Furniture Refurbishment ~ We found more Chairs

CRAZY US!

We found more rattan chairs and of course we had to have it! Someone had thrown away six white color rattan chairs.  We took only one as the others were rotting.  

Funny how I have always wanted white rattan chairs and now that I found them, I want to spray them bright lemon yellow, and that is just what I did.  This rattan chair will be used in my craft room.

Brought home two rattan chairs but only one was in good condition.
After spray paint ~ the bright lemon  yellow.

The rattan chair in the midst of being spray painted.

Four Panel Doors

One of the features of this house that we liked very much was the four panel French doors.  The outside of these doors were painted white while the inside was painted brown.  As usual, our Contractor advised us to dispose of these doors, trying to convince us that we can't bring back the wood color, that if were to use them again, two of the doors had to be 'dead' doors meaning that it could not be opened.

It was a good thing that Hubby and myself were adamant.  For the past six months, all our weekends were spent sanding down the doors to wood grain.  We had to take the glass panels out, wipe them clean, buy new beading to fix them back and varnish the doors.  We even had to fix the grill ourselves, after ordering the grill from the grill contractors.  The sad part about these four panel French doors is that we had to fix grill, it sort of spoilt the beauty of the four panel French doors.

Here are the progress of our four panel French doors.

BEFORE : The four panel French door before the renovation

AFTER : The four panel French door after the renovation

The four panel French door after renovation, sand down to wood grain

Hired help varnishing the four panel French doors

The doors taken out and getting ready to sand down

The wood was sanded down to wood grain

Tried using paint remover to remove the white paint at  the beading area.
Not successful, so rather than waste time, we bought new beadings and fixed them.

A close up of the sanding down

Furniture Refurbishment

I have been inspired by a DIY blog called http://www.younghouselove.com/

They are a husband and wife team that does a lot of DIY projects around their  house.  The best part is that they share their secrets and ideas.

I have been picking up some furniture that people have thrown out of their house.  They seem to be in good condition, and unique in design.  They just looks a little old and worn out.

Here are three rattan chairs that I have found and brought home.  Rattan chair ONE is rather common in design, but I liked it and it is comfortable to sit on.  Rattan chair TWO was picked up from the same rubbish dump as Rattan chair ONE three months later.  Rattan chair THREE was found sitting outside opposite a house which was near to our new home.  

With all these three chairs, what I did was spray paint them in white, changed the cushion cover for one chair, bought a cushion for RM10.00 for another and left the one empty.

The condition of Rattan Chair ONE which was found at a rubbish dump

After a few repairs and a coat of white spray paint, this chair is good to sit on.  No cushion needed.

Rattan Chair TWO was also found at the same rubbish dump as Rattan Chair ONE about three months later.  It's unique in design and heavy too.  Gave it a wash and dried it out in the sun.  Sand paper a few parts too.

Gave it a few coats of white spray paint before it could be finally used.

Bought a cushion for RM10.00 at a local cushion and curtain shop.  It now sits at one of the corner in our living room.

Chair Rattan chair THREE was found outside opposite a house nearby to our new home.  It was ivory in color and the cushion was worn out.

Sand paper some of the sides, gave it a few coats of white spray paint and put a new cloth over the old cushion.  This chair too sits at the corner of the hall

Chronicles of our Main Door

Our main door is now almost complete.  We have hired help to varnish the door and it looks beautiful!  This door has now become a conversation piece in the neighbourhood as well as contractors who have been moving in and out of the house.

Now all is left to do is to fix the glass at the side.  We wanted Nyonya glass but at the very last minute, BTW this is rather norm already coming from our Contractor, he said that Nyonya glass do not come in the size that we want.  He suggested that we go for normal glass and tint it! I am like "What the &%^*???"  Anyway so now we are sourcing for the glass on our own.

So we'll leave you now with the chronicles of how our main door became ...

The chosen Chenggal wood for the main door

Cutting the wood to the desired size

The Master and his hired help

The door frame and the door

The door frame being installed 

The locksmith installing the lock

The modified hinge for the main door

The main door and it's maker

The main door gets a coat of varnish

Renovation Progress - Patio Door

If you've read our blog post here, we wanted to recycle and reuse the French doors at the existing house for our patio area which is also at the same location.  As usual, our Contractor had discourage us to reuse the door and advise us to buy new door, giving reason that it cannot be sand down to the original wood or that it would be expensive to re-varnish it.  

Because the doors are still in good condition and we felt that it adds character to the house.  And because hubby dearest was a DIY and handyman, he took the challenge.  

The French doors dismantled

Trying to remove the white paint to get the wood color

The wood is scratched when using the metal brush

So hubby uses a sander

Much better and faster

The difference between before and after sanding down

Because the glass edges could not be sand down using the machine, we tried using a paint remover

We applied the paint remover to the wood and waited for a while until it bubbled

But it was hard to remove the paint and it didn't come out 100%

Have to think of another solution on how to remove the paint

Renovation Progress : Main Door

The frame of the 'awesome' main door has finally been completed. Hubby's DIY and handyman skills were put to good use.  Credit must also be given to three experienced carpenters that we hired for the day.  These three men actually work for a teak furniture and their kind employer has allowed us to hire them on their off.

As for the main door itself, it has been partly been completed.  Now all that is left to do is fix the lock and varnish the door and frame.

Men @ Work

The completed main door and frame

The muscle men

Drilling is though work

The main door frame fitted into our new home

The floor is raised so that the main door frame can sit

The wood for the main door and frame

Wood for the main door

The almost completed main door ~ left to fix the lock and varnish

Main Door

The construction of the house is coming up fast.  I've been so busy with other projects that I've neglected updates on our blog site.

We wanted a main door that stands out, not an ordinary door that every house has. We wanted a main door that made a statement, so, ... dear hubby decided to build his own door.  We have been sourcing for wood and we have an idea on how we want our front door to look like.  We have also been sourcing for wood for making two benches for our dining table also

So for two weeks or so we've been driving to some really 'ulu-ulu' places to look for good, cheap if not reasonable wood.  After going to point A and point B and going back and forth, we've bought our wood.

Now, once the door is up, we'll post some pictures.  In the meantime, we'll leave you with some photos on the 'birth' of our main door and most importantly wish us LUCK!

The railway slippers for the bench legs

What we think is Balau wood for making our bench  for the dining table

An idea of how we want our main door to look like

A carpenter's paradise - heaps of wood

The wood we bought for our main door

The workers cutting the wood for us

The cut wood