I spent a whopping $35 on the bench, $4 on the frame, the splurge to me was the “odd but something caught my attention” double weave banner at $12 and the “you might hate me for the price” $14 lamp, vintage mercury glass to be exact. Gold mercury glass. I held it like a major award on the way to the register, looking at the other people in the store with a big smile, as if they knew how great this lamp is and were jealous. As if they had the same knowledge as I about how hot mercury glass is right now…and once was…a little glass blowing humor. Very little. Maybe none infact. (I also must add how that Hansel is so hot right now….Zoolander quotes always work in conversation and I use them when I can.)
Loved this harvest table and that rug too
Speaking of work, Greg had to also do so Friday and Saturday (2 days he doesn’t normally have to)…don’t get me going on why…and he came home exhausted from fixing someone else’s screw up most of last week that he requested a relaxing weekend. So, we ran some errands, had a nice lunch, sold the long couch (shorter version still available due to a last minute cancellation) and a nice young woman picked up the blue dresser with the stained top for her nursery (a supporter-thank you!) and went into a few stores we used to frequent when we lived downtown Northfield (that’d be Minnesota-infamous Jesse James stomping ground). Oh yeah, we put our ginormous mirror up for sale too.
For sale
Most of the items we found over the weekend are going to be revamped and of course, I’ll be sharing. I am not one to hide much of anything. Open book. It can be a bad thing when you start sharing and someone makes the TMI call. TMI time-out.
What to do what to do
Should I share my ideas or wait? I say wait. Just when I say I’m an open book. Wait mostly because I have multiple ideas for each thing and am waiting for that “decorating instinct” to decide then buy the supplies. We are on a budget and buying supplies willy nilly isn’t too friendly on the ol’ wallet, coin purse, debit card may be more current. We’ll go with that.
This came with our house in the garden shed. It's huge!We gave the frame some love
So, there was no work outside this past weekend and just a little-Greg says more than a little-work on Sunday. Two dressers will be coming out for their big reveal soon. Just waiting on some birch veneer to arrive.
I’ll also be sharing our opinion of a product called Soy-Gel stripper which states it will “easily remove multiple layers of paint, urethane, acrylic, epoxy or enamel without the back-breaking work of sanding and chiseling — and without the odor of other furniture strippers! Made with 100% American-grown soybeans, SOY-Gel starts to lift the coatings in minutes.” I wasn’t asked to and we bought it ourselves but a product definitely down our alley to sample. Can’t wait!
Inspiring piece
Have you found anything you simply can’t keep to yourself?
We put a chalkboard on it! The wall in the studio that is and yes, I’m mocking Portlandia residents Lisa and Bryce as we often do around our place (“put a bird on it” or “put a coat of paint on it”…you name it, we’ve probably said it). Such a great show!
Along with our DIY pinboard rests this easy and thrifty chalkboard. This is the DIY task I said I’d share from the last post about crafts and craft fails. I forgot to mention one other fail that involved a cheap picture frame, glue, burlap and a paint pen…the glue and the pen didn’t like each other and turned my phrase ‘you’re my favorite’ into a yellow, streaky mess that looked more scary than sweet. Another crushing craft blow.
But this chalkboard is going to turn things around.
This used to be in the frame (hope you don't mind Eva aka ma-in-law)
First, we took this free frame (my ma-in-law gave it to us) and prepped the surface by applying wood filler to the back (a piece Greg’s dad made just for the frame) to help the warping-both sides need this since it’s plywood-then sanded and primed.
The frame had some special treatment too with a little filler and sanding then a few coats of semi-gloss white spray paint (that might change later).
By the way, I’ve seen cute frames like this at garage sales and thrift stores so you too can do this fairly cheap or make your own frame like we did for the pinboard.
At the time I did not. I wanted a vintage/classic feel to keep things neutral since my accessories are the pops of color in the studio space against a light grey, cool tone wall. But I can see it in my future since I’m clairvoyant and all. No, I’m more sarcastic and jokey than anything.
