ORC – Week 6 Reveal- Part 1

The 6 weeks of the One Room Challenge are over now and it’s time for the final reveal. My reveal is going to be a two-part post because I’m not quite done building and we were still having frost warnings last week so I’ll be waiting to plant. The planters are currently in place but in the photo above I drew in the lattice since it’s not done yet.

This was some prep work along the fenceline where the raised beds will be going. Since they’re open on the bottom I dug up the grass where the boxes will be sitting.

Constructing the boxes was so smooth and quick but staining them and the lattice strips have taken much longer than I had anticipated.

Here is the  14 feet of raised planters in place in the garden. This space already feels more organized and expansive with the black boxes.

The lattice is coming together and I hope to have it installed within the next 2 weeks. Since it is 8 feet tall I need a hand putting it in place plus there is still more lattice that needs to be stained.

In the meantime, by propping up some wood it gives me an idea of the space will look once the full screen is installed.

The final reveal is now on Apartment Therapy

Before & After: Plants and Privacy, What More Could a Backyard Need?

 

To see how the other One Room Challenges turned out click here for the final reveals. It’s incredible to see how much changed in such a short time.

Staining a Sofa Table with Steel Wool & Vinegar

During the winter months it can be hard to work on furniture projects that require chemicals and make big messes if you don’t have a heated workspace. I was determined to make a new sofa table and decided to build it right in the living room.

I’ve had my eye on this plan by Rogue Engineer and I adjusted the dimensions to fit our couch by making the table lower and narrower. Getting the wood cut at the hardware store and using the Kreg Jig (which makes pocket holes for easy and secure joints) made it come together quickly. I am a total beginner but thanks to the great plans available by talented people it is so easy.

After building the table this is what it looked like unfinished. I decided not to add the x braces in the original plan because I liked the simplicity of it like this.

Since it’s too cold to do a wood stain in the garage and I didn’t want to leave it unfinished until spring I did a steel wool and vinegar stain. It’s not an exact science and from my experience there is not a lot of control in the colour. Each board takes the treatment differently and I’ve even had some cedar turn black. To make the mixture just put steel wool and vinegar in a lidded container and wait a couple of days. Then brush it on the wood.

The photo above shows the contrast of the wood that has the vinegar and steel wool and the bottom part doesn’t. 

I learned the hard way that if you miss spots and try to go back after and fill them in it doesn’t work too well.

These pine boards took the vinegar pretty well but the board used for the legs was different than the rest of the table so I did a dry brush whitewash with leftover house paint. I went pretty conservative with the white dry brush because I plan to do a proper treatment in the spring with some stain over it. If you’re hesitant to use wood stains or don’t have the proper space to work then the vinegar can work if you plan to do washes of paint over top.

Doing a dry brush treatment or doing a light wash of paint over top of the wood is the way to control the finished look and conceal flaws.

This is a detail of the finished product and it’s already being put to use as a prop for photographing my spring pillow collection.