Digging Out The Studio Week 8: Whipping Things into Shape

I usually feed the Sisters lunch when they come and help me. I rarely plan the meal before hand, and they have been very enthusiastic about whatever I manage to cobble together. This week they scored. We had pie for dessert. And at my house, no pie is complete without a little whipped cream.

This was a funny week. The sisters were feeling a bit silly. Maybe because it was mid summer, or because we had been doing this for so long. Maybe it was because I made them scrub cabinet doors the week before. Who knows. But Sister Anderson was very keen to show us her mad whipped cream skills. Apparently she has perfected a technique where she sprays a dollop of whipped cream on her arm and then flings it into her mouth by smacking her arms one on top of the other. I promise it looks more coherent than it sounds.

She did eventually get it in her mouth. And then she got the great idea that Sister Kleven should try to use her arm to fling the whipped cream into her (Sister Anderson's) mouth. 

Major hyjinx ensued. I do not think this was the first take.

Nothing like your companion "helping you" enjoy some whipped cream.

We did eventually put the whipped cream back in the fridge and go downstairs to work.

When I looked at Week 8's pictures, it took me a sec to figure out what we did, because I have them doing two different things at the same time in two different places. This is a "no." Missionary companions must remain in the same room with each other and being in eyesight of each other is preferred.  And these girls are far too obedient to break mission rules. 

That's when I realized that Sister Anderson was outside on my patio, not in the studio. Sister Kleven is right on the other side of the glass door in the playroom, sitting at the craft table, about 10 ft away and with full visual contact. Total compliance. We even cracked open the sliding glass door so we could talk back and forth. 

What you are seeing above is Sister Anderson making one of my silly little dreams come true. A neighbor of mine had taken some trees down in their back yard, and I asked for a slice 2 inches thick to use as a base for a centerpiece for my dining room table. They brought me the requested slice, and it was perfect, except for one thing. It was only level on one side .The other side had a very distinct slope, making it worthless for the project I had intended it for. Sigh. 

A few visits to Pinterest later, I found a great idea. (Check it out here.) Someone clever had drilled regularly spaced holes in a slice of wood and used it to store colored pencils. Brilliant! I wanted one immediately. So of course, the slab of wood sat in my studio for about two years. And that was after it sat in my dining room for a year. 

I had already decided that the Sisters were going to finish the mending and craft projects that I wanted to do, but hadn't ever gotten to. So Sister Anderson got the wood slab, a piece of chalk, and the drill. If you look carefully, you can see the nice spiral she drew as a guide to help her drill in the right places. You gotta love detail oriented slave labor. And it turned out awesome! It has become one of my New Favorite Things.

Sister Kleven got a glue gun and all my things that needed to be re-glued. The only project I can remember off the top of my head was a Mardi Gras mask that needed to have its rhinestones reattached.  It turned out fabulously and I was not even surprised that Sister Kleven is a wiz with a glue gun. That girl has serious crafting skilz.

The final project we worked on that day dealt with the stars that Sister Kleven has grown to know so well. (you can read more about them here) We needed to hang them over the newly painted Mid Century sideboard. I put Sister Kleven to work measuring the distance from the tip of the stars to when the Command hook would sit on the star's wire hanger so we knew how high to place the base for the Command hook. Look how sassy and accurate she is!

They make it look so easy. And I love that Sister Kleven is standing on an ottoman to be taller. I do have step stools in the studio, about 20 steps away. Then again, maybe I was being paranoid about the sideboard getting scratched. 

What you are not seeing in this picture is the comedy of errors that was the three of us on stools and tip toes, each holding up stars, trying to decide if they were in the right place or not. Sadly, there was no way to shoot that, since all of us were using all our hands and wits to hold things up and not fall over.

The good news is we got all those stars on the wall. The bad news is that one of them was just a tiny bit off, so I didn't take a picture of the completed wall. I ended up moving it to the right place within the week, but didn't take a picture then either. You will just have to wait to see it until the room is done. Sorry. But take my word. It looks so much better than it did before we started all this. So much better.

