Eamonn & Jack: August 2012

Help! What should I do?

August 30, 2012

Remember my post late last year about finally having a dining room I could use where I told you about my dream chairs? You know, those Eames moulded DSW fiberglass chairs that are oh so pretty? Well, when walking home after work this evening I spotted the replica version for sale at Kitchen Stuff Plus for just $60 each. Yes, they're made of plastic, but they're ONLY $60!

The replica Eames style DSW chairs now available at Kitchen Stuff Plus

Now I have to decide what to do – should I try to sell the black Windsor style chairs I worked so hard on and buy the replica of my dream chair instead? Before I even owned my condo I dreamed about having these chairs around my dining room table (I discovered them while eating in Marks & Spencer's on Grafton street in Dublin with my aunt and grandmother a few years ago), but I spent A LOT OF TIME working on those black chairs.

Windsor style dining chair before and after

My refinished dining chairs

If I do try to sell my black chairs, how do I figure out what I could reasonably get for them on Craigslist? Help please – I don’t know what to do.

General

I'm Honoured

August 28, 2012

In the past two weeks my little blog has been featured on two blogs that I read daily. When I spotted both in my feed reader I nearly jumped up and squealed, but that didn’t seem too appropriate while at work, so I kept my giddiness at bay – at least for a little while (you may have spotted some electronic joy if you follow me on twitter or Instagram).

First up my refinished dresser was featured on Lindsay’s Better After blog:

Better After project feature - Dresser Refinishing

Better After post featuring my dresser

In the interest of full disclosure I did submit this project to Lindsay in the hopes she might share it, but it was still beyond exciting to see it featured as I had no idea if it would be. I love her site – she shares all sorts of projects from around the web, and her introductions are rather amusing.

Last Monday my console refinishing project was featured over on Apartment Therapy. This one was a complete and utter surprise – I have no idea how the people there saw it, but when I saw this in my reader there may have been an ‘Holy SH@#’ whispered by yours truly.

Apartment Therapy featuring my refinished console

Apartment Therapy featuring my console

It’s always nice when others appreciate what your work, so I’d like to thank both Lindsay and Apartment Therapy for sharing two of my most loved projects with a wider audience. It’s very much appreciated.

Inspiration

Rooms to Match My Mood: Dark and Brooding

August 14, 2012

I was feeling a little 'off' yesterday, so I amused myself looking at pretty pictures on the interweb:) I can get lost for hours clicking away at pretty pictures - this is probably not the best thing to do too often (especially when I have piles of projects to start/work on/complete) but every so often it's nice to escape.

The pictures that were taking my fancy last evening seemed to match my off mood - a little dark and brooding, but I think each is beautiful in its own way. If I had to choose a favorite from the images below I think it would be the last one - it's stunning. What do you think - which do you like best?

Dark Green Living room by Todd Yoggy

Dark Grey Living room by O'Connor and Houle Architecture

Dark and Moody Living Room. Source: House Beautiful, July 2009

Dark Living room with Green velvet Couch Source: Redonline

Grey Office via Elle Decor

Botanical no. 5510 by Kari Herer Photography via Etsy

PS - I made a very concerted effort to find what I believe to be the original sources of these images and link properly to them. Please let me now if I am mistaken.

Travel

A Visit to the Okanagan Lavender and Herb Farm

August 11, 2012

I few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Okanagan Lavender and Herb farm in Kelowna, B.C. I’ve never been to a Lavender farm before so I was quite intrigued by the rows of fragrant, and brilliantly coloured lavender plants. They have 2.5 acres of plants and a little store where you can purchase hand-crafted lavender products. I love their Sea Salt Scrub - it smells divine.

If you’re ever lucky enough to visit Kelowna I encourage you to pay them a visit, but until you have that opportunity I thought I’d share with you some of the pictures I took when I was there. There are quite a few pictures - I took the opportunity to work of my photography.

I love the way some of these pictures came out. What do you think? Have you ever visited a Lavender farm?

Before & After

Refinished Living Room Media Console

August 06, 2012

You may remember back in May I introduced you to the new-to-me console for my living room that I bought on Craigslist. After it's introduction I worked on it pretty steadily, and it began its new life as my media console in July.

Here’s how it started:

Here is the little piece of missing trim around the front:

Here is the damaged piece of veneer on one side:

The damaged veneer - it's about the size of a deck of cards

And here it is, in all its refinished glory:

My refinished Craigslist console

The damaged trim – fixed.

And you’ll never guess what I used to repair it.

Yup, those are wood chopsticks. I had been planning on using wood dowels, but they were just a wee bit too thin. I always have wood chopsticks around because I use them to stir small cans of paint and varnish. The chopsticks were the perfect size – I just cut them down and attached them with wood glue. After staining they’re not a perfect match as they’re a different type of wood, but from a distance it’s not really noticeable.

The damaged veneer has been fixed as well. I replaced the entire section which was a little bit of an adventure. I definitely learned some things. Here too it’s not a perfect repair, but given it’s location on the piece I’m not at all concerned.

Repaired veneer prior to staining

One other thing I did was build a shelf for the inside. I knew there was originally a shelf inside, but when I bought it there were only the supports remaining the shelf was removed at some point. I carefully measured the inside of the cabinet and then had Home Depot cut down a piece of plywood to fit.