Living WholeARTedly: Re-purposing

Showing posts with label Re-purposing. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Save Green...
...By Going Green

For the first time in human history the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere reached 400 parts per million. Global warming is a real thing and our consumption of fossil fuels is one of the main reasons this is happening. There seems to be an attitude these days that if a solution doesn't completely fix a problem, then it's not worth doing, but the fact of the matter is that most problems have multiple solutions and small steps add up to big journeys.

There are a lot of simple things we can do to help reduce our carbon footprint. Today I am talking about one of my favorites, shopping at thrift stores. Balancing a full-time job with my art and writing is not easy, and I am not exactly rolling in dough. I have found thrift stores to be a great resource.

I have been pretty impressed by what people donate to these places. Not only have I found some name brand clothing for pennies on the dollar (I am particularly fond of the Columbia rain jacket I got for $6.99), but I have outfitted my kitchen with some great appliances and cookware.

One day at a thrift store I happened to noticed a juicer that retails for around $100, priced at under $15. It looked complete and the motor ran when I tested it, so I decided to give it a try. As it turns out it was missing two pieces: a tool to remove the filter assembly and the container to collect the waste pulp. The only piece I really needed was the tool to remove the filter (my mixing bowl, lined with a grocery bag collected the pulp just fine). The missing piece was under $10 (including shipping), so I was still ahead by more than $75.

Once I realized that I could order replacement parts fairly easily and cheaply, I started keeping my eyes out for other bargains. I have a couple of really nice food processors now (I found two of one model, so now I have spare parts for even less than it costs to order replacements).

Not only can you find better quality items but you can often find vintage appliances that look way cooler and are built much better than their modern counterparts. I have a couple of vintage blenders from the 1960s. The motors are quieter (and probably better made) than the one in my more modern blender, and each one was well under $10. The best part is, the design for Oster blenders is virtually unchanged, so the gaskets, blades, and pitchers for their modern blenders fit my vintage beauties!

Lady Kenmore, my first vintage blender.

Hint: Sears/Kenmore appliances are usually made

by name brand companies. I knew from the blade

assembly that this one was made by Oster.

Lady Kenmore meets 'Lord Oster'. Bonus: the pitcher from

my more modern Osterizer will work on either of these.

My dining room table top I salvaged from a $6.99 coffee table I found at Goodwill (click here to see how I did it). In my studio, I combined an old trellis with a clock I found at a thrift store to make a modern take on the classic grandfather clock (click here). I have also gotten quite a bit of lighting at thrift stores, see Affordable Lighting...With Just A Few Brushstrokes for more information.

I've also gotten some great books and even found art supplies and items I can re-purpose in an art piece. The three pieces featured in my post A Trio of Trees...What's New In The Studio were all done on surfaces that I bought at thrift stores.

I've even been able to increase my storage space in the studio thanks to thrift stores. Storage containers can get pretty pricey, but I was able to buy and retrofit a rack with bins for under $10. Get the full story at I Can Always Use More Storage Space....

The benefits of buying thrift are multifold. Not only are you keeping stuff out of the landfills, but most of these stores are either raising money for a charity or are owned by a small, independent business person. Sometimes what you buy is better made than something you buy new. If you find something you like better, you can either re-donate or sell the the old item and still come out ahead of the game.

Obviously, shopping thrift is a bit different. You can't 'order' exactly what you want, so it may take a few trips before you find what your looking for. These items aren't new, so inspect them carefully for things like frayed cords and missing safety features. Check the store's return policy. My local Goodwill stores, for example, have a 10 day window and will only give you store credit (no cash refunds).

No, buying a used item won't instantly reverse global warming, but it will help get us there and you will be keeping something out the landfill and helping to support a charity or local businessperson, and you might even find something much better than new.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

I Can Always Use More Storage...
...Turning A Toy Rack Into Art Supply Storage

As you may have noticed, I am a big fan of thrift stores and re-purposing. I am always trying to find ways to store more supplies in my modestly sized studio. This week I found this great rack for storing children's toys.

Great for sorting Legos, this old toy rack will get a new lease on life

At only $6.99, I couldn't resist! Shortly after I posted a picture to my Facebook page, a friend commented that she had had one, and though they still used the bins, the frame had not lasted. Indeed, the design is definitely not for the long haul, but using some leftover lumber, I could strengthen the rack and be able to mount it to the wall. At almost 6' tall, I wasn't relishing the idea of bending over to reach the bottom bins, and I have much more wall space than floor space in my studio!

The dowels are simply held in with screws, not the

The first step was to cut a couple of leftover boards to the width of the unit. I had a piece of 1" x 4" and a piece of 1" x "8 that I was able to cut to the right length. HANDY HINT: 'dimensional lumber' is somewhat of a misnomer: a 1" x 4" is not actually one 1" x 4", it starts out that size, but is planed down to 3/4"x 3 1/2", and the finished size of a 1" x 8" is actually 3/4" x 7".