Are you all moving your projects forward this week? Or do you have mad whipped cream skills? Tell us all about it in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you. 

Talk to you soon 

CM Shaw

Digging Out the Studio Week 7: The Garage Spray Booth

I love looking at the folders of pictures as I start writing these posts. It's been long enough now that I forgot what was going on in my life, and it's amusing to remember all the billions of variables playing out and swirling around the studio clean up. Some weeks it actually makes me feel kind of incredible that I was able to keep moving this project forward, with all the other things happening. 

And during week 7, I wasn't able to keep it moving. We didn't even go into the studio actually, due to an even bigger project that fell into my lap. Well two projects, really. 

So you all remember the story I was telling you about the Mid Century Sideboard I had started cleaning up? If not, check it out here. It's about the top middle of the post. Go on. We'll wait...

Well, I kept working on the sideboard for the next couple of days after the Sisters left. (They come over every Wednesday afternoon) Sometime that same weekend I finally finished all the prep work and decided to start painting it. This was a much more monumental decision than you would think, because I had decided to use a sprayer. 

My sister gave me one when I flew out to Oregon to design her house about 2 years ago and I had never used it. It was still new in the box. I had been waiting for another, less favorite and irreplaceable piece of furniture to present itself as my "practice" piece. Alas, non had materialized. And the sideboard was ready and waiting. So I busted out my huge plastic drop cloth, stapled it to my deck and draped it across the lawn, read the directions on the sprayer box, moved the sideboard back outside, and got my spray on. 

It was glorious! Such smooth, brush-less layers! And the sprayer was so easy to use. (I have this one, but I think my sister got it on Amazon.com). I spritzed and sprayed, being sure to keep the paint even and catch all the nooks and crannies. After a few passes, I realized that I could use this little machine competently. Which left just one thing to worry about. 

The weather.

The paint I used, Benjamin Moore Advance, is oil based and therefore requires almost twice the drying time of latex or other, water-based paints. The one thing that could undo all my careful prep work, would be rain. And if you have ever lived in the Mid Atlantic in the summer, you know the only constant about the weather is that it can always rain. 

So I checked the Doppler and checked the hourly forecast repeatedly. 

I was good to go. 

Or so I thought.

I had planned on bringing the sideboard back inside at the 4 hr mark, when the directions said it would be "dry to the touch." I had cleaned up the sprayer and settled in with my kids for a bit of binging on a few episodes of  The Great British Baking Show, when I heard the rain. And it wasn't raining. It was pouring. Stupid Doppler.

My oldest and I bolted outside and had that thing in the house in about 4 minutes flat. But by that time, the damage was done. My beautiful, smooth, perfect finish was starting to run in rivers of white. The top had to be blotted dry, each touch of the towel taking paint and leaving blotches. 

I dried it off, turned out the lights in the basement, and just walked back upstairs, because I  was in shock that all my careful work had been so quickly and easily ruined. No Words.

And FYI, I totally recommend the Great British Baking Show, if you need to be distracted from having a project you've waited years to do get completely undone by rain that shouldn't have been there. I seriously forgot all about it, until I woke up the next morning. 

When I woke up, two things occurred to me. First, I had used an oil based primer known for being tough as nails for the the base coat, so there should be no water damage to the wood since I dried the water off. And second, this was the only first of three coats of paint. I could sand it and smooth everything out, and due to the succeeding layers, no one would ever know what a disaster the first coat had been. Whew! What a difference a little sleep and watching a lot of baking shows can make.

Needless to say, I moved my spray booth out of the yard and into my garage. I hadn't done this initially, because it requires a ton of masking. And it takes over your entire garage until you are completely finished. And with the drying time of this particular paint being so long, I wanted to try everything else first. But there I was. So the plastic tarps went up everywhere and my car was banished to the driveway until further notice.

