Another "simple project", by Bodi

One of these days, I'll learn to accept that no project is ever "simple" with me.

I even know why that is so, too. I am a perfectionist. I'm even mildly OCD about things (I think "pefectionist" is, for many, simply a PC term for OCD).

There you go, I've confessed.

But back to the project; we have, in our bedroom, two pieces of furniture of a very similar style (read: nearly identical), from a similar era. One is a long dresser, complete with mirror. The other is what is what I think is known as a "tallboy" chest of drawers. They are not the same colour (both are stained, not painted), but the colours are complementary.

One came from my family (my parents' first bedroom suite), the other has always belonged to Himself. Even the hardware is identical or complementary. I'm guessing this stuff was THE look in Canadian furniture in the 1970's, as I know my brother also had a tallboy chest of drawers, and we have another, smaller, one for Sir Squeaks, too (from my IL's).

I must confess that, while I never thought the pieces were particularly beautiful as a child, as an adult, they have a certain nostalgic feel to them that makes me really like them.

But the problem is that the tallboy is missing some drawer knobs, and some of the drawer pulls are broken. At first, my intention was to simply replace all the knobs and pulls with new ones, to unify the look of the different pieces. Heck, while I'm at it, I have a nightstand with nine knobs- if I put matching knobs on it, the piece would tie in fairly well with the others, in spite of it not being the same. Such is the joy of hardware; it can work magic.

But, of course, none of the drawer pulls are the same size ("Standardized sizing?" They scoffed, "Who needs that?!"), but modern ones are ...

So, yesterday I happened to be near one of my favourite places to find antique or vintage items (The Old House Revival) and I popped in.

Wouldn't you know it, they happened to have 11 knobs that were the same as the existing ones?  Now I only need three more ... Still working on the drawer pulls, but we'll get there, I'm sure.

Photos to follow...

"Simple" project #2:

I decided it was high time I printed some of the 10 000 digital photos I have taken over the past ten years.

Wow, the things you can do now ... oh, and you can order them from at-home, too. It's like setting a kid loose in a toy store, and saying "pick whatever you want", except, you know, unlike the kid, you have to pay at the end of it ...

So I may have gone a little overboard with the print ordering.

And then, I got the brilliant idea to get larger copies of some of the photos, and frame them to hang on the wall.

Like a giant photo-collage. This idea was not entirely new, although it had really been in its infancy until more recently. Initially, I was going to have all the frames identical to each other. But the frames I had already chosen, while simple, are not inexpensive when you're looking at buying 15 to 20 of them. At once.

And so now there will be some variations in the frames.

Getting the photos printed is nothing. Getting them framed is a bit more of a deal. Figuring out how they will best be arranged on the wall? Now, that's a Project.

Nevermind actually getting them, you know, *on* the wall ...

If I waited for the photos for this project, this blog would never get published.

In which another "simple" project escalates rapidly ...

If you read "l'histoire du sac" (there is an update to this post, btw), you understand by now that no project I decide to undertake *ever* truly remains "simple".

Witness, Exhibit "B";

Our house is, by local standards, rather old. In fact, she turns 100 this year. She came complete with crystal door knobs and brass "backplates" (a fancy technical term I learned while doing the, um, 'research' for this post). Two of the doors have rather ornate backplates, the rest are all very utilitarian.

Here is a photo of one of the decorative backplates, complete with probably 60 years' worth of paint:

A backplate got damaged about 3 months after we moved in. Naturally, it was one of the ornate ones (Murphy's Law ain't got nothing on my four boys).

Equally as commonplace, we did nothing about it for two years. I recently came across the damaged backplate (which had not been on the door since getting damaged- heck, it hadn't been on the door when it got damaged!), and, fueled by my successful (albeit roundabout) restoration of the WWII-era messenger bag, my determination to attend to it was renewed.

So, I first resolved to see if I could find a replacement plate at a local antiques shop where I had previously seen backplates available for purchase, The Old House Revival Company.

And, naturally, I neglected to bring the blinking plate with me (although I had, at least, had the presence of mind to observe that the detail work on it included a fleur de lis).

The staff there were very eager to help me figure out my options once I had exhausted their considerable collection of brass backplates. My son, aka "Sir Squeaksalot", was also very eager to make me part with my money by deciding he really, really liked an antique stereo on display there. Really liked it. Was brave enough to ask a salesperson to ask how much it was*, liked it

*darn it, that technique almost always works on his siblings!!! Once Mum puts the onus on them to ask for details about something they really want, they usually back down.

Turns out, they were planning on putting the stereo into a garage sale, and were only going to be asking $25 for it. His birthday is coming up in just over two weeks- I do believe I see an antique stereo in my future.

But I digress. As helpful as they were, Old House Revival didn't have the backplate I needed. They did remind me, however, that brass is fairly maleable, and I might be able to straighten out the kink without it breaking ...

Onwards.

A few days later, I went over to see the lovely ladies at Vintage Veruca. They were extremely busy, getting ready for their own garage sale, but they were no less helpful than the folks at OHR.

Funnily enough, once they had confirmed that they did not, in fact, have a backplate to match mine (I had since put the darned thing into my bag), one of the ladies told me she used to work at OHR, and they were likely the best place to check for backplates ...

She also affirmed what the folks at OHR had said about being able to straighten out the kink in my existing backplate. In addition, she told me I could strip the paint off the backplate by placing it in extremely hot (read: boiling!) water for ten to fifteen minutes and then peel or scrape it off.



You can probably see where this is going ...



Yup. I did. First of all, I managed to straighten out the kink in the backplate enough to make it once more functional.

Secondly ... well, how about I show you some photos?

Then, after removing all six thousand** layers of paint from the two backplates, just for kicks, I decided to polish them.

(** this may be a slight exaggeration)

 Note the presence of my "assistant" in this endeavour, quite literally placing her mark.

At this point, I might as well restore the other two plates, too- after all, it's a straightforward and simple project, right? ;-)