Ammo Box Desk / Table

Hey Friends!  I wished I was here to tell you that's it's been sunshine and good painting weather here in the Sunshine State.  Unfortunately, this is not true.  My garage is filled to the brim with projects that are sanded and waiting to be sprayed.  Using my sprayer is not my absolute preferred painting method for no other reason that I get great satisfaction and enjoyment from painting by hand.  But the sprayer does make a welcomed appearance when I have multiple pieces at the same time, getting the same color (and it also helps to use the sprayer when I have chairs with a million spindles).   Point being, however, the weather has not cooperated.

So instead I've been working at the thrift shop, going through the files in our home office, getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist, quoting a couple paint jobs, and other randomness.  I was able to squeeze in a couple smaller, less tedious projects recently.  Actually, Mr. JUNKtion squeezed this one in for the most part.  He was the brains and the builder behind it.  He built a piece that would serve great as a desk or a sofa table.  It's a one of a kind piece built from wooden ammo cans.  Has a bit of a rustic/industrial feel to it in my opinion.

 We have a lot, and by a lot, I mean A LOT of these empty ammo boxes.  How do we have them you ask? Well, let's just say the hubby shoots a lot.  Should the zombies attack, I think we'll be sufficiently prepared to fight back.  We may or may not have a small armory in our house.  We'll just called it preparedness.  But preparedness is a good thing when you can use it's remnants to make furniture, right??  Let's just go with it!

 The piece we are using for the top here was none other than another roadside junk treasure.  I just really love me some good junk.  Actually, it appeared to be part of a completely falling apart desk.  This turned out to be the only salvageable piece.  You know it's bad when the Smalling's actually throw it out!

 We stacked two ammo cans on their sides and glued, nailed, and screwed them together, and then attached the top.

 I then did some sanding to smooth it up a bit.

Next up, it was time to consult the stain shelf and rag box.

  The top was stained with Provincial and the base (ammo boxes) were left natural.

 I absolutely loved the way it turned out.  I really wanted to keep this one for my house, but didn't have the perfect place for it.

 I hope someone else loves it as much as we do!

Here's a peek of this piece in my new space at Plethora (58 Carson Drive, Fort Walton Beach, FL):

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Farm / Harvest Table

Hey Blog Friends!!  Today, I'm trying to finish up some indoor things since it's pouring outside and I can't do the painting that I need to.  I worked this morning, so I'm just now getting to start my day.  So, I'll leave you with a little teaser.  Here's a little farm/harvest table that my amazing hubby whipped up.  Isn't he so good?  The answer is yes! I'll share details, colors, and how-to's soon!

Barnwood Mirror Makeover

Hello Everyone and Happy Memorial Day Weekend.  I am so thankful for my husband who serves this country with his service and dedication to the Air Force.  I am also thankful for my grandpaw, father-in-law, grandpaw-in-law, and countless other men and women who have served in the past and are serving now.  The sacrifices that each of them make and have made are tremendous.  Please take a moment to pray for the continued safety and guidance for my husband as he continues his service to our country to protect the freedoms we have.

I'm happy to report that my house/bedroom is finally coming back into some order.  I have completed the bedroom mini-makeover and will share more on that soon.  But in this post, I'm sharing how I updated my outdated mirror with a wonderful barn-wood look.  Hello gorgeous mirror!

Just so you remember...here was the atrociousness that we started with.  Enough said.

 So, I started by turning the mirror upside down on a drop cloth and removing the braces that held it to the dresser.  I wanted to protect the mirror from scratching while I did this.

 Next I went to one of my favorite places...the corner of the garage where we store all of the side-of-the-road wood treasures we have picked up.  I would be happy to have my weekly date night with the hubby here amongst all the goodness of free wood in the garage.

 So, I chose some old gray, weathered, thin fence boards.  I picked out four of them.

Next, I used the ever so perfectly cutting saw to cut the two longer ones down for the top and bottom of the frame.  I had done a rough measurement by just laying them on top of the mirror's original frame.  I cut one and tested it again on the original frame...it looked good, so I continued with the cutting.

  Here, I'm just laying it out to test everything.

 I then cut the two smaller pieces for the sides and laid them out for visual testing as well.

