Tag: Chalk Paint

Easy Cricut Hexagon Stencil Dresser Refinish

While we discussed the move to our new house, my youngest daughter had a specific image in mind for her new room. She absolutely had to have a hexagon stenciled wall. Thanks so our new homes previous owners, I had four dressers ripe for refinishing, so it was a great opportunity to use another hexagon stencil to spice up a dresser. I did a brief search for a hexagon stencil but didn’t find what I needed. That only meant it was a great opportunity to use my new Cricut to create the stencil for both the wall and dresser.

Prep Work

I love a project that doesn’t involve much prep work. As I’ve stated in other posts, sanding isn’t my favorite thing to do by hand. With my feathered bench refinishing project, I used a deglosser for the first time and found a new love. That same sander deglosser was what I used to take off the remaining shine of this old dresser.  Using a clean rag, the deglosser was rubbed on all the surfaces of the dresser. 

Paint Choice

Paint choice is important and the choices are endless. The fun thing about being in a new town is finding new stomping grounds. My girls and I checked out a nearby antique shop and certified stockist of Annie Sloane paint, called The Farmhouse. The thing about specialty paints, like Fusion Paint and Annie Sloane, is that it can be difficult to find exactly what you want without having to cart yourself clear around your state. I lucked out here with this shop being just 10 minutes away. The pure white paint was calling me, so that’s what I went with for the hexagon stencil dresser. The only other project I’d used Annie Sloan paint with was my Antique Chabby Chic Hutch redo. Many refinishers love Annie Sloan, so I kind of felt obligated to give it a more full-scale try. 

The hexagon color pallet was a given, I used the same colors as the walls in my daughter’s room. 

The handles stumped me a bit on color choice. I didn’t want to run to yet another store to buy different spray paint, so I choose out of my existing stock of colors. The teal was the closest I had to the hexagon stencil colors but it didn’t feel quite right. In the end, the teal is as they remain, although I ended up buying some clearance sea glass at Michaels that may just end up covering the teal at some point. Only motivation and other finished projects will tell!

Paint Application

You hear a lot about the importance of the paintbrush choice when refinishing furniture or really any other painting project. This rounded paintbrush is an Annie Sloan brush. The website description says “Annie Sloan’s bristle Chalk Paint® Brushes are perfect for producing a textured, vintage finish. The bristles are strong, yet pliable, and are made of predominately pure bristles with natural split ends, allowing you to paint expressively. They hold a large amount of paint and can also be used for applying wax.”

I agree it holds a good bit of amount and definitely gives it a textured finish. Pictures below will show proof of it. Since the dresser started out with a dark cherry finish, the first coat of the Pure White Paint didn’t appear to cover much. I ended up doing three coats to get full coverage. It didn’t really feel like much work at all. I would throw a coat on, go complete some other tasks, then return for another round.

Hexagon Stencil

Unfortunately, I realized after the fact I was millimeters off on my wall hexagon stencil so was determined to get this smaller 3-inch hexagon stencil right. I used 12 x 12 Acetate stencil material I bought on Amazon to create the stencil with my Cricut. Here is the stencil pattern if you’re interested. After the tedious work of getting it just right, I went about painting the hexagons. 

The stenciling component was smaller in scale but felt like it took longer than painting the coats over the enter thing. I did one 12 x12 section at a time. Waiting was the name of the game, because I had to wait for it to dry enough to lay the stencil on the next section without creating a mess. After about 15 sections or so, the top was finished! My hexagon loving 7 year old was over the moon. 

The Finishings

The call in me to rough it up a bit had to be reined in to fit the modern look of the hexagon dresser, but I decided to go for a small amount around the drawer edges. This is simply accomplished with sandpaper and muscle. With a less than careful new user, I figured there was bound to be some scratching of the finish in its future. It seemed worth it to give it some of that charm ahead of time. 

