Redoing Bistro Chairs for pennies on the dollar

 

The other day I manage to pick up a two seat bistro set with a matching table for super-duper cheap. There was only one problem with it and that was that time had taken its toll on the seats themselves. The grill webbing that makes the base of the seat was rusty and falling off.

 

 

I sat and thought of ways I could replace the seat sections. And came up with the following items to ponder.

 

1)      The seat webbing could be replaced, but I would need a welder

2)      The seat webbing could be covered up and something could be bolted to the top by drilling holes in the metal and screwing it down.

3)      I could cut out the webbing and put wood UNDER the seat and make it look intentionally wooden, but I would have to clip and file every rusty edge that was exposed and it still might pinch or poke.

 

I finally decided on a fourth possibility and decided to work with a combination of options two and three.

 

I found wood at Habitat for Humanity and Home depot and cut several pieces to shape to be placed on top of the chair seat itself. This would eliminate any possibility of getting poked with rusty parts or pinched with the chair edge itself.

 

I then put braces on the bottom of the chair and bolted them into place. I speculated if wood screws holding it from the bottom would be enough, but sturdiness prevailed and I opted for bolts that would be visible from the top in an aesthetically pleasing way. It doesn’t look like a patch to cover up a chair that was falling apart. It looks like I wanted it to look this way. So I’m pretty happy about it.

 

October desserts

Yummi Yummy Pumpkin Pi

I have not has the cash or time to get anythign else done on the apartment, but its not a problem. When life gives you lemons, make lemonaid… or in my case Pumpkin pie… 5 minutes to prepare, an hour to cook and it should last me a while…go make one yourself.

I’ll write more on Saturday after I do some wood work and furninture tweaking for pennies on the dollar.

Sometimes I Wonder What People Were Thinking…

Occasionally in my quest for free or cheap furniture, I find some real gems. Like this:

 

YEEEEEEAH BABY... or By Jove, good Shot!!!

I am strangely attracted to this chair, but I would either need to have shag carpets and playboy pictures on the walls, or a few musket guns, a pith helmet, and an elephant’s head somewhere in view.

 

The second one is definitely not my style, but it amused me greatly because I do know some people that would kill for it.

 

I have heard of a shoe horn, but a shoe chair?

 

Dressing Up a Bland Fireplace, Part 1

 

Well I took the motorcycle downtown for the past few days to save on gas. The bike gets forty miles to the gallon, while the car only gets eighteen mpg in the city. I had nothing of any consequence to lug around, just me and a few items that would fit in my cargo bag. It just makes good sense.

 

 

I stopped at the habitat for humanity store and, of course, they had a spare wheel that worked with my bed frame and, yes, it was only a dollar. Just as I thought it would be. I’m getting pretty good and mentally pricing out what I want to pay for an item.

 

This is the most bland fireplace in the world... At least it works

 

Although, I did splurge yesterday… I have been walking around with a pantone paint chip book for the past few days and have been trying to match up colors to the walls. It’s a simple way to spruce up any living space to make it your own and I finally decided to get a quart of Wal-Mart’s cheapest paint. ‘Gooseberry’ is the color and it’s the first layer of paint to go on the wall. I will put a glaze over top of it to give a smooth leather finish.

 

The area I chose is the fireplace. I mentioned it before. It’s a working contemporary fireplace with a big block of wood as the mantle. I mentioned that I was going to paint the wall with the fireplace on it and he said “you have a fireplace?” He’s been here twice. It’s not his fault. It is just so blah it doesn’t pop like a fireplace should.

 

I gallon of paint should cover 400 square feet. The area I wanted to paint was 48 square feet. I quart should do and I should have half a can left over. No so with Wal-Mart’s cheapest paint. It took two to three coats of paint and I used almost all of it as well.

 

There are several possibilities as to why this would happen.

1) Gooseberry is a very dark maroon color and the walls are apartment color ‘off white’ so the light color showed right through.

2) The paint is cheap. I knew it would take more work, and more paint but a quart was the smallest size available and I would have about half left over anyway. Now… I used almost all of it. I don’t have to keep it on hand. I have the paint chip anyway.

3) The apartment’s generic color was sprayed on and it’s a matte finish which soaks up paint like a sponge. When I went to paint the second coat, I could feel the difference as to how it was going on.