Oopsidoodle, guess I’m wrong, I did go out and buy an eraser and white/color chalk too. And now that I’m adding that link, I see the wrong chalk was sent to me. I got the neon which was supposed to be the less vivid shades. Happens. A little contact-aroo will help. I really just typed that in there and am keeping it.
It took about 3 coats, maybe 4, of the chalkboard paint. I can’t recall since we finished it a while back then had a chaotic time (still are) functioning with the old laptop and moving over to the new computer. The back was attached to the frame, placed on the wall with a nail and the original hanging wire and just like that, all easy peasy, our chalkboard was made. If you’d like more detail about a step or product, I’ll try to do my best to help.
I documented the process, in case I would ever need to prove that I actually did something crafty beyond furniture overhauls, of some DIY décor. Admittedly, I made it because I was curious and thought each idea, seen on Pinterest, was awesome, not with the initial plan to have it for my studio workspace.
I took these free paint samples, that I cut with a 1 ½” circle punch, a piece of cardboard and some glue and made this.
No, it’s not finished and this particular thing serves no purpose but to look snazzy. I intend to frame and place it somewhere in the house.
Then I used the leftover circles to pin on the real pinboard I made (not the Pinterest one this time) since the colors inspire me.
I also cut the free samples into tear-shaped pieces with the intent to put it around an existing, bare chandelier in our bedroom but then I found the Urban Outfitters shade and came up with a new idea (that remains to be completed since we have ceiling work and painting to do first).
So, the tear-shaped pieces, after some brainstorming, were to become a mobile for the corner of the second bedroom…but, and this is normal for me, after purchasing the rods and materials, the mechanism fell apart and I was so over it so they sat on a dresser top where I keep my sewing machine (used to be my mamas) for months. But then the studio came along and I saw an opportunity to tape these babies around that bare light fixture (and yes, no “real” ceiling). Nothing inspiring but it fills my heart with joy that they finally found a home. A temporary one because I’m giving the mobile idea another shot…someday.
But really, I’m seriously bad with most crafts. I’ve always been the one to organize, research and plan something with the vision I had, then delegate the tasks if any skill had to be involved in the world of crafts, sewing, and such.
Lucky for me these Poms came partially finished and I only had to form them into the fluffed shape you see.
The Poms are from an etsy seller called Pom + Love because I know on the day I made these and shared them with my facebook friends, a number wanted to know more about these. You can make them yourself but like one point of this post says, I’m not really very good with crafts. I can show you that I made this and this and this and these then this but I do not consider myself an authority on the craft subject. Don’t ask me how I’m good with the furniture thing.
The old, now dead, laptop. RIP but the point is that I made this banner.
I’m not saying this to be ironic either. I’d be the last person on the craft team picked. They’d be like “aw man, she can’t even cut straight” and I would mumble “I can if I have my tongue sticking out…” and my voice would trail off from being hurt then I’d saunter over to join my team while they walked away from me in disappointment. I’d probably try to fain a positive outlook and high five people to be ignored. And I’d be all “I’ll show them” and then there’d be a montage of me ruining everything. Snipping the wrong thread and the entire project falls apart, me in the center of a huge crocheting mess with the hooks and my arms trapped at my side in the jumble, and an entire minute of me just trying to pick up tissue paper without tearing it. I get carried away but I do envision things like this then stamping the word ‘FAIL’ on anything I touch in the crafting world.
Seriously? What the hell was I thinking? This was marked fail but still hangs on the wall in the studio, serving as a reminder of a painful misdoing.
I’ve got the plans, I just don’t have enough skill or maybe it’s patience. I get them confused when it comes to things of this matter. I ask my mom to do some things for me. Now she’s talented.
My DIY wallpaper sample letters
On the very same day I made the paint sample art, I must have gained some confidence because I grabbed ahold of the cardboard letters (find them at JoAnn Fabrics) I bought weeks before and took my (some were free) samples of wallpaper and put them together. Not all willy nilly-like.