As I noted above with the rounded paint brush, there was a definite texture to the finish. This can be seen in the first image below. My daughter was less than keen on the roughness, so I opted to sand down the ridges to a smoother finish. After the sanding, the finish was so wonderfully soft and smooth. The middle and right pictures show the difference. 

And with that, this Hexagon Stencil Dresser Refinish was a wrap. At the time, I didn’t have the right wax on hand. I moved it to the room to get it out of the overwhelmingly messy basement. My little gal loves her room and dresser with all the finishing touches just as she dictated. She’s the same daughter who wanted the Imagination Galaxy closet, which I completed the day before we moved furniture in to our new digs. This is also why she wants no part of giving up her room for the new baby sister due in December. This new room is definitely her safe space to feel completely in her element.

Safe Spaces for your Mental Health

Some of us don’t always have a safe space where we can create things just as we’d like. Sometimes, anxiety or feelings of extreme stress can strike when we don’t expect it in public, at the office, or at home. Not only is it important to create physically comfortable and safe spaces for when the need strikes, it can also help to create safe mental spaces. Using some soothing safe space imagery,

You can train and tone up your imagination like a muscle, so it works for you and not against you, helping you manage or soothe emotions at times of stress or difficulty. This builds inner-confidence and resilience, benefiting your overall wellbeing.

Sarah Rees, CBT therapist

On her website, Sarah Rees offers instructions on 7 steps to Safe Place Imagery Practice. If you’re feeling bogged down by mental madness, why not try to mentally create a place of calm in any situation. I know I benefit from focusing on something specific for a short time to unwind from the stress knots. For me, it tends to be running through how I’m going to accomplish a project that has been pending or is stuck on how it can be completed. I hope you find your mental and physical places of comfortable and calm today!

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

A Window and Shutter Refinishing Combo Must Do

With three girls in my house, the bows and headbands were getting out of control in their shared bathroom. Previously, I made some headband holders and bow holders. They were overloaded and a bit unsightly. I had several windows and shutters in my garage waiting for a good project idea to hit me. With the desire to spruce up their bathroom, I came up with the idea to use a window and shutter to create an organizer for their hair paraphernalia. I was super excited by the idea as it served as cute décor with purpose. It was definitely a win-win situation; I got a larger window and a set of shutters out of my garage stockpile and created a quick organizer for all the bows, headbands,  earrings, and misc items. My girls thought it was a hit, so I hope you enjoy it as well!

The very sad looking before photo: a ribbon frame bow holder and an owl earring holder.

Bathroom Window and Shutter 411

The window started out as a single pane old window without the crossbars. My initial plan was to use a Cricut to cut a message to stick on the window. After an accidental slip causing the pane to break, I decided to go with a Plan B for the glass area. Plan B included constructing my own crossbars using a router and glue. More on that later…

This is what I was working with at the start.
Incidentally, this is around where it slipped off the bench and cracked the glass. It was a happy accident.

Easy Refinishing Step: Painting

The shutters were in need of a color correction from the cherry red. After separating the shutters into two pieces, I spray painted them with gray. Then, the window frame needed some refreshing with some white chalk paint.

Attaching the Shutters

Then, I attached the shutters to the window frame by attaching one side with the remaining hinges and the other shutter with pocket holes. (FYI: pocket holes are created with a Kreg jig. (If you need more info check out some of my other posts: Shutter Buffet, Living Room Set)

It was after this picture that the windowpane broke. After that mishap, it was on to plan B. I used 1/2″ square dowels and a router to cut out notches for the cross beams to fit together. Essentially, you are notching a 1/4 inch into the dowels in the spots you want the dowels to fit into each other. When they are pieced together, they should remain at 1/2″ width glued together. Four dowels and 8 notches. This requires starting with a square and tape measure to ensure your notches are going to line up correctly. 

