DIY Wood Coasters - Two Ways

When my Mom wouldn't let me add some pink to the solid wood trivet Hubby and I made her, I needed to satisfy the creative craving so I made some DIY solid wood hex coasters and did two versions: one with a whitewash and clear coat, the other with a dark walnut stain and painted edges.

The DIY coasters above were stained with the same white stain we used for the counters.  The walnut stained coasters are shown below:



It felt good to get that out of my system, but the more natural finish has won me over!

Here's how to make your own solid wood hex coasters:

We started with this piece of wood, but I could have easily have worked with any scrap piece - any type, any thickness - but the thinner, the better.  Our piece was pretty smooth but if you start with something rougher, you might want to plane it or even just run a belt sander over it.

With wood in hand, we did some figurin'.  Hubby used a sliding T bevel to figure out the angles on our hexagon coasters.  You can also kick it old school with a protractor and straight edge - or bust out some high school geometry and just a ruler if you're super bad-ass. 

With the hexagon figured out and drawn onto the first section, Hubby used a bandsaw to cut out the first coaster.  After that, we traced the first coaster on subsequent lengths of the board and Hubby kept cutting.

This was such a fun and easy woodworking project - great for beginners!

After cutting the wood hex shapes, the edges were a little rough so I smoothed them over with sandpaper (first a 120-grit and then a sheet of 220).  I softly rounded the edges and sanded the surface as well.

For the dark coasters I used Restor-A-Finish in Walnut.  I used left over Saman Whitewash on the other set.  Here's what they looked like with just stain (after one coat):

Once the stain was dry, I painted the edges of the walnut-stained coasters.  I experimented a little, using both acrylic paint and household latex paint - the latter was terrible: super watery and took many coats.  The acylic paint from the craft store did a phenomenal job, especially the copper.  I used a small artist's brush and just free-handed it, painting the bottom surface too, just for fun.

Lastly, I gave each side and edge two thin coats of clear wood finish.  I gave the coasters a light sand between coats, using 220 grit sandpaper.  This is the same finish we used on the floating credenza top and I really like it because it dries in a flash.  The only tricky thing is that you have to apply it really thinly, otherwise it shows yellow (which it's not supposed to).

And, voila - the painted edge I was so eager to have:

Flipped over it's a totally different look: it becomes a colourful set of one-of-a-kind coasters!



Here's one last look at the white-washed ones:



If you make some, you could add some felt to the bottom (like I did to my tile-turned-trivet).

I have definitely just written the longest post on the easiest project, but I'm enjoying chatting about something so simple (and so complete!) because many of our lakehouse projects have been so involved.  This was easy peasy, and I learned a valuable lesson: turns out Mom's still always right.

Which do you prefer?  White-washed or walnut-stained (with a painted edge)?

DIY Painted Particle Board Floor (Mmmm, Teal)

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have caught a peek of a project that's been keeping me busy.  A local computer shop is moving from their current retail and tech space to a smaller spot in need of some TLC.  It's downtown, with excellent parking (a rare combination!), so things like missing baseboards and particle board floors were overlooked.

At first I was a little intimidated by the amount of work to do, especially because the budget is miniscule and I'm being paid in tacos (that's not a euphemism for cash).  But I'm always up for a DIY challenge!  The first step was to fill in the hundreds of wall holes with putty, and then sand and prime them in preparation for painting the walls a warm grey (PPG's Aria).  I wanted as light a colour as possible to make the space feel bright and clean, but I knew white would quickly become covered in grubby fingerprints.  Just painting the walls one neutral colour (and not painting around the furniture like the last tenants) improved the space. 

The former tenants had put down what looks like some kind of oriented strand board (or engineered wood particle board), which had become badly stained from water damage and general foot traffic.

Putting something cheap over the particle board, like a peel and stick tile or even click laminate, wasn't an option because it's not 100% level (it's an older building, which exacerbates the wonky installation).  I decided paint would be an easy and inexpensive fix.  A local paint shop suggested a simple primer + floor enamel combo because professional-grade epoxy finishes would crack given the uneven floor.  Plus, without a top coat, a floor enamel can easily be re-touched, and it's not very slippery during wet or snowy months.

I started by giving the floor a good clean: multiple sweepings and then a deep clean with a shop vac.  Next came the primer coat.  I used Kilz Max primer, which is now my favorite primer.

A large brush was used to apply primer along edge of the room (I didn't want to touch the freshly painted walls with my roller), and then the primer was rolled on.  A handle extender was very handy.  I started at one end and painted my way out of the room, making sure everything I needed (car keys!) was accessible at my exit point.  It was dry to the touch in 1/2 and hour and ready for re-coating in one hour, but I let it dry overnight.

The primer was fabulous: it covered nicely and, as promised, dried very quickly.  Not all primers are created equal - and not all are suitable for floors - but this one did an excellent job of concealing water damage and stains and provided a very good base for the floor enamel.  I had the primer tinted as dark a green as they could manage, which helped get the floor to a deep teal.  This process is very similar to what we did for our painted laundry room floor, except we skipped primer then. 



The next morning, I applied the paint in the same fashion: starting with the edges and then using a roller and working my way out of the room.  Like with painting walls, I painted "W"'s to ensure I got paint into the uneven surface.  I took my time and often checked to make sure there were no bare spots.  I worked slowly, with a very saturated roller to ensure full coverage.  The manufacturer's instructions indicated that the floor could be walked on in 24 hours but I let it dry for 48 hours.  The gentleman who helped me at the paint store informed me that paint doesn't actually cure until about the one month mark, but that a couple of days should be fine.