The day I realized I hate working with burlap.
I’d actually made burlap letters months before which is the day I realized how much I hate burlap. Burlap should go to that place where bad fabric dies.
Anywhosal, letters with fabric and wallpaper. Ta-da! You trace, cut and glue then stick ‘em wherever you’d like. On a shelf, on a dresser, on the wall, in a nursery, child’s room, adult’s room, kitchen, dining or living room, on a plane, a train, a boat…how’d I get on a boat? Never dreamed I’d be on a boat. Watch the adult language and material on that video I linked to which is hilarious. Wonder if they’d like a wallpaper letter or have ever made one?
Now Henry is one hip guy-you can tell by his glasses.
I’ll be back to show you one more DIY project we did for the studio later this week…although I’m having difficulty transferring and adjusting to the new imac (of course we got a good deal on it from an Amazon seller) we got to replace our dead laptop. I spared you the technical post that I had brewing in my head full of words like back-up, Carbonite, Google Docs, Applecare Protection Plan and support, OS X Lion, iphoto and icloud (crying/yelling/frustration). All things we’ve had issues with in the past week since moving the show on the road to an Apple once again. (I had an ibook in college then we got a Dell from Greg’s brother when that became obsolete.) The day our pup knocked the wine on the laptop was the day I spent hours organizing and writing several posts for each blog, along with documents filled with ideas and directions I wanted to go with both blogs. I was feeling pretty good that day until “the incident.” Our back-up did not do its job then it was gone and I only had the chance to grab one document in Google Docs before it died for good.
Old, old laptop not cutting it any longer
Now I’m attempting to learn the iMac, organize and edit my pics all over again, find other docs for our personal use, back-up the new and obtain things from our old which is taking forever and get back to where I was-efficient and organized-before the spill.
A pile of brush taller than me used to reside here. Another weekend accomplishment.
Then the in-laws are coming to visit in a month (that’s a thing we’re looking forward to), a garage sale needs organized, the backyard is finally rid of all yardwaste bags, brush, and the second clothesline post (as of this weekend) but we now have to pull every single weed and sapling/plan the layout/fix the outdoor plumbing/do something attractive with the walkway between the porch and garage since we removed the ivy and it just has dirt right now, then indoor projects are about to continue, the budget needs to be gone over, appointments for potential customers need arranged for our current inventory (some are not on the public market yet), two dressers need our attention and a million other of life’s things need attention.
One of 6 trips to the compost site this weekend. That tarp proved a great solution for getting all of the stack out in one fell swoop. Kind of felt bad for people picking each brach out of their vehicle. Thanks to our neighbor for the truck again!
Driving me a little bit crazy and weighing on my mind. But I love it.
Oh, and we mowed the lawn for the first time in our first house which sounds silly to announce but you know that feeling-one of those small steps that makes you feel all warm inside.
Greg is picky about products. Quality is key and I am, from years with this man paired with my own level of “particular-ness,” just as choosy about certain products. From tools, equipment, boots, paint, hardware, etc., and we feel we have every right to be since a product can make or break a piece, project or your back. I make fun of my husband sometimes (you should see the man try to make a decision about shoes) but what it comes down to is that we’d rather research and spend the money on quality items we’ll use time and again. Take for instance, my last post about the laptop being destroyed…it’s not coming back, folks, so we’re researching a new computer (bad timing for budget) and will soon buy, most likely, an imac or other quality item. Hopefully very soon because to produce this post is taking 3 times longer and making my old computer smell like burning. Anyway…
But when you’re given an opportunity to get these awesome products for free, you just can’t pass it up. That’d be crazy.