At this same time, a good friend of mine was moving. She had just bought a house she loved after living in a rental that she did not love for a way too long, and was keen to make the place "hers." After popping over there during the inspection, because why would I wait until she actually owned the house like a normal person? Do you know how long escrow can take?, I realized that she had ugly wood cabinets that she hated in her new kitchen and that I had a spray gun in my basement. It was the perfect combination for a really fun service project. Initially, I was hoping to paint the kitchen cabinet doors at her place, but when I had to move the spray booth to my garage anyway, it just became apparent that doing the spraying at my place made way more sense. 

Enter the sister missionaries. (Oh come on. You knew I would get there eventually.) By the time they showed up Wednesday of Week 7, I had finished the sideboard. 

It turned out really well. And weeks and months later I am still geeking out about how great it looks. 

With the sideboard out of the way, that left a stack of nasty brown cabinet doors taking up my garage space. I gave each of the girls a pair of rubber gloves, some scrubby sponges, and some cleaner. We put up a few funky folding tables and started degreasing and deep cleaning cabinet doors from the 1970's. Such fun! 

The tool they are using is called a "5 in 1". It's a painter's tool used to get crud out of creases and tight corners, super useful for removing caulk from the tub or windows, and perfect for getting off nasty chunks of who knows what from old cabinet doors. 

Ironically, the previous Monday was the one day every six weeks, when the church office changes where the missionaries live and who they work with. This day is called "transfers". We all had a feeling that one of the three sisters was going to another area, so I gave them all a present at church the Sunday before transfers. And what did that present happen to be? Each girl got her own "5 in 1" of course! (well, theirs were "6 in 1's", if we're being technical. Their version had a brass plate on the handle base you can use like a hammer. So awesome!) I thought it was super appropriate to give a tool as a "thank you" to my handy little helpers. And this IS my favorite tool. 

It was a good thing I did too, because just as predicted, Sister Merritt got transferred. So sad, but totally how things work. Well, unless you are Sister Kleven. I think she was assigned to the "Burke, Virginia" Mission, while all the other missionaries here here were assigned to the "Washington DC South" mission. That girl has been here forever, with no sign of leaving. It's September. She got here in April, and she's still here. 

Anyway, cleaning. Then the sanding, because I couldn't use these girls as slave labor unless there were power tools involved, right? So we busted out the palm sander.

This is Sister Anderson checking for perfection. I am not even joking. I am super anal about smoothness, and even my standard wasn't high enough for her. We ended up giving her the two biggest, nastiest doors to work on, because she is totally OCD very focused and was taking forever with the cleaning and sanding.

See what I mean? The girl is meticulous. 

So we've moved on to the palm sander, but look. It's still the same door! 
Sister Kleven had done 3 or 4 small ones by this point. And in Sister Anderson's defense, those two doors were smooth as a baby's butt when she was finally done.

Since she was so good with the details, I let Sister Anderson figure out how much water we need to mix into the primer, so it would work in the sprayer. And yes, I tried to send the girl's home once the cabinets were all clean and sanded, because I felt bad about making them work so hard, but they looked at me with sad eyes and said, "You mean we don't get to use the paint sprayer?" True story.

I am telling you, this girl can rock any weird piece of safety equipment you make her wear.

We had a little tutorial against the plastic, where they both had to practice, until it looked like they had the necessary spraying distance and layering patterns down, and then I let them at it for real.

Here is Sister Kleven, showing us how it's done:

She really liked the paint sprayer. We may or may not have had to take it away from her, because she got the "Crazy Eyes."

  

Since it was the primer coat, I wasn't too worried about things being perfect. But of course Sister Anderson was. And they both did such a nice job. Great work any day, but even better considering they were a pair of newbies.

And here's how the cabinet doors turned out:

They sprayed until all the cabinet doors we had were primed, even the big, perfectly smooth ones. At this point I kicked them out, in spite of protests that they wanted to help clean out the paint sprayer. In all, I think they saved me about 5-6 hrs in cleaning and sanding, just by being two extra pairs of hands. Service hours anyone?

Great job girls! And thanks so much.

Any of you all have an adventure with a paint sprayer this week? 

Or have rain that shouldn't have been there ruin your plans? 

