Mistake #3 - Another Before & After with B & W Photos! I know, I know... but the project is good!

Hi Y'all - me again! 

Well, I did finally figure out how to put my little point and shoot Pentax back on color. That happened last night while taking a photo of the drop leaf table.  Just hoping that I don't push a button, without knowing what I did to alter the state of things.  I'm always doing that on my computer!  It's so annoying, especially when I cannot fix it.

My second before and after project is a shelf.  The neighbors trash provided me with a perfect base for a shelf that Jennifer and I can use to store our crafting, sewing & machine embroidery supplies.  This is the project where the power tools were whipped out to make my work easier!

Before Photo
This is what I dragged from the alley curb to the garage!  And it's my first alley find too!

The shelf was in great shape.  In my mind it belonged to the our previous neighbors.  That man had every tool imaginable and this looks like something he would have whipped together.  He and his sweet wife died within 18 months of each other.  Mr. Neighbor kept an eye on the neighborhood and knew what was going on.  That made me feel safe and secure when Rick was out of town and he was/is out of town a-lot.  We miss our Mister and Missus neighbors and it's fun for me to have something that belonged to them and that the Mister made.   

The two shelves were knocked off with a hammer.  Closet shelving from HD was measured and cut to go on all three shelves.  The shelving had been used to put between two sawhorses for painting things, so it was free too!  WhooHoo - not only my first alley find, but my first free project too.  Just realized that!  Makes the whole thing even better, if that's possible!

The top shelf was the easiest and most straightforward.  The boards that were already in place just had to be covered.  Easy to measure and cut.  The third shelf board had to be cut to go between the existing boards and not on top of them like the first.  A little more thinking for me here.  Math is not my strong suit!  The second shelf was the most difficult.  Talk about no math skills!  This shelf had a little cut-out at the back of the sides so that the shelf would go beside the 2x4 and then jut out to cover the remaining side boards.  Well, I messed up the first cut on the shelf.  For some strange reason which I cannot explain, I cut into the board three inches in, instead of just the width of the side of the 2x4.  But the second time I got a good fit.  Not perfect, but good.  I was so proud!



This is the second shelf.  You can almost see my cut-out on the shelf.  
"Aren't these B&W photos great?!?", she said with just a touch of sarcasm.

Here is the shelf with all three new shelves attached.

Not wanting to waste any of the wood, the yucky stuff on the two small shelves that were removed was scraped off.  The scraped off yucky side was faced toward the back and then attached to the back of the top two new shelves to keep stuff from falling or being knocked off.  The bottom shelf already had a back board, I'm guessing it was added to make the unit more sturdy.  Oh, BTW, I didn't use screws, I used finishing nails.  I haven't mastered the screw sinking yet.  So it was nails and a hammer for me.  I did have to make an effort to think about where I was putting in the nails so that I wouldn't miss a board completely.  Almost made that mistake.

Everything received a good sanding with my handy-dandy palm sander.  Then I applied a coat of my beloved Annie Sloan Louis Blue Chalk Paint, followed by a coat of dark Minwax and some buffing, then a coat of natural Minwax with more buffing.  I just love the feel of the wax on the wood - it's almost soft!  I was so stingy with the chalk paint that I would dip my brush in water after dipping it in the paint and it worked great!

Well, I can't take a color photo of the shelf from my bedroom.  That will happen tomorrow so you can really see the after.  I'm eventually going to get all of this figured out!

What's next? 

1. The repainting of a French coffee table, from white to Light French Gray.  Yum!
2. A redo of Noble's room - new arrangement, bedding, curtains and "theme".
3. Art work for his room - Jennifer has some great ideas and we'll try to implement what she sees in her head! 
4. Chest of drawers makeover.  One of the drawers was stuck in the chest.  One side was waaaay back.  It was greased good with WD40 and finally I could pull it out.  (It's the new muscles from using the power tools and the big trimmers for the rose bushes!)  Just one little downside - the drawer front came off.  The dovetails of the drawer were caught behind the front of the chest.  That's an easy fix and I've actually done that repair once on the buffet that we took to Round Top.  We're excited about all of our projects - so stay tuned!
5. Give-A-Way - The Followers number hasn't changed in a few days, but we're ready for the give-a-way!  Maybe we'll get there next week!  Keep watching! 

Wishing all of you a Blessed Easter as we celebrate the Risen Lord! 

He is Risen!