Then it was time to put this baby together.  I'd like to tell you that I glued it first, or used clamps to hold it in place, or measured everything, but in true JUNKtion fashion, I sorta just went at it.  I randomly placed three screws on each piece of wood.  I just screwed directly into the top of the original mirror frame.  I didn't space the screws in any particular way...I mean we're talking a barnwood look here...no such thing as perfection.  Well, actually the whole thing is perfection in my book, but you know what I mean.  I digress.

 Later, I painted over the screws with a mix of a bit of glaze and black acrylic paint that I had on hand.  That's what the black spots are below.  I think it blends in with the other knots and holes and adds to the overall look of the wood.

 I used the air compressor as a cleaning tool and removed all the extra dust and particles.  The frame got a coat of Minwax Paste Wax in Natural.  I also added to d-ring hangers and a wire to the back to hang it by.  I cannot tell you how happy I am with it.  I placed it above the recently refinished dresser (you can see that tutorial here).

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll leave you with a side by side before and after:

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Shutter Shelf

Hello Friends!  I've missed you the last few days.  I missed a couple days of blogging because I just tried to cram too much in my day and flat ran out of time.  And when bedtime calls, I must answer, even if the blog post is not written.  Generally bedtime calls me by 9:30 each night...I know, I'm an oldie!  But, in my defense, I do start my day around 5 or 5:30 generally.  

Okay, on another totally random note, I feel the need to share a tiny little garage sale conversation that took place this morning.  It's one of those "you know you live in the south if..." kind of stories.  Don't know about you, but I always feel the need to say thank-you to the garage sale host or hostess, especially if I don't buy anything.  So, I'm at a sale, hosted by a sweet little old man.  I had first asked him how he was doing and he said "purty good seein's how my gettin' up early ain't caught up to me just yet".  Then, I shop his sale (which consisted of two tables). Side note: can you really call it a garage sale and go the trouble of having it and advertising if it's only two tables??  And no, he wasn't just sold out...this was at 7:15.  Anyhoo, I didn't buy anything and I'm leaving so I give him my usual "thank you" to which he responded, "yee-huh".  For those of you that might not know, that's code for 'you're welcome'.  And it's pronounced just like I wrote it: "yee-huh".  I got in my car and just smiled...yep, I'm in the south!

Alright, onto a little shelf I whipped up last night.  I sold a couple of really big pieces in the last couple of days in some of my booths and I was in desperate need of a display shelf.  I haven't found one recently (or at least one I was willing to pay the price for), so I decided to consult my scrap wood-and-other-stuff pile.  I had four old shutters that were no good for display anymore...slats falling out, some rotted parts, wobbly, etc, so I turned them into this, which happened turn out to be very sturdy.  Voila...I just love a good upcycled project!

 Here's what the shutters started out like.  There were four of them that I had picked up of the side of the road when we first moved to Florida.

 I used the compound sliding miter saw and cut two pieces to serve as the sides.  I figured I would start there and see what I had left to work with.  I then cut three pieces to use as the shelves.  Don't tell my husband, but I didn't measure anything.  He's a perfectionist and would not be happy to know this.  I knew the shutters were the same length, so I picked the same spot on each one to make the cuts.

 Here's what I had left after cutting my pieces.  You know they are past the point of return when even I throw them out...goodbye shutter remains!

 The picture below shows the shelf starting to be put together.  What you see on the top is actually the side panel.  I stood the shelves upright and placed the side panel on top of them.

 I screwed all the shelves on using some really long screws to provide extra stability.  I didn't pre-drill anything for this project, because the wood was fairly soft.

 Once I screwed through the side panel (1 screw into each corner of the end of the shelf) into the shelf ends, I flipped the entire unit over and added the remaining side panel.  Worthy of mentioning here is the fact that I did have to screw and unscrew a few of my joints, to get it straight.  Had I measured in the get-go, I could have eliminated this, but since I was eyeballing, my shelves weren't totally straight the first time.  This piece didn't need to be perfect due to the sheer rusticness of it, but I at least needed level shelves!  Pretty good for a 15 minute project if I do say so myself.

I just got home from working my booth at Smith's where this baby is staying until someone takes it home! (Excuse the poor picture quality: my phone + fluorescent lights = really bad pictures).

Here's a few other Smith's booth picture updates (of course, they are also horrible picture quality...sorry!!)

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