I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

Digging Out the Studio: Week 5...Because I Can't Count

OK guys, let me be honest with you. I am a total moron. As in, occasionally I do not connect my brain to the rest of my body. This most recently manifested itself when I logged in today and discovered that the last post was NOT Week 6, it was Week 5. Which I should have realized when I looked at the post just before it, clearly labeled "Week 4". Sigh. Counting Marian, counting! 1-2-3-4-5. 

In my defense, I was pretty tired from all the driving and actually reasonably sick with coughing and laryngitis when I wrote it, so I have decided to cut myself a little slack and just have this week's post be called "Week 5", even though the events recorded actually transpired in Week 6. You all can roll with that, right? So here goes, Week "5":

This week was about moving stuff around in the studio to make it easier to access and to start thinking through the work spaces and storage areas I wanted to build, as outlined in my original plan. Unfortunately, this was the state of things even after weeks of knocking stuff off my list, with help:

Now, dear friends, please note, I show you all these horrible photos of my chronic inability to stay organized in my creative space for two simple purposes. First, so you all can feel like you are such better people, or at least know that you are not alone. And second, so I can prove that I am actually accomplishing something while hanging out with these darling girls, whom I adore, for several hours every week. 

When they all showed up, I was in the middle of another major project. 

Because everyone knows it's always a great idea to start a new major project when you are right in the middle of another major project. DK loves it when I do this. No. No, he does not.

You have to admit is IS a gorgeous piece of Mid Century furniture bliss, if you are into that sort of thing...  which I very much happen to be.

And the best part is, I got it off Craigslist for $80. No, there is not a 0 missing. I was blown away. The girl who sold it to me, had been kicking around selling it for weeks, but didn't really want to let it go. She bought it from the original owner and had used it for years and loved it. But they were remodeling their house and she just couldn't find the right space for it in the new design, and then her water main broke and there was water every where and she just needed something gone. So she posted it, for a song. I was there 3 hours later, as I had been stalking the site for just such a cabinet for months, but never found anything even close to what I could afford. I told her about being an artist and designer, and my unfortunate lack of budget, but how I was trying to make a teenage lounge for my kids in the basement and how she was the answer to my prayers. She was completely charmed and deliriously happy to the the solution. It was a total connecting of hearts moment. "happy sigh." 

I knew this was truly an enlightened connection, when she suggested I refinish or paint it. Most people are super weird about you painting their stuff. I NEVER tell the original owners, when I buy wood furniture, that I have plans to paint it. I know antique dealers and vintage furniture dealers who refuse to sell stuff to people, if they know there are plans to change the original finish. And here she was, suggesting I do it. So amazing!

So after living with the wood finish for year and hating it with my wall color, but loving the lines and the storage the piece offered, I finally took a deeper look at all the goo and scratches, etc., and I knew the time had come to paint it. This particular episode was me smoothing out the finish. Things had gotten a bit gummy when I sanded it with the palm sander, so I had pulled out the denatured alcohol to clean it all up and strip off the extra schmutz without hurting anything else. It worked like a charm, but took about a million times longer than my original estimate for just sanding. And it's the kind of thing that once you start, you just have to keep going. So I rubbed and scrubbed and the girls started organizing and moving stuff.

My oldest had just graduated, but hadn't started her summer job yet. She and Sister Anderson volunteered to team up and take a crack at the tool and paint shelves.

They opened every single can of paint, stain, spackle, and you-name-it on those shelves to see if it was still usable. They mixed up the stuff that was still good, and threw away what was solid and dry. They rewound extension cords and refolded drop cloths. 

When they were done, it looked amazing. 

And do you see what looks like a grey plastic suitcase, with boxes and tools sitting on it in the above photo? That is my Ryobi multi tool kit. I haven't been able to get it shut completely since I bought it 2 years ago. And these girls not only figured out how to shut it, they found a spot for it to live that wasn't in the center of the room. (excuse me as I wipe away a little tear of joy.)

Ta-Dah! Just look at that order they made from my chaos. 

And when they were done with my shelves, there was still time left, so I put them to work organizing the drawers in the workbench just to the right of them. I almost feel bad about being such a slave driver. Almost. 