 

The next area I want to paint is much larger so I am debating if I should get decent paint this time. I think the cost will be more expensive in the long run. Anyway… the new fireplace wall ‘pops’ but it’s obviously not complete. I have a few more things to do before revealing the before and after photos, with the steps in between. When it’s done, it should look pretty classy.

 

What’s left? Well here is the item list.

 

I need to do the glazing. Again, I only need a quart but Wal-Mart doesn’t sell glaze. I will need to spend 10 dollars for that. Ugh… still not bad to get a sweet looking fireplace out of it.

I have to cover the mantle with a wood sleeve to make it look less like a 4X4 and more like a mantle. It will not be permanently attached if I can help it and if I can’t it will take only two screws mounted from the bottom.

 

 

 

I need to find an old farm window to hang above the mantle. I think it will round out the lines of the fireplace and make it the central focus in the room. This room is built around the idea that the TV should do that job. I’m not a big fan of this design style. It doesn’t promote conversation, but rather, it drains the life from the room because people sit down and are drawn naturally toward watching the television.

I do not like when the TV is the central focus of the room.

Depending on the size of the window, I will put wall sconces up as well. The place does need some light and if I can find some at a garage sale for cheap, I will get them. But that’s only if the fireplace needs it. No need to spend any cash I don’t have to. My only regret, and its something I expected, is that it makes the rest of the room look unfinished. I will need to paint the whole room next month if I can scrape up 20 dollars. No need for glaze, just a plain paint of some color I have not decided upon yet.

 

I like the simplicity, not the color.This has better light, but is too ornate. I am hoping to find a happy medium

All in all, I think it will cost about thirty dollars to create a classy fireplace just in time for the holidays.

 

 

Patience Pays Off…. AGAIN

Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It

I don’t know if I mentioned that I bit the bullet and bought a bed. These things can’t come second hand. Its just one of those things that is too creepy to think about. I don’t know the lifestyle or hygiene of a person who may have owned the bed first. I suppose the same logic applies to hotel room beds but at least I know they get cleaned and inspected daily. I get the heebie geebies just thinking about it…

 

Well anyway… where was I? Oh…. the bed!!!

 

I bought a bed a few weeks ago but when they asked me if I wanted a frame I asked, “Does it cost extra?”

 

“Only forty two dollars”

 

No thanks…

 

And I brought the bed home and put it on the floor and waited.

 

AND waited…

 

I looked at garage sales and watched the dumpster every day…beds are not ok second hand, but bed frames? They are metal, they can be cleaned… so who cares?

 

It paid off tonight. As I was coming back in with the last contents of my storage unit (Some tools and other electronics I need to pick through and thin out.) I saw a bed… a semi-nasty queen sized mattress and box spring

 

Hmm… so I waited and watched and sure enough… out came the metal frame.

 

Having no shame I walked out, folded it up and brought it back to my apartment… It has a broken wheel and I shoved a piece of wood under it for the time being. I will look for a bed caster at a garage sale this weekend. Maybe habitat for Humanity has one!

 

Either way… even if I spend a dollar on the caster. I’m still forty-one dollars ahead.

 

Patience pays off again…

Permanent Living in a Temporary Place

The problem with most apartments is that they make life seem too temporary. I am, after all, a renter? How much can you do with an apartment?

 

I am reminded of a segment from and old HBO show called, The Kids in the Hall and the particular segment was called ‘Bad Idea Jeans.” It’s an amusing setup with a bunch of guys just talking out in what looks like a park setting and they are talking about outrageously bad ideas as if they were the polar opposite.

 

What I remember most about the segment was when guy #1 gutting his kitchen and knocking out walls. Guy #2 says “you’re renting, right?” as if this was not a problem at all.

 

Here is a link to the mock commercial:

Bad Idea Jeans

 

 

Most apartment complexes will allow you to paint a place as long as you are willing to paint it back before you move out. Paint can do wonders for a place, but there are some things paint can fix. I have four such items in my apartment.

 

I have an electrical panel in the hallway. Why they didn’t put it in the laundry room, I will never know. It’s a poor location for it and painting it is only minimal camouflage. I will see it every time I walk past it so I have to think of something to go over it that will not rest directly on it, nor will it stick out too much, AND it has to match the theme I have, so I’m kinda stuck at the moment.

