Running With Scissors: April 2016

Building A House

Stained Glass in Master Bathroom

1:28 PM

Dresses

African Wedding Jacket and Everyday Dress

11:01 AM

DIY

Rolling Stool with Leather Upholstery and $50 Giveaway from Leather Hide Store

3:00 AM

When my husband and I designed our house, we omitted having a formal office.

In our rental we dedicated our smallest bedroom as an office but found we never used it unless we were fetching something we printed. Most of our "office" time was spent using lap tops on our couch in our main living area.

So we decided our habits probably wouldn't change, and I designed a desk on one side of our main floor family room to serve as the every day office area. Seating for the desk was a challenge. This wall is also the main traffic area for our open floor plan...so I decided rolling stools would be the best option.

When no one is at the desk, the stools can easily roll under and out of the way.

I bought two medical exam stools. I went with Brewer exam stools that have a metal base and cushioned seat and adjust up and down by spinning. I wanted a vintage industrial look but needed casters and durability.Buying them new is actually pricey, but I found one on craigslist and the other on ebay.

The chrome and medical vinyl felt like a doctor's office so I gave the metal base a coat of spray paint primer, followed by 2 thin coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint to match the desk hardware.

To refinish the upholstery, I decided to go with upholstery leather for a nicer approach than the standard vinyl. I've done a few other furniture projects with vinyl and it just doesn't last. So if you have a piece that gets a lot of traffic, or kids will touch it at all, if you can swing leather, go for upholstery leather fabric. I don't have access to leather locally, and I've ordered from The Leather Hide Store before and got a range of samples again for this project.

After looking at my samples, I decided to go with Metallic Blue upholstery leather. Stools are a nice small project so you can often find upholstery leather remnants rather than a full hide.

Leather Hide Store also has a guide to know how much leather you need for any project.

My husband and I made the counter for the desk from sheet metal. I torched it to bring out the varying colors in the steel, and felt the metallic blue upholstery leather compliments the metal desk top.

Our desk has room for two people to work, so ordering two stools meant they were originally mis-matched and looked out of place.

I LOVE the new matching metallic leather seats and it pulled this area of our house together with the industrial vibe of the metals and old schoolhouse design of the quarter-sawn oak desk.

TUTORIAL for LEATHER SEAT UPHOLSTERY

TOOLS: sharp scissors, pen, leather needle for machine, clips, staple gun, hammer

SUPPLIES: heavy duty thread, leather, staples

1. CUT OUT LEATHER

Since I was re-upholstering, I took off the vinyl original and used a straight razor to unpick it to use as a pattern. To trace the circle and rectangle for the sides, I used a regular pen and wrote on the wrong or unfinished side of the upholstery leather.

A basic round stool will have a circle for the top, and the strip for the sides.

2. SEW STOOL COVER

FIRST SOME TIPS FOR SEWING LEATHER:

To sew upholstery leather, you need a heavy duty sewing machine.
I have a basic Brother plastic home machine I bought off amazon, and there's no way that could sew leather....I have tried and it was a major fail.
I sewed this upholstery leather with an industrial 3/4 hp motor sewing machine. Tons of power and it sewed like the leather was quilting cotton.
Use a leather needle.You can't pin leather, so you can use fancy quilting clips, or cheap office binder clips.

Depending on your machine, a leather presser foot and walking foot may help, industrial don't have walking function.

Place your circle piece finished side up and the strip right side down. Leave an inch or two free and sew around the circle, leaving a 4" gap. This will create an opening with two flaps of the strip piece.

To create the side seam, I snip the two seam allowances where they will butt into each other and meet.

Then line them up and sew along the meeting edge.

The photo below shows this section isn't sewn to the circle until the arrow.

Trim any excess from your side seam, use a hammer to flatten seam open (since you can't iron leather) and sew the final 4" of curve to attach the side to the circle (the area between arrows below).

3. STAPLE TO STOOL SEAT

Both my stools had a wood circle base. I fit the new leather cover over the foam cushion, and stapled it to the underside of the wood. Start anywhere, then next put a staple directly across from that, stretching the leather tight. Then go the opposite direction, stapling 4 corners basically, then it should be tacked on with equal distribution and smooth even edge.

I used T50 1/4" tall staples.

Screw the stool seat back on the base and you're done!

Building A House

DIY Steel Siding

8:26 PM

CHECK OUT ALL OUR POSTS RELATED TO BUILDING OUR HOUSE HERE!

Our home has a double deck of sorts.

The main floor has a back deck, which is on top of the walk out basement patio area.