Pieces of 1" x 4" and 1" x 8" should make

I screwed the two boards to the back of the unit, placing them so none of the rods were in the way. Because I was so close to the edge of the boards, I drilled pilot holes for the screws. I drilled the first pilot hole and put in the first screw and then drilled the second pilot hole on the opposite side and put in the second screw. With the board secure, I could go drill the next two holes and then do the screws. If you don't want to have to keep switching from drill bit to screw bit, you could tack the board in place with some finishing nails (though I would still drill pilot holes for the nails).

Pilot holes will help prevent the board from splitting

I then screwed the unit to a wall in my studio. How you hang a weight bearing item varies depending on your walls. If you have drywall, you may need to use a molly bolt or some other special hanger for any screws that aren't hitting a wooden stud (a stud finder can be very helpful). In my many aparments I have encountered plaster walls, sheet rock applied over old lath, and paneling tacked to studs with nothing else behind it, plus a few other combinations. Each one requires a different hanging system, so try and figure out what's there and ask for help at your local hardware store or big box hardware store.

Rack mounted to the wall.

Note how I staggered the screws, this will give additional strength. I am not storing anything to heavy, but if it looks like I need more strength, I could screw the right side of the unit into the wall and/or install shelf brackets underneath for additional support.

Once the rack was secured to the walls, I put the bins back. The bins can be set at an angle or lay flat -- I chose flat, since they hold more that way!

Looking for more Re-purposing ideas? Here are couple more of my projects:

Making A Table From A Discarded Stool

Bringing A Lamp Up-to-date With Paint

For more DIY home improvement/repair projects, check out these articles:

Turning A Bad 70s Paneling Job Into Fresh, New Walls

Patching A Tear In the Porch Roof

Repairing Damaged Walls

Thursday, May 30, 2013

A Quick Project..
...Thinking Outside the Garden

I am in the midst of reorganizing my art studio, so today's post will be rather quick as nearly every room in this house is crawling with art supplies. A new addition to my studio is a clock. I hesitated to put one in (and in fact still haven't put batteries in this one), as worrying about the time seems at odds with the creative process.

This project was relatively simple and takes a simple, small clock and makes it look more grand.

When I lived in Upstate New York, I had turned my whole lawn into a garden. I'll take a morning of weeding over an afternoon of mowing any day of the week. Even though I haven't had a garden in 9 years, I couldn't bear the thought of tossing my favorite trellis. I simply painted it red to match the storage containers in my studio and hung a clock that I found at Goodwill. I like the clean look, but if need be, the wire trellis is perfect place to hang small tools or display photos and clippings.

Many times our lives change and we have things that no longer serve their original purpose. Look at the structure of the item and see if you can't re-purpose it, and if inspiration doesn't strike, stores like Goodwill can benefit from your generous donation of cast-offs.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Reclaiming Space...
...Bringing A Sun Porch From the 70s Into The 21st Century

Like many older Chicago apartments, mine has a back porch that was enclosed as a living space. At some point, probably in the 1970s, the walls and even the door were covered with paneling. Though the space faces north, it is at the back of the building so it has no obstructions and is actually one of the brightest rooms in the apartment. I knew with a bit of a face lift it could be a great bonus room.

The only thing worse than paneling? Mismatched paneling!
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

South wall, formerly the exterior of the building.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

North wall. Note the patched paneling.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

East Wall. Unfortunately someone paneled over the door,
but the closet is a nice bonus!
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

My budget didn't allow for sheetrock, but the landlord did give me permission to fill the grooves in the paneling and to paint. I used Durabond to fill the gaps. You could use regular joint compound, but the Durabond is a 'setting-type joint compound', so it hardens faster. You have to mix it in small batches because, unlike regular joint compound or spackle, once the product starts to set up you can't extend the working time by adding water. I used one of the easy sand varieties. It comes in various setting times; I think I used the either the 45 or 60 minute. More detailed info on the product can be found at your local hardware store or home center or from the manufacturer, USG.

First coat of Durabond.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

I had hoped to remove to the paneling from the door, but unfortunately, it was holding in the lock set. I was a bit disappointed that my original door was going to look like a modern hollow-core door. I decided that trimming out the door would help. As I was going through some boxes, I found an Asian-Inspired wall hanging and a picture frame that I could use to add some depth to the door.

Wall hanging from a discount store.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

Turns out this old picture frame
was just the right proportions.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

It took a couple of coats of the Durabond, and then, of course, was the sanding! Once everything was sanded, I primed with a stain blocking primer and then painted. The darker wood paneling had an exceptionally high amount of tannin bleeding through the water based stain block, so I ended up switching to an oil-based version (glad it was warm weather and that the room had windows!

Prematurely gray from the dust!
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

Multiple coats of primer,
and it's starting too look more like plaster!
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

Under the window was more damaged,
so a different approach was required.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

The area under the window required special attention. Not only was the paneling patched (to cover the vent hole from an old heater or dryer), but it was warped and water damaged (from water getting in the vent hole). I had in my stash several cupboard doors that were just the right height to panel under the window. The doors were slightly narrower than I wanted, but I filled in the gaps with stock modeling (parting stop) and 1" x 4" lumber.

