Dewey YESimal!

I had longed for a real card catalog for years. Liz Lemon has a behemoth one in her apartment, and she is my life coach and Swami. All the cool makeover projects I found for them on Pinterest started with "I found this for $10 at a local rummage sale," which produced in me a charming bitter envy-rage. 

No one is so naive as to price a real library card catalog for a mere $10 anywhere around these parts. A weekly search of craigslist showed me that people who had these babies KNEW what we the crafty would give to possess them. Here's one I just found on craigslist nearby. 

But to be fair, Jo Ellen deserves to be compensated for having her head spun. The poor dear.

$475?! Mama can't play dat. And while I am a HUGE proponent of affordable hacking/DIYing I just couldn't bring myself to fake this instead of having the real thing--even though this DIY version looks crisp!

Why? I am a staunch defender and consumer of actual books. I have never read an eBook because I think a real, made-from-a-tree, printed-with-ink, feel-the-heft-of-the-pages, book is a magical experience too good to pass up for pixels (yes the irony that you're only reading this because of pixels isn't lost on me). 

I actually USED card catalogs and learned about the Dewey Decimal system in elementary school *yikesface*.  I remember the vertiginous, Mary Poppins Carpet Bag feeling of pulling out one little bitty drawer and it being longer and deeper than any drawer I had ever encountered. I felt so grown up (like an archivist! or Egyptologist! or Treasure hunting preteen Indiana Jones!) flipping through the hundreds of little cards and find the magic number for the book I needed (The Courtship of Princess Leia, for the record. Not joking) --and then getting distracted because my friends were playing M.A.S.H. nearby and inevitably forgetting the number and having to start over.

While computers are obviously a far more efficient system for library users now, I still think these massive fossils deserve better than to rot in school basements like some kind of sad rodent tenement. I think card catalogs should be honored, or at least given a cushy retirement where they can be treasured, remembered, and revered. And that reverence to me would come in the form of having juice spilled atop them, crayons scribbled on their sides, and all manner of action figures, pacis, and ossified string cheese stuffed in their hallowed innards. RESPECT THE PAST.

There were actual tears when a teacher friend texted me 2 years ago: "you wouldn't be interested in our library's old card catalog that we are getting rid of, would you?" I screamed. It's not like I had even told this beautiful Saint about my longing. Clearly this was my destiny's child. 

When I first saw it in person my reaction really bordered on crazy cat(alog) lady talk, "Awwww, it's so tiny!" "It's even more beautiful than I had imagined!" and "Oh, but so heavy! What a healthy boy...yes you are! Who's a healthy boy?" Because yes, my newborn dream come true was only 2 feet square, but weighed more than an Imperial Star Destroyer.

I got it home with only like 5 slipped disks and Jesse was like, "What now? What are you gonna do with that? Where will it go? You realize our house is tiny?" And I covered the catalogs impressionable ears and scolded him, "We'll make room! This is a blessing! I'M KEEPING IT!"

And then I left it in the garage for 2 years to be a spider habitat until we moved. Shut up.

But here we find ourselves with lots more space, and finally the motivation from me to take on the restoration.

This is the state he was in after his stay in the garage. 

That bottom piece of trim had fallen off somewhere along the way. The presence of MDF underneath the trim also let me know that this wasn't totally solid wood like I had thought--despite weighing  more than the Forest Moon of Endor. Bummer. Or swomp-swomp (as Layla says when you drop something thrown to you). I lose vintage-antique points there, but who cares, the thing held freaking Dewey Cards, yall. I'M KEEPING MY POINTS.

The veneer is a shiny flat doo doo brown and had HAD to go.

He is almost a perfect cube. Short and stocky and frisky and fine. Too little to be a stand-alone piece, but to big and deep to really fit comfortably on a normal table.

 Beside a book, for scale. (1 of about 300 Star Wars books that I own. Because awesome).

Last week I sat down and took all the hardware off to assess the situation.

Michael Scott is my constant DIY companion. I will never be defeated at "Office" trivia, btw.

I found that the hardware was solid brass (not plated...via magnet test), and gave it a brasso bath to take off most of, but not all because VINTAGE, of the tarnish.

The next day I got down (girl, go head get down), on sanding the beast. The yucky brown veneer IS real wood so I could strip and stain it like a solid wood piece (being careful not to sand all the way through the veneer which would expose the MDF and my secret shame).

The drawers are plastic (oh the ignominy!) and metal bolted on to solid wood fronts.

Sweet boogers, it was hot that day and I laid down a preliminary stain with my sweat. I was batter-dipped with the sawdust by the end of this.

I moved the show into the blessed AC to try out stains. 

I tested each of the colors on a drawer front. This was so stupid. HELLO KEIGHT, IT'S STAIN. I knew I'd have to sand off the 2 losing shades, but didn't plan for how deep that would be. Total pain. Next time I will test on the back side.

 I wiped the whole thing down and started staining (went with the golden oak...even though I typically hate oak colored stuff, it looked the best by far).

