Monday, June 4, 2012

Recent projects

I scored this antique armoire at an auction a few years ago, but I never really liked the color. From pinterest, I discovered a new primer that doesn’t require sanding down the piece before painting it. I decided to give it a try.

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Before – see the color is a little on the orange side.

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After – now it is black and has been moved to a different room. It looks ok, but I have since learned how to do it better. Now, I need to find time to do another piece. The trick is to use a smooth roller for both the primer and the final paint application to achieve a smooth finish and alleviate brush lines.

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Sweet potato starts. I had lots of dinky sweet potatoes left from last year, so I decided to start my own slips this year. They did great. However, I have just discovered that the goats have been in the garden and I don’t have any plants in the ground right now. I am personally ready to get rid of the goats, except that they are still kind of cute.

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Homemade yogurt. Again, found the idea on pinterest. The yogurt is very easy to make, but I haven’t perfected the process of flavoring it. If I add flavoring after it sets, the yogurt gets runny. If I add favoring before it sets, it doesn’t set. Anybody have any ideas?

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Before. Now, for one of John’s projects. Each of the bedrooms has a walk-out balcony, but the floor joists just look rough and unfinished.

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After – he wrapped the underside with metal to give it a finished look. Doesn’t it look a lot better? 1 down, 2 to go. He also constructed it so that any rain water coming through the deck would shed away from the house. If you look really closely at the hummingbird feeder, there is a little buddy hovering there.

4 comments:

  1. Great projects!!! I'm curious about making the yogurt.

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  2. Nice job on the armoire! I can so relate to the fact of doing things and then figuring out a better way of doing it AFTER I'm done. Awe...yes...story of my life!

    That is really sad about your garden...ugh! What to do!?

    Nice job on the floor joists! Looks great!!!

    Have a good week, Shirley!
    Heidi

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  3. Ah Shirley, you and I have the same thoughts, often. :-)

    I have an antique armoire also, that I've been dying to paint. Can you tell me what the names of the products you used are, and more about the techniques and brushes you need.

    I am actually making some yogurt today for the first time. If I figure out how to do the flavoring I'll let you know. Plain yogurt is not my favorite thing to eat.

    ~dawn

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  4. Hey Shirly,

    Did your flavoring have alcohol in it? If so, this may be the problem. Growing up, my mom would 'flavor' homemade whip cream as part of a dessert, and I remember her saying something about flavors with alcohol making the whip cream turn runny. Can't remember much else!
    Rob Z

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