Susan

Mid Century Starburst Clock Teak Brass Refurbish Repair

HOW TO REPAIR / REFURBISH A MID CENTURY STARBURST WALL CLOCK

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019 Susan

So if you’ve read anything on this website you know I LOVE a good flea market. AND I also am recently obsessed with anything remotely Mid-century modern! I’ve been on the hunt for a cool Mid century starburst clock for a while, but didn’t like the giant price tag that generally comes along with them. 😦

But then…one lucky morning (at the flea market, of course) I scored this “shell” of a mid century starburst clock that was missing just a few pieces. (such as the clock face, the hands, the movement and one of the teak “rays”). SO…it wasn’t actually much of a clock, but at least something to work with, right? And hey, the price was right at $3. Yep, you read that right, just $3.That price-tag makes me pretty happy, and I knew this had potential. 🙂 Here it is…. BEFORE.

I knew I was going to have to replace some of the missing pieces, so I started a search online for a new brass clock face. As always, Etsy seems to consistently pan out for me, and I found the perfect brass clock face below from a shop called TikTaktuk. Great seller, and I had this within a week. Happy, happy!

Next, a trip to the local craft store and I bought a clock movement for a few dollars, and within minutes was able to put the first few pieces together. I’m feeling pretty good about this project at this point. I might just have a pretty cool clock at the end of all this. We’ll see…

Here’s the back view…where I inserted the new clock movement.

Now for the final part of this refurbishing project. I know I’m going to have to do something about the missing teak Starburst “ray.” Once again, Etsy comes to my rescue and I’m able to score some unfinished teak wood slats. I had to buy six of them even though I only needed one, but I’m figuring I’ll use the teak for another mid century related project at some point so it won’t go to waste. Or if you need a piece of teak let me know…I have some left!

I measured the shape and size of the teak replacement piece I’ll need. I pattern it after one of the existing wooden starburst rays that I’m able to pop out of the brass frame pretty easily. See below, just had to trace and cut. Easy-peasy. I have a miter saw and was able to cut the teak pretty quickly in exactly the right shape.

Lastly, I purchased some modern looking black clock hands on ebay. Once I popped those on the front things are looking pretty good, and WA-LA!! Instant mid century starburst clock for under $25. Ni-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ice!

Mid Century Cado Teak Wall Unit Poul Cadovius

MY NEW MID CENTURY WALL UNIT

December 16, 2018January 20, 2019 Susan

I’m working towards creating a mid-century modern living room feel in my 1958 home. I originally had an entertainment center that looked like this….

Not terrible, but not really the look I’m going for, and definitely not a 1950’s vibe. In my ongoing obsession with all-things-mid-century-modern I knew at some point I was going to have to have a teak wall unit. Of course what I never like is the GIANT price tag that comes along with anything that’s remotely Mid-century. 😦 So I soldier on and try to keep an open mind, and keep hoping that something affordable will turn up.

I hit a garage sale over the summer just a few blocks from my house and lo-and-behold I found someone selling a complete (possibly Poul Cadovius) Mid Century three-bay teak wall unit!! O.M.G. And wait…it. gets. better. The entire thing was $15!! Sweet!!! One of the shelf boards is stamped “Made in Denmark”, so it’s the real deal. Boy, I was a pretty happy camper when I loaded up the car. 🙂

I got it home and brought it inside to clean it up. The person I bought it from had clearly had it in storage for quite some time, since the layer of dirt and dust on it was pretty thick. Here’s what all the pieces looked like when I brought them home.

Lots of pieces, and lots of dirt, but a bucket of water and murphy’s oil soap and everything cleaned up very nicely with a bit of elbow grease. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hang it the same day, but I laid out all the pieces on my garage floor to make sure I had everything and figured out it would be approximately 8 feet wide. Luckily that’s the EXACT width of the wall I was going to hang it on. Wow, did I luck out again there!

Anyways, I won’t bore you with the details of how I hung it, but it took a couple hours and some patience and I think it turned out great. Here’s the final result. What do you think? Definitely better than the entertainment center that was there before!

Now the lounge chair you see in the lower left corner is on its way to being another DIY Blog project. I bought it on Craig’s List a few months back and it was just the frame with no cushions, but I figured that’d be an easy project to tackle. I’ve got the fabric I selected to cover the cushions draped over the back of the chair so you can see the oatmeal colored fabric that will soon be it’s cushion covers. The cushions you see in the pic, were ordered online from www.thefoamfactory.com. They shipped for free, cut the foam to the sizes I needed and wrapped them in batting for a small up charge. Anyways, before I get too carried away, you’ll see that project in another blog post. Stay tuned!

Kitchen Cart with Stainless Steel Top in Greenery

DIY GREEN KITCHEN CART WITH STAINLESS STEEL TOP

November 18, 2018January 20, 2019 Susan

Here’s some pics of my latest DIY project. I just LOVE the way it turned out! I found this neat stainless steel top at the flea market, and figured I could build a great kitchen cart around that piece.