A coat of finishing wax and the hardware went back on. Here's where the giddyness began. Jesse cut me a strip of thin plywood to cover up the bottom trim piece that had come off. Itf fit so perfectly and took the stain just the same as the catalog did.

Wood glued and weighted down overnight and that little strip is now an inalienable member of the piece.

I got a set of 4 hairpin steel legs on eBay (from this seller) for $45 (the best price of all 13 places I looked).  These are 14", tight profile, and unfinished steel.

I screwed them on last night, lickety split.

Turned him over and put him in a place of honor in the foyer! 

Yeah, I am freaking jazzed about this guy. The catalog itself is so heavy and solid and stout that the dainty (looking, but solid to hold the weight safely!) legs set it off so well. Besides looking great, it really does have tons of storage space and is a great height for cute things to display and as a drop zone for keys. This bibliophile is all heart-eyes for her restored biblio-file (#sorrynotsorry).

 Welcome to your forever family, baby!

Adventure of Islands

YOUGUYSYOUGUYSYOUGUYSYOUGUYS. I have had my first true Thrift-Steal-to-DIY-Treasure moment.  To the tune of $35 for the raw materials turned into a golden nugget that would probably have cost $1000 to have had professionally made/installed. 

Even? NO, I CANNOT!

It all started when I was in an area of the thrift store I usually don't even glance at. Do you see anything worth $1000 here? (well there's not...yet!)

Tanks a lot, amirite? (sorry)

It was those torn out kitchen cabinets. There were exactly 5 of them and they were $25 for the bunch. I thought they would be perfect in my workroom/studio/sewing sweatshop. This room right here is it:

So, yeah. It's not the worst (even without Baby McHugginLovinStuff parked there)

If you're not impressed with the riches of this space, maybe I need to rub your nose in the rags from whence my DIY/sewing career began in 2010:

She was so eensy and adorable. And I was beyond proud of her! My little starter nooklet.

Anyway, I always knew that if I had the space I would love a cutting island/table. Sort of like this: 

But since my studio is actually built to be the formal dining room (We don't formally dine. What we do at our normal kitchen table can barely be called "dining."), I did want to make a space that wasnt ultra outwardly crafty and could still serve a purpose if/when we do entertain (like a buffet line for the potluck!).

I brought the cab frames into the garage and started toying around with how they would be laid out.

Hello, boys.

 Note: this configuration was not the answer. I might not be gifted at Tetris, yall.

 But the main problem I kept running into was the table top. I wanted something sturdy and solid. Ideally a chunk of solid wood. But dannnng if thick, solid countertop material isnt expensive!

It would kind of defeat the coup of my $25 cabinets to have to shell out $500 for the top. Even my blessed Swedish Godmother couldnt help me. IKEA's best option was this guy who was only real wood to a depth of 1/8" and STILL cost $270. 

And then I went to another local thrift store on 50% off day and stumbled upon a recent donation they had received of SOLID. WOOD. DOORS. 

Not the actual one I ended up getting.

Technically it's just a solid core (like real wood but all mish mashed together and not from one tree) under a soild wood veneer. Good enough! I realized I could have had one of these from Home Depot all along for only $63, but I was so glad I didnt discover this until after I found the brand new (still with its barcode sticker on) one at the thrift store for $10!

And the added bonus was that we only had to make one cut through this monster (so. heavy) because he came the perfect width already. We also now have 1/3 of the door left over for another project.

On Saturday we Jesse solved the arrangement conundrum and we bolted the 5 cabs together and backed them where needed with plywood. Then we got some trim for Home Depot for the baseboard and the edges. I stayed up waaaaaay too late nail-gunning and wood-filling to get us to this point:

I put the finishing touches on the bottom with sanding and paint, and then screwed the tabletop-formerly-known-as-door down atop the cabinets (nearly herniating myself in process because I was too giddy to wait for Jesse to get home to help lift it):

 UHMUHGAH!!!

This is the ONLY photo I have of it right now because I wasnt planning on posting about it yet, but I got so so excited that I just whatever-ed and here we are.

I still need to decide on a stain for the top (tricky because of the reddish wood of the floors, sigh) and cut more custom shelves and fill in the pre-fab shelf-peg holes that arent in use.  I am undecided on whether or not to put cabinet doors on the long sides (the front short side here will definitely stay open and be filled with pretties--not supplies).

I'm loco, ha-ha, banana-flavored bonkers over it!

If you ask me if you can take it from me, I will tell you:

Under the Rainbow: Modern Minimalist Waldorf-Inspired IKEA Baby Gym Hack

We rarely keep our baby activity stuff in the baby's room. Whether it's a swing, bouncer, a boppy, a bumbo, an exersaucer, or a baby gym, it tends to live in our family space, aka the living room.

Not until Noa did I realize that seeing plastic, cartoon-animal, baby-themed items all over my otherwise pleasing-to-my-eye living room slowly sucked the life out of me and made me feel like I had somehow lost myself in a sea of baby identity (that sounds overly dramatic, but whatevs). For most of these items, we simply eliminated them altogether as they were never the magic with my babies. 

