Showing posts with label craft paint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft paint. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

The DREADED DUNGEON!


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Hi, Everyone, hope you are staying SAFE!

In 1984, when we bought a 12 year-old, 1400 sq.ft., modest builder grade Ranch House on a bit more than a quarter of an acre. We thought we had gone to heaven after living in a congested townhouse area. 
Our unincorporated community had a lake, parks, un-congested lanes and streets, what we from Wisconsin, call a 'townie bar' on the lake, clean air, critters, bull frogs, raccoons, pheasants, deer, etc. Perfect for two pre-teen boys to grow up in.

The minus-was no garage (we built one, years later),  plus a big empty 1400 sq. foot basement, some of which today is this 

DUNGEON!

oldnewgreenredo

The basement, gave me a clay shop for my pottery business---us, a family room, hubby an office, and a huge storage room shop 
that I shared with my husband.

Over the years we remodeled upstairs, put the washer-dryer upstairs, added a mini-master bath in a walk-in closet, reconfigured the other bath, added exterior water service to all sides of the house and piece-meal'd the plumbing, ourselves. You can see the cobbled plumbing by all the different types of drain pipes, and the extra heat runs. We had a metal pipe failure from the kitchen, which is 50 some feet away from the kitchen, two years ago, so that had to be replaced. It was filled with sand from the sump pumps. Sigh.

Anyway, now the house is 46 years old. We need to update/replace the bathrooms to walk-in showers, improve our water flow, and retackle the tangle of sewer pipes that adding-on eventually taxed. 
Hubby will totally replace and redo all the plumbing on this side of the house.


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But before we could do that-we added a new floor over the concrete.  First we had to go through this room and the 30 some years of storage. 

Behind all those bins is a run of kitchen cabinetry gleaned from a remodeler in the area. 

These ARE the AFTER Photos....YIKES! 

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Behind this mound of bins of antiques and craft supplies, lurks a 1900 record player, furniture, and the doorway to the other doll/craft room. 

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The finished, doll craft room, and I also have a shipping room! Bins here also hide family treasures. Flowers  are just plopped in a vase, not designed. I hope to have friends here for projects, when I have water-another reason for the plumbing debacle.


This sink has water, but not drainage. Originally the sink in the clay room ran to the sump pumps. We have purchased a pump/well for draining directly to the sewer from here, that will be installed to the left through the wall into the DUNGEON.

Oh, and I use LOTS of picnic baskets, woven and metal!
I can't believe how full this room is now---hopefully the dungeon will alleviate the excess. 

oldnewgreenredo

This was my first photos of the completed craft room.
I use picnic baskets for current projects or groupings of items with labels, so I can keep track. 


My goal is to have this Dungeon 
look and work as well as the doll craftroom! We 
have a long way to go!






I say this is an AFTER photo now in the dungeon, because every container has been gone through. Ninety-five percent have been sorted, ALL are labeled. I also keep our household seasonal items in here. 

oldnewgreenredo

I have 8 huge bins of flowers, and probably 3 more just full of greens, and grapevine. I still have a penchant for expensive, quality flowers, which I mixed in with 'good' ones and gorgeous greens.
In the past, I did weddings, parties, home-decorating, as well as commercial work. NOW, the prices of floral product are insane, and while I have cut my stock to less than half, I still have a ton. 

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There are the bins of 4 generations of stuff, good and bad, antiques and photos inherited from my family. PLUS, I've collected also-I know I have at least 2 dozen blue mason jars---
but, can I let them go now, or will I use them for mini's storage? 

 Many bins are marked SELL. I don't really need to do garage sales, flea markets, antique stores to buy...I just need to go to this basement room. I will be posting some of all this in my Etsy store.


oldnewgreenredo

January through March during the dreary winter, we went through this room-slowly, and hubby redid the floor. We will seal the floor with some roll on floor paint as we work from the plumbing back to the entrance. Right now, he was laying out all the pieces of the new drainage/sewer reconfiguration. 

Eventually we will paint walls and put up pegboard in places, as we start that after the plumbing is done. As I move into the room ---I'll start with storage on that wall of the plumbing, I will consolidate and eliminate the contents of all those totes. 

oldnewgreenredo

I can only get into this one wall cabinet which holds my paints, all stored upside down. They will have to be sorted, because paint doesn't last 20 years, even stored upside down. I taught craft painting, art theory, color mixing, and floral classes through a local craft store for 10 years or so. My classes were always full, 
which really helped with the kids' college bills. 

Do you remember when there were tons of craft/art classes and people who actually knew about the products available in craft stores? When someone could answer a question about how to USE the product...???

I do need to CULL so many bins of holiday supplies, and will probably try and sell some of the more interesting things on Etsy. I commonly purchased items wholesale in dozens to grosses. YES, I purchased wreaths by 72's and 144's. Ornament makings were also bought in huge quantities. I toted off the last of my pine swags and small wreaths to Goodwill, since I no longer mass produce anything.

Craft materials have gotten very expensive. I can sell my 20-year new-old-stock stuff at cost, and make myself and customers happy. Surprisingly, I remember what I paid for everything and who my suppliers were. Tons of things I have already sent to GoodWill included lots of glass, and almost all my baskets. I'll let GoodWill store my baskets, because I can re-purchase just about anything I may actually need for very little. 