 

The next item is the fireplace. Its kind of trendy/simple so it fits everyone’s taste. But the mantle looks like a 4X10 piece of wood screwed into the wall. Very plain, very blah, very “I’m soo changing it” but I can’t be invasive of course. That’s the problem. I can’t remove it so I have to find a creative way of covering it without it looking as if I’m trying to cover it. I have some ideas. It will be one of my first projects. I’ll take pictures when I do it.

 

The third item is my sliding glass doors. This is lower on my list; they just annoy me and waste an entirely good wall to put stuff on. The vertical blinds make it look less classy than it could. I figure once I get the fireplace fixed. It will be easier to decide what to do with it.

 

The last item is the fluorescent bulbs on the kitchen ceiling. Again, I can’t remove it, but I can cover it to make it look less like I’m in a garage.

 

I picked up and entire pantone chart from Lowes hardware store and they said to bring it back when I’m done… there are a zillion colors to look over and I am perusing the some books for ideas and have gotten a few that I like. I’ll share them when I get a little time to take the ‘before’ pictures

Lasagna dishes and waffle irons galore!

The Rain yesterday yielded poor results for garage sale-ing. Most of the places were either closed or had really LAME stuff.

 

I did find very nice curtain rods, and YES, they were not on my list, BUT Curtains are. They were also a dollar and I can’t even make them from scratch for a buck.

 

I also found a waffle iron. The black and Decker one from my youth…It reminds me of the Tonka trucks with the sharp metal edges. They don’t make them anymore because it’s too dangerous to let kids play with them anymore. Bleargh… yeah right… its amazing to think I actually made it to adulthood without the protective caps that go over electric outlets…. Got a fork anyone?

 

ANYWAWY. The waffle iron is hot and I burned a finger… I wont do that twice… but it makes EXCELLENT WAFFLES. He Kids and I had them for breakfast.

 

AND… Life is not without a sense of irony. The three garage sales I rummages through all had corning lasagna dishes. I would expect they were starting to grow on trees now? I picked up a 9X9 dish to make a smaller lasagna dish and/or cakes…

 

I will make banana bread later this week.

 

I will post later about some the things I have been thinking about regarding apartment decoration.

Main Entry: ob·ses·sion \äb-ˈse-shən, əb-\ – Function: noun 1: Lasagna Dish

I know I know… it’s the definition of a Lasagna dish and I couldn’t find a way to make that famous “for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee” quote work for a lasagna dish.

 

But wait…. Let me back up.

 

Remember that TV I found near the dumpster the other day? It worked, it didn’t have a problem other than it was so old, it didn’t have RCA adapter jacks built into it. I was planning on looking for a 2 dollar VCR to wire into it or something, but it was not my first choice in the matter. I knew the TV would be temporary, but I didn’t know how temporary until the next night.

 

It was 11 pm and I was coming home when I passed the dumpster and there it was. A 26 inch TV, just sitting there. Well it wasn’t thrown IN the dumpster so I would imagine it still worked but had problems… I looked for RCA adapters and BINGO, there they were.

 I picked it up and put it in the car and it promptly fell over and cracked the Housing on it…

 

Shit… well it was a small crack, but let’s see if it still works.

 

The reason it was out there is because it takes about 5 minutes to warm up and then the picture is as clear as a day. So a question came to me:

 

Should I use this 26 inch TV with the pain in the ass TV tube with the RCA jacks or should I put it back, and use the 19 inch TV with no RCA jacks but seems to work well even though I have only seen static on the TV?

 

Then I had a second thought? I wonder if I could sell the 19 inch TV on Craig’s List?

 

This is exactly what I did. I took a picture and uploaded it to Craig’s List price a low low price of 10 dollars. I was getting it for free, but I just pretended it was like Marine Salvage rights, but without the marine part. I put it out there at 11pm and by the morning I had an offer for the TV. Within 13 hours I had ten sweet dollars in my hand and I deposited it into my petty cash fund…Well since ‘petty cash’ is relative, lets just say I put it into my Folgers 401k can.  

