Trees and Dreams

Oct 23, 2012

Wonderful news - I am on Totally Tutorials!

I am thrilled my post is published on Totally Tutorials. As a new Blogger it is difficult for me to reach to the people and have followers or readers. Hope this would help, and more surfers will find my blog useful. I learned a lot reading other sites and hope my blog will help somebody else providing some interesting information.

Oct 19, 2012

How to choose paint brushes

Synthetic or natural bristle brushes?

When painting furniture people (myself too) usually pay attention to choose the right paint - color, type, supplier. For a long time I didn't take take what type of brush to choose. But if you want to achieve the professional look, this is important as well. Basically, the choice of the right brush depends on the paint you are using: for water-based (acrylic) paint, use synthetic - polyester or nylon bristles. Oil-based paints apply best with natural or pure bristle brushes. The natural fibers absorb water, swell up and lose their shape, so using them with water-based paints will cause poor result. On the other hand,

when using a synthetic brush with an oil-based paint the solvent in the paint slightly melts the polyester or nylon hairs of the brush, clumping them together.

After this initial choice, there are number of other features to look, like eg. density (better brushes have more bristles and they are tapered) or length, but you need some experience to see what works bets for you. What is easy to test for everyone is to try tug a few bristles out of the brush - if this is done easily, take some other brush. I have three furry pets always moving around me, and I am used to struggle with hairs left on the paint film, but honestly, this is not what I like, and what is appreciated after all preps yoe9ve done. So, choose the good brush and enjoy your work.

Oct 10, 2012

Pumpkin, squash, pumpkin

Fall has arrived and surprised us again with all these beautiful colors. Every Saturday I visit local market and enjoy the variety of vegetables and fruits, and this month, the color, shapes, sizes of pumpkins and squashes. In my country (Croatia, Europe) Halloween is not part of the tradition, but we love squashes and make meals, soup, cakes and keep them as decoration as well.

Delicious pumpkin soup

This delicious cream soup is very easy to make, but one of the best you'll ever taste. Read the recipe and enjoy!

Furniture makeover - Wood stains

I love trees - you can see that from the blog title. And I love wood and wood grains to be visible on furniture, if possible. When refurbish some old piece, I usually plan to use stain and to have grains visible. It is not always possible for many reasons - item condition, previous paint layers, too much (manual) sanding efforts. Recently, I decided to stain a table and bought a water-based wood stain. From the beginning I felt something is wrong, the result was too opaque. And then, started to google of course, and found out there are basically two different types of wood stain:
- low-build wood stains allowing enhanced wood structure appearance (on the picture above) and
- medium or high-build stains that are rather opaque.

Not to mention that there stains dedicated for exterior and those for interior, etc. But, talking about the impression, take care about the opacity. After all those sanding and preparations, right stain should be applied.
The positive thing is, I now know now that, even if there are imperfections I can't avoid for some reason, I can still use stain (medium-build this time) and get grain at least moderately visible.

Oct 3, 2012

DIY Shabby-looking sign

Shabby chic furniture look has been very popular last years, and for the reason. It is particularly convenient for the hobby crafters and beginners as you don't need to be master to refurbish something old and get astonished new piece of furniture. That is one of the reasons I like it as well. The other is sense of romance this style brings to my home. But personally, I think it should be a little bit careful and not to overdo to use it. I prefer more modern style with some romantic details and space overcrowded with flowers, pillows, curtains, shabby chic pieces is not what I would choose.
This shabby-looking sign is detail I painted in my kitchen, above the window.
It is very simple project and see how I did it.

