Rustic wooden tray/planter

I was a bit restless this past weekend and went wondering around my house waiting for inspiration to hit.  I have several potential projects stashed in the garage, so I took a stroll out there.  I found a footstool in desperate need of a remake.  It's been there for awhile and looked somewhat forlorn so I chose it.  Here's a before picture of the footstool as I'm ripping off the bottom cover and eventually all the sides, top and guts.

Pretty good bones.  Except for the nail holes and glue everywhere. 

The feet are in great shape with only a few knicks here and there.  

Here are the layers and layers that came off, along with about a gazillion upholstery nails.  If I had the right tools it would've been quick(er) work.  I was happy to have the demolition mostly over without any blisters.  We'll see how long that lasts.   

I removed the legs and will use them on a different remake.  The wooden frame is so rustic that the two finishes didn't work together.  No biggy.  I was hoping the sanding would remove more of the dried on glue, but there was alot of it left.  It was at least smooth to the touch which is good enough.   I actually flipped the stool over, so the bottom is now the top.  That gave me a flat bottom to nail on the 1/4 inch plywood.  

I glued pieces of twine on the top of each board on the rounded sections to cover up the old glue add some interest and I drilled holes in the sides to wrap smaller twine to reinforce the big twine on top. 

Isn't this a cute look?  I like it alot, I gotta say. 

This is a view from the side.  

This is just a picture of the twine I used and wood glue.  I don't know if that's the right kind of glue to use for this project, but it's what was on hand.  Isn't that how it goes sometimes? 

I can hear the wise words of Tim Gunn right about now.  "Make it work." 

I drilled two more holes on the sides for twine handles for easy moving. 

 Looks even cuter now, me thinks!

This is the inside where I tied the knots for the handles. 

I put it outside on the deck for now.  I will probably find the perfect spot for it in a few days.  It's really rustic looking.  Maybe I'll fill it with impatiens or pansys planted in terra cotta pots.  It would be fabulous as a tray on stacked pallets, too.  I might end up painting it. 

Who knows?  Whatever it ends up being is okay with me. 

 I hope there will be more days like this one, remaking a piece of junky old furniture into something that's unique and functional again. 

In my book, nothing much beats that!  

Corks Galore!

My last visit to Emily's house brought a new project for her home.  I brought with me a big bag of corks (that my sister, Sandy, rounded up from the local winery) to do something with.   Emily's been collecting them.  Her friends have been collecting them for her.  So, I added my bag to hers and we were swimming in corks. 

We decided to make a word sign for the space above her kitchen cabinets.  This is where she has been displaying her empty wine bottles.  She had quite a collection (!)  We sorted and saved only her favorite wine bottles.  The cork sign would be placed among these.  The word we chose - ENJOY. 

We played around with different sizes, different looks and it came down to these two:

 Then we had to find the board in her very limited wood pile.  Not much to choose from, but we found a piece of plywood that would work.  I guess one has to live in one place for a while to be worthy of a decent wood pile.  I have one, but it could be better.  You can bet I try hard to bring home free, random scrap pieces of wood to my garage for future use.  Some of my findings are in my sister's attic for safe keeping (and hiding). 

We thought the natural color of the plywood would blend in too much with the wall color, so we painted it brown.  Again, not a stock pile of paints to choose from.  We used one of those little bottles that cost .99.   We used it all.   Emily will have to deal. 

We watched the paint dry, cuz we were so eager to begin gluing the corks to the wood.  A bit tedious, but we were ready for tedious work to see this project on the wall.  Of course, tedious work is always more fun with a glass of wine.  We had to taste Emily's new favorite wine (again). 

Emily even picked out her favorite corks!  Who can remember which cork came from which wine?  Evidently, some names make their corks recognizable and save-worthy.  She especially liked the corks with the house on them.  We also liked using the corks from red wines that have colored the corks red, pink, or purple.  Makes sense, but not something I noticed before.  Only when one is looking at hundreds of corks does one see the difference in their color and shape.

We eye-balled the placement for each letter.  We both have pretty good eye-balling skills.  A ruler or string would've been a good idea, but we were on a roll, in the zone, having a good time. 

Who neede extras steps!

Here's the final project in place.  It looks pretty good!  Adds a little corky fun to her home. 

She has enough corks left for some other fun project.  I'll be seeing her again in July.  Who knows what will come of them.  I'll let you know whatever it is.   In the meantime...enjoy!