I started with sketching out the sizes of plywood pieces I’d need to have cut to make the cabinet. Then off to Lowe’s to have a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut on their super awesome panel saw! Lumber people at Lowe’s rock!

I had one 4×8 sheet of plywood cut into 6 pieces, that will form the cabinet portion of the kitchen cart. I also purchased some stain nickel finish hinges, and a couple 2×2’s for the legs. Then to build the shelf on the bottom of the cart I bought six 1x2x8’s, and for the doors some 1x4x8’s.

I assembled the cabinet shell wth screws, then attached the legs to the sides after cutting them to size. I framed out the lower shelf and assembled that as well. Next I built the doors. See more pics below!

Here’s the final project! So happy with the way it turned out!

THE DIY SHOE CABINET – PART I

October 21, 2018January 20, 2019 Susan

About a year ago I made this shoe cabinet for myself. I’m a gal that likes her shoes, and so I have a few pairs, (or 50). I needed a place near the mud room to store them so I built a nice functional cabinet but the doors were just flat boring plywood, and I knew I wanted to dress them up somehow, someday.

I found inspiration on Pinterest and an idea was hatched! I had some leftover 1x2x8 wood from another project (my kitchen kart), so I measured and cut and measured and cut and measured and cut….lots and lots of times. You get the drift. There’s a LOT of pieces to the final result.

Anyways here’s some pics to follow the journey. I’m still going to paint and add some brass handle hardware and replace the feet with some cool mid century legs I found…but it’s very close to being done. Stay tuned…hope to have it finished this week.

Mid Century Couch Before and After Makeover

BEFORE & AFTER MID CENTURY COUCH MAKEOVER

September 16, 2018January 20, 2019 Susan

Mid century couch…swoon!! I searched on craigslist for months before I found this beauty at the right price. I was a woman on a mission. But this one turned up and I didn’t waste a moment! I snapped it up! ( Just as an aside…I LOVE Craigslist. Like really, really LOVE!!) Anyways, back on topic.

Here’s the couch when I started. It’s nice, but just not what I wanted. I needed a lighter fabric to fit the decor in the room better.

Now I didn’t LOVE the green upholstery fabric but I didn’t hate it either, so it stayed green for about 8 months until I decided that I wanted to keep the finishes and fabrics in this room light and bright and the green just was not going to work. I found a great oatmeal colored fabric at Hobby Lobby that would do the job just right. BUT! Before I can redo the upholstery fabric and make it pretty, I needed to do some “invisible” structural repairs to this lovely piece of seating.

When you remove the cusions, here’s what you’re left with. Wood and webbing. The wood and finish on this couch were both in excellent vintage condition. The Pirelli webbing that supports the cushions…not so much. It was dried and sagging and essentially hanging from the bottom like a droopy diaper. So that was just not going to do.

Unfortunately I found out that replacing Pirelli webbing is not cheap. (FYI- There’s other options besides Pirelli webbing, but I felt that being a purist in this case was justified. )

I am nothing if not resourceful, and I now had a new mission…finding new webbing for as cheaply as possible. I lucked out and got just enough on eBay at a great price, so I ordered, and within a week I was ready to go to work.

Here’s a closeup of the top of the couch where the webbing pulls through the slatted openings. It was literally crunchy with age.

Here’s the underside of the couch. The webbing is stapled to the underside of the cross pieces. Each end of the webbing had 4-5 staples, so I was busy for over an hour just pulling staples. I really underestimated how long this project was going to take but in the end it was worth it. TOTALLY worth it. 🙂 🙂

Did I mention there were a LOT of staples to remove??

Here’s my replacement webbing. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like a rubberized cloth. But a really, really thick cloth. There’s fibers in it, and it’s like they were layered with rubber. Unusual stuff, but it’s tough and stretchy, but no too stretchy.

Here’s a close-up of the underside with the staples removed and the old webbing pulled out. Pulling the staples really dinged up the wood, but it’s the bottom of the couch and no one is ever going to look there, so no biggie.

Whew! FINALLY! I’ve got all the old, crunchy webbing off!! Time for a short break!

Here’s a shot of the new webbing stapled in place. Also a TON of work, but it’s gonna look SOOOOOO good when it’s done, and I am on a roll!

Staple, pull, staple, cut. Repeat. Staple, pull, staple, cut. Repeat. Staple, pull, staple, cut. Just do this about 15 times and wah lah! You’re finished!

On to the reupholstery job. Now we make it pretty! 🙂

I removed the two long cushions and laid them out to take some measurements.

I measured and cut the fabric for each of the two cushions, and got everything pinned in place and ready to stitch up on the sewing machine.

Here’s the finished product! After lots of cutting, pinning and sewing, this couch has a new outfit. 🙂 I’m happy with the new, updated look, and the color works so much better in the room. On to the next DIY project!