Tiling a Hearth

Tiling a Hearth from This Old House Online

By: Harry Sawyers, , December 2007

www.islandgirlsalvage.com/Tile

Transforming You Treasures

Here is a post from the Boomerhead.com website.


Cleaning out your garage, attic, or closet? Need to downsize, but you just hate to throw away that sentimental knick-knack or piece of furniture? Sometimes it just has to go! However, some baby boomers are re-inventing their “treasures.” Take a look at how old useless “junk” has been ingeniously transformed into functional items for the household.

• Making Wall Shelves out of Desk Drawers
• Old seasoned wood used to make hat-racks
• This baby boomer transformed a broken-down stereo cabinet into a tile island for her kitchen
• An old mirror frame without the mirror made into a message board

Tada - The Cabinet is finished.

Here is the final installment. I think it came out okay. Not perfect but certainly useable. As you can the dark wood knob won the contest and it is well deserved.

First Coat on the Cabinet

I went with the orange family and I absolutely love this color. It is Benjamin Moore Autumn cover. This is just the first coat and will definately need at least one more. Trying now to decide on the pull that I want to put on. Here are some of my choices. Any thoughts are welcome.

My Cabinet Project Updated

I have gotten the shutter resized and primed. I will be painting and hoping that paint covers a multitude of sins. Can I just say that painting shutters is not much fun, getting in between the slats without clumping the paint is harder than I thought. I have been rather taken with the variety of orange paint colors while this will in no way match anything in my office. Here are some pics of the work in progress. This will hopefully work on the cabinet below as a door.

Make a Folding Screen Using Old Hinges and Shutters

This is something that we have been doing at our shop for a couple of years now. We have oodles of shutters and we make the screens to give our displays a little more definition. Okay and we use them to hide things like our work area which is always a mess. But here are the detailed instructions from This Old House. with Amy R. Hughes, , November 2007

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

These are a few of the projects that we have been working on. We have lots of trim work that we have salvaged over the years and the detail on some is incredible but not always in the best shape or enough to trim out a room. So we were looking for ways to recycle and reinvent. The fabric is also vintage that I collect because I can't seem to help it. The second picture is an old sidelight window that we removed from a home the panes were broken so we cleaned it up and put in beveled mirrors we are working on a matching one that was on the other side of the front door

More of Tab's

Tab's House is Finally Finished!!

I can honestly say it's been an exciting year so far. We started our house project in Feb and just finished in May. Surviving a remodel tests all relationships but it's finished now! My husband and our pets seem to be very happy with the place.

We were featured in our local newspaper (The Daily Herald) on June 29th. It was a large spread and I thank the writer Debby Donovan for a wonderful article. Here are some photos of the finished product.

Special thanks also goes out to all of the folks that helped with my constant project changes. Joe at Arlington Porcelain for refinishing our tub, sink and enamel towel racks. Doug, Jon, and Rapheal at AAA Construction for figuring out my sink in the kitchen , working with 1940's cabinets and fixing my plaster and painting without giving me strange looks . Liz Ross for the beautiful vintage pillows and vallance in the kitchen window. Anne at Ces't Moi in Chicago for the kitchen rug. Sherwin at Just Faucets for my faucets. And most of all Pete for putting up with me during the project.

Diningroom features urns we have in stock at Island Girl Salvage. Master bedroom was painted in a color called "Happy Camper". Flash cards (from Pete's mom Mary when she was a school teacher) were used as a headboard. The light fixture is actually a pedastal sink leg on top of a newel post. We have them in stock at Island Girl Salvage.

What has been taking up all of my time lately

Okay I know I haven't been blogging often enough lately but I've been working on a project at my house that is nearing completion. Finally. I've been doing some DIY things at home that will make my life a little, well, happier and pleasing to my eyes. See I had taken on a project to strip all of the painted woodwork in my house oh about three years ago now. It's been one of those projects that has taken on a life of it's own. I do a little here and a little there but I really make no progress. A few months ago I had received a call from our local paper requesting to "feature" my home and business. Great right!?! Free advertising for the business and the opportunity to show in person what I preach in reusing salvaged items. The problem was my house wasn't ready for this kind of exposure (nor was my husband but that's another story). So I called my dear friends at AAA Demolition and had Doug come over and take a look at my ideas for finishing off all of my started projects. Pretty basic stuff but I needed a professional to jump in and give it their all through completion. My 1930's sink and tub have just been refinished to shine like they did when they were installed. We added subway tile in the bathroom and I had a vintage medicine cabinet installed. We're working on installing fabulous 1940's cabinets that I purchased for a fraction of new. And if that's not enough my floors are being sanded and stained. It's taking shape with just a few more weeks to complete. Hence my departure from blogging. I've been stripping and sanding my fir doors here at the shop and transporting them back to my house for re-installation. They look wonderful.

Tab

Ameriglaze Vintage Tubs and Sinks

We have been talking with the folks at Ameriglaze Vintage Tubs & Sinks about carrying some of their refinished tubs and sinks in our shop. Today they brought over four refinished original claw foot tubs! We've seen refinished tubs before but these take the cake! The quality of the finish is impeccable. Not only does Ameriglaze Vintage Tubs & Sinks do the refinishing but Mike teaches people from all over the world how to refinish tubs and sinks. Now I may be bias but claw foot tubs are just better than the fiberglass reproductions available today. The cast iron originals maintain the heat of the bath water for longer more enjoyable soaks so you can thoroughly enjoy that glass of wine! In the "Green" environmental conscious society we are living in, why would anyone want to bury these beauties in landfills?