But for the things were knew would be used a lot and would mainly stay in the common areas,  I tried to shop for more theme-neutral, minimal/beautiful, and natural (re: wood) items that would still do the job of entertaining a baby. Oh hey, those tend to be really expensive--if you can even find them at all. Hint: you're probably not going to find a wood exersaucer and should just go put your baby in an actual tree instead if you can't compromise on that one.

With a baby gym, everything I found that wasn't crazy, light up, polyester plastic tended to be $60-$200, and still was never really giving me the style I wanted. 

While on our many IKEA visits, I would see their wood baby gym, LEKA,  and be sad that it was ohsoclose (minimalist, birch, very interactive, AND affordable at $30!), and yet still not ideal (dark primary color scheme, snake spiral-hypnosis artwork).

And then I remembered, "Uh-doy, I DIY like whoa. Why not convert this bad boy into my dream baby gym?!"  So I did that. Like 7 months ago. And then forgot to tell the internet about it, and here were are. 

Here's how I got there:

SUPPLIES:

-White Spray Paint (Satin or Glossy)

-White Acrylic Paint

-Different Color Felt or Other Textured Media

-White Nylon Cord: 1.5 yards

-3 Wood Circles (I used hardwood branch slices; a large dowel would work too) with about a 2.5" diameter and .5 to 1.0" thickness

-Sandpaper

TOOLS USED:

-Saw

-Drill with 2 Different Width Bits

-Hot Glue Gun

-Scissors

-Duct Tape

-Lighter

Unpack your box (it's IKEA, so it will be nicely disassembled for you already!). Find the two red base legs and give them a good sanding all over. This will take off the glossy finish and allow your spray paint to grab on. Wipe dust off with a damp rag.

Grab your spray paint (DONT USE FLAT...i regretted this and had to add a clear gloss) and go to work laying down a few nice, thin, even coats until the red is all gone (if you're a stickler for primer, use that too/before!)

When your legs are completely dry, assemble the gym according to the IKEA directions (DONT DOUBT THEM, THIS LEADS TO RUIN!). 

Let's cover up those primary designs with some lovely white.

You now have a lovely gym frame with some spinning spiral snakes ready to whisper parseltongue to you tiny babes and hypnotize your little ones into opening the Chamber of Secrets. #EnemiesOfTheHeirBeware.

Get your sandpaper and rough up all the 4 plastic spinning shapes.

Use some paper or cardstock to make a little apron to keep the paint off the wood frame 

Tape the gap closed to complete the paint-catcher little drop cloth.

At this point if you'd prefer to spray paint these, you would just tape/paper over EVERYTHING except for the plastic spinning toys. I used acrylic craft paint so I could stay inside with my tiny baby. Get painting.

May take a few coats. Basilisk blood does not take to being covered lightly...just ask Mr. Filch.

In between your coats, start cutting out the designs and shapes you are going to want on your spinner elements (4 surfaces),

Once your paint is dry, you can hot glue the shapes into place in the arrangements of your choosing. Here are my 4:

Now to attach the toys! Get your wood shapes. I was going for a very Waldorf-esque natural look with wood and rainbow colors, so using this massive hardwood branch segment we found on the side of the road ended up perfect replacements for the toy "stoppers" that IKEA had used chunky plastic circles for.  We tested that it would be hard enough by turning Layla loose with a shovel on it. SOLID.

Whatever you use for your "stoppers" will  need to be thin and narrow enough to fit through the 3 slots on the birch frame (the blue and red spans below) so you can take them in and out, but large enough so that the baby won't pull them back through while they are flapping the toy around underneath.  

Jesse used our miter saw to chop 3/4" thick slices that would fit the bill (hand saw would work too since its just 4 small cuts). We left them a little large and then sanded down where we needed to so they would fit through easily and still be secure.

Get your drill and two drill bits. With the SMALLER (skinnier) bit, drill a hole all the way through each slice right in the middle. Then take your fatter bit and drill on top of this hole, but stop only 1/3-1/2 of the way through each slice. You will end up with a hole that your cord will go all the way through, but a little shelf that your knot will be tucked atop, but not able to pass through.

Cut your nylon cord into three equal lengths (leave them longer than you'll need for now). Tie secure knots in one end and thread through the hole. Pull hard to make sure your knot is big enough to keep from slipping through when tugged on. If not, keep making the knot bigger. When it's the right size, use a lighter to melt the nylon which will permanently set the knot in the right size and clear up and frayed ends. (I am frayed knot!)

Tie the other end of each cord length to the toys of your choice. I chose 3 Haba toys for their colors and features.

Jingle Flower Toy / Twisty Molecule Knot Toy / Circle Spinning Rods Toy

Just tie them on wherever makes the most sense and melt those knots in place (it should still be very easy to swap out toys if you want to update which 3 are in the gym). Now yer rockin'!

Quick, stick an infant under there! (this was back in March)

It's trippy under the rainbow.

GO WILD!

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