You see, we were given a special offer to try some of Magid Gloves for free in turn for a review on our site. Sounds fair. And we also don’t support causes and products we don’t believe in- it’s just our thing. After looking over the company and their safety gear, we agreed. Magid provides businesses with safety solutions/products, such as, hearing protection, respirators, first aid kits, eyewear, protective clothing, ergonomic items and much more. Fast delivery, efficient shipping methods (some of my recent experiences with companies prove they could learn a few lessons from Magid), “leading manufacturer, importer, distributor and direct supplier” (impressive) of protection equipment with a kind and responsive rep. We were in. Unlike an offer we had to put an ad up for a casino…what?!
When he first laid eyes on these gloves, his face lit up. “Oooh, Kevlar-nice,” and “goatskin leather-ah” (as in wow, soft yet durable…Greg has kangaroo leather gloves he cherishes from his childhood so gloves are his thing). Cut/puncture resistant was important to me and you could tell these weren’t your use and toss in a week kind of products flooding the market.
Greg and I began wearing them around like the weirdos we are…doing activities not needing gloves just to get a feel for their comfort and durability. We used the Kevlar/Lycra pair for some work on current woodworking projects downstairs (show you later of course) and the the Kevlar/leather pair outside for yard work. Both proved superior to anything we’ve had before and the form fitting style, comfort and durability were vastly greater than previous pairs we’ve purchased. These gloves are amazing pieces of quality work so we’d like to see the word spread.
The weekend came, as it tends to do with great relief, and we put these babies to good use. Actually, I had a head start and worked outside a few days (and 9 hours longer than Greg…a point I kept making when he made fun of how sore I was compared to him) last week, ripping out the last of that pesky ivy.
The day I took the ivy on alone.
During what we called our “clean up and organize what we’ve done before and let go” weekend, the gloves came out again. There were at least 20 bags (39-gallon yard waste bags to be precise) sat behind our garden shed with the removed trellis, fence, yard ornaments, rocks, brush and other debris. Thus we began two, yes two, full days of visits to the compost site, pruning, removal of vines, various dead plants, and one clothesline post buried 4 feet in the ground (ouch) and we also “attacked” the side yard where limbs came down, dirt came out, the giant pile Greg made that I told him not to (ahem) was raked into 23 of those 39-gallon bags (after our already twenty-something were taken to the dump) in our new wheelbarrow (a real Truper-ha-not free).
Not our backyard but the compost site in town. They look similar....wish I were joking.The new batch of yardwaste to remove...never seems to end.
The gloves did not tear, the wrists fit snug even after putting them on and off a hundred times and my fingers didn’t hurt like they did with the other gloves we used to rip/dig out most of the ivy and countless plants. The grip was wonderful and they are ready to keep rocking for many weekends to come. And you know there are plenty of those left with this backyard/house renovation task. Things are really starting to shape up around here.
We can dig it and we did.
Side note: just before Easter, I found a bunny nest by our garage, in the ivy, and I used those gloves to move the nest from harm since I had exposed them. So for tough jobs or actions done with care, these gloves can do it all…corny, I know but the bunnies were adorable and had to make their way into my post.
Bunnies not mice.
The mom found her babies and took them away which is dandy since I am the type of person to care for orphan animals even if they are considered pests to some. I just hope they aren’t around here causing more damage to the property as we’ve witnessed on the last 5 or 6 weekends of outdoor work.
Next weekend, we’ll be back to the compost site, back to borrowing our neighbor’s truck (we put a number of bags in our Subaru Forester which worked but a truck was easier), and back to removing various items that have worn out their welcome. I’m preparing for a garage sale as well. I’m pretty good, if I do say so myself, putting those together.
Believe it or not, this is cleaner than it was.This must go too...cue Gone With the Wind music...after all, next weekend is another weekend.
Big thanks to Magid Glove & Safety-your rep was right to think they’d be a good match for our projects!
My drunkard lush puppy knocked over his glass of wine on my laptop the other night. After some dry time, it came back to life then (not joking), died again as soon as Greg, my husband, left for work but only after using it to check some email without a single issue. It’s still not functioning hours later. Hopefully with a little dry time, all will be well and we won’t have to figure out how to purchase a new one. I think it involves something called cash or currency in exchange for the item but I’m not familiar with the term ‘cash’ as a new homeowner.