This basement walk out patio needed exterior finishing, but for the most part won't be seen or exposed to the elements....so I of course wanted to do something unique.

I also wanted to save money.

Our home has cement Hardie Board siding, which was expensive as far as exterior options go, so I got the idea of finishing the 40' basement wall with sheet metal.

This space will eventually be an outdoor game room, so I thought it would be funky to have metal, making it feel like a room rather than a porch. Sheet metal was also a durable and inexpensive option.

So I found one post of a home also built in Utah here.

Using it as a guide, I started figuring out how to install my own steel siding.

PREP:

The sub-contractor we hired for the concrete siding had installed house wrap and sealed around the windows.

We installed aluminum bottom track to help any moisture drain away rather than wick up the wall, with another layer of the window seal along the floor.

SHEET METAL:

After calculating the required metal, I purchased all our sheet metal locally from Metalmart in Lehi, Utah.

4x10' sheets of 20 gauge cold rolled steel

I liked the silver metal look, but my husband hated that idea. So we compromised on a rusted, metal look. So after purchasing our sheet metal, I cut it in half, making 2' tall x 10' long sheets.

ACID WASHING STEEL:

I wanted to corrode the raw steel before I installed it, so each piece had a unique pattern.

I used different methods with muriatic acid, white vinegar, and water.

There wasn't a specific method, spray acids on alone, some with water too, some just water.

The natural rust of the steel is obviously in the red-brown realm, but I really loved the black/ blues that came out initially.

METAL SIDING INSTALL:

The process was pretty simple. I planned to install from the bottom left to finish in the upper right. Each panel was 2 feet tall, and I cut the width as I went to create a random look.

To attach them to the wall, I screwed them to the sheathing using raw steel screws that have a washer built in. They are more expensive, but really cool if you are into screws. I've had 3 other sub-contractors comment on the cool screws, pretty funny.

McFeely's #10 1-inch washer-head screws

Not only do you save time not needing a washer, but these screws are also raw steel and will rust, so you don't end up with a rusted metal wall and bright silver screws.

TIPS ON CUTTING SHEET METAL:

I went through a few different methods on cutting the sheet metal.

At first I considered a torch, but it wasn't easy to transport or get a straight cut.

Then I got the angle grinder with 7" metal pads and they'd be gone in a 5 ft cut.

SO I finally figured out and stuck with a metal blade on a circular saw. Make sure you have a saw with a cord, batteries will die really quickly.

I bought this blade from amazon and it worked great through the whole project and many cuts.

Obviously any time you're cutting, wear ear and eye protection, unlike sawdust, it sends sparks and metal fragments. I have to admit I felt pretty cool cutting with the spray of sparks behind me. Metal is scarier, but more fun to cut than metal.

Before installing, I pre-drilled holes 6" apart, with 1/2" from the metal edge. Make sure to use drill bits manufactured to drill through metal and you save time if you make a template.

I put my first chunk of sheet metal on, and only screwed the left and bottom edges.

Then when I added the next piece, I overlapped it 4" side to side, and the next row .overlapped 2" down

As the wall comes along, you work your way up and right.

You can see below I would chalk a line after using a level to overlap vertically 2 inches on the top of each row.

Of course you will have interferences like windows you need to cut around.

I measured and cut the piece, then installed it.

To allow wiring for exterior plugs, I just drilled a large pre-measured hole in the sheet metal.

When I got to the windows, I knew I would install the window trim later, and therefore wanted the metal flat, not a screw head poking up. So on the metal edges bordering windows, I used the framing nail gun to attach it to the house.

As it went, I selected the different sheets of corrosion to add variety in the overall wall.

I loved the way it turned out.

The siding contractor that did all the regular siding begged me to just let him install the same siding down on the basement as the rest of the house. I told him I was doing my own siding down there with metal and he just didn't get it. After a few different conversations, his final plea was: "Please just let us do the Hardie Board down there, you have this beautiful house and you're just going to ruin it."

I told him I was doing what I wanted, and a few months later he came by to check it out and saw the metal and oohed and aahed, and ate his words saying it looked really cool and a lot better than how I originally explained it.

That was a good moment in the house build.

Building our house ourselves meant our kids were on site...a lot.

But cutting the sheet metal was too dangerous, so I mostly worked on this project at night after they were in bed and my husband was home.

The look obviously isn't for every home or every style, but I am so excited about my metal siding.

Other than my husband helping me haul the sheets of metal, I completed this project entirely on my own. It got tricky when it was above my head on a ladder, but if an out of shape mom can do it, anyone can!