In the meantime, Sister Kleven and Sister Merritt were busy with major projects of their own. 

Another look at the "before" pic of the frames area.

Their assignment was to organize my vintage frames so they didn't rub up against each other but also allow for space to walk between the shelves. 

They also "got" to move all my long skinny pieces of trim and wood to a different place in the studio, where they would be better supported and less in the way. In order to move the pile, they also had to move a bunch of bins, in fact the exact bins they had already dealt with in this post. 

Here's a "Before" of that area:

This one is from the very first pics I took before we had done anything, way back in April, so it doesn't really reflect where we started, but you can see the bins in the top, left hand corner, to the left of the white fan and just below the Christmas wreath. 

And here is the pile of wood they had to move over there:

Now keep in mind, I was outside rubbing my Precious with a diaper resurfacing my sideboard while all of this was going on. I only came in to check on them when I ran out of paper towels or something. One of the times I came in, I walked into this:

I'm still not quite sure what that was about. Something about relocating bins and needing to move some of the Christmas boxes higher... And yes, Sister Kleven did start laughing hard enough to almost fall. Sister Merritt was already laughing. 

And, in spite of the lack of step stool, they were able to make both areas look like this:

Look how nicely arranged by size those frames are! And all the soft foamy paper between them! I am in heaven. But the most exciting thing by far is the fact the you can walk between the shelves!!!! I haven't been able to do that for 3 years! By the time they were done, I could walk all the way around and between each set of shelves, the way I had designed it 10 years ago. So amazing. 

Now most people would think this was enough to ask of these girls, but not me! My oldest and Sister Anderson were still hard at work on the drawers when Sister Kleven and Sister Merritt finished moving stuff, so I put them on a project we had been avoiding for a while.

Sister Kleven reading the directions for the epoxy.

Way back in April, before Sister Merritt or Sister Anderson were even in Burke, and before this idea  to clean the studio was even born, back when Sister Kleven was new to the area, she and her then companion came over to help me hang up some metal stars that I had been wanting to hang, but needed extra hands to do it. We learned two things that day. First, that Sister Kleven has enough self control to not swear when she drops a really heavy hammer squarely on her bare big toe (It was an exceptional example of self control I am still impressed by. The hammer fell about 4 ft and hit her toe really hard) Second, that the hanging bits that came on the stars were not going to work with the Command hangers I bought to hang them with. We needed to make new hangers, on metal stars. 

Cue the copper wire and epoxy! I even had both on hand. I love that.

I love that Sister Merritt gets the same kind of happy/crazy 

look in her eyes that I do when you say the words "wire cutters".

Look mom! Safety first!

I love this girl for the photos she lets me take of her. Gloves, glasses, you name it. She can rock them. 

New hangers were cut and epoxied, and left to dry on the craft table. And people were getting a bit loopy from over work and epoxy fumes. 

It was about this point, that we decided enough was enough, and headed upstairs for ice cream. What? You thought I was just gonna let them leave after all this work?

And my kid even offered to take a pic of all of us. This is one I will treasure. 

Such fun darling people. I do adore them so.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw

Digging Out the Studio Week 6: Finally in the studio

Sorry for the little month-long hiatus there. I had to stop blogging and cleaning and drive kid #1 all the way to the other side of the country for college and then get myself home. It's a big place, the United States. And Mt. Rushmore was totally worth the drive across Wyoming. You should stop in Laramie, WY, if you are ever in the neighborhood. I was pleasantly surprised. But that's not really what we are talking about today. Is it?

So where were we? Ah yes, week 6, when we head into the actual studio. Finally.

This was the week we tackled the paint shelves. Sorry, I don't think I took a "before" of the paint shelves. But it looked a lot like the above pic. Same level of disarray, same type of shelves, just different contents. 

To be fair, I should tell you that this week's focus was decided because I went to Hobby Lobby with a friend and found the cutest metal locker baskets for 50% off. I walked away empty handed that day, because I knew the sale was going on for another week or so. And also, because I have a few personal rules about buying storage containers. The most important one is:

Never buy a storage container, 

no matter how cute or cheap it is, 

until you know what you are storing in it 

and what size that pile is. 

