Outdoor Updates: Garden Fence

We took advantage of the nice weather the past two weekends to put in a small picket fence to separate our garden from the rest of the yard. More specifically to separate the garden from our plant and compost loving dog.

The entire fence is cedar. We chose to alternate dog eared and flat top pickets, spaced 2″ apart.

Later this spring we hope to replace our privacy fence around the yard (the dilapidated red fence in the background). For the privacy fence we plan on alternating 5″ dog eared pickets and 3.5″ flat top pickets. Hopefully the alternating pickets on the garden fence will complement the future privacy fence.

We plan on topping the all posts with post caps. You can see one cap on the post to the right of the gate. We should have bought 4, because now we can’t find them anywhere. We may buy 4 of these bad boys as a nice replacement.

They are similar to the cap we have just with a little bit of copper on top and more than one available, both positives in my book.

In the next few weeks we hope to put some raised beds in, plant flowers and veggies, and be on our way to enjoying our dog free garden.

Laundry Room

As the weather gets warmer, I’ve got renovation on my mind and the laundry room is first on the list. In its current state the laundry room is cold, dingy, and slightly creepy. This spring we plan on replacing the windows and patching the walls so that we can add all the pretty things you see below.

ash and orange laundry room by ashandorange on Polyvore

1. Color on the walls. I’m thinking of a nice blue/green/gray. I found this swatch listed in the 26 best Grays from House Beautiful. It’s Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue.

2. Adding some much needed light. The IKEA Foto light would work, but I’m thinking of hacking some clamp lights from the hardware store for the same effect.

3. Some pretty storage baskets. These Threshold Baskets at Target are great.

4. I plan on leaving the exposed copper pipe unpainted for nice contrast with the blue green walls.

5. Wood countertops. I’m a big fan of the IKEA Numerär countertops in our kitchen nook and would like to use them in the laundry room as well. They add some nice warmth and color to the room.

6. Open storage. At $14.99 it doesn’t get much better than the IKEA Hyllis shelving unit.

7. New floors. We bought this groutable vinyl flooring on closeout last year and can’t wait to put it down.

8. Classic white cabinets. IKEA Akurum cabinets with Harlig or Applad plain white doors.

Sir Karlstad’s new clothes

In preparation for spring Karlstad got some new clothes. I switched out the blekinge white cover for the sivik beige cover (now discontinued, I picked mine up on Ebay).

We liked the beachy white cover, but it didn’t agree as well with our eternally filthy black dog. Beige hides the dirt much better and we have given up on anything ever hiding dog hair.

You may have noticed that the legs are also darker. Since I had to remove the legs to replace the cover, I gave them a quick hit of stain (General Finishes Gel Stain in Brown Mahogany). One coat gave them a medium brown color, toning down the bright birch that stood out like a sore thumb.

And a quick review of the Karlstad:

We have had the sectional for about 8 months and we love it. The cushions are firm and have held the shape (my main concern when buying a couch). The option to change the cover is great. The cushion covers are easy to change out and wash, but to remove the body cover you need to completely disassemble the couch which is not as simple.

Overall the Karlstad is an awesome couch and a great value. We liked it before and we like it even more with the new tan.

 

A Dresser Grows Up

This is a tale of how a dresser matured from rough and tumble pine beginnings to a sleek mahogany end. The blocky little dresser started life in glamorous 1980s Texas. After decades of abuse he found his final place in our beautiful home. Alas, he was not appreciated the way a solid pine dresser with so much life experience should be. He needed a makeover and I was the one to do it, being that I could not stare at the blocky orange dresser any longer.

The makeover started with a light sanding to prepare for some stain. I first tried Minwax in Dark Walnut on an inconspicuous area. Parts of the pine sucked it right up while others didn’t take at all giving a nice orange and black tiger effect. Needless to say… dark walnut was out. I then tried General Finishes gel stain in Brown Mahogany. I had heard great things about GF gel stain and I’m so glad I tried it. It’s thick, like pudding, and doesn’t suck into the soft wood immediately. It kind of floats on the surface giving everything nice even color. I applied it lightly with a rag, and did 2 coats letting each coat dry for a day. Brown mahogany is nice warm medium brown, but the underlying orange oiled pine made it come out a little more red than I would have liked, but still pretty.

Onto the drawers: after removing the old wood block handles the wood underneath had never been oiled so it was raw and much lighter color. I figured I would have to paint the drawers because of this, but wanted to see if they could be stained. I filled the holes with wood putty and gave them all a good sanding. I tried two light coats of stain but there was still an obvious mark where the handle once lived.

So I pulled out the primer and white paint. Three coats later and some new knobs and the makeover was complete and the dresser lived happily ever after.

The end.

Details:

Dresser: CARGO furniture circa 1980

Stain: General Finishes Gel Stain in Brown Mahogany

Paint: Benjamin Moore Advance in Super White

Blue glass pulls (on large drawers): Anthropologie (discontinued)

Porcelain pulls (on small drawers): Hobby Lobby

Hutch update

About a year ago, we picked up a mid mod hutch from Craigslist. The seller was insane, the hutch was filthy, but it cost $20 and I really needed a hutch. I put it down as a win. Except for …