Gold Leafed Shaker Boxes

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I just realized that I’ve never posted my Shaker Boxes here. Ever since I took a wood-bending class, I’m enjoying to make them every now and then. It’s fun. But as the result of making many, I made a few that are not good enough to sell nor give. I didn’t want to throw away so they sat in my garage for many months until I came up with this idea…

Gold-Leafed lid!

Technically, it’s Gold-Color Metal Leafing. But they do the same thing. It does not only make it pretty, but it also hides unwanted spots I created on top of the boxes by mistake!

I am so happy with the result. I can now forgive myself when making mistakes.

Classic Wingback Chair Upholstery

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I found an antique-sh wingback chair on Craig’s List and upholstered it.

It used to have this green velvet fabric.

And there were three to four layers of fabric underneath when I stripped down! Apparently, most upholsters reupholster over existing fabric; they don’t bother to strip down. And when I did, I discovered horse hair, which I didn’t like the smell so I decided to replace with new poly-wrap. (I know horse hair is supposed to be something valuable, but I couldn’t take the smell!) I also applied new webbing, retied springs, put new foam… when I was done with all that, I hadn’t had fabric yet so I kind of rushed and chose this one, which is not really my current style, but just because it was around $8 or $9 per yard, I decided to go with it.

Not bad. It doesn’t look out of place in our Living room like I thought it would be with this fabric. But I’m still not sure if he (or she?) is a keeper.

Floating Shelves

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Last year, my son asked me to make shelves to display his trophies, and I finally managed to make them for him.

These are called “Blind Shelves” or “Floating Shelves”. I wanted simple shelves so the quality of wood stands out. My goal for his room is to include variety of rich wooden items with darker shades of red, blue, and green bedding and rug to make it boy-sh.

He picked Cherry wood, which looks like the picture above naturally. I applied three coats of oil-base poly to finish them. The result is really rich caramel brown. I love it!

I placed knots on the bottom of the shelves because they collect dust when placed on the top. I like the fact that we can see the knots from the bottom since these shelves are installed high. Knots are like dimples. They make me smile.

New Pillow with Old Fabric

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My mom used her old dress to make a tiny skirt for my oldest child who was one or two back then. The fabric is so pretty, I’ve kept it even after my daughter grew out of it. My oldest is turning 14 soon so you know how long I have it. I thought about making it into something else, but the fabric is so small, I couldn’t really make anything. Then I recently realized that it can be a part of something; raffle for a pillow.

The fabric is very thin, I ended up ripping some parts, but I saved enough to make this pillow.

When I go through stacks of used clothes, fabric, and scraps, I often feel frustrated. I don’t want to throw them away, but they are taking up spaces in this small house so I feel like I might have to let them go. But then, when I finally get to use some of them, it makes me happy because it’s not only that I made it, but it also carries so much memories.

More Pine Needle Basket

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I made two more pine needle baskets since this one.

Starting a basket with a walnut slice is kind of hard, but I love how it looks.

When I was weaving the above basket, pine needles kept breaking so I cooked to soften the needles.

Love how dark they became!

And I like how the thread stands out now.

I tried a couple of new things for this one: I added Czech beads AND a new type of stitch. You see the vertical lines in the middle of the basket? I’m not so happy with the result because the height of the vertical lines are all different, but it’s only the first time trying this new stitch so it’s okay

This one will be a storage for a new set of Japanese chopstick rests my mom sent us recently.