Amazing laces

Pag lace

Fall has begun, fashion theme articles, magazines, portals are inviting us to malls and clothes shops. Lace is 'must have' in wardrobe. That reminds me on the art of hand-making lace in Croatia, where I live. We are small country, but there are even three main centres of lacemaking in Croatia, whose work is a continuation of the long-lasting lacemaking tradition. These are: Lepoglava in Hrvatsko zagorje (west-northern part of the country) with bobbin lace, island Pag on the Adriatic see with needle point lace and island Hvar with aloe lace. They are all inlisted on UNESCO representative list of intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is impossible to say which one is more beautiful, for me they are all breathtaking and astonishing.
When I see such handmade art, I feel embarrassed looking at my own craft work. But it is not appropriate at all to compare masterpiece with some hobby craft. Just enjoy the art and lace masterpieces.

Lepoglava lace

Hvar lace from agava

Sep 19, 2012

Hanger out of pockets

Few weeks ago I was cleaning a closet - what to keep, what to throw away, what to pack for the charity. First decided to get rid of the old linen jacket I haven't worn in years. At the last momment, I got the idea to use the pockets for a hanger. This is tutorial how I did it. Now I am searching the closet for some other old things with pockets to make another hanger. The real challenge is to convince my hubby to get rid of old stuff.

Paper basket

I've been very busy lately, working simultaneously on few projects. I am taking photos to use them in tutorials, hope this will be done soon. One of my 'projects' is also tidying up the closets. I found this interesting recycled paper basket on Design*Sponge. I am planning to make some, when finish other on going tasks, to make better order in my closets and on shelves. Hope my hubby won't freak out, as usually, when I am reorganizing the house.

Find tutorial here.

Aug 28, 2012

Furniture makeover - Sanding and Preparations

Preparations

Step 1: First, have a good look of the item you are planning to work on - review the damages, general condition, if there is any sign of wood worms (do you see little holes in the wood somewhere), current layers of paint. Review it from all angles. Think over is it necessary to dissemble the piece, and what parts (eg. cabinet doors, legs, drawers, shelfs) and are you going to assemble these parts again or not.

Step 2: Before dissembling, take photos, make notes - I usually take photos, to remind me on the 'before' look and to help me when assembling - it is amazing how easy is to be confused with things looking very simple at the first place. It is also useful to mark pieces, eg. drawers, to be put on the same place as before, as the size could little, but significantly, vary.

Step 3: Check also locks, keys, handles, rosettes - are they functioning, do you need them or want to replace them. Eg. it is easier to replace lock before you start painting.

Step 4: If you noticed wood worms presence, you need to treat the piece - I usually use some of the chemical insecticides - follow the supplier's instructions.

Step 5: One of the first things to do is to clean the piece with soap water to get rid of the stains, fat, dirt ... Then, think about old paint layers - do you need just to make some sanding or completely remove them. It depends also on your idea how to refurbish this piece of furniture. But, whatever you decide, some sanding is difficult to avoid.

Step 6: Sanding, sanding, sanding; and repairing small damages using filler.

Furniture makeover - How to start 2

Your first piece candidate for makeover

Space make over and furniture refurbishing is my favourite hoby. And it is not such demanding as it could look like on the first site. But hot to start? Every beginning is rather difficult and could be confusing. But don't give up even before you actually start! It is always necessary to gain experience. So, start with something rather simple and small - wooden box, small shelf, simple chair, picture frame, ... If you are not happy with the result, you can always repaint it. I think everybody has such experience. When you see astonished refurbished pieces, remember that people who did it also had some failures experimenting with new techniques.
If you decided to work on a larger piece or having dilemma to take some item on a flee market or garage sale, look first at the basic piece skeleton - if it is in good condition. Than think over do you have enough experience, tools and available help/assistance to makeover the piece. It is sometimes better to take one step at the time.

When I started to work on furniture, I made a whole plan for that piece, bought a paint and other material before I actually begin to work. But than I realized that it is better to be patient and first do the surface preparations - meaning cleaning, dismantling, sanding, repairing damages. Only after this initial effort I can see and feel the wood - could I use stain or is the paint better, is it better to replace some parts or elements or to use it in some other way, how to decorate. And rather often I completely change the initial idea. Admit, sometimes just because sanding over all current layers is too challenging, sometimes I got a quite a new idea. This is how it works for me, everybody has to find its own way.