cast iron Archives | Crafted Niche - a lifestye blog that shares DIY crafts, recipes and tutorialsCrafted Niche – a lifestye blog that shares DIY crafts, recipes and tutorials

Clean Up on Aisle D!

July 5, 2012 in Building and Repurposing, Gettin' Crafty, Kitchen

Thanks to everyone for your help yesterday! To pitched in for Kiener, I really appreciate it! I promise I won’t do posts like that on a regular basis. I just wanted to give it the ol’ college try for the pupper!

So for today…

I went shopping with my good blogger friend Kelly at live.laugh.rowe during my lunch break Monday. We both snagged some great finds and I thought it’d be fun to share one with you and walk you through how I made it ~~over~~ up!

Cast Iron Paper Towel Holder

This little gem was turned around backwards on the bottom shelf. I almost didn’t even see it! She’s a little rough around the edges, but nothing I couldn’t spruce up. At this point I finally caved and admitted I DID need a cart, as my arms runneth over.

The top needed some lovin’ from a sander and the base needed a good cleanin’. I can do that!

I removed the top, sanded it down with my random orbital sander and then gave it a coat of Dark Walnut. I brushed on and immediately wiped off.

The next day I didn’t touch it at all… I could have moved forward, but I wanted to go see TED instead!

I decided to add some copy to the top of the stand. After browsing for about an hour for inspiration, I opted to go with an easy breezy “General Store.”

Using MS Word, I mirrored the image and printed it off. Now… how to get it ON the stand!

This was the first time I tried this method – I sloppily rub scribbled with a mechanical pencil over the printed-side of the “general store”. Then I taped it, pencil side down, onto the stand and used my pencil again to scribble in the letters.

Fingers crossed the design transferred!

It worked! I could very faintly see the letters on the board… just the way I wanted!

In an effort to keep this process moving, I used an Elmer’s Painters Opaque Marker to draw the letters permanently on the board.

After a light sanding to wear down the letters and a quick sand by Annie Sloan Wax, I was ready to cut the new dowel for holding paper towels and break out my camera. She’s ready for her close-ups!

So what do you think?! Do you like this look?

Also, I’ll be listing this item in my Etsy Store if any of you absolutely HAVE to have it!

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A little more “Me” in an Antique Armoire

June 10, 2012 in Building and Repurposing, Furniture Makeovers

When my ridiculously cute nephew was born, I gave my sister a couple chests of drawers for the nursery. They fit perfectly in his room… but it left just one problem. Where would my clothes go? Well, truth be told… for the last 6+ months they’ve been on the floor in laundry baskets. Now you see why I never show you photos of my bedroom!

I’ve had this armoire in my shed for a while now, trying to decide what to do with it. I knew I wanted it in my room… and I knew I wanted shelves… but what I DIDN’T know was how to “non-invasively” add them. (I think I make up at least one word a day…) It’s a great piece with tons of charm. It still has the original mirrors and even a KEY to open the side door. LOVE! I wanted to give it a little more “me” though… new knobs maybe? Maybe something more?

After brainstorming with my Dad (who offered several great suggestions!), I decided to get some metal shelving strips from Lowes to make shelving on the right side.

I bought 2 pieces of 6′ strips
I marked each one dead-center
Then I used my trusty hack-saw to cut them in half.
GNAW might be a more accurate word for my hack-saw technique. (Don’t look at that step, Dad. You WON’T be impressed)

I measured from the top and marked where each strip should go. Then I just started adding screws! I used the smallest screws possible to minimize the damage to this great piece.

Next up…. the shelves.

I had plywood cut into strips at Lowes and then cut my individual shelves at home with a circular saw. (Don’t be scared ladies… circular saws are our friends!)

I had 2 rolls of contact paper left over from my kitchen cabinets… might as well use them!
I cut my piece and then carefully peeled back the contact paper.
To be honest… the edges weren’t holding. Frown town. What did I do? PACKING TAPE! I just added a couple strips on the underside. Don’t judge… no one will ever see it. Unless YOU tell them to bend over and look!
Tuh-Dah! All done!

For now I’ll have 4 shelves on the right and the cubby space on the left. Oh yeah… I also cut a piece of plywood for the cubby space. I wanted everything to feel so fresh and so clean, so clean!

I don’t have pictures of this next part… but it’s pretty self-explanatory. I carried all the drawers inside and lined them with the same contact paper. I also swapped out the knobs for some fun cast-iron knobs I found 50% off at Hobby Lobby. (…and for any purists out there, shaking your head that I removed the old knobs… don’t worry, I kept them in a zip-loc bag for safe-keeping!

………..and I did one other thing. That, if you ask me, is the ICING on the cake. The cherry on top. The pop that it needed! I used cast iron numbers from Hobby Lobby to give this piece a little more “me”. I hated to drill holes in the drawers though… it is an antique after all. So what did I do? 3M strips! I bought the small poster strips, but they were still a bit wide so I just trimmed them down. Easy breezy.

Ok… Time to spill it. I hope you love it! This first pic is “unstaged”… and then I started having fun throwing props (and a dog) into the pictures. Enjoy!

Bare bones…

….and with a few accessories from around the house….

…a closer look at the numbers (my favorite part!)…

Well, What do you think?!

Hi Quinn! How nice of you to show up for the photo shoot. Funny how you have a way of doing that!

I hope you guys like the armoire. I’m still settling in. Can’t believe just how much storage it offers! I actually sold my headboard/footboard/big dresser/nightstand today… so I’m relying on this armoire to pack some serious storage! …and in case you’re wondering why I sold everything… well, I want to MAKE a headboard! The pieces I sold were a matching set and I’ve been craving more of a “found” look.

Can’t wait to show you guys the process along the way! If you scroll back up, you’ll see my mattresses in the armoire mirror reflection. They’re totally sitting on the floor right now. I don’t even have a bed frame! Eeep!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I’ll be sharing a recipe I tried this weekend in the next day or so. It is tuh-die for. Melt in your mouth good and laughably easy.