Shelves:

Using 1/4″ board scraps, I made some framed shelves for the bottom of the shutters. I thought of them like window flower boxes. Then, I used a metal screen to cover the openings of the shelves. It was easy to cut them to size and hot glue them onto the inside of the 1/4″ wood. Wood, glue, and screws attached the shelves to the shutters.

Pop-out Earring Holders:

With plan B in play, I was inspired to utilize the empty space for additional purposes. I decided to replace the hanging owl earring holder with an earring holder window square. The same square dowels were used for the frames as for the crossbars. In case you are interested, I include a tutorial on constructing an earring holder with a frame and metal screening on my picture frame post

 

Shutter Headband Holder:

To say it simply, my 6-year-old has A LOT of headbands. The shutter pull bar was a perfect way to hold them in place.

Towel Hooks to Finish it Off:

The builders of our home put one long bar towel holder in this bathroom, which sufficed for the last 5 years. I was tired of not having a place to hang multiple towels separately. With that notion in mind, I decided to put up towel hooks on the bottom of the window frame. I’m really happy about the added options the double hooks now provide.

Bathroom Window and Shutter Finishing Touch

Using a fairly thick wire I had on hand and some fabric, I made a wreath for the window and shutter decor. I used the wire to “sew” (aka poke holes) into the material. 

Then, the bows could then be easily clipped around the wreath. 

With the placement of the headbands, bows, towels, and earrings, this window and shutter bathroom organizer was complete. After all the work was said and done, it was so much more beautiful than the previous version. Thankfully, my daughters corroborated that belief.

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

An Inspiring Way to Refinish an Antique Dresser

If you’re anything like me, you peruse the Facebook marketplace every now and again for some “window shopping”. I was on just such a trip when I spotted an antique dresser being unloaded by the previous would-be refinisher. It was a steal! I jumped on that as quick as I could type “interested!”. From there, it was just a matter of my mind diving into identifying just the right direction. Follow along with me on my antique dresser refinish. I really hope it inspires you on your own journey!

Structure Fixes

The top was in the roughest shape. Since much of it was peeling off, there wasn’t much I could do to salvage it. I scraped off the chipping wood and sanded down the top. I considered adding a 1/4″ thick board to the top to replicate the upper layer but made the wise decision to leave it as it was. 

The rest of the dresser was in really good shape. The existing finish was a matte finish so all that was necessary was to clean it. Paint would adhere very well without needing to sand it. In my world, that is the best kind of piece!

The top middle drawer was stuck in there without having a handle to pull it out. I was able to get it out by wedging a tool into the hole and the edges to shimmy it out. 

Breaking out the Paintbrush

I went the budget friendly route on this paint choice and used my favorite 40% off coupons at Michaels to get three colors: Light gray, dark gray, and white. Typically, I try to avoid having to use blue tape (I just don’t like spending the time doing it), but it was definitely necessary for this paint job to create straight lines. I chose to use white as the dominant color and light and dark gray as the border and stencil color.  

Stencils!

My stencil phase was really kicking into gear at the point of this project, so it was a given I was going to do something utilizing the technique. (Check out my other stencil projects: Stenciled Coffee Table and feathered bench.) I again used a Michael’s coupon to get a damask stencil. From there, it was just a matter of letting my imagination go free to determine what I wanted it to look like. When doing the stencil, I did a combination of the light and dark grays to create more dimension. It, of course, would have been fine to do all one shade, but I didn’t want to overwhelm with the dark paint or for it to be harder to see with the light gray. I coated the entire dresser in clear wax to finish it off. The final results are below!

Drawer Liner

Given that the inside of the drawers would be covered with clothes, you may not find it important to use a liner. I liked the fun of the pop of pattern, so I opted to spend a few more bucks to get the drawer liner. I found this liner at Walmart. It has the handle grid on the back for cutting. All it took was to measure the inside of the drawer space, cut the paper to size with the grid, peel, and stick. It can be a bit hard to get completed smooth, but if you continue to rub the bumps, it gets the job done.

