Homemade, Repurposed Gift Wrap (FREE!!!)

We've been invited to a lot of birthday parties lately.  (I know! We're very lucky!)  Parties are a great time to have loads of fun, enjoy a tasty treat, and let someone know you care about him/her.  How fun is that?!

I'm definitely not one who thinks a gift is necessary to let someone know he/she is important but it's usually appreciated (especially by the under 10 crowd) so here's how we wrap those gifts.

And, yes, it's usually a book and a donation.

Yep, it's just some good ol' artwork.  What can I say; I like to paint. ;)  It's very gratifying to know you created part of the package too.  If you have kids, this might help free up some of that valuable real estate on the front of your fridge.  Really, it's a win-win.  Repurposed wrapping (FREE!) that gets some clutter (beautiful as it is) out of your house, while boosting the artists self-esteem all at the same time.

What?!  You don't have stacks of artwork just piling up on the front of your refrigerator?!?  My sister likes to use the comics section from her daily newspaper.  Older kids love this because they can read it too!  I've used maps from vacations.  These are fun because they're usually brightly colored and seem to multiply otherwise.

There's also the option of using reusable bags (if the recipient needs/wants them!) or even using part of the gift itself like dishtowels (think: weddings or housewarmings) or blankets (babies) as the wrapping. 

Personally, I usually stick to the artwork, newspaper, or maps because I think it looks pretty and it gets it out of my house. ;)

Yep, same theme but different book.

With all this being said, please, don't give me a gift.  I'd rather share a meal or an adventure.

I know you have some great ideas out there.  Please, share.

Peace,

Stacey

How We Turned A Bowling Alley Lane Into A Kitchen Counter (Day 1)

This was a daunting task.  I knew we could do it but it was one of those things that I was just afraid to begin.  We kind of kept putting it off until neither of us could park in the garage, the cabinets were scheduled to be installed, and, well, we just knew it was time.

We knew the dimension we wanted and we knew one of the bowling alley lanes was in much better condition than the other so the "good" one was picked to be our 9' section.  Each one was 10 feet long so not much was needed off the ends.  The sides were another story because bowling alleys are 42 inches wide.  As a reference, a standard counter is 25 inches deep.  I just assumed we make this job as easy as possible because each one of those skinny little boards is 2.5 inches deep and held to the adjacent ones with screws and/or nails.  I thought "we" would just cut one side off but lucky for me, I'm married to a guy who like things done the right way.  Having a carpenter (with all his knowledge and tools) as a friend is also very handy.

Anyway, the boys cut off equal amounts from each side so the arrows would be centered at the end of my "new" counter!

Another interesting tidbit is that even though there are thousands of screws holding these lanes together, braces are still needed underneath to keep the center from sagging or bowing!  Luckily, I did my research and knew this and the guys were smart enough to shorten and replace the braces that were already in place so we could just reuse what we had.

In order to put the counter on top of the cabinets, the brace could not cover all of the boards in the bowling alley.  We decided to put 10 inch screws into the front not only to secure the last 2 or 3 boards but also to simulate the look of the screws throughout the entire lane-turned-counter.

Before those screws were put in though, I wanted a line routed into the face of the front piece of wood.  This exaggerated what was already there because the edge of counters shows how each board is slightly tongue-and-grooved to the next one.  I thought it would look cool if this was more prominent.

After they brought the giant and heavy bowling alley counter-top inside to scribe it to the wall, it had to go back outside to actually be scribed and then sanded.  (I was not part of this scribing process so if you're using this as a tutorial, let me know and I can find out how they did it.)

Sanding the old sealant off, baffled us.  It wasn't just the potential toxins in the sealant but I also didn't know what to use.  I didn't know if we should rent an industrial floor sander or simply use our palm sander and the belt sander that our friend owns.  We ended up using a combination of a hand sander (I felt very 19th Century) and the palm and belt sanders. 

We started with 80 grit sandpaper and progressed all the way up to 220 grit to make it nice and smooth.  It was very messy and I've never been so happy to wear a face mask!

It was tedious work but achieved the look we wanted.

The next step was to get it back into the house so it could be sealed but sealing is another day and another post.  (Spoiler alert!  It turned out great.  We've been using is since the last week of November.)

Peace,

Stacey

Barn Wood Shelves

My reclaimed barn wood shelves went up in the kitchen last weekend!