I’m on the dinosaur laptop, Brachio-Dell, that’s barely functioning. If it doesn’t go extinct, I could be in business for a short period of time. Trying to download my desktop from the other computer-thanks to Carbonite’s back-up-is proving to be a major pain in the arse.
Anywhosal, I might be absent for an unknown amount of time.
After a bad hair “trim” where I’m now missing several inches and the layers my thick, curly hair needs, a dog bite on our pup Henry yesterday from a known aggressive dog (too bad no one said anything til he chomped on his ear Tyson style) and uncooperative weather, I can still say the weekend was a good one. More yard work, more soreness but grilling, some sun and a feeling like we’re actually getting somewhere outside since almost all of the ivy ground cover stuff is up. I’m not familiar with it but if I had to name it, it would be called the ivy from hell. And I may or may not have met our new neighbor, in the beautiful mid-century house behind us, with my rear in the air, hands on the ground (except the one waving when I turned) and dirt on my face.
Talk about aggressive. This stuff climbs on everything and the attempts to contain it were futile by the previous owner (plus we’re finding out outdoor maintenance wasn’t a priority with them). You take one look and think, no biggie and then numerous hours (6 or so for one tree surrounded by the ivy), blood, sweat and tears later and you know this is enemy numero uno up in this joint. But it’s gone and it feels so good. Almost gone. We still have to tackle it on the side of the garage.
Ripping the ivy, after loosening it with the shovel, was the only way to remove ALL of it so there was a lot of crawling on the ground for those 6 hours while the college guys next door watched.
We meant to have more things to show you that we did for the new studio but only one is in place (spray paint dries better when the temps are warmer and the weather person fibbed about Saturday).
I’ll show you what we did. I’m fairly proud. While roaming around our local Menards for supplies, I saw a corkboard/pinboard and recalled how I wanted one in the studio. Not just my virtual pinboard on Pinterest which is a life changer.
This is not how it came.
I noticed how boring the board was and thought gee, and I know I’m not the first, what if we put some different trim around this puppy and added some color. I found this…
One piece wouldn’t suffice and that’s what was in the bin-I’m picky and didn’t want to choose another. The heart wants what the heart wants. I played the role of annoying DIY blogger and asked the guy if there was more and there was…on the cart, in the middle of the pile, requiring him to literally hammer it out until we could grab it. We only needed one more piece but one end was damaged enough that we couldn’t use it so 3 it was. And I am not above pointing it out to get a reduced price but somehow my attention was elsewhere and the chance slipped by.
Henry helping GregHenry and Greg disagreed on where the screws should go...then it came to blows.
Greg removed the old frame, cut the trim, pre-drilled then put the screws in to make a new frame, filled the holes with wood filler, then we sprayed a few coats of Rust-oelum Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2X in teal which I can’t find on their site but have seen in several stores. Love the stuff. I grabbed the meadow green, this teal and a few other shades. It’s great stuff.
Rust-oleum Meadow Green...this was a frame given to us by Greg's mom (hope she doesn't mind)
Then we attached the dry frame to the corkboard, by gluing and screwing, and began attaching the bracket to the back then the other portion to the brick wall. Easy project.
And by the way, the corkboard is just a thin sheet of cork on cardboard and this size cost $10. We have a ton of cardboard around here and a roll of cork is inexpensive . Next time we’ll make it ourselves cheaper.
The entire cost, and this is probably not that impressive since we should have made the cork portion on our own, was less than $40 with the spray paint (on sale for about $3 and enough to do another project from Rustoleum in a teal with a name I can’t recall but reminds me of a peacock which I totally love), the trim $7/piece (and we have some left to use on another project-picture frame), corkboard, we already had the glue and screws, and add the bracket to hold it on the wall.