Finishing Touch

The dresser just needed some knobs to call it complete. I searched around for a good bit. Home Goods and Hobby Lobby sell knobs in the stores but the selection wasn’t great to match what I was searching to get. I found these knobs on Amazon:

I loved the look of them and the coloring was perfect. After having used several other knob types, I can verify for you that while these knobs may come loose with use, the screw will not pull out of the knob. The screw can be seen at the front of the knob and goes all the through as opposed to being glued into the knob. It’s much more secure that way. 

Putting the Antique Dresser into Place

The plain jane white dresser was swapped out for the refinished antique dresser.

The canopy bed was one my parents made for me as a child. I made the curtains to appease my little one.

I hope you enjoyed the quick and easy journey. Refinishing doesn’t have to be scary. If you can find one like this that doesn’t need a lot of structure fixing, then you are basically only left to the confines of your creativity. While we are on the topic, check out the benefits of creativity:

Turns out, tapping in to that creative energy can actually improve your overall health. It might sound too good to be true, but simply engaging in creative behaviors (even just coloring in those trendy adult coloring books) improves brain function, mental health, and physical health.

Forbes
5 benefits of Being Creative:
  1. Increases happiness
  2. Reduces dementia
  3. Improves mental health
  4. Boosts your immune system
  5. Makes you smarter

With this benefits, there’s no reason not to let unlock that creativity today! Happy Crafting!

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

Antique Hutch Refinish For an Outstanding Shabby Chic Focal Point

In a random search of the Facebook marketplace, I found this antique kitchen piece for less than $50. I LOVED IT! I find it truly exciting to find these kinds of things, even when I don’t need anything for my own house. Have you found any antique steals yourself?!  This kitchen hutch (as I deemed it) was located near my sister’s house, so after confirming she could pick it up for me, I snatched it up. Then, she lovingly dropped it off at my house for me. I was ready to take on this antique hutch refinish job. 

To do’s for this project:

  • Painting the wood 
  • Buy wood and new drawer handles
  • Cutting new shelves
  • Staining the shelves and the top
  • Cleaning the rust off the metal drawer bin
  • Replacing the metal 
  • Fixing the broken wood

Expenses

  • Annie Sloan paint: $12 for 4 oz
  • Fusion Paint: ~$22 for 16.9 fl oz
  • Pine board $16
  • 5 drawer handles, $15 
  • Metal sheet, $22
  • Wood Filler $7
  • Drawer/shelf liner (bought for a previous dresser refinish)
  • Time…priceless

Total $84

After having used Fusion paint on several projects, I wanted to give Annie Sloan paint a try with this project to be able to compare the two. I had found an Annie Sloan paint seller nearby at an antique barn sale, so I had gotten a 4 oz bottle of teal (named Provence and number B8100620). The bottle says “Absolutely anyone can use my paint. It’s easy.”

Normally, I’d say you need to sand or strip the wood before painting, but with this one, it wasn’t necessary. I had to fix a few pieces of wood that were loose or broken before painting. After those fixes, I did a single coat of teal on the back and a double coat of white fusion paint on everything else. This was likely the easiest paint refinish I’ve done to date. The single coat of teal was enough coverage to give it more of a rustic look. Of the 4 oz canister I bought, there was about a quarter of it left. I’d say that’s pretty good coverage for that small amount. It also went on smoothly without any brush marks. It was definitely a positive to have an easier paint job for this project given the other tasks needed. Annie Sloan got a thumbs up from me.

A Little Bit of Metal Work

With the top and the legs painted, it was time to start on the metal bins. I’d been told they were used to store flour, but I really couldn’t find any information on the internet to verify that. I would guess they were used to store onions and potatoes but that’s purely based on what I think would make sense to put in there. 

