There's a bear outside my door!

Or is there???

Little by little I'm pulling our living room/computer room together.  The living room and hallway has been going through a make-over for the past 2 years. Plain walls bore me, and this closet door was no exception. There are 5 doors in this little area of the house. 2 closet doors, 2 bedroom doors and the bathroom door. They were all stained dark cherry and badly in need of refinishing. Yesterday I decided to paint 4 of them to match the walls.

We live in the woods because we enjoy the seclusion and communing with nature. On Father's Day 2012, our dog Shadow chased this bear up a tree in our front yard, about 30 feet away from our front door. I was able to capture it on camera. Ever since, it's been a favorite picture of mine. I was standing about 12 feet away from him when I snapped the shot. This door was crying out for something, and this picture seemed perfect since we have birch trees painted on the walls across from it, and a bear theme ceiling lamp. I'm quite pleased with the end product. Now that I've brought a bit of the outdoors into our living room, I have to remember that it's only a picture and not a bear staring in at us.

A quick explanation on how the door panel was done.

Using my photo program, I set the print size to be the size of the door panel and inserted it into an excel spread sheet. I had to make the width a bit wider than the panel in order to keep the same proportion and obtain the proper length. The next step was to print the sheet out landscape style on 5 pieces of 8.5" x 11" fabric printing stock with 1/4" margin all around. I trimmed the pieces and glued them to the door with a spray adhesive. I then used black grosgrain ribbon as a mat border and painted the edge molding metallic gold to appear like a frame. 

I use the excel program for this type of application because the worksheets automatically generate pages. By establishing a 1/4 inch margin on all 4 sides, I'm ensured that the pieces will match perfectly once they are trimmed, and there's no guesswork involved. I always print on paper first to make sure that my finished product will be the proper size. Once satisfied, I print each sheet individually. 1 sheet at a time rather than set it to print all 5 sheets. I do this just in case I run into a printer problem. I hate to waste the fabric stock if I don't have to.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my little project. I managed to get all of the doors inside and out, and molding painted in one day, and finished this door on the 2nd. Not bad for two days work.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope this has inspired you to do something different with your doors.

Huggs!
     Joanie

Victrola to Serving Station

Hubby was tired of storing this old Victrola. It was in good working order, but no one wanted it. Couldn't even give it away. He was going to put it by the side of the road to see if there were any takers, or eventually donate it to our fire pit. Always ready to save a piece of old furniture I told him I wanted to keep it and make it over as a storage/serving station. Initially he wasn't that thrilled with the idea, but he let me bring it into the studio for it's remake.                                                        

Not thinking of the future, I didn't take a "before" picture. This picture was taken after I repaired the broken/missing applique pieces on the left side.

Because this piece is going to be used as a buffet, server and warming area, I wanted a top that would withstand heat, and I wanted it flush with the wood, so that meant routing out the area where the slate tiles would be placed.

Here I am clearing out the small pieces with a hammer and chisel. What fun! Really! I had a good time doing it, but I'll admit that the arthritis in my fingers acted up for a couple of days.

Here is the finished piece. I love the way it came out, and hubby is thankful that he let me talk him into keeping it. He thinks it's awesome! I found the print for the fabric inlays on the internet and printed it on fusible fabric which I attached to a backing material. The panels are larger than the 8.5 x 11 printer sheets, so it had to be printed on several sheets and pieced together. I took two focal points from the original print that I liked and made them for the side panels. To bring a bit of the kitchen into the piece, I carried over my grape theme and painted the grape clusters on the side panels using water colors so that they would be the same texture as that produced by the inkjet printer. 

The original purpose for this cabinet is to house my deep fryer. I wanted to be able to use it, but also to not have the oil splatter on the wall. No matter how careful one is, it always splatters. The recessed shelf and the raised top solve that problem. It's easily cleanable too!

Here's our storage area. The dividers for the 33 rpm records were removed on either side to make room for hopefully my Ninja blender. (No.. I haven't measured it for fit.) The front panel that was originally a snap in place fascia to hide the mechanics of the Victrola was removed. Spring hinges were added, allowing the door to drop down and expose the storage area for the deep fryer. Yes, the deep fryer will fit in there nicely. :)

Well, that's all for today! Thanks for stopping in. I hope you've enjoyed my latest DIY project.
                 Huggs,
                              Joanie