And I couldn't be happier.  (Well, maybe if the painting was finished but let's not get greedy here!)

I found a listing on craigslist for reclaimed wood from local barns.  (Yes, craigslist again!)  Our vision was to use something exactly like that for the "new" kitchen shelves... that was until one of my friends asked me about the wood she had just purchased.  She was concerned about lead paint and unlike our floors, her's came with a enough of that antique red paint to raise a red (pun intended) flag!  

But I digress... I found something local AND reclaimed!  What a score!  I just asked for pieces where all the paint had faded or chipped off... mostly.

Who needs a truck when a Prius can haul 7' boards?

We were still concerned about the lead issue so we decided not to sand this wood.  We'd learned from installing our reclaimed floors that after about 5 coats of water-based polyurethane, most of the bumps, scratches, and splinters are smooth. That's what we ("we" meaning Mr. Green Stuff) did here.  After many, many coats, we ("we" includes me here because I held the boards!) cut the barn siding to the proper length to transform them into our shelves.

I searched for months trying to find some used shelving brackets that would be strong enough and fit properly. I failed.  I finally found these super, cute ones from a manufacturer in Texas.

And even though someone had his doubts about the sturdiness of my purchases and someone else hem-hawed around because of the old paint, as you can see, they're up now!  And we're both happy!

Let's just hope there is no more drama involving these shelves!

Peace,

Stacey

Our "Scrap" Backsplash

We got a "new" backsplash behind our oven.

And the best part is that I salvaged it!  

I feel like I need to explain a little because "salvaged" might not exactly be the best way to describe it.  It's more like the idea of something being recycled out of "post-industrial waste" rather than "post-consumer waste." 

My dad has a factory that uses this galvanized sheet metal.  The sheet we used for our backsplash is cut from the scraps left over after the machine is fully assembled.  I guess it's best described as "salvaged post-industrial waste" then, right?

Whatever you want to call it, I'm happy because I saved this piece from being recycled or sold on craigslist, which is where I convinced him the rest need to go. 

We had planned on having a local sheet metal shop create the same look out of stainless steel.  That would have been a perfect match.  I would have been supporting a local business.  And it wouldn't have had that little dent in it near the bottom.  I realize all that but it wouldn't have had the same story.  (You know the story about my dad and the salvaged post-industrial waste!)  It also would have cost a lot more and wouldn't have had that cute little dent. 

So how do you classify this?  Salvaged?  Reclaimed?  Repurposed?  I kind of like my new phrase.  Salvaged post-industrial waste has a nice ring to it.  Plus, I kept something out of the recycling bin for a while and I used another person's trash to make my new treasure.

Peace,

Stacey

Repurposed Champagne Cork Cabinet Knobs

I have knobs on my kitchen cabinets!!!

I might not have toe/kick plates under the cabinets yet.  I might not have all the cabinet doors painted yet but I have knobs on the doors that I have finished so far.  And, aren't they awesome?!?  I reused something that's renewable!

Mr. Green Stuff saved all the corks from almost every bottle he'd had when we met.  We continued to do this together for years.  When I noticed we had so many of them they were taking over, I found a place to recycle them.  We kept the ones with sentimental value.  (He always wrote on the ones he saved.)  And now I know why!  We're using champagne corks in our "new" kitchen.

Here's how "we" did it with step-by-step directions so you can do the same.

1. Figure out where you want your knob.  (We wanted ours to line up with the corner of our recessed panel.)  Use a pencil to put a dot there.  We used a laser level to ensure they all lined up.

2. Drill the hole exactly where you put your dot.

3. Place cork over the hole and screw into it from the back.  (We used extra flooring screws, if it matters.)

4. Straighten any design on the top of the cork in order to step back and admire your green skills!

I've read a lot about the durability of our new cabinet knobs.  It appears that they should last a long time but if they don't, I guess we'll have to drink some more delicious champagne.  Darn.

I'm so happy.  Not only are we reusing something; we're reusing something that has meaning to us.  Let me know what you have reused lately in the comment section.  I'd love to hear about it!

