a door bookcase

The neighbor was at it again.

Clearing things out of the house AND “modernizing” their 1880’s house.

How I HATE that.  If you want modern—buy modern.

HOWEVER– he gives me all that OLD STUFF as he strips it out– !!!!!!!!!   And I DO love that!

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I had several ideas in mind for this door, but. . .

In the end, I needed to remember I was in desperate need of display pieces for Nellie’s, so one particular project rose to the top of the list. . .

a door bookcase!

It WILL be for sale, but it’s going to be a workhorse until it does.  Our space is on a PRIME corner –but– it’s also on a slope.  A double-edged sword.  SHALLOW, flexible pieces will be key for the short spans of level ground.

So THIS is the latest casualty from the neighbor’s ongoing project.  A small closet door from a bedroom with a sloped ceiling.  It had a window in it that was broken.  A window- how strange, huh?

70″ tall × 24″ wide

window over 3 panels

You can see in the pictures that I was already playing with the placement of shelving with some previously created corbels.

◊ Shelves at each panel would have LOOKED ideal—but they would be really short.

◊ 5 shelves in total would have been ideal—but , again, SHORT shelves.  SO 4 SHELVES IT IS!

AND- h o w  to deal with that window.

1st- the door needed to be squared from the wonky “angles” to conform to the ceiling.  And while it was laying flat on the sawhorses, I added cove molding.  I also dragged through my antq ceiling tin for a piece to fill the window—I thought it could be a good look overall AND for the show!

∗ I’m short on progress pictures because my phone was busy streaming music–I got sick of the radio’s same/repetitious 12-song playlist.

I mixed some leftover paints to create a gray’ish shade of green I REALLY liked to paint the front of the door (love happy accidents).  ONE color looked flat so I went back with some white accents.  A N D  waxed everything for a soft hand -and the depth waxing brings to paint!

This DOOR BOOKCASE will be 360° of visibility during the Nellie’s Barn Sale so I painted the backside too.  Just the white—for a clean look. 

I swear, painting took longer than construction, but I LUV the simple outcome!

With this color combo, it’s got a very “Farm-ish” style.  I can totally see it in a kitchen corner showing off some Stone Ware, greens, and a great old cook book collection.  But I can ALSO totally see it in a bathroom loaded with towels and apothecary jars filled with toiletries!

Catherine

~on to the next project!

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*it was hard to get accurate color pictures of the pretty green-  : ( 

∗ I need to plug the screw holes yet—

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the new-fangled bookcases

THIS was Monday–

THIS is Friday!

And THIS is how the week went!

Monday- I finished the last of the prep work.

Tuesday & Wednesday- picked up my stained parts, propped the key parts together to see where adjustments would have to be made –just plan on it, ’cause it happens– and got to work.  All was coming together!

Uh~mostly.

I’m still not quite satisfied with the bookshelf’s natural break line.  I may be making a change.  –We’ll see.

I started painting the interior to brighten it.  I used the satin finish from the Lower Level I had mixed to match the Living Room’s suede texture.  But without the suede texture, the satin finish read too “white.”

Thursday- So I ran off to get another paint mixed just a bit darker than the walls, and got everything finished including the shelves!

While I was out, I stopped in to have a conversation with my lighting guru and made a last minute (literally) LIGHTING decision.

Early this morning I gave a light sanding to a few “rough” areas and REpainted.  While it was drying, I got crackin’ on the new TAPE lighting!

You can see that it’s very small, low profile, and concealable!  BEST- it gives a consistent –not spotty– wash of light flooding across the shelving.  I had my lighting guy make TWO 66″ lengths to go behind each pilaster, an appropriate length to feed back towards the outlet, but connected to plug in to ONE spot.  The outlet is triggered by a wall switch I added in construction.

This lighting is  so flat~low profile, it easily slips between the slight wall~shelf gap.  I only needed to drill a small hole through the lid and the center shelf to feed the tape through, from top to bottom.  It attaches by a sticky taped backing.

The down side is that it’s still a new format~meaning EXPENSIVE.  $126 + tax.  I’ll probably add this underneath the upper kitchen cabs for counter task lighting—it’s really nice!

Look at the difference—in DAY light!

Just imagine at night!

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Here’s the “before” to THIS project!

I have a few things left to finish, which I’ll share later, but in the mean time~

I’ll REwork and REload all the family photos~

Catherine

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it’s AWEsome!

~and it’s not even finished!

Yesterday morning I anxiously headed out to pick up my parts.  The guys did an OUTstanding job and I was super happy!  Sure~the stain was a smidge darker than my plan, but, com’on—

it’s so beaUtiful!

