PIY Pointers: A Look Inside my Toolbox

Sometimes when you start on a furniture painting project, it's overwhelming to know where to even start. But having the right tools is what makes everything easier! So here's a peek inside my Lather Creations toolbox.

 

These are the tools I use most frequently and between raiding your hubby/dad/boyfriend's toolbox, you probably have most of these already. Add a few painting specific tools and you're ready to go! Let's take a closer look at each item and what I love using it for.

For my paint-specific supplies, I like to always have:

4-inch foam rollers with plenty of refills - I pick these up in 3 packs at the Dollar Store, so I can throw them away after each project. They're perfect for smooth paint coverage on large, flat surfaces.

Stir sticks - I get these for free every time I buy paint (even mistints), they ensure all the paint colour is well mixed together in cans I haven't used for a while. I also use them to mix my custom colours.

Multiple 4-inch paint trays - Again, these are super cheap from the Dollar Store. I usually wash them out, but I make sure to have separate trays for primer since it's so much harder to clean out. I chuck them after they start to get paint build-up.

Various sized paintbrushes - I splurge on my large, most used brushes and I save on my smaller art-style brushes. Your surface will thank you!

Blue painter's tape - Green is cheaper but blue is better. Makes lovely patterns like stripes and chevron.

Various grits of sanding sponges - The higher the grit, the smoother the finish. So I use lower grit (80-150ish) for scuffing and higher grit (200+) for smooth finishing and light distressing. Plus, you can totally wash the sanding sponges - once they're dry, they're like new!

A paint can opener -This nifty little tools has saved me plenty of bent butter knives. It's less than a buck and you'll be glad you got it.

When I have a piece of furniture that needs a little bit of repair work or tweaking, I most often dip into these tools:

A multi-head screwdriver - J got me this for Christmas and it has ever screwdriver head built into it - handy for me and he LOVED getting me a 'masculine' gift.

A scraper - I use this to scrape off paint drip marks and stubborn layers of finish. It's awesome.

A small hammer - Mostly I use this to close paint cans (although J also bought me a rubber mallet to do this). It's also good for nails (see below).

Finishing nails - When I come across a loose, unsturdy piece of vintage furniture - I start by tightening all the screws. But when that doesn't work, I'll often tap in some finishing nails in strategic places for extra sturdiness.

Needle Nose Plyers - These are great for taking out small nails, releasing tight hardware joints and other hard-to-reach jobs.

Plastic putty knife/spreader - When I have to fill any holes or scrape marks with wood filler, I use this spreader for even application.

When I'm recovering a fabric bench or chair, these are my go-to items:

Stapler - More than your regular office stapler, this more heavy-duty industrial stapler has special staples that are strong enough to go into wood. 

Scissors - Well, obviously I use these to cut fabric! 

Measuring tape - Again, I use this to measure fabric, plus my furniture pieces for when they're advertised and I often carry it along on thrifting trips to make sure big pieces will fit my space.

Hope you enjoyed this little peek inside my toolbox! I left out things like paint, primer, finish and wood filler. That's a whole other conversation...

Have a lovely day friends!

PIY Pointers: How to mix your own custom paint colours

I've been wanting to mix paint colours forever...but I've been a little intimidated. Now that I've tried it, I feel a little like an idiot because it's soooo simple. Isn't it always like that when you finally do something you were unsure about? It's such an amazing way to get miles and miles of different paint colours out of only a few cans. Brilliant! 

Remember the Faded Chevron Blue Chair I recently completed? I mixed the lighter colour out of the base colour to get a tone-on-tone effect. Here's how I did it:

You'll need:

-1 coloured paint
-1 white paint (white is a basic way to start but if you know colour, you can apply this principle with lots of other colours)
-paint tray
-stir stick

Here's a few basics to keep in mind to help you get the best results:

1. Only mix the same base of paint. Because I use latex or water-based paint, latex + latex = OK. Never mix oil-based paint with water-based paint.

