Teak Couch refinishing and refoaming

So, as promised, I am going to tell you all about the sweet teak couch that I found and then refinished and re-homed!

laziest cat in the world not included

It all started on a fateful Civic holiday weekend, when Value Village was open but no one really knew that. We stopped by and came across a neglected and beaten teak three seater couch. The seat strapping was missing and the previous owners had put in pieces of plywood instead. The arm on one side was badly faded and water stained. The rest of the couch was in pretty good shape! AND AND AND... it had original cushions!

I did not take any before pictures of the couch, which was silly of me, but we pretty much dove into refinishing it the day after we brought it home.

By the way, when I say "we refinished" I should say "my husband refinished" because he is way better at this stuff than I am, plus I am way better at entertaining the kids while he sands and oils. It works for us :) BUT he insists I give him the credit *dang*

Anyways, If you are wondering how to refinish teak wood, it's actually quite easy! Teak is naturally water resistant and is quite hard wood so it is easy to sand and oil and will look glowing and magnificent in no time at all. For example, the arm that was weather beaten ended up being the nicest arm on the couch! And all Husband had to do was use a little medium and then fine sandpaper. There were a few vacuum cleaner dings underneath, so those got sanded, and really that was all that was needed. Husband gave it a quick all-over sanding with the fine paper, just to keep it all matchy matchy.

sanding away while watching TVO

this is the arm that was weathered. look how pretty it is!

   Then, he followed the directions on the can of Teak oil. Basically you do a coat, wait X amount of minutes, wipe it off, then repeat. Let it stand for 24 hours. The end! Teak oil is sort of pink looking and is very red-orange when applied. It's the colour of, well, teak! Its warm and radiant and beautiful. 

greg doesnt like to smile. especially for pictures his wife is taking of him working, while she does not. love you babe.

teak oil being applied. do this outside, it is smelly and probably not great to inhale unless youre into that kind of thing

it is very sticky when wet!

wiping excess oil from the frame

The cushions on the couch were a little more involved. I took them in to Rockland Textiles here in town and they ordered me some new high density foams. Here is where I learned something (that my dear aunt had warned me about but I had promptly forgotten... oops). When u are doing cushions for the bottom, high density good quality foam is important. However, the back cushions should be less dense, so that your back is more comfortable. Well, this couch has high density on the bottom and the back, which really doesnt make it look any different but it did seem a tad stiff on the back. With time it will wear itself in though!
 

old cushions. smelled funny. were falling apart. 

new cushions. not smelly. not falling apart.

stuuuuffed

We also had to put strapping, or webbing, in the seats. There were slats in the frame, and these little toothy metal clips that fit in them to hold the straps. These were all purchased at Rockland Textiles as well (they do a lot of weird reupholstering I think, in any case the staff that helped me were quite knowledgeable which is nice cause when u deal with vintage items it can be hard to find people who are acquainted with them). That was also very easy to do. It was just straight across, I know some couches weave from all sides and I'm sure there are tutorials online on how to do that.

slats for straps

this couch looks naked

all strapped and ready to go

 

done!

Once the couch was reoiled and restuffed we placed an ad online and sold it to UsedEverywhere for use in their booth at Blissdom. I actually have started up a new "blog" that you can check out, it's called Furniture Of A Certain Disposition. That caught the eye of Jennifer on UsedEverywhere and hey now they have an awesome couch, I have lots of hits on my blog, I have a sold couch, and a writing opportunity! This post (well, edited a bit probably) will be the start of a series I'm going to do on the UsedEverywhere blog about finding stuff and making it cool. Which is obviously what I do, every day, of my life. Because yes, dear readers, I am that awesome :)

I will miss you, Lars.

Really, go look at my new blog! Do it!  here

oooooh thrift store finds! My new couch and chair

I had a very good thrifting day on Monday. It was a holiday so no one was out at the stores but my most favourite store of all, Value Village, was open! We went to the one by my house and got the kids a few fall clothes and Greg got a cardigan like he's been looking for. Nothing too exciting. I got the little vanity chair that I'll show you in a minute.