Peace,

Stacey

How We Installed Our Reclaimed Floors

Last weekend was quite productive around here.  Check, check, check it out:

The finished reclaimed tobacco barn wood floor

I know!  They're beautiful... but they took a lot of work.  It all started late Friday night.  Mr. Green Stuff and I put on our work gloves and jumped right in to our pile of splintery wood.  For us the real beauty of this wood is that it came from those old barns in Pennsylvania but that also gave us our own set of problems.  The splinters were the worst for me.  (And by "the worst for me" I don't mean to imply that I ended up with the most splinters because I didn't. I am the only one still whining about them though.)  I just mean the other issues like a few warped boards and figuring out the layout were easier to work around.

When the flooring came from Olde Wood Limited we received four different widths of boards.  I didn't really think it was a big deal because we had roughly (pun intended) 25% of each of the 3", 4", 5", and 6" widths.  I figured we would pick out the boards as we worked our way across the room and it would be fine.  I'm not sure what I was thinking!  I should have known that Mr. Green Stuff would never go for that.  But I digress.... back to Friday night!  We laid out our floor.  There is no particular pattern but we did arrange it so our favorite boards are in the middle of the room. 

Hmm... decisions, decisions

After we had our design arranged, we wanted a "map" of where each board would go.  With this plan Saturday could be all about installing rather than about thinking or planning.  We labeled the back of each piece of wood with a permanent marker.  I wanted this to be as simple as possible (remember I originally wanted to "wing" it) so I naturally called the first row "Row 1" and then each board was given a letter with A being the one to the far left of the room, then B, C, etc.  On the boards that needed trimmed to fit, I put an "X" on the end that I wanted removed.  Confused?  Here's an example: the eighteenth row needed four boards to span the room so we had boards labeled 18A, 18B, 18C, and 18D. 18C needed the right end cut in order to fit so there was an X on the back of it where it would be shortened. We also wrote down (on the map) that they were 3" wide.

As we labeled them, I stacked them on the far side of the room with the last row (28 if you're curious) on the bottom. Once they were in the correct order all we really needed to do during installation was to grab the ones on top and make sure we used A first. (O.K., maybe I'm totally into organization, too.)

All stacked up and ready to go.

Saturday morning while I was teaching yoga, Mr. Green (with a little help) began installing the floor.  Other than being so loud that we had to open the windows and wear ear plugs, it went remarkably well... aside from a few more splinters.  It worked out well.  From our Friday night design, we only needed to substitute one board because the original was warped and replace another one due to a miss-cut.  The whole floor was installed in time for a late lunch.

Ask around before purchasing tools. My brother-in-law let us borrow this "gun."

After our break, the treads were installed on the stairs and the landing was redesigned (we stole our replacement boards from here) and installed.

I love the look of the white paint with the natural floors.

Some friends stopped by to see our progress, which led to some Dark and Stormies, which in turn led to a later-than-anticipated night.  We didn't want them to leave because we knew something else that was "dark and stormy" was looming; the polyurethane was calling our names.  I was dreading this because my mom had warned me about how stinky polyurethane is.  I tried to find one with very few VOCs but it's not easy.  I found a water-based one (rather than oil) but it still had "less than 275 grams per liter."

Guess what?  It turns out that it's not that hard to seal a floor and the polyurethane we found wasn't stinky.  In fact, the smell was almost unnoticeable.  We wanted to get two coats on before we went to bed so around midnight we watched the documentary Bag It while we waited for the first coat to dry.  (I'm pretty sure I saw about 90% of it. From what I saw, I think it is definitely worth a watch!  Plus, the friend I borrowed it from highly recommends it.) Then we applied the second coat.

What?  Everyone else doesn't scavenge for danger tape?

Sunday morning we loved the way the floors looked but some of the really big scratches and knotholes were still rough, which made me fear splinters.  In order to avoid them, we decided to apply another coat.  I sanded the floors with an orbital sander using 220 grit paper.  This barely even dulled the sheen but it was enough to get the next coat to adhere.   And the next coat!  After the fourth coat, we were ready to call it quits.  And not just because the polyurethane was starting to stink.  The floor looked great but there were two spots that were still a bit raised.  It wasn't enough for me to notice with my hand but I could feel my socks snagging on it SO we sanded one more time and applied our final coat of poly!  (We're officially on a nickname basis, poly and I, after all the time we've spent together.)

Now they look and feel gorgeous.  I'm loving our "new" floor.  I'm going to need to keep an eye one Mr. Green Stuff though.  He crazily mentioned how great it would look in the dining room.  I'm just going to ignore that comment for now.