My cute pushpins from a great store, the Curiosity Shoppe
I like my custom board which rests by my desk with all kinds of things that make me happy.
Yo, word to your mother. Do you ever just randomly have Vanilla Ice in your head? I don’t think I’m alone.
As promised, I’m back (Ice is back too…did you know he renovates houses?) with more details of the newest dresser. Sure we had it for a long time and even shoved it aside for client orders and a few of our own designs. It moved from one garage to another when we bought the house. Sure, we finished it weeks ago and it’s just been sitting around waiting for a photoshoot (even though the pics aren’t up to my standard still). And sure this is the one I told you about having problems with in terms of changing my mind in my craigslist rant. And finally sure, it had a mirror so I referred to it as a vanity maybe confusing some readers.
But it no longer has a mirror and I have not changed my mind in the last few weeks on this cute piece. Here she is…
and again…
and one more…
Someone has been playing with the new Picasa features
My description being an antique blue dresser with dark, Jacobean stained top and decorative, white porcelain knobs.
The original intent was to make a piece like this but with a lesser quality wood and thus a more rustic vibe than elegant. Have to keep wood/grain quality in mind. So we proceeded. And because I found cheap “oops” paint, went yet again with a blue.
My cheap "oops" paint (look for this section in your local hardware store)
To keep costs down, I wanted to re-use the keyhole covers but spray paint them an antique white. After a long wait, I put it on and hated it. A true, deep, gag-inducing hatred. So the keyholes had to go…which if you heard a cry at the beginning of March, it was probably me because at that point I had already changed my mind and painted the drawer fronts after staining and not liking the finish and all that sanding and waiting for paint to dry after several coats. Ridding of the keyholes means filling them with wood filler or putty and starting all over again on each drawer front. Something we just normally do to the old hardware holes in case the new hardware looks better in a different position. I did try to find or replace the keyhole covers if you’re thinking I’m insane and should have done that but the options out there are cheap or way expensive, nothing in-between, and still not the look I was going for.
I used knobs I’ve been storing for myself. Sacrifice. The wood casters are in poor shape so we decided to keep those off even though I love casters. And I might be keeping them in my goodies drawer in the new studio for selfish reasons.
I worked diligently on the two-toned task to have it come out like this…
Nicht Gut (not good). Notice the run in the second drawer? Well, it’s not a stain run at all but just how the grain is on that drawer. No amount of work could fix that booger. So I started again, sanding and putting several coats of paint on and much much later, it was done. I enjoy the dark stain with the blue and the paneled sides.
Dur, the before, Annie. Here she was in her broken glory. (She also had major surgery to properly work again as a piece of functioning furniture.)
Cute but could be better. I’m keeping the mirror in my studio even though it’s about to bust out. It’s too cool. And it could be attached again with some work if anyone believes they MUST have this dresser with the mirror.
We're Annie and Greg Witkamp (aka the Wits, aka Em & Wit Design). We salvage, refurbish and design furniture and homes. We're taking a break from an online & social media presence (for the most part). Our time on the blog was memorable and fun, but we're off to other projects and opportunities. Most derived from our shenanigans here. We'll drop in once in a while, but just know we're off chasing our dreams, tackling goals and living a life we enjoy.
Our specialty is wood furniture in rough shape that we come across on craigslist, at estate sales, on the curb, in a barn, you get it. Those pieces are cleaned, repaired, refurbished and good to go for years to come. Sometimes we design our own pieces.
As of spring 2016, we decided to make this website, the Wits, about our remodeling homes and emandwit.com about the furniture. You can shop there, ask us questions, see our newly finished pieces and portfolio.
We sold our second remodeled home near Seattle in August 2018 and moved to Richmond, Virginia. Getting to Washington was a goal that took years to achieve, but we had an opportunity come up and we grabbed hold (again)!
You can watch our journey right here, there, and/or through Instagram.
-To see the projects we did to our first home, check out the home improvement page. To see our current home projects, scroll through the most recent posts. (I need to update that....)