One of the bins was only slightly rusted, but the other side had a hole in it from all the rust. In order to fix this, it was easiest to replace it altogether. I bought a sheet of aluminum from Home Depot to cut to size. In order to get the old metal off, I had to remove the nails holding it in place. It took me quite a bit to push myself to start this task because I thought it was going to be quite difficult. Procrastination really gets me on some projects. It ended up being easier than I had thought, which was fantastic! Be warned that sometimes our fears end up falling flat. 

A little motivation for you…

“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

“If you put off everything until you are sure of it, you will never get anything done.”

Norman Vincent Peale

“The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.”

Dawson Trotman

Adding a friend to the mix

While I was working on the bins, my friend was working on her own dresser refinish with me in my garage. It was cold in there! I was helping her learn the refinishing ropes. Having a buddy definitely makes a project much more socially fun. 

Clean metal bins

Although part of what I love about crafting and woodworking is the solitary nature of it, sometimes it’s really nice to have company. You can still get lost in your own thoughts and mentally working through your own problems, but you also have the opportunity to get feedback on those thoughts. Normally, I do have social engagement even in my garage solitude due to the constant need for ‘mom’. For example, while trying to write this post, I’ve been interrupted no less than a million times from the three kids and husband. 

Anyway, back to business…

I placed the new sheet in place and then nailed it into place with some 1/2 in nails. After it was set in place, I pressed the edge down over the wood and used a hammer to flatten it as flush as possible against the wood. It was complete after that!

Rust, Rust, and more Rust

I used this same tool I had used to cut the metal. It had several different tips and this bristle brush was FANTASTIC at scrubbing off the rust. Since I hadn’t done anything like this before, I was really impressed with how well it worked.

Wood Fixes and Staining

This antique hutch refinish was well on it’s way to being complete. I ended up buying some pine to cut into two shelves because the hutch hadn’t come with all the shelves. The hutch had a removable cutting board that was in need of repair. I used wood filler to fill in the gaps. I did one round of it, let it dry, and then did another layer. If you put too thick of a layer on, it doesn’t seem to dry as well as it should. I’ve learned this from personal experience. I’m glad to fail to help you stay on a successful track on your journey. (Definitely not happy when it happens, but after the moment passes, I can be.)

Shelves cut, stained and ready for placement.

After the wood filler dried, I sanded it and the top smooth to be ready for staining. I employed the services of my oldest to help with applying the dark stain. I used the same stain as for my Paddle Platter

Look at how much she appears to love helping with this…Not at all. After the stain, came the three coats of polyurethane to protect the surface from frequent use. 

Antique Hutch Refinish Final Product

And after all that work and time, it was finally finished and ready for staging. If I had the space, I would love to keep it. Sadly, I don’t, so this beauty is ready for a new owner. 

Hard to see in this photo but there was nice detail on the top border.

I hope you enjoyed the run down of this antique hutch refinish and find it inspiring as you start on your own journey. Happy crafting!

DIY Wood Serving Platter for your Next Gathering

If you’re anything like me, you likely see creative possibilities all around you. Sometimes in comes in the form of more random options. For this easy woodworking project, I was inspired by an oar shape. After some brainstorming, I came up with this wood serving platter idea. 


“She believed she could so she did”

My parents both grew up in the great state of Kansas before moving to Maryland, where I was raised. During my younger years, we would make the long drive once or twice a year to visit our many relatives. I now try to get out there every few years to spend a week visiting with as many in the area as we can. We made the trek to join in the family reunion with the family from these two fabulous people below, my paternal grandparents. They are a crafter and carpenter extraordinaire among a great many other things. The line of DIYers is obviously pretty long. In 2017 when this photo was taken, they were 91 and 94 years old. I can only hope to live as long and fruitful a life as these two.

Grandparents

During this particular reunion, the family was making carpenter stools to match my grandfather’s well-used one. My grandmother was also providing instructions on how to cut a chicken down to make her fried chicken. It was quite a unique and memorable affair. My family knows how to do it right.

grandfathers carpenter stool
Family woodworking at its finest. Look at the line of constructed stools. I certainly use mine plenty now.