Have you ever started a project like this where you assumed you could figure it out but had no real knowledge about the process when you started?  I didn't even know what an orbital sander was before this!

Peace,

Stacey

Barn Wood Kitchen Floors Have Arrived

Look what was delivered yesterday!!

Our "new" kitchen floors!! I know!  I'm so excited!  (You can tell from all the exclamation marks, right?)

Our "new" kitchen floors are reclaimed from an old barn.  A tobacco drying barn from Pennsylvania to be exact.  I know.  Awesome, right?  Don't worry; the irony of its first life is not lost on me, the non-smoker.

They're knicked, scratched, knotty, and full of holes.  As promised, there's no smell just those beautiful (ugly?) stains left behind from the drying process.

Want to see what my steps are going to look like?

And, yes, I did check to see how the flooring would be packaged.  (Thanks to the suggestions in this book.)  I didn't want a lot of wasted packaging like boxes or shrink-wrap.  I was reassured to find out that the packaging would be very minimal.  (I guess they figured it wouldn't matter if it was jostled around in the semi since the scratches are part of the beauty.)  See those little binding strips in the first pictures?  Besides the pallet they were stacked on, that's all there was.  It's almost like buying in bulk.
 
Now we just have to wait 2 weeks to let the wood acclimated to our house and the local weather before we can install them.  I hope the fact that it's been drizzly for a couple days doesn't matter.

Peace,

Stacey

31 Days of Green Little Things: Buy Used

Welcome back to my 31 Days of Green Little Things!  This is where I discuss the little things I do to help the environment.

Today's little thing is to visit a resale shop next time you need/want something in order to reuse someone else's discarded item and love it like it's new.

Honestly, I'm kind of new to this whole resale shopping thing. It's tricky.  I'm not going to lie.  It's much, much easier to just got to a big box store and buy something new.  Resale shopping (or thrifting) isn't like that.  It takes persistence to persevere in that world... because who knows what might be there that day.  Now maybe you like to shop so this adds a new dimension to your fun but it's been at least a decade since I've enjoyed going to the mall for "fun."  Boy, can it pay off though!

It seems like a lot of people enter the world of resale shops when kids come into the pictures but sometimes these stores are pretty overwhelming just by the shear volume of things.  I mean check it out:

Pink is not in my minimalist wardrobe color scheme.

The good thing is that it's specialized (kids only stuff) so it might seem less intimidating.

And I'm still not convinced there is much in the way of organization in the "home goods" section at Goodwill most of the time.

A boy used that ab-roller literally 20 seconds after I took this picture

That's why I prefer more specialized stores like ReStore.   The workers at places like this are usually very helpful and knowledgeable.  I've learned a lot by just asking questions. 

At ReStore they even assist when I need a picture to take home.

Plus, she carried my "new" ceiling fan (clearly, not pictured) out to my car and helped load it.

The biggest thing I've learned (regardless of the store) is to have a particular item in mind (say, a schoolhouse pendant light) before entering the store but to be flexible about it.  Lighting for the new kitchen has been my mission this month.  I've been to 2 different ReStores, a mid-century "antiques" store, and 2 different Goodwills... and most of those places more than once.  That's more shopping than I've done all year but it has finally paid off!  I found all the lighting that I need... hopefully.  Look:

I know you can't tell how beautiful they are from that picture... but when the kitchen is finished, those two globe pendant lights and the flush-mount light are going to look great!  Now remember I went looking for a schoolhouse pendant but I was open minded enough to realize how incredibly awesome these lights are. Trust me they are.  (That's what I keep telling Mr. Green Stuff, too.)

Anyway, by shopping resale, I'm reusing someone else's no-longer-wanted-goods.  Like the old saying goes: one man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure! The globes may not have been "bargains" like the flush-mount but to me they were worth every single penny. One of those babies would have cost more than all three combined, if I would have purchased it new... so maybe it still was a bargain.  A "green" bargain!

Remember how I scored these bowling alleys from craigslist?

That was worth the effort of checking craigslist (somewhat) regularly for the past year.  I guess it's time to start working on those things.


Yard Sales count as resale too. And used cars!

I wonder where I'll go today?  What is your favorite resale store?  I might need to visit it.

Peace,

Stacey

To follow other "31 Days" journeys, check out The Nester.  She's hosting this party. 

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