 

With ten dollar in hand and having to go out to work my second job last night, I found I had to drive by the Habitat for Humanity store.  They have pretty cheap used stuff. I bought a frying pan there for 25 cents but the last two times I drove past and went it, they had no lasagna dish…

 

Well this time was different. I picked up a 9X13 lasagna dish that was not only 2 dollars; it matches the corning dishes I picked for a dollar-fifty a few weeks ago.

 

So the Lasagna dish saga is done. I can obsess about something different now. And I’m eight bucks richer than when I started

My Brain Went on Strike

There are times I lose focus. It just happens. I think part of the reason is because I have to be ‘on’ all the time. I have been working so hard at staying on task constantly that my brain sometimes just takes a nap when it feels like it.

I’m pushing myself too hard. I literally covered the bases on four different jobs today, scrambling to scrape up the cash I need to make it thought the next month. Four jobs… it kind of boggles my mind. When I got home at 10pm tonight I was intent on getting the stuff done that I’m behind on.

 

“Deadlines are closer than they appear”

 

It just didn’t happen. My brain revolted and 2 hours before midnight and it was closing time, regardless of if I liked it or not. Tomorrow morning I will work like the dickens, but thank god, I have no plans to work tomorrow night. I think I will just chill and cut coupons, and clean the place and plan for and early morning of magical garage sale deals.

 

Thanks it… going to bed.

A Pretty Good Day for Being in the Right Place at the Right Time.

I finally bit my lip and gave up on the idea of finding random river stones to use for some really cool towel hangers for my bathroom that I want to build. I live next door to a stone supplier and they are pretty pricey too, but they are close and I only need four rocks.

I went right in, found the potato-sized rocks I wanted and went to go pay for them. Nothing annoys me more than having to pay for rocks I could pick up on the ground, but I figured that I would spend 3 bucks in gas looking for them and at least an hour of time so it balances out.

She weighed them and I cringed…

83 cents…well…that was unexpected… gee thanks!!!

I finished putting together a bed frame in the spare bedroom.. I don’t have the mattresses for it yet, but the frame is there. I also needed a piece of plywood and I was happily surprised to find one just larger than what I needed and in good shape as well. I cut it down and added it to the bed… it is almost ready to sleep in.

My total cost for the day is STILL 83 cents.

Then, this evening I got a call from a mom and pop hotel about a bid I put in for some photography work. Its good work and a full day but, quite frankly, I didn’t think I was going to get it based on the initial reaction of received. My prices are fair for the time I will spend doing the work. And I was not going to play the price game with them if they tried to lowball me. I’m pleased they didn’t do that at all. I am not doing the full package, but I am doing half of it with the option of doing the rest at a later time. So that’s money in the bank and it has to be done before the end of this month, which is very good because I have bills to pay.

On the way home t my apartment I have made a habit of driving past the dumpster. We have people that move in and out all the time and it seems there is an unwritten rule that if you have furniture and it doesn’t suck, then put it out for someone else to take.

I managed to get two chairs for my dining room table the day after I moved in and THEY MATCH!! But nothing much else has shown up, until tonight.

I know what I’m doing with one bathroom, but not the other. It’s a bit smaller than the first on, and it lacks the space I need to store items. I looked around for one of those over the toilet cabinets but found nothing I liked enough to buy. Besides, I’m broke and very picky, so what’s the point? Anyway. I found a cabinet just like I wanted sitting next to the dumpster. It needs apiece fixed on it, but the main parts are in excellent condition. I’m handy enough so I grabbed it, wiped it down and put it in my laundry room to be fixed tomorrow, just like I did with the bed frame today.
I still had things I needed to get from my car, but since I had my hands full with a bathroom cabinet, I still had to go out again and wouldn’t you know? There was more stuff out there! This time there was a 19-inch TV!!!

WOOHOO!!! I have been borrowing a television from a friend and had been looking for a free one on Craig’s list for about a week. When I picked it up I thought to myself

“Maybe it doesn’t work”

I am pleased to say that it does. It needs a digital tuner, but I needed one anyway. I am patiently waiting for the $40 government coupon to come in the mail before I even consider getting one.

All in all… it was a good day for me.

 

and STILL my total cost for the day is 83 cents.