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And here we go—

This is the room Monday, ready and waiting. . .

clear weather~nice day

And Tuesday. . .the parts picked up and now just propped together for a general lay of the land before jumping in full fledged!

Although I brought in the compressor, nailers, drill—and a variety of other accouterments, I still needed to run in and out to make cuts and router things.  And the RAIN moved in.  For the day.  Joy.

With ME and PARTS running in and out getting wet.

Some things were pre-cut and waiting, but other things had to be done on the fly.  Adjustments and tweaks had to be made~it happens.  So in the frenzy of work I didn’t get many “along the way” pics to share, sorry.

The jist of the work–

–I started with the right side, attaching the cleating and base plinth.  

–The first change came once I added the pilaster, it just looked too “flat.”  So I pulled it off and ran it through the router with a trim bit to follow the contours.

–Calculate the cut and attach the top plinth block.

–Slide the right bookcase over, snug to the wall~move the left bookcase in and screw them together.

–Repeat the whole pilaster profile process on the left side.

–Cut/install hidden cleats to install/stabilize the center base.

–Install decorative header with the addition of 2 “L” brackets from behind for extra security.

–Add scribe to the center bottom-top bookcase divide, and rip/cut ¼” veneer to conceal the center bookcase connections.

–Lastly, each shelf had to be ripped down a slight bit shallower.  One of my corny big brothers noted that “It’ll be hard to keep your books straight.  We’ll have to call you Ei-leen.”

The next tasks are to putty, lightly sand, and paint the whole interior.  And, REset that interior outlet and cover plate.

Plus, we’re in a full out snow storm now—w t h Mother Nature??

I need to decide on lighting -or not- and adding a top finial -or not- .

I liked it before but

I love it now!

Catherine

—there’s MORE to come & to explain!

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progress is afoot!

This crude drawing was the result of trying to get someone to understand the new design I was going for.

*This is what said design looks like when you DRAW on your cell phone pictures using your finger!  But you guys do that too~right?!?

To REcap—

After emptying the bookcases I stripped all evidence of the Shaker styling AND my later style changes.

I cut a former fluted bed post in half to become pilasters.  I built plinth blocks.  I cut trim pieces.

I ripped a new header board to width and length, and sorted out that final design with the salvaged arched casing.

I took the left bookcase, header, new face frame parts, and trim to the strippers to work some serious stain magic with the crazy mixture of woods.  White oak, Aspen, Cherry, Birch, and Maple.  It took some playing with stain colors to find a complimentary color and tone that didn’t mean going DARK.  Whew.

While the guys worked on their part I returned to painting.  Before Christmas I painted the bulk of the living room, but not the front wall with floor to ceiling windows or the bookshelf-side of the fire place.

The room is now 100% REfreshed and looks and feels WONDERFUL!

While I had things knocked down I took advantage to “correct” a BIG annoyance.  The wall-to-ceiling cut-in line lost its crisp edge with each new paint job, so I brushed the outer-most ceiling edge with its Ben Moore Alabaster color down onto the wall [about] an inch.  Once dry I cut a NEW crisp cut line with the suede wall paint.

OMG it looks SO much nicer!

I finished all the detail painting early this morning and spent a good bit of time cleaning and polishing EVERYthing thoroughly before/as I REstored the room.

I’ll be picking up the final parts of this project from the strippers in the morning and spending the day “building” the new bookcases!  And painting the interiors.

Can’t wait to share with you!

I’ll post some progress pics on instagram ~hope you’ll follow along!

Catherine

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a new face

A pair of simple, classic Shaker bookcases—

–in the beginning (below upper right corner), and later, moved together in construction and altered by the addition of reeded pilasters with plinth blocks, and crown & base moldings.  And lighting.

It was a simple, classic look.

But you know what?  I just NEVER felt satisfied.  Years of thinking about their change, many sketches, a collection of architectural items—just lead back to ANOTHER version of simple and classic!

This LAST DESIGN~I’m happy.

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So on Wednesday, I cleaned the shelves of all the family pictures.  I stripped down all the embellishments and carried the bookshelves outside to work on their last makeover—!

We’ve been in a veritable heatwave and all the snow is melted -which let me lay them out on the driveway on their backs to more easily work out all those details!

Here, all the facing of the Shaker style is removed-

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First was to create the new pilasters—flea market bed posts, actually!

Cutting it in half.  I used a long board to guide the post going through the table saw.  The posts are tapered so I added a piece at the top to keep it centered while going through the blade.

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Now split, I laid them out to figure out how high or how low to position them.  I decided to line them up –balance them– with the last shelf, which leaves 17½” for the bottom plinth block.

