockists".) This is something else that is new to me, and I'm thinking about trying it out. I have been researching Annie Sloan chalk paint, sealing with soft wax, antiquing using dark wax, etc. We will see what things that brings our way!

For future posts, I will try to take more pics, document brands, be a little more detailed. It's all a work in progress!

Thanks for taking the time to read this (very lengthy) blog post and I hope that it inspires you to create your own projects at home!

Happy Crafting!

Second Chances Design

Sarah

Herringbone / Chevron Wall ...a busy Sunday

To give you just a teaser of what will be to come, here is the play by play of my most recent paint undertaking.  We have been in the process of remodeling a bedroom for my daughter.  She is 12 years old, so of course she did not want a "little kid" room, and wanted something more mature.  I wanted something that would be able to grow with her, and I think we came up with something that will last a few years. 

I knew that we wanted a chevron or herringbone type pattern.  So after many hours of Pinterest, I decided on a herringbone pattern.  My hubby helped me on this one, since he's the engineer. We had to take measurements galore - we discovered that our house is like the leaning tower of piza, very crooked.  Our house was built in 1947 so I'm just happy that it's still very sound and sturdy, even if it is a little crooked.  I made a judgement call and decided to take the floor/wall seam as my base.

Here is the room - BEFORE:

Very plain and blah. 

So like I said I used the floor/wall as my base.  I measured, then put a line directly in the middle.  Then from there, I divided each half into another half, thus splitting the wall into quarters.  I then placed marks every 5 inches on my tape.  Then came the angle lines...boy, this was a little more difficult than anticipated.  Since there is an angled ceiling, we had to "freehand" our lines, but since we are so good at math, we discovered that our paint tape must be 4" apart of each other at all points in the angle.  (We used 1" wide paint tape.)  

This is what the finished taping looked like:

This took the majority of the time....tape, tape, tape and MORE tape.  

But now the hard part was over, now it was just time to paint! I used a small 4" wide paint roller, which was almost a little bit too big, but it was what I had to work with. I used a brush on the tight corners since the roller would not fit.  

In order to make it a herringbone instead of a chevron I needed to alternate the colors in each quarter. 

I applied two coats of paint of each color.  

These colors are Sherwin-Williams - Synergy and Morning Fog.  I am an avid Sherwin-Williams fan and will swear by their paint anyday! Even though it is a little pricier - you get what you pay for - it covers very well, and is quite durable. 

And now for the finished product after the tape was pulled!!

I think that it turned out wonderfully! Better than expected!  I am always leery about paint lines, but this paint tape was up to the task!  I used Frog Tape brand tape and that is all I use.  This wall has a light skip trowel texture to it, so I made sure to press the tape down hard to ensure full contact.  We only had a few small mishaps and I cleaned those up with a small brush.  

Hope that you enjoyed this adventure as much as I did.  This was completed in one Sunday, with the tape being pulled on Monday after work.  It took the ENTIRE day, but I think it was well worth the meticulous taping and painting!

Have a wonderful week!  There will be more to come on the progress of this bedroom - including a dresser reinvention with some modge podge...a first time experience for me!

Happy Crafting!

Second Chances Design

Sarah

The very beginning of Second Chances Design

I have decided to try and take a swing at blogging about my crafting adventures.  Just as my crafting projects are, we will learn as we go about this blogging thing.  I find myself hypnotized by craft blogs at times - learning how the other crafty people out there are turning their wickedness into beautiful works of art and also seeing what doesn't work, so that I don't try that (again).  

I have progressively been crafting more and more over the past two years.  Approximately three and a half years ago, I bought a wooden dresser, off of Facebook classifieds, with the sole intention of being my first re-finishing project.  Though that one simple, small, four drawer dresser, I learned many many things.  Mostly things of what NOT to do! But all in all, it ended up being my very first "big" craft project.  
Not every project is a success and the best thing to do with a failed project is to laugh it off and learn from it.  I have learned about chemical burns (yes, you really should use those protective gloves sometimes), spray adhesive chemical reactions to styrofoam, and all about overspray.  While all of these things can be quite dangerous, they are also the side effects that a crafter has to learn to deal with.  

Through this blog, I hope to share with you my crafting adventures.  Lately, I have been doing quite a few projects and have had a lot of questions by friends and family.  I prefer to find older items and revamp them, however many of my crafts also arise out of scrap lumber or even new items when I have a specific item in mind. I do everything from refinishing furniture, yarn/felt wreaths, burlap christmas trees, and I will spray paint just about anything.  The power of paint is highly underestimated. Hopefully, through this blog I will be able to help fellow crafters (or at least entertain them) with their own projects.  I have been trying to take lots of pictures and remember details, but if I miss something, please don't hesitate to ask.  I will give you my tips, feedback on products and answer all your questions

Happy Crafting!


Second Chances Design
Sarah

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