2.  Stick to the same finish. So mix matte with matte, satin with satin, semi-gloss with semi-gloss.

3. Make sure you mix enough in your batch to complete your piece. If you run out and try to remix it - you may not get the shade exactly the same. If you have to leave it overnight for coats, simply wrap your tray in a plastic bag and continue on the next day!

Start by pouring a generous amount of your coloured paint into a paint tray. Then slowly add your white paint.

Using a stir stick, gently blend the two paint colours together until it's smooth and even. At this point, if you want to test your colour you can by painting a small swatch then waiting for it to dry. If you're happy with your colour - go forth and paint!

Do you mix colours? Any fun combos you've discovered?

Have a great night friends and have fun playing with paint colours!

PIY Pointers: Paint your own custom knobs

*So so thrilled to see my Winnipeg City Guide today on Design*Sponge. If you're stopping by to say hello for the first time - welcome to my blog!

Welcome back to PIY Pointers! Today we're talking about creating your own customized furniture knobs. I often find myself feeling like there is not a lot of cute, economical knob selection out there. Don't get me wrong, I love finding vintage knobs and cup pulls, plus places like Anthropologie, Michael's and Pier 1 are an amazing source for cool knobs. But beyond that, I see a lot of the same ones over and over. So creating custom knobs are an easy and personalized way to really jazz up your furniture piece. I especially love them for kid's rooms!

Remember Max's Nautical Navy Dresser I completed a while back? This piece originally had huge brass hanging knobs - not really ideal for a 3-year old! So rather than replace them with boring white ceramic knobs, I decided to have a little bit of fun.

I sourced these round raw wooden shaker knobs from Lee Valley (another good source for more classic style knobs and pulls). These run around $1.50 - $2.50 each and come in different sizes, ready to be transformed into whatever you want. I chose the shaker style because of the flatter front for easier painting but there are several wood options.

 {image via Lee Valley}

This part sounds a little crazy but stay with me...you need some way to prop up your knobs so you can paint them. You can use styrofoam or in my case, I used regular foam. I broke off pieces of wood skewers then sat the knobs right on top (see below pic).

Then, using a 2-inch art paintbrush I started out with 2 coats of primer, allowing an hour between coats for drying. I followed that with 3 coats of the same paint I was using for the dresser (Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy). Keep in mind your knobs don't have to be the same colour as the piece - I could have easily painted the knobs in white and drawn on coloured accents for a different look. Use your imagination!

I picked up a medium thickness Sharpie Paint Pen (I chose oil-based for long-term durability) in white. These pens are fantastic, they give you such precision! I like to freehand draw but you can trace or stencil your image on the knob before you use the paint pen.

For the top four knobs, I painted on ABC and D. The bottom six were numbers 1 through 6. I started by outlining the shapes, then I filled them in with the paint pen. It took two coats to get the white nice and opaque. If you make any mistakes, just go back with a tiny paintbrush and your original navy paint and touch up around your shapes. Once I was happy with the design, I coated the knobs with 2 coats of water-based polyurethane to seal them and make them durable.

Here's the final product!

Easy, personal and good for the wallet! Just remember to have fun with it and if you're not feeling confident - a little practice painting on paper can go a long way before you paint the actual knobs.

Happy painting friends!

PIY Pointers: Finding your perfect paint finish

Walk the paint aisles of your local hardware shop and you're inundated with piles of options. Flat vs. semi-gloss? Eggshell vs. Satin? Matte vs. velvet? It's enough to make your head spin! Here's my quick guide to paint finishes for furniture painting (walls are a whole other story but the basics are the same). Keep in mind that different paint manufacturers can have different names for their finishes - but this should cover most of them.

First of all, before you even think about finish - you have to think about what kind of paint you want to use. Oh the oil vs. latex debate...I personally only paint with latex.  Why you ask? It's more environmentally friendly, smells better, it's easier to clean up (simple soap and water) and it dries quickly - which allows me to do more coats in less time. Oil is said to be slightly more durable in the long run, but I've never had a problem with latex, as long as you leave adequate curing time.

