dining table & DIY RH Salvaged Natural finish

David's recent completed project is our new dining table.

We started looking for a table for our strangely small yet open kitchen eating area back in September when we moved in.   Everything we saw and liked measured out to being too long.  It is tight because the space is flanked by a walkway to the master and our bar seating area and then a 6" step on the other.  So, we were landlocked with our size.  A round table worked really well, but we could only fit 4 comfortably there.

So, what do Katie and David do?  They design and build their own.

David loves working with wood and metal.  He started with the wood top and after one complete table top in the trash (I was adamant about the way it was constructed/finished), we finally came to a great happy final product.  Then the legs were a challenge with the wood due to species and availability so David just decided to make them out of welded steel tube.

Here is the completed table.

It is very "farm-table"-esque.  He ended up using standard yellow pine.  He planed it himself and then sanded it all down with a 220 grit before the stain.  I am in love. {with David too}

Close up on the finish.  Which is my FAVORITE part.  

The finish is a-la-Restoration Hardware's Salvaged Natural.  See below.  I LOVE this finish because its very "found" in essence and isn't too slick or dark or contrived.  Natural.

And a furniture piece from Restoration Hardware with this finish.  I want this piece in our house.  But for $5500.  I'll try my hand at having David make it?

In order to get this stain and finish we came up with a pretty good formula.  Here are the parts/process.

DIY Restoration Salvaged Natural Finish

- sand stain-grade wood with 220 grit until ultra uber smooth

- mix 1 part minwax espresso 273 with 5 parts mineral spirits {stir, DO NOT shake}

{side note:  I had David disassemble the end pieces of wood that ran the opposite direction of the others, so that when he applied the stain,there wouldn't be any doubling over of the stain etc.  This proved to be a very good idea if I do say so myself }

- rub stain on with cloth, wiping away any excess as you go

- let it dry per manufacturer's instructions

- repeat if desired

- seal/finish wood with boiled linseed oil

{side note:  the boiled linseed oil is AWESOME in that it gives the wood a more rich, but not darker color, and it saturates the wood fibers and protects them instead of a polyurethane coating that would sit on top of the wood and create a film.  I wanted to make sure this table would patina and age with us}

- care for table by applying mineral oil every year or so (like a butcher block cutting board)

typical, for us.

David and I have an interesting relationship.  Different than any of my friends and their loved ones.  And its amazing and hysterical.  

First, when we are out on date night, you can be assured that there is going to be a drawing on a napkin, scratch piece of paper, receipt, etc.  Or plans for a trip to Home Depot the next day or discussions on how we're going to prepare, build, and finish the next project.  

Examples are below.

Sketch of some ideas for our back deck at dinner on a Friday night.  Mussels weren't that great, but we came up with some awesome plans for the grill and the smoker.

David's on-going small scale project.  A new kitchen/dining table.  Wood farm-style top and steel base.  He welded the base himself because he's awesome like that.  Still needs some staining and finish but I am so excited!  

{Mom's Christmas present [x2] to go with the new dining table. Most always gifts are for our house;) }

And David's Christmas present from me.  Everyone I tell is so confused.  Its a sheet of steel.  A 3/8" x 4' x 8' sheet of steel.  It weighs something like 500 lbs, but David is in love.  Basically this inanimate object allows him to weld in his own shop now instead of elsewhere.  It helps ground the metal, and all that electrical current stuff.  I won best wife of the year on Christmas.

a few "afters"

Some of my friends and family have asked me to post more pictures of the finished house, so here you go,a little snippet.  Our master bedroom.  Just a couple of little happy moments.  

Some may know I'm a little afraid of color.  I really like neutral natural honest materials.  Jute, wool, wood etc.  But I have some fun patterned accent pillows coming.  

And I found these amazing sheets at Target this weekend.  They have this great new "Threshold" line.

This was a little project completed a while back, but I hadn't posted it yet.  That is our toilet behind the "saloon doors".  The doors were made out of painted wood and frosted plexi glass.  Its actually really great.

And, during the winter, I have found that our "open-air" shower is pretty un-bearable.  And if you know me, you know I HATE being cold.  And showers should be warm and comfy.  Closing off our shower during the winter with a shower curtain is a must.

Farewell!  Until  next time, when I get the energy to fancy up another area of our house for pictures :)

my day, 75% of it

75% of my day is spent getting ready for, going to, being at, and coming home from WORK.  I truly love my job and because I spend so much of my time designing corporate spaces, I thought  I would share some here and there.  The most recent project is below.  

