tv stand, finished and installed

Tv stand finished and installed. ..

finished box/keepsakes

So this box took me an afternoon to finish up. Only thing I did not get to was poly, because we do not have anymore. Will need to getvsome more for tomorrow evening. Give the stain a day to cure anyways. I did sand down with steel wool this time to keep some of its old school charm. Same burgandy stain but this time I applied and let it sit for a few moments before wiping the whole thing down with a clean dry towel. So the stain only sat and absorbed for few minutes most.

events of total reconstruction.

This is my new project. Its basically having to be completley dis assembled and re assembled. Once I can get all the pieces separated, measured to fit back together, fix the pieces that are broken or warped and wont fit together; then we will reassemble the whole thing. This piece caught my eye because even though its in such bad condition, its something ive never seen before. Salvaging all the hardware is key. Currently working on the hinges and their screws for attachments. One is rusted very badly. The other main issues are that at some point someone previously decided to paint half of it white; and the whole back half has been exposed to some serious moisture. I have the front half under pressure with wood glue for the night and the back half under lamps to help dry it back out slowly. Back to the hinges. See where we are tomorrow.

furniture thats not mine

Went to a show down on grand street yesterday. A lot of people turned out with a ton of cool things. The thing I like most about these events (other than the stuff I can not afford) is the ideas seeings these pieces can give you.

plants, terrariums.

These are at one of my favorite stores down on damen and chicago ave. Hopefully this year if someone has been a good enough boy...

progress on television stand

After 2 days of rehab, should finish putting together tomorrow. Already looks nothing like it did several days ago.

websites

Couple good ones on finshing off pieces. Http://m.instructables.com/id/Appling-a-Mirror-Finish-by-hand/? ALLSTEPS Also... http://generalfinishes.com/retail-products/finishing-design-center/preparation-sanding Both of these are on taking certain pieces to some new levels. Going to come in use when/if we can ever get started on the south asian bureau. We have had the piece now for more than 2 years. Its intimidating in many ways but at least weve got the finish procedures in line.

television stand

This is going to be our television, comcast box, cable modem and stereo etc unit. First stage making sure we have all parts and pieces. As well as sanding down, leveling out, and deciding how exactly we want to put this together. Next few days we will decide what we want to do for a color and or finish.

french table, once more

This is another photo of our finished breakfast/tea table.

french table

These are the wing nuts we spoke of in prior post. Incredible craftsmanship on their part...

french serving table

One of our first projects. We found this table tossed in an alley, one leg almost snapped off. We disassemble d the entire piece and worked our way back. The pieces are interestingly in place with wing nuts. No glue nore nails. We are very happy with this piece. A perfect example of people not knowing what they have.

stairs

These are my favorite right now. We have got them prepped, sanded, taped, primed. We will do a mix fifty fifty wood stain to mineral spirits. After application wait 5 minutes and then run over with a clean towel dosed in spirits to remove everything but whats in the grain. Once dried we will seal it up and like the others see where we stand in the morning.

coffee tables 1 and 2

After sanding and resurfacing all day and eve, we were able to get one coat polyurethane on before bedtime. Its 3am now, so time to wrap it up. Tomorrow we will sand them down with the 220 and go from there.

product

This is the 220 we will use between layers of polyurethane. Think I will start off with 4 and see how things look. A nice wet sand and buffer polish should bring this piece right back to life. Also I mentioned possibly using a sponge on this piece, will think about it tonight.

first post; september 2014

While waiting on new restaurant project we are going to start posting and sharing some of our ideas on not only home furnishings in the city (getting away from this terrible idea of a ikea template) and realize that just because we live in a large city we cant have the comfortable country furnishings we desire. Sounds simple but its far from. We hope to not only show you quality pieces but also the work any simple minded person can do to transform some of these pieces to incredible items that will make your apartment or house in the city look like you designed it rather than having a dreaded swedish company come in and make your living space look just "like theirs". A lot of this is new to us, but we find this work enjoyable and the rewards not only emotionally but financially can be overwhelming.