These doors were all the same style,
but not the same color. Ahh the magic of primer!
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

Doors in place, the gap will get filled with molding.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

All of the pieces in place. The wall was warped,
so I had to install the shoe-mold right away to hold everything in place.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

All trimmed out, caulked, and painted.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

The original baseboard was not only ugly, but it it didn't fit right. The floor also has quite a slant since this was originally a porch. I used a combination of 1" x 4" and 1" x 6" to make a new baseboard.

The piece on the left was cut at angle to match the slope of the floor.
The piece on the right is a 1"x 6", while the piece on the opposite wall (not shown) is a 1" x 4"
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

Shoe mold hides the gap between the baseboard and the floor
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

I had to get a little creative in this corner....
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

The last thing to paint and trim out was the back door. I didn't feel like buying another can of paint, so I took some leftover paint and custom tinted it. It took 3 tries, but I finally got the color I wanted.

Two of the Three pieces of door molding installed.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

The final piece of door trim, baseboard, and shoe mold.
(c) Eric E. Paige, All Rights Reserved

Once the trim work was complete, I painted the floor, hung the curtains and moved in some furniture.

The room has undergone a few changes since I finished it. The media cabinet pictured above was given to me several months after I finished the space. I've since moved in a larger table and I mostly use the space for art projects that don't require paint or glue. If your wondering how I got such a big piece of furniture in there, well that's a story for another post....

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Affordable Lighting...
...With Just A Few Brushstrokes

As you may have gathered from my paintings (click here to check them out), I am a fan of the Arts & Crafts Period. Some of my favorite pieces from this era are lamps. I love the soft glow from a lamp with a mica shade and the play of color from a stained glass shade. Buying period lamps or even high quality reproductions is a bit out of my price range, though. Fortunately, thrift shops are a great source for finding great lamps that just need a little update to their finishes.

This first lamp had that antique brass finish found on so many replica pieces. It was also missing it's glass shades.

The first step is to check the lamp over to make sure the cord and socket are in good shape, and that the lamp works. Don't despair if you find a great lamp with a bad cord or socket, these parts can be replaced. If you aren't mechanical, there are lamp and hardware stores that will do the re-wiring.

I decided for this lamp I wanted more of a copper tone rather than brass, and I wanted to add just a hint of color on the lily pad and blossom. I cleaned the surface with rubbing alcohol to remove any dirt and grease that might prevent the paint from adhering. In this case I painted directly on the metal, but if the lamp is going to be handled quite a bit or is subjected to humidity or temperature changes, you might want to prime the surface with a metal primer. Try to pick a primer similar in color to your base coat. For example, I would use a red primer for a copper painted piece.

Metallic paints often take several coats (though a primer will help reduce that number). Once I had the whole thing a nice copper color, I went back and lightly brushed on some metallic colors to bring out the lily pad and blossom. Though the glass shades were missing, I found two mica shades for 50 cents each at a thrift shop. Though they don't look like lilies, they are similar to other lamp shades from the Arts and Crafts Period.

Sometimes it is not just the base that has a not so great finish. This next lamp had a nice shape, but the glass shade was definitely stuck in the 1980s!

I used a combination of glass paint, acrylic mediums, and metallic paints, to glaze over the original colors to get the colors that I wanted. I also painted over the black 'leading' with pewter colored paint to make it look more like real lead. As with the other lamp, I base coated the body in copper and used colorful metallic paints to highlight the design.

I was pretty aggressive with my color on the stained glass, because I knew I wouldn't have this lamp on very often, so the translucency wasn't the main concern. Still, it's not too bad when lit. I have since done some other shades using solely glass paint, and they definitely do better when lit. I don't leave the bulbs on in these lamps very long and use a lower wattage bulb so as not to melt the paint.

The next lamp was made from two separate purchases. I found the shade at a thrift store for a few dollars, but it is missing the piece that allows it to attach to a base (it also was missing the base!). I found the base at a yard sale. It had a paper shade that was squarish like my glass shade. I removed the paper part of the shade exposing just the wire framework and then 'squished' the framework flatter to accommodate the shorter glass shade and simply set the shade on the wire frame. Though this works, it isn't the most sturdy solution and you wouldn't want to do it in an area where the lamp might get bumped or handled a lot (I have the outlet on a remote, so the only time I need to touch the lamp is when I dust it or change the bulb).

Prairie style lamp

Paint can also be useful for matching replacement parts. This ceiling fixture, which I picked up for under $15, was missing the chain and the hardware to mount it to the ceiling, including the cover for the wiring. While I was able to find chain in a color that look alright, all of the covers were in bright brass, antique brass, and chrome. I simply painted the cover a copper tone similar to the color of the fixture.

Not all lamps are so labor intensive. This next one had a nice finish, but was missing its glass shade. My living room and dining room are in different styles and open to each other, so I like to have some elements in each room provide a nod to the other room's style. I simply put an inexpensive contemporary shade from IKEA on this Craftsman-style base. No paint, no labor, and under $25 for the lamp and shade!

Lighting is key to a great looking room, and with a little paint, some imagination, and perhaps a new lampshade, you can have great looking lamps at affordable prices.

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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Save Green......By Going Green

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

I Can Always Use More Storage......Turning A Toy Rack Into Art Supply Storage