The project was for a media/web/software company and they were a joy to work with.  The building is at 800 Brazos, and this space was a suite that encompassed 3 different buildings, all built before the 1960s.  It was a major challenge.  We tried to expose and be true to all the awesome existing architecture, including brick structural walls, massive concrete columns, steel trusses, and these awesome arched windows at the Brazos facing side.  

We are now working on Phase 2 for this exact same client in the same building, on the same floor with even more challenges, but even more fun.  I can't wait to share.

bathroom barn door

I posted these pictures on Facebook, but never really talked about it.  This barn door to our bathroom was an idea that started very early in the process of designing our house.

 

Which, by the way, if you plan on remodeling a house that you just bought... you pretty much have to have some ideas before even knowing which house you are going to buy, because the process goes so fast!  We knew we wanted an old antique barn door somewhere, but never thought we would have this great opportunity for one.

 

Our bathroom door is in the smack middle of a side wall to our bedroom.  My little head sleeps about 4 feet away from that wall.  And the ceiling is vaulted, so its a perfect place for a statment piece.

 

David, the Husband, welds.  He learned from his dear old dad at a young age and has made us many a fine item with his skills.  i.e. planters at the old house, and some other things that don't come to mind at the moment.

 

We  really like this type of hardware.  www.barndoorhardware.com  I have used it a couple of times in commercial designs for some of my work projects.  But the price tag is a little scary.  About $500 for something that we needed.  So... David just made it himself. 

 

At first I didn't want him to, afraid that the R&D behind thhe $500 price tag was probably justified and he just didn't have that time and knowledge to deal with the trial and error of it all.  But as most times happens, Husband came through with flying colors.  I shouldn't be surprised anymore by his Renaissance man qualities, but it is always a nice ending. 

 

 

Husband hanging the door.

 

steel hardware

 

And then we needed to frost the glass because it is our bathroom after all.  So, David found this for me at Home Depot.  It is a stick on film that needs very little prep/set up.

 

 

 

Spray the glass with some water.

 

 

 

 

 

Take your pre-cut sheet (measure your window before, and cut with an exacto) and remove the backer.

 

 

place it on the window pane/glass starting at the top, let it fall and adhere

 

 

take a credit card or something like that to spread the water out from under the film to the edges.

 

 

and wipe away the excess water. 

You can see the transparency difference.  Its awesome!

 

 

 

Now we  need to work on some acoustical sound masking issues :)

tree branch turned wall art

This was an idea of my mom's.  We needed something over our guest bed.  We live on a lot with 100+ trees.  So, what better way to decorate than bringing in the nature.  

Found the perfect branch.  

We also found the most perfect adornments.  White porcelain flowers at Back Home.  My mom's favorite home decor store.  And then we found some crocheted flowers in yellow and grey ;) as well.  

And there you go!  Its coming together.

make a statement... wall.

This is one of my latest mini projects.  I'm happy to say they are all mini projects now.

No more total house makeovers.

A statement wall for our entry.  I toyed with different ideas, but knew I wanted a big letter and to use these antique mexican nail heads we got at Pieces of the Past.  (The same place we bought our antique door that now leads to our master bathroom.)

I use my computer and graphic software programs for pretty much EVERYTHING that I create.  From stationary, painted windows, statement walls, crafty things.

So, i started with this, AutoCAD.  (I used my graphic program, Adobe Illustrator, to get the W.  And then exported it to a .dwg autocad file.  You could also use a grid system and have your letter blown up super huge on large scale paper, etc.  This cost me no $ at all, and I'm a really impatient person, so anything that I can create/come up with at home and just DO is right up my alley.)

Then we started plotting out points on our wall.  Thanks to my bestie Morgan for helping me out!

To get the curves, I printed out those sections on 8.5x11 paper on our home printer and taped them on the wall in conjunction with the adjacent straight lines.

Another big item of discussion for any accent paint on a wall is how to get the best line with the taping off process.  I had heard of a technique where you paint the original paint color of the wall FIRST.  To basically seal the edge between the wall and the tape.  

Then, you paint your color.  And... IT WORKS BEAUTIFULLY!!!

Such crisp clean lines!

And, the finished product!

Happy Holidays!  

-katie, H&H