This photo is the most accurate representation of the colour

This is the porch and floor enamel I used:

The enamel had great coverage, but I think the primer did the heavy lifting.  So little of this paint soaked into the floor thanks to the excellent primer.  I needed about a quart or two less of paint than primer.  

The floor turned out lovely.  After I was done I quickly snapped some photos with my phone from outside, and the door wasn't open but a minute before a passerby complimented the colour choice.  With freshly painted walls and floor, the space looks much more attractive.

You can still see the seams a bit, but they are more pronounced in these photos than in real life, thanks to the texture of the particle board and the slight sheen of the paint.   Given the muted teal colour and texture, the floor has a vintage feel, like 1950s laminate counters. 

All of the photos above were taken with my camera phone, which captured the colour somewhat true to life - but a bit more vibrant and green.  My regular camera, on the other hand, refuses to capture teal or turquoise - no matter what I do - and so it photographed the floor more blue.  The truth lies somewhere in the middle.  Ultimately, the colour (PPG's "Time for Teal") is a pretty, silvery, muted teal - much like the colour of blue spruce.  I had a few criteria for choosing the colour: I wanted something cheery because there will be little colour elsewhere, but I also wanted something that would hide dirt.  I also needed to be a colour that wouldn't disguise rogue screws, and that would pair well with the espresso brown furniture that will be moving in.  Plus I like teal; teal is always the answer.

Unfortunately, when I went to help deliver some furniture yesterday (after the floor had been given two days to dry), we found it was still tacky in some places.  I think that 24 hours is quite an optimistic time frame, especially if the conditions aren't ideal (like too much humidity), so in the future I would wait longer - maybe even wait a week.  After the furniture is all in, I will give the space a good sweep and touch up the floors.  Luckily, this system lends itself to easy re-coating.

The shop owner is thrilled so far and, as the makeover continues, we are getting compliments from folks passing by and peering in the windows.  I'll keep posting updates on instagram (like this sneak peek of some of the furniture) as we inch toward a finished space.

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Kitchen Progress: Turquoise Cabinets? Check!

After spending the winter in our garage, the cabinet fronts Hubs painted with our sprayer needed a little touch up, but now they've been re-installed and all of a sudden the kitchen is looking so good.  Sadly, it looks a lot more denim-blue in my photos - I've been having a tough time lately, photographing teal and turquoise true to life, which is really problematic given my penchant for anything turquoise.  In that elusive third dimension, the colour (CIL Niagara Mist) is nearly identical to the turquoise Pyrex butterprint pattern, so if you've seen a piece of that, then you can better envision the colour.

Painting the cabinet boxes was straightforward: light sanding, coat of primer, and then three coats of semi-gloss Premier paint, courtesy of my paint partnership with Canadian Tire.  Just like when I painted the bathroom cabinetry, I used my small artist's brush for the narrow cabinet face frames, a two-inch angled brush for the toekick, and a roller for any larger areas, like the section that faces the dining room and the areas beside the stove.  The cabinetry wasn't in the best condition so when I zoom in with the camera some blemishes appear, but the semi-gloss finish, which reflects lights, does a good job of hiding imperfections when I'm not staring at it from three inches away.  People say sheen emphasizes flaws but I'm adamant it's the other way around: matte paint can really highlight flaws.    

Even though the turquoise cabinets have been giving me shivers, the real showstoppers are the solid maple counters.  Hubby is sharing the full tutorial on Friday (you already saw how I stained them).  Even if you don't plan on making your own wood counters, just seeing the transformation from pile of rough lumber to this gleaming gorgeousness is incredible - and we've got lots of photos!

You got a glimpse of the new sink and faucet last week.  If you have been following me on Instagram, you saw the new hardware as well.  I wanted something brushed silver (my favorite!) and simple, but not too stark and modern because the cabinet fronts have really busy profiles.  I wanted something to bridge the modern sink with the decidedly unmodern cabinetry.  I had a pretty meager budget (hardware adds up quickly!), so I headed to Lee Valley.  Their catalog is fun, but nothing beats spinning those turnstiles and seeing the different styles in person.  Hubs and I both liked the feel of these knobs, which were only $3.00 a piece. 

These knobs require two screws for installation and the old knobs only needed one, so we simply added a second screw hole.

Hubby measured, marked with a pencil, and drilled away (with a wood scrap underneath).  For the cabinet drawers, I had filled the hole with wood filler prior to priming and painting, so Hubs just drilled two new holes and centred the knobs.  Easy!

Such a pretty change, compared to the old brass knobs (which were the same in the bathroom, but because that room is a more temporary fix, I just painted them matte black):

We made one other inexpensive change: the floor grate.  What was previously there was white and rusted, so we bought a $13 replacement, in silver.  I'm only mentioning it because it's Made in Canada!  I love finding things made in Canada or the USA.   

The kitchen is really taking shape, but we still need to paint and install the paneling, add trim to the paneling, replace the window trim, paint and install open shelving, add some bar stools, unpack my Pyrex collection and our dishes, plus build a pantry beside the fridge.  But I'm feeling so motivated because it's already the happiest room in the lakehouse . . .

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