As always, paint finish is a personal preference, so use this for reference only. Here's my super simple guide to the pros and cons of latex paint finishes:

Flat - a matte finish with no sheen at all
Pros - hides knicks, dings and imperfections well
Cons - harder to clean, scuffs easily 

Melamine - a thick, smooth self-levelling finish with a low sheen 
*note: not every brand offers this but I quite liked using Rona's Latex Melamine finish on a chair I painted

Pros - thicker, self-levelling so it hides knicks and scratches, highly moisture resistant, subdued finish, easy to create nice even finish
Cons - stickier to paint with

Eggshell/Pearl - a smooth finish with a hint of sheen
Pros - easier to clean, nice subtle sheen, good balance between hiding imperfections and still being washable
Cons - Pearlized finish may not appeal to everyone

Satin/Silk/Velvet - a velvety finish with a touch of gloss
Pros - easier to clean, nice rich finish, good balance between hiding imperfections and still being washable
Cons - No real cons for me, easy to apply and gorgeous finish - this is my fave finish!

Semi-gloss - a high sheen finish
Pros - Higher durability, decorative style
Cons -  Magnifies inperfections in the furniture, more difficult to get an even finish, requires careful application

Gloss  - a super reflective, very high gloss finish
Pros - Modern, reflective look, can make a piece look expensive, stylish, maximum durability
Cons -  Highly magnifies imperfections, highly difficult to get an even finish, requires careful application, slightly stickier paint consistency

 

What's your fave finish my friends?

PS: Happy Friday!

PIY Pointers: How to fix a paint chip

Remember this little guy? Jeanette commissioned me to paint for her  and the result was the Midnight Blue Dresser she picked up a few weeks back. 

Sadly, there was a mishap while she was bringing it into her house and the result was a large chip that ran right through the finish, paint and primer to the wood.  Ouch!  So she brought the drawer back to me for a repair job.  I originally contemplated sanding down the spot and touching up the paint, but due to the thickness of the chip, that would leave obvious marks.  So I decided to use wood filler to fix the chip and here's what I did.

You'll need:
-chipped furniture
-wood filler
-filling knife or flat scraper
-sanding sponge
-primer, paint and finish

1. Apply a coat of wood filler over the chip, using your filling knife or flat scraper to smooth it out. Allow to dry fully, 1-2 hours.

2. Using a sanding sponge, sand off the excess wood filler to leave a smooth surface. Wipe down with a cloth to get rid of the dust.

3. Paint a coat of primer over the chip area, making sure to go bigger than the area to make it less noticeable. Allow to dry, approximately 1 hour and repeat a second coat. Primer is used because paint does not adhere well to the wood filler, it needs the adhesion layer that primer provides to create a bonded surface.

4. Lightly sand your primed area with a sanding sponge for smoothness, then repeat the process with your paint colour. Allow ample drying time then paint a second coat.

5.  Complete your fix by adding two coats of finish over the area, I went over the entire drawer with finish for a seamless topcoat.  Then you are done!

Hopefully you don't have to fill a chip this bad on a newly painted project but it happens, so better to know what to do!

For other painting pointers, you can check out my full page of painting tutorials and tips here...

Have a lovely day friends!

PIY Pointers: How to calculate fabric for a seat recover

The timing was perfect when I received a question in my inbox about calculating fabric for a seat recover.  At the same time, I was working on Laurena's Spoonful of Yellow Flowers Chair. So putting two and two together, it was only natural that today's PIY Pointers is all about how figuring out how much fabric you need for your project

Picking out pretty fabrics? Well now that is the easy part!

Figuring out exactly how much fabric to order? Especially when you're buying it online? Now that's a little more tricky.  Apparently for Allison as well!  Here's her recent question:

"I am going to be attempting my first small upholstery projects...pieces similar in size to your yellow bench that you did and also a small chair like the size of your harp chair. Can you tell me how much fabric you used on each? I'm just starting out so am clueless on what to order."

The first step is to start out by measuring the seat of the chair you want to cover. I recommend removing the seat from the chair base so it's easier to work with. I'm going to use my current chair measurements as an example. Because the seat cover is often narrower at the back and wider at the front - make sure you're always using your widest points for measurement, so you have enough fabric. My chair is 18" wide at the front (widest point), then it narrows to be 12" wide at the back. From front to back, the chair is 17" deep. So for the sake of having enough fabric, we'll use 18" X 17" as our base chair measurement.