If you recall, we get the "value village feeling" and it usually turns into a great score. Well my friends, I hit a mother of a score at the Value Village on Bank street let me tell you!!! Stay tuned for a sneak peak of that one...

Anyways I got this chair for $8.

orange tweed and walnut veneer. Cant say no to that!

So the chair cushions are not in great shape and don't match my room. I went to Rockland Textiles here in town and bought some cute "kiwi" coloured upholstery fabric to redo them. I would say its like a green goldenrod if that makes sense, not so kiwi-y. Whatever. Its lightweight but thick. It matches my room. It has a very vintage look. Here are some pics of the really easy recovery process:

stapling the fabric to the bottom. i usually leave the original fabric underneath for posterity

sewing chair! a place to put things. I need more places.

the colour is awesome. its hard to get it on the camera tho

all done!

The fabric cost $11 for a half yard so overall I paid $19 for this chair. Not too bad. I may paint the frame the same colour as my vanity but I may leave it as is. One day if I get bored I'll get to it :)


NOW, wanna see my couch?? It needs a little work but I think it will sell well which is good cause I have kids who need to go to school one day :)

cletus, always the couch ruiner.

TEAK! yes :) Cushions are all nice, but I need to get new foam. We are putting in the webbing in the seat as it was plywood before. I'll write a post about this guy once it's all done!

Else's Bedroom

*WARNING: this post is very picture heavy!* 

Over a year ago (I know I know.. SLACK SLACK SLACK) I posted here about doing a post on my little girl's room. Then I went and got knocked up again and didn't find the time. Until now!
Oh you are all so lucky :)

Here is the before picture, taken hastily before the new bed was brought up:

couch: hand me down from an old roomate it is actually red velvet corduroy underneath. Crib: Ikea. Love it, was under $100 after my christmas tree coupon. Wallpaper: roosters in a country toile design.

some of the art I just put up. Owl totally made of feathers, and two margaret tarrant prints from an estate sale

freecycled dresser has been most handy.

 I suppose I should show you what this room looked like before we painted it! I didn't really take any pictures of it straight out, but I have a few tucked away that you can get the feel of it from.

uuugly. i broke the light with my head. 

Delia kindly modelled some clothes for my etsy shop. you can see the peachy hue of the paint. this room was ghastly in the afternoon sun. Delia on the other hand is beautiful. even in a green pantsuit.

Ok so we painted this room before we got pregnant with Else. We did it with a guest room and nursery in mind. We had a hard time finding wallpaper we really liked until we found the chickens. The chickens are amazing. They cost us a fortune too, thanks Benjamin Moore.

So now, Else is over two years old. She needs a big girl bed so that her little brother has a place to stay as he is wearing out his welcome in mommy's bed. That is when I found this beauty on kijiji for $25, in my neighbourhood and everything:

Greg stripped it down with this metal sander thing he got for doing bodywork on his Lada. He did need to use some paint stripper for the bed rails but it was way easy to just sand that crappy paint off. It was not original paint, in fact it was only about 30 yearsd old, and while it did have a certain shabby chic look to it, it was too chippy for a little girls bed plus there were some areas that were too paint-less for me. So, we painted it stark white. It looks awesome.

before

Else measures

Else tries out her new bed

someone is excited for their new big girl bed..... bet you cant guess who???

detail on head and foot boards

detail on rails

painting on the hottest day of the summer thus far

bedknobs!

AND NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR:

no boxspring

the finished project. quilt is vintage 30's or 40's

happy!

comfy!

this was only a pretend nap. dang.

 We moved the shelf that was standing upright (the tall way) over to were the crib used to be, and that was the end of Else's room. I really really like it I think it turned out wonderfully.

no more crib! for now.... eddie might come in here one day to sleep too. more on that later (and no, no more babies dont even think such a ridiculous thought)

bed

Just a quick check in to show off my newest purchase: a cast iron bed!!!

$25 on Kijiji yo

My fence, my fence, my uuugly fence!