Next~ the new header.  I had 10″ to play with -top of the bookcase to ceiling, so I ripped a board 67½” × 10″.

A N D  I played with the positioning of the arched casing.  I  could  just cut the board to the arched form OR I could create a split pediment—uh huh!

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I finished the day cutting/making all the other small parts/details that will make this new design complete.  BUT, I loaded all of it to take to the strippers in the morning to have them stain the key parts for me.  There are multiple woods that need to match, and I’m no staining expert.  The interior and shelves will be painted.

While the guys work their expert stain magic for me, I’ll be painting the last wall from behind the shelving.  AND I’ll work on updating some of the family photos displayed there!

Catherine

What a difference a day makes—we’re snow covered AGAIN.

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remember that REclad bookcase project?

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You know,

cheap bookcase~new face.

Yes, it’s ONE of the projects I was putting in such loooong hours for.

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I hit [most of] my deadlines, before running out of steam,

took a 4th of July lake break,

and am finally getting back on track.  Or should I say I’m back to finish those missed deadlines?

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*This is how I started each day off!  Nice~right?

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So~ I believe I left you at “hardware.”

I decided on something a bit “unexpected” for a rustic cabinet, and some old magazine pages for the center void.

The cabinet interiors

Plan A~ starts with a crazy story.  Bill Gates commissioned a very large pair of bullet-proof, leather-clad front doors for one of his houses.  A friend’s husband was one of the contractors.  There was EXTRA material fabricated (just in case~I’m sure), and it was given to MOI~ can you believe!

I wanted to REclad the whole interior of the bookcase in it—but there wasn’t enough.

Plan B~ I thought about REcladding the whole interior with some of the obnoxious quantity of oak veneer I got off of Craigslist long ago for a whopping $11.  But it felt like more work than REsale would bring.

Plan C~  Short cut job by PAINTING the interiors in a dark chocolate and use the leather bound wood for the backboard!

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Problem #1.  All the colors clashed together.  The split logs, the paint color, the leather.  I tried “staining” the leather—AWFUL.  I tried cleaning it off—uh, making it worse.  With nothing to lose, I applied a “natural” furniture stripper I use often. It all ended in a Happy Accident!  Well, I kinda think so.

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Problem #2.  The split logs were splintering-rough so I VERY lightly sanded and brushed on a matte urethane.  BIG mistake—the wood looked like PLASTIC.  I sanded the sealer-finish and/but lost the whole rustic vibe from the logs.  Crap!  Do I PRY OFF the boards and start over?  Distress-paint or white-wash?   But then I have to figure out anther backboard.  I dry-brushed two browns and sanded right away.

Problem #3.  Now I have WaY too much time into this REsale project to add real wood shelves.  I’ll have to work with the sagging particle board shelves.  I cut an inch of depth off with the table saw, flipped them wrong side up, added a strip of the log boards to the front edge, and painted.

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At the end of the day, it all came together

and went to the Door County antique mall—

a cottage and vacationing audience!

I think it would be great extra storage in that scenario!

◊ In the bathroom loaded with towels and other accouterments.

◊ In a bedroom holding linens & blankets.

◊ Even staged in the hall to accommodate multiple guest room extras!

Catherine

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cheap bookcase~new face

You know the bookcases—

100% assembly-required, (kind of) cheap materials but interestingly~NOT a cheap price tag.

Convenience is the name of the game here, not necessarily style.

I found this on Craigslist for $15 and wanted to use it for display in another antique  mall (that still may or may not happen–??).

Long story short~

since I don’t NEED it for its intended purpose, now it’s in the way and needs to go—BUT CERTAINLY NOT LOOKING LIKE THIS!

Also found on Craigslist were these split log fence boards—free!  I got first dibs and took a LOT but not all. By the time I thought about what I could do with them the rest were gone~ boo-hoo.

Hey—it’s finally cottage season, how about a fun

Rustic~Cottage-y

styled piece using the free CL-boards!  But they were used raw and were really filthy from the elements, so I pressure-washed them clean!

Even after sort of disassembling the bookcase and giving it a new WOOD face frame, it was actually a SIMPLE, EASY face lift!  Albeit  t e d i o u s!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding crown molding required some compound cuts.  The challenge was fun but you can see I miscalculated a tiny bit on the left (dang it!)—I caulked it in.

I laid the cabinet down on saw horses to work easier, and then set boards between to create a “stop” to start the first course of board-facing -or cladding.

