Pair of wine racks

We still had 2 amazing HUGE pieces of raw 2in thick kiln dried cherry wood. So we decided on some things to make and got to work. 

The raw piece that we started with

Measured, checked and cut

The two middium cut slabs are for the backs of the wine racks. Though they didn't need to be smooth enough for constant touching, like a table, they needed to shine. Lots of sanding and they were looking much better. I do love working with wood. The quick results from your hard work are so gratifying! 

With the smoothness achieved, the lacquer coats were added. Since one board has some characteristic charm with a crack, the lacquer seal needed to penetrate down inside the crack. 

Oh SOOO pretty!!

Now the idea for these wine racks came a long time ago when we found an old wooden gun rack at our local thrift store. 

Others didn't see my vision or idea, but now as it's coming together, I think they can!

I took the gun rack apart and began sanding it down. 

It took some work and the use of a demel to get in all the curves. But the bare wood has a nice contrast. 

We then lacquered the gun rack to match the wood backing. 

They do look mighty nice, much better match. 

With this part done, we turned to the last part. The vision was to combine rustic and industrial. So I decided on some long  golden screws from hardware store. 

But simple screws weren't the end of the plan. We painted them with a rubberized sealant to give the wine bottles some grip and a non-slip surface. 

They weren't exactly what we wanted. So once dried, we added a coat of high gloss black so they would pop on the lacquered wood backing. 

We did the same process to the screws that would secure the fun rack portion as well. 

Once the parts were done, assembly began. 

Each will hold 4 bottles. I'm pretty in love with these!! 

Now who wants them?!?! 

Final dimensions:

Each wine rack is about 14in wide x 34in tall. Hung they will come away from wall under 7in. 

Rustic Side Table

We still had 2 amazing HUGE pieces of raw 2in thick kiln dried cherry wood. So we decided on some things to make and got to work. 

The raw piece that we started with

Measured, checked and cut

One of these will become the stunning side table below. 

With some intense sanding, polishing and lacquer; it came out pretty stunning. 

The base was picked up at a local barn sale. It's 2 pieces, one slides into the other allowing the top to spin. It needed some clean up and TLC. 

We wanted a pop of color for this little side table and decided on red. After a few coats, it was sure pretty!

I think the partnership came out pretty nice! Testing out the fit and balance. 

With a few 'L' brackets the base was attached to the wood. 

Finish product all connected, secured and ready for sale!

Final dimensions: 

25in wide x 15in deep x 27.5in tall

Little things

Sometimes a little clean up, refresh or TLC go a long way. 

Here's some small odds & ends that I've  taken time to make prettier. 

We picked this up in tatters from our local sustainable home improvement store; Community Forlklift. It needed new straps, refinishing of the wood, and a complete reconstruction. 

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I wasn't sure what these were on their own, but using wire from the baskets and some creative bending, now it's a jewelry holder...or something. 

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An outdoor vendor had this great brass platter hidden under years of grim and dirt and was selling it for a few bucks. It took several hours of cleaning and scrubbing but the after affect is a WOW. Amazing as a wall hanging. 

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These are Indonesian vases but when we found them, they were caked with dirt and grease. The detailed work could barely be seen and my judgement in paying for them was questioned. I got a "you were right" after they looked like this. 

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Repurposed this tea light wall sculpture. Looks much better this way. 

An in-expensive basic lazy-susan from ikea. Painted it red and modge-podged some old maps to the top then added a shiney coat of lacquer. Great gifts for the grandparents for Christmas! 

DC table

I fell in love with the lines of this little side table at our local sustainable home improvement store; Community Forklift. It needed some TLC but the amazing bones were there. 

It's size made it more useful than I'd thought and it spent a few months as the official "project work table". Throw a drop cloth over it and it was used for painting supplies and drying of other projects or was just the perfect height for a lap top in front of the TV. Despite its easy use and my husbands protests, I finally got to work on making it gorgeous again. It was sanded down to remove blemishes and rough spots in the peeling paint. Once smooth and back to clean wood, I applied a dark espresso stain. 

While the dark stain is one of my favorites, I knew it would make the table a bit bland. No fear, there was a plan all along! From antique books, I'd pulled a number of maps and drawings. The paper color was beautiful; years of fading into a gorgeous patina. I sorted through those I had pulled, to get all the DC area maps. Figuring out placement took some thought and decisions for what the final piece would look like. 

But once decided, the maps were secured, allowed to dry and a few coats of lacquer were added. The result was stunning, more elegant than I could have dreamed. 

I'm totally sad I don't have a place for it in my own house but can't wait for someone else to love it as much as we do. 

For sale now.