Sunday Selections #378

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.


If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.


A little project I'm about to embark on:

an upgrade for my chests of drawers, I have two of these, bought cheaply from Ikea, made of pine. 
I had these a full year before the awful fresh pine smell dissipated. 
Let's take a look at that front left hand top corner:

you'll notice it is slightly darker. That's from a single swipe of a polish laden cloth. I'd already put a layer of the polish all over the other chest and began this one before realising I was going to have to empty and move the bookshelf sitting on top of it. So polishing this one was abandoned. The bookshelf is choc-a-block with dvds. All three shelves, double layered.

this 3cm is how small the original flat surface knobs are, I've put up with them long enough,

and they will be replaced with these not much larger 5cm knobs, with a slightly rounded surface.

a light sanding of the polished one, then  a single coat of stain-and-gloss, applied with a brush, because I do like brush painting.

this is the colour I chose after studying far too many boards with small samples of colour and not finding what I was looking for until quite by accident I turned one board over to discover more choices, in larger size samples, on the back side. Why didn't the assistant tell me that before she walked away to help someone else? Anyway, Choc Walnut.

here is the one-coat-of-polish chest with the new knobs, so you can see the difference in colour and the difference in knobs size. Although they don't look much different here, the difference in real life is a great improvement.

my original idea was to buy gloss paint in this colour for both chests, instead, after the gloss stain is dried, I'll find (or make) satin damask table runners in this shade and lay one across each chest of drawers. Maybe.

Tuesday is a completely free day, so this is where and when I'll begin. Move everything and start the sanding. When it is completely finished, the much longer task of unloading the bookshelf on the other one will begin.









Comments

  1. I admire your ambition, my friend!!

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    1. fishducky; thank you, I'll hold off admiring until the job is done.

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  2. I absolutely love that fresh pine smell LOL I do admire your DIY skills. I haven't the patience (or the skill, imagination or space) to do anything like that. Or anything at all really.

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    1. Grace; this fresh pine wasn't nice, it is the smell of wood cut in a hurry and stored too long in enclosed spaces I think. Painting or staining furniture is one of my favorite things to do. The sanding is the hardest part, with my shoulders being not what they used to be.

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  3. Why do they put those squidgy little handles on anything?
    Love the colour you chose. And hope to see pictures when all the work is done. A big job, which I suspect I would no longer take on.

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    1. Elephant's Child; I find squidgy little handles usually come attached to cheaper quality furniture. Larger handles or even a different style or material often makes a world of difference. There will be pictures when the work is done and half done too.

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  4. I, like Grace,love the fresh pine smell, too.

    A couple or more busy days ahead of you...I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the end results.

    Have a good week,River...cuddles to Lady Lola. :)

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    1. Lee; this wasn't fresh pine for sure. I'll be thrilled once it is done, just as I was thrilled with the planning process. Lola has been quite cuddly this week.

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  5. Thanks for showing us your knobs, heh, heh! I also enjoy the pine smell (perhaps because my grandma owned a Christmas tree farm with acres of Scotch pines), but I guess a year of it might have been too much.

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    1. Val; I enjoy the smell of freshly cut wood, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't, perhaps stored without a chance to air? And the things I put in the drawers picked up the smell, sheets, towels etc.

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  6. I'm fond of DIY project, small ones that is.
    Merle........

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    1. Merle; these chests are quite small, 80cm wide by 90cm high including the legs, but big enough to be a bit of a challenge. I've done larger pieces in the past and found it fun, but they'd be too much for me now.

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  7. Plain drawers always need a bit of tarting up!

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    Replies
    1. Jayne; yes they do. It took me this long to decide between paint and stain.

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  8. Replies
    1. Joanne; there will be pictures when they are done.

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  9. Lovely work! You are going to have very nice chests of drawers when you are done.

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    1. messymimi; I'm hoping they will look as nice as in my imagination. I've chosen a gloss finish because I like the shine of polished furniture.

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  10. My first thought when I saw the chest was "I hope she is not going to paint it, stain yes, but not paint.

    Good choice.

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    1. joeh; I admit my first idea was to paint them, because there are so many knots and different grain patterns, but I finally decided last week on stain with a gloss finish.

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  11. Well it's looking rather nice..

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    1. Margaret-whiteangel; all I've done so far is change the knobs and the chests look so much better. I'm looking forward to the staining.

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  12. I am sure it will be well worth the effort. Choc Walnut sounds darker than it actually is. Yes, the larger knobs will be much easier to get a grip on.

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    1. Andrew; I saw the colour of the choc walnut on the sample, with the gloss finish of course and it was what I'd been looking for. I might even have enough to do my dining table too.

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  13. I too love the smell of fresh pine but I am guessing this was not a true scent and we would have had to have been there. Admire your ambition, especially about the sanding part. Least favorite task.

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    1. Arkansas Patti; there isn't much sanding needed, the pieces are very smooth, but they are made of all different strips of pine pieced together so the grains are uneven and "taking" the stain differently. This may turn out one of those jobs where I wish I'd used paint for the even coverage a colour would give.

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  14. No matter what your project is, you turn in a quality project!

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    Replies
    1. Susan Kane; I'm not as sure as you are about this one, we'll have to wait and see.

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