It wouldn’t be a trip to my aunt and uncle’s house in Missouri without an exotic animal sighting. Missouri seems to have laxer animal rules, so there’s quite a bit of animal variety in the area.

Now on to the Project

Part of this particular Kansas trip included cleaning out my parents’ old shed, which happened to have a couple of boxes of ready-made wood forms. That wood was calling my name, so I had my pick of the stock along with my younger sister. I dragged my selection back to Maryland with me and piled them up to wait for creativity to strike. Some ideas came more easily but those oar shapes nagged at me to figure out what to do. Then it hit me all of a sudden; I’d practice my raw routering skills by making a food platter. I took a trip to Goodwill, found three perfect glass cups, and to my garage I went.

Pile of projects
Pay no attention to the foot by the stack of raw wood forms.

I traced the bottom of the glass cups on the long portion of the oar and measured around the base to ensure I had an even border there. Then I used an older router to start cutting out the inside of my markings. It’s important to lock it tight when using a router. If you don’t, the blade will move deeper than you plan on it going. Unfortunately, the router I was using did not stay put and started digging in a little deeper than I’d planned. I can’t begin to describe the disgust I felt with this, so I ended up quitting it for quite a while and picking it back up when I got a handle on my frustration.

Routered oar server

Quick Fixes

Wood filler and a scraper solved the problem of evening out the spots that happened by accident. After the wood filler was dry, I sanded it down as best I could using a medium grit (80 grit) sandpaper. Medium grit (60-100) helps with smoothing the rougher areas. For more significant marks, you’d go for coarse grit (40-50). It’s typically best to sand with a fine-grit paper (120-220) to create a really smooth even surface before staining.

I’ve since started using a much better router thanks to my parents, which makes completing projects soooo much easier. This Ryobi router serves me well now. I can’t say enough about having the right tools. Many of the ones I have are hand-me-downs or are older because I can’t spend the money on better versions of everything. If I had my druthers, I’d get a bunch of new tools to speed up my projects and save my sanity. You get the benefit of seeing you can still accomplish things without all the best tools.

Oar Server with router errors fixed
The bane of this project.

Staining

After the routering was complete, I did two layers of stain with a dark stain I had on hand. I keep old cotton white shirt strips handy for staining just like my mom used to do. My parents were avid woodworkers and often built cabinets, tables, or trailers, among the list. My siblings and I helped complete many of the projects when extra hands were necessary. I’ve said many times as an adult now that although I wasn’t so keen on it as a kid, I’m thankful for the skills gained by having had to help.

Oar server with final stain
There’s a light spot on the end here where I failed to get the stickiness off from some masking tape. Before staining, it’s always important to ensure the wood is completely clean of residue or glue. Sanding is important.
Oar server before polyurethane

The stain ended up being inconsistent in the wood filler spots. I decided the oar server would look better to do chalkboard paint on the inside. If you are looking for other simple projects with chalk paint, check out this easy frame project. Then I painted “Bon Appetit” with white acrylic paint and finished it off with two coats of polyurethane to seal it for food and washing. The clear coating really gives it the finished look as well.

Oar server ready to use

I put a twine hoop on the oar server for hanging to make it a multipurpose server and decor item.

Oar Server hanging as decor

Wood Serving Platter: Putting it to Use

Around the time I was working on this, I was attending monthly moms’ dinner nights. If you haven’t participated in these, it’s best described as one mom hosting and choosing a theme to create the main dish around. The rest of the attending moms/friends bring a dish to match the theme. This particular night was Mexican-themed, so I went with homemade churros and three different dipping sauces. It all worked perfectly together as you can see below! It just goes to show that random finds can be made into something completely fun and useful. Here’s to inspiration finding you soon!

Oar server put to use at party

 

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

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