My Weblog

DIY - Syracuse Townhome

These are photos of a fix/flip my family and I completed in 2007. I don't have before shots, but these photos were taken by a professional so I thought I'd post them, just for fun. This was a very small space, and also, as you can see, the staging furniture is always the same, in every one of our houses.

DIY - Stripped Ottoman

My latest project...

BEFORE

 

AFTER

  

From an ottoman into a coffee table.

Taking inspiration from Thomas Wold I deconstructed this ugly ottoman. I wanted to change this flowery puffy mess into something stripped down and a bit industrial. 

I tore all of the fabric and stuffing off and was left with a box (it opens up by the way, for storage), made from very cheap wood. I liked the wood and it's grain, I liked the roughness of it. Once I removed the foam pad from the top, I was left with a lid with three holes. I painted leftover MDF a deep red and my pops cut it into three pieces to fit underneath the lid. I then screwed the three panels to the underside of the lid.

The box, once stripped, was full of imperfections and pencil marks. I liked that very much and wanted to add something extra to make it look even more like a shipping crate. I cut stencils from printer paper and stenciled the numbers, letters and symbols onto the box with regular black acrylic paint.

I then varnished everything twice with a Satin Oil-Based Poly. It deepened the color of the wood and keeps the paint protected. Next I used upholstery nails to add a bit of metal and lastly screwed in the new legs.  

Thanks for looking!

Before & After Salvaged Drawers

Monica of Craftynest salvaged these junky drawers and remade them into a pretty cute bookshelf.

Monica says..."My original plan was to put the drawers on wheels and use them as under-bed storage". Read the How-to on Craftynest.

So many possibilities for old drawers.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

DIY - Fix & Rent

This is our latest, and most likely final fix & flip. Fix and flipping is so over for the near future. Let me walk you though it...

BEFORE

We purchased this house in February of this year. We had big plans. We were going to remodel it entirely, raise the roof, build a whole new wing to the house. This is an old house, close to 30 years old to be more precise. It's had a tragic past and was left for dead. It stands in a very good area where houses go for $1-$10 million, but this was a foreclosed dump that fell into our hands for a very good price.

Soon after we purchased it, the market tanked and we could no longer continue with our plans, it stood empty and waiting for months while we worked on other projects. When we finally reconvened and got down to business we realized that there was no remodeling for this property, no new slate tile, granite counter tops, new cabinets, hardwood floors. Nope, we would have to do our best with what we had, working with little finances and doing as much of the work as we could ourselves.

The land was in disarray, the fence broken.

There were holes in the walls, the carpet was trashed, it smelled and was filthy.

 

 

 

 

AFTER 

We painted the outside of the house, and also the inside. New carpet was installed, all new lighting and plumbing fixtures. The rest was cleanup.

We replaced the front door glass and I frosted it in those line patterns you see. It was my first time using Etching Cream, interesting experience, not easy, but the results are very cool looking.

 

I also spray painted these storm doors. They were an ugly blue, now a hammered black. The spray painting was also not easy, the doors are permanently installed, so I had to spray them where they were, the prep time was super long, hours and hours for each of two doors.

Some of you who have seen our other fix & flips may recognize much of the furniture and the color on the walls. We always use this color (Bavarian Cream by Behr), for some reason we can't get away from it. It's warm, but in person not overwhelmingly yellow. And of course we use the same furniture for staging from house to house.

   

 

There was no money for new cabinets, so we went with the next best thing, paint. I love the color, it's not a pure white, and I love how glossy the cabinet doors look from this paint. I'm all for white kitchens after this experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closeup of the new chandeliers we purchased.

 

A view of the backyard. This property stands on an acre+.

  In the summer, this property is extremely beautiful. Tall, mature trees hangover the grass, and the sunsets here are killer. This photo was taken before we rebuilt the old crumbling fence, sometime in the early fall.

Thomas Wold Part 2

Another beauty from my favorite Thomas Wold.

This is pure genius. With this transformation Thomas created art, he created something that has never been before.

I'm once again reposting his post verbatum.

Moss Covered Dresser

"Moss Covered Dresser"

I purchased a Victorian Style dresser from a yard sale. It was in great shape and probably made in the 70’s or 80’s by some big manufacturer in North Carolina. There was really nothing antique about it. The finish was distressed flat white with gold accents, a real standard cookie-cutter classic. This would be a great form to explore something more poetic.

My initial thought was to push the feeling of the piece to a more “natural” world. How would this piece look if it was left to patina in the woods? Rocks near waterfalls collected moss on the top and the green moss would fade down the sides. If we could eliminate decay, the dresser would begin to blend into nature that way.

So I set about pushing the dresser into the mossy woods. I approached the finishing of this piece the same way one explores a painting and I wanted it to unfold as I worked on it. A lot of back and forth and layering happened. Finally though, the moss green top was shot with pigmented conversion varnish using an HPLV gun. Most of the fade was done with spray cans. I adjusted the tips of the spray cans to shoot more splattery and drippy. I wanted something that felt as natural as possible and not overtly applied.

In the drawers, I thought they might be pooled with water over time. So there was layering of paint and tinted resin to make it feel wet.

For the finish of the dresser, I did multiple pours or resin over the entire piece so it might feel permanently wet from the rain or waterfall.

Dripping Water

I wanted the top to look like it was flooded with water.

Blending Colors

You can see how loose the blending at the bottom of the dresser is.

"Water Filled Drawer" View 1

"Water Filled Drawer" View 2

Layering paint and tinted resin gave a real water effect.