Upscale merchandise I donate to a wonderful thrift shop---that supports families in need. 

oldnewgreenredo

My worst horde is fabric---antique linens, antique fabric, decor, display fabrics I used for my shop. Lots of rugs, pillows, bits and pieces for projects. Somewhere I have maybe ten vintage needlepoint stockings all backed in velvet. 

Containers for floral designs is another category I have to let go. I've already sent lots of brass--gone! Usable flower pots went to the greenhouse for planting. 
Then there are the wood projects---I really do need to get at those. I see some serious redo's in the future, maybe even some creative craft painting.

ANYWAY, 
with nice weather now, we are going outside and working on yard projects, the greenhouse, and planting, eventually some fishing.

But, rainy days will be spent here in the Dungeon. 

Do you have a  DUNGEON?

Thank you for any and all comments.
Finally I am able to reply to comments by using Chrome. So all you Mac users who have upgraded to Catalina---this might help the glitches on Safari  and Blogger!






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Monday, December 3, 2018

OLD REDO: Repairing an Antique Tree Stand.

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Maybe you will remember this Antique Christmas Fence from my post: Vintage Christmas Downsizing from two years ago.

oldnewgreenredo

I had dragged home a wonderful---OLD, very OLD---Christmas tree fence mounted on a slab of wood and wheels. When I used it for two years---I selectively edited to show only the undamaged pickets in my photos. Actually, it was missing many tips and a bit rickety.

Warning: This IS NOT an antique restoration, it is an OLD REDO repair. Since I'm not planning on selling this---ever---I just want it to function and not be so fragile. My desire was to achieve a look  close to the original finish from many years ago, not to duplicate it.


oldnewgreenredo

I married a craftsman, and the missing pickets and busted corner piece drove him crazy.
He did the REDO of 12 pickets and a corner post on our Dremel Jigsaw. You could hand saw a few with a coping saw, but there were so many that were needed and we have the power tools here. We also have the luxury of a power nailer--which can use different 'nails', so he chose very thin pin nails---which would do the least damage to the original structure, especially the rails.

So after the rebuild, 12 new pickets and a new corner post ----my Craftsman wanted me to NEW spray paint (not a GREEN thing to do) the whole thing to match-----HORROR! He had replaced the rickety wheels---but then---many repairs had been made on this piece over the years. 
But, I couldn't spray paint the whole thing and lose all that ANTIQUE PATINA! 

YIKES!

oldnewgreenredo

I had to convince him I would be able to match the original 100 years of dirt/paint treatment---somehow with NEW  'modern' paint and some careful mixing. Drawing from my color theory course and from the stash of paints I have in the basement, (I taught craft painting for over 15 years) I pulled some of my craft acrylics and also my Liquitex Perma Enamels to test all the reds I had. I also brought up raw umber, black and a charcoal gray which I didn't have to use. (I have craft paints from 20 years ago---I store them upside down---to seal damaging air out of them) A GREEN thing to do.

oldnewgreenredo

Acrylic craft paint has basically a matte sheen to it, so after testing all the colors I decided to use the acrylic PERM ENAMELS. These are a water based acrylic that dry with a semi-shiny surface. They are fabulous on glass, plastic, and just about any other surface. Downside---they tend to be transparent--so you need multiple layers of paint. (I apologize if these colors are no longer available...companies change colors just like the designers do.)

oldnewgreenredo

None of the three colors above was just quite right...so I used the middle 'Country Tomato' and bits of  
Red Red and Light Burgundy. I knew I would probably have to do three coats and I could tweak the color as I went along. When I got really close to paint---I realized the fencing had once been dark green. No wonder I was going to have a hard time matching the red on top. Colors over opposite colors can really affect a finished product.

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The first coat---told me I was on the right track. Nice part about enamels, you really don't need to pre-seal the wood-the first coat does it for you.

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Yes, I told you the Perm Enamels are semi-transparent---so I wasn't concerned that the coverage was weak at best.

oldnewgreenredo

After three coats, from three feet away---you honestly can't tell, which were replaced.

oldnewgreenredo

Closer, the five pickets on the right are the replaced ones and the corner post---you can tell..because all the old nail holes of the older pickets have a hundred years of dirt in them.
LOL, I have no bottles of dirt,
 although I have used burnt wood---to antique cracks before a final seal on REDO-ing furniture.
I resisted touching up all the other 'flaws' and scrapes....best not to---to keep it as antique as possible.

oldnewgreenredo

Next was to match the soft dull silver on top of all the pickets and posts. I had two bottles of silver in craft acrylic. I chose to use the darker one on the left. I had tested these on top of the red dry mixtures on my plate.

oldnewgreenredo

To not drip---I used a foam brush and just daubed it on---once. None of the old pickets were exact or pristine. I also touched up the four corner post tops lightly as these were the most scraped. Better less than too much. Even the craftsman gave his approval...Thank Goodness!

oldnewgreenredo


Now, for some NEW snow, OLD animals and toys, the tree, and oodles of lights...
and it will feel like an OLD REDO fashioned Christmas.

Warning: This IS NOT an antique restoration, it is a repair. Since I'm not planning on selling this---ever---I just want it to function and not be so fragile. My desire was to achieve a look as close to the original finish from many years ago, not to duplicate it.


All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


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