From there, I measure the thickness of the seat's plywood base and foam cushion. On my chair, the plywood is a 1/2" and the foam is 2", so I know I need to add 2 1/2"s to each side of the fabric.

On top of that, I need another 2 to 2 1/2" to fold onto the underside of the chair (I like to do an extra fold of the fabric before I staple so I don't have any loose threads or ugly edges). So for the width, 18" + 10" (2 x 2 1/5" for the cushion thickness and 2 1/2" for the backside fold) = 28". For the length, 17" + 10" (2 x 2 1/5" for the cushion thickness and 2 1/2" for the backside fold) = 27". This means your new measurement and fabric requirement is 28" x 27".

*Keep in mind if the fabric has a pattern that needs to face a certain way, if so, you'll need to make sure you have enough to turn the pattern to fit the biggest piece of the fabric.

A traditional yard of fabric is 36" long. The width can be 36", 45" or 60", so you'll need to check for the particular fabric you want. Depending on your seat cover size, you may be able to get away with less than a yard of  fabric or a Fat Quarter (18" long x 22" inches wide for a small seat or bench). For the seat cover I'm discussing (28" x 27"), I either need to order a full yard with any of the widths because my long edge (28") would not allow for a half-yard (18"). A fabric store will cut your fabric to specific decimals of a yard if you bring in your specific needed measurements (.7 of a yard, .8, etc.).

Of course as our mothers and grandmothers and Girl Scouts taught us - it's always better to be prepared and order a little extra fabric rather than end up with not enough.  So good luck and I can't wait to hear about your recovering projects!

Have a fantastic day friends!
  

PIY Pointers: How to apply decorative paper details

Hi there!  I can't believe it's Tuesday already. I'm super excited about this week because Thursday our office is closed and I've taken Friday off.  Hello four day weekend!  Now if only my nagging cold would let me fully enjoy it...

Today we're talking about decorative paper detailing for PIY Pointers.  I love adding that extra special something to a piece of furniture that makes it really unique and beautiful. Plus it's easy once you get the hang of it.  Here's a step by step on how I did for my recently completed Midnight Blue Dresser.

For today's tutorial, you'll need:

- 1 piece of painted furniture
- decorative paper (I like to use wallpaper, scrapbook paper or japanese paper for their added thickness and strength)
- ruler or measuring tape and pencil
- Mod Podge
- foam brush
- sanding sponge
- finish (I use water-based polyurethane)

1. Start by prepping your piece of furniture.  I like to paint the entire piece, to ensure that I don't have any rough wood peeking out from around my paper.

2. Measure out the area you want to cover and trace it onto the back of your decorative paper.  I always draw on the back to ensure no pencil marks on my finished piece. Cut out your piece of paper and make sure it fits your piece properly and you're happy with the coverage.  Do any trimming required to get it to your satisfaction.

3. Using your foam brush, coat your area lightly with Mod Podge in thin, even strokes.

4. Position your paper and once you are happy with the placement, press down the paper firmly (I do light circles with my index and middle finger) working from the inside out.  This helps make sure you don't get any air bubbles.  Some people use a brayer (2nd photo), a tool to press down the paper, but I like the agility of using my fingers.

5. Use something heavy to weigh down your paper flat while it dries. I often use books, here I got creative with my painting supplies!  Allow the Mod Podge to dry fully, several hours. Otherwise, if you add the next layer too soon it will still be wet and you'll get more air bubbles.

6. Every few hours add 2-3 additional coats of thinly applied Mod Podge, to seal the paper.  I also do a light wet sanding in between coats for smoothness.

7. At this point, I apply finish to the entire piece, including the papered area.  Then punch a hole through your hardware opening add your hardware.

A gorgeous final product with lovely, one-of-a-kind details!

Good luck with your Mod Podging!

For other PIY Pointers, check out my recent posts on how to avoid brushstrokes, tips for picking out paint colours and how to recover a seat cushion.

Have a great day friends!