I hate red painted fences and decks. I don't know why but that particular colour, as well as dark brown, makes my skin crawl. Hey wouldn't you know it? That's what colour all the wood in my outdoor space is painted! Yes!!!
Here you can see my back fence in all its rotting glory:

the local coopers hawk eating a local pigeon

As you can see here, I have a red deck, and a red fence. The fence is made from plywood I kid you not. Not even plywood but a particle board kind of thing. The top is a plank of wood but it was so rotten even the squirrels walked lightly on it (we called this the squirrel highway for obvious reasons).
As you can also see from the picture, the boards are totally rotted out. I am not sure the exact age of the fence, but our backdoor neighbour Maureen was telling us a story about when they were kids. I guess our house had a skating rink in the back, and the parents wouldn't let any other kids come skate on it (more on their neighbourliness later). So one night the backdoor kids came over for a midnight skate and got busted. Then this fence was erected. Maureen is at least 45. So I am estimating this fence to be 35-40 years old. Made of particle board.

Then we got a really big wind storm. Reports of tornadoes. Rare for the Ottawa Valley. What a shame that this happened:

ruh roh

I get a text from my hubby. Fence is down. I do a happy dance.

This horrid fence is on the east side of our property as well, and that side's neighbours were itching to replace it. We'd actually already talked about what we would be doing that summer when we got this extra little kick to hurry up. So Greg ripped out that rotten fence with a vigour and joy seldom seen in this household. The posts were barely driven in, the nails were all wonky, how this thing lasted a decade I do not know. Anyways here are some pictures to show you how lovely it all was :)

boards all tied up ready for the garbage. they wont take renovation material so you have to put it out little by little. a year later and we still have some pieces.

rotten posts

particle board FTW

a summer haven for crickets and spiders

the top boards

 So once it was all gone it looked like this:

the side bit that has since been cleared out of ferns and other assorted vines

the back neighbours dont take much care with their lawn its a bit of a jungle but I actually really like it

Greg and the side neighbour Rob rented an auger at Home Depot and drilled a bunch of holes for the new posts. There was a bunch of old concrete fill in some of them, and they hit some pretty big granite rocks in others. It was a ton of work and it took a few weekends of cleaning out and pickaxing but eventually it got done satisfactorily.

post holes drilled

posts are in, brush is cleared

picking up rocks and concrete chunks. one year olds can help too!

especially when they are in really cute bikinis!

So the fence went in pretty easily. We decided to a short fence again in the back, 4 feet tall. The side is 6 feet, as per the neighbours request (they are putting in a hot tub and want some privacy *cue romantic music here*

I really like our new fence. I like the height. I hate fences that are high, privacy fences if you will. It makes me feel boxed in. I like being able to see around past my little tract of land.  The next street over was built in the 60s and all the yards have regular old metal mesh fencing and it makes everyone's yard feel connected and bigger.

One thing we need to figure out is whether we are going to stain the fence or what. The other side neighbour Pierre put up his own fence because our lovely old owners wouldn't pay for any of it, and didn't treat this side of it at all. I get the feeling that they were a bit of a jerk! Even the kids apparently grew up to be asses, according to Rob and Brenda who had a run in with one of the sons while they were cleaning out the house after we bought it. So I think we could pretty much do whatever we wanted and our neighbours would still like us :) Anyways , Greg was toying with the idea of whitewashing the fence, or just painting it white. Pierre said no way (he is a big critic on all things construction related let me tell you) I think we should either stain it a very light brown to match the parts of Pierre's fence that we can see (the boards are staggered and his stain is orangey which is yet another colour on wood that I can't stand). Then it would still look woody and would blend in good and we wouldn't have to watch it age badly. In any case here are some pictures of the finished project:

the back and the side were a little weird because the land slopes strangely at the junction of the three yards

there's no way Greg would have been fishing this bag out of the tree on the old fence

this fence is Else approved.

Last but not least, Greg removed the stupid little shed at the back of the garage. He cleaned out the compost pile and evened out the ground, planting some grass seed too. He plans on making an area for a rain barrel, a potting area, and maybe even space for some chickens.....

way more space

The daylilies I planted last year are growing nicely against the fence and I'm going to plant some morning glories there too. I am so much happier looking out my kitchen window now :)