The fence boards were not quite long enough for my tall cabinet so I added a wood base from some salvage.  AND- you know, it gave a cleaner-finished bottom.  You can also see I added cedar feet—cut from a long 4×4 post several summers ago for multiple burgeoning projects !

I didn’t like the PLAIN wood face frame so I clad it too—which messed up the crown molding.  I’ll play more with that later.  But my immediate fix was to use a ripped length of a board as another layer of “crown molding.”

The doors. . . ugh.

I tried laying the boards vertically, horizontally, and in a chevron pattern. Nope.  Nothing looked right.  A picture frame pattern looked the best of all -but what to do with the center void. . .

Did I mention there’s going to be some leather—?

Perhaps another surprise to the finish!

More tomorrow,

Catherine

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speaking of beds…

…how ’bout this

Blast From the Past Project!

See this little cutie-petutie?

She’s my #4 of 8 GREAT nieces!

Where has all that time gone—?

When she was 2or3’ish -and soon after her parents bought their 1st house- my niece/Goddaughter relinquished the task of making a little Princess room for her!

Since I can’t find any pictures of the room to share, you’ll have to imagine this—

Mind you, it was the smallest BR in the house so you can only do so much. . .

The room was painted Pink, of course!

We wrapped the room in a picket fence and hot glued some silk wild flowers around and behind some of the boards.  Among other details, a vintage light was hung, and I re-worked a few pieces of vintage furniture.  THIS furniture.

I found the sweetest potential of a bed in a thrift store during a half price sale, $10  $5!  Sorry, no pictures from when I bought it (’02 or ’03), but you can see what I did to it below.  A simple shabby chic paint job, and an upholstery job with over-sized welting!  The same cabbage rose fabric and some lace also made a matching duvet, pillow sham, bed skirt, and drapes!  

This was the French Empire dresser I shabby chic’d for her

—that later made it’s way back to me for THIS other project!

–I had a dresser, but I needed a Bookcase!–

This was one of my earlier postings,

and,  it~I  was lucky enough to be featured on many prominent blogs for it!  Which put me in front of many of you!  My people who GET me!  ; D

Catherine

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you can call her “Izzy”

Isabelle—

Izzy,

whatever, she’s country-cottage-y cool!

This whole project started with a door picked off the curb.  A turn-of-the-century …. 4-paneled door.  Caked with layers of paint!

I decided it would become a tall, closed cabinet, and then I started shopping my stashes of “finds.”  And I pulled in all kinds of left-overs.

I cut the door in half and started shaping the carcass.

I cut up-shaped-added all kinds of salvaged-REclaimed-flea market finds to play up the character & charm of the door!

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I got busy building a pair of front doors.

BUT—3 steps forward—2 steps back!

The satanic red squirrels that I’ve been battling forEVER broke one of the doors over night—ughh.

*It took  l o n g e r  to repair that door than build BOTH originally.   :  ⌈ 

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When a small wine stash developed at the very top, adjustable shelving in the upper section . . . . .  .. . suddenly became two scalloped shelves!

You can see I started painting—a soft pallet of white exterior and warmer gray interior.

To set the door hinges, I clamped the doors face to face, marking all 3 positions (top, middle, bottom) to both doors at once.  It’s the easiest way I know to make sure they’re all the same!

I hung the doors before applying the chicken wire.  I like 3/8″ chicken wire.  I laid it flat on the ground to paint it white, then applied it whole (uncut) to the inside flat of the first door—starting from the manufactured edge side.  I cut away the excess and then worked on the 2nd door—again, starting with the manufactured edge first.

*I would have liked to router a rabbet and counter sink the wire, … but the “fret-work” prohibited that.  So for this application I stapled it to the flat back of the door, cut it off as short as possible, and then covered the raw edges with raffia ribbon.

We’ve had gray skies again so it’s tough to get good pictures.  My options were in an upside-down work studio, outside-gray skies, or the fluorescent lighting of the antique mall.  I tried my best to correct it all in editing. . .

Hope you like Izzy,

I’ll just end this with pictures!

Catherine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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*Taken just before the raffia ribbon and trimming back the wire.

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“Isabelle”

All those little kid’s cabinets I love to build

by the time they’re finish, seem so filled with personality

I like to Christen each with a

Proper Name!

These are just SOME I’ve built and sold-

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I ♥ building with reclaimed & salvaged materials & flea market finds!

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So, you know I was recently REinspired … . to build another Armoire,

a Cottage-y Cabinet.

Ensiola, meet your big sister Isabelle!

And here’s her reveal, but there’s more to the story . . . . tomorrow!

Catherine

*See the finished project HERE.

I’m sharing this project with a few of my favorite linky parties!

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