Even if it's on sale at Hobby Lobby 

and you live 30 min away. 

Trust me on this. I have several very cute storage items that I am currently not using because I have nothing suitable to store in them. Which make them, sadly, wasted enthusiasm. Alas. Plus, if you don't buy it then, and go home and get your measurements, then you get to go back to Hobby Lobby later and shop some more. Win-win.

The paint shelves have been home to all kinds of things: chalk paint, wax, acrylic tubes, adhesives, photo albums, water bottles (I am one of those Mormons who hoards water in my basement for a "not so rainy day"), craft supplies, lamp bits, door knobs and hinges, and other crafty, hoarder treasures. We pulled it all off the shelves, dragged it into the playroom, and set to work. 

Sister Anderson is now an expert at deciding whether a can of paint can be saved, or if it is dry beyond renewing. That poor girl has checked so many cans of paint for me. Week 6 was just the beginning.  

Sister Kleven manned the adhesives, checking to see if they could still be used or if they were permanently sealed shut. I promise I did not make her sniff any glue.

Sister Merrit took care of the waxes and top coats, to see if they were still viable.

Here, Sister Merrit and Sister Anderson are exploring my gold wax. Professional art supplies are super fun. You can see the glop of wax on Sister Anderson's pointer finger. This wax turns metal or wood items gold, kind of like a paint.

 We also tackled all the craft kits that the kids had forgetten they had for years. They were all sorted and evaluated for age appropriateness and to see if enough of the bits were still there to still be fun to use. There were so many stinking craft kits. So. Many. Birthday Parties. 

I also had to move a book lamp I had never put up for sale, due to the harp getting loose as the humidity ebbed and waned. Sister Kleven was entranced. A lamp? Made of Books? It was love at first sight.

This one is actually the fraternal twin of the one I still have; it lives with my friend Margaret out at Asher Hill Farms. But it was such a good pic, I just went with it. Mine is only slightly different. After a lot of questions and a bit of wistful sighing, I realized I had all the pieces to make one for her. A "Classics" lamp. It is full of the Great Books in vintage covers, most of which feature gold lettering. I even had it already marked and stacked to drill into a lamp base. I just ran out of time like 5 years ago. (You can see the books stacked on the shelf in the first pic in this post.) So I am going to finish it and give it to her for Christmas. As much to give it a good home and get it out of the studio as to say thanks to this darling girl who has been helping me every week for 3 mos now.

And don't worry, I have given meaningful things to each of these girls along the way. Sister Merrit got my vintage REAL desert army camo pants. Sister Anderson became best buddies with my oldest daughter and is getting a lot of nerdy NASA swag I have lying around. And I bought them all my favorite tool. But that is another story. 

Ok, enough about presents for these girls. Do you guys wanna see the result of all this work? This is what things looked like when they all had to leave:

Nice and tidy, all organized by category, just waiting to be put in their new homes.

Here's what the shelves looked like when I was all done:

Cue the angel voices! Can't you totally hear the "Ahhhh..."?

And here's a close up of those super cute metal locker baskets I was talking about. You didn't think I was going to just leave you hanging about those? Come on, we are better friends than that! They were perfect for my chalk paints and adhesives. I love how heavy duty they are. These baskets are solid.

And here's a shot back across, so you can see what we got done. It's just a little bit farther back than the pic at the beginning:

I suppose that is kind of underwhelming. But to me it says "progress". And I promise we'll get to it all, eventually. 

In case you missed the previous post about digging out the studio, here are the links:

• The Book That Started It All
• The Plan
• Week 1 Meet the Help
• Week 2 Bins and Bins of Fun
• Week 3 Getting Crafty
• Week 10-I got too impatient to show you all where we really were
• Week 4 the Papers

How are you guys doing with your projects? Are you chipping away at things? 

The sisters and I would love to hear about what you all are working on.

Talk to you soon,

CM Shaw