Cat Bed/House Out of Side Table

It's the night before Judy's birthday, and she's writing another blog. 

I worked on this project for several weeks without posting on facebook anything about it, or writing about it on my blog, because it was a surprise for my son and daughter in law who live out of town, and I wanted to get it finished, send them a  picture and then give them a chance to refuse it in case it wasn't something they liked.  I had a picture of my son's living room, so I knew the walls were pale green.  He had a white piece of furniture in the hallway, and wood bookcases, and a black/glass side table so I wanted to make it fit in; however, now that they have "accepted" it; its going into the bedroom, so I have no idea if it good for the décor, or functionally better in the bedroom. 

I started out with a hexagonal lamp table, covered in brown laminate to look like wood, with heavy doors.  I got it at the Ladies Center like the zebra cart.  The day I got it was a marvelous shopping day  I got this table, two mid century side tables, and my round book table that's posted about, all for $35.00.  I've had it in the extra garage for almost 2 years waiting for someone to need a cat bed/house.  I've seen them on pinterest and really wanted to make one.  My son just got a new kitten, so it seemed like the perfect time.



The first thing I did was remove the doors.

Now what do you think I could do with this?  The doors.

Then I removed the laminate.  I just pulled it off the top.  But when I got to the sides, I needed a little heat, literally.  So I held a hair dryer blowing on the laminate as I used my other hand to pull it off.  Had it all off in less than 30 minutes.  Piece of cake!!  Much easier than removing wallpaper. 

Just pulled this off.

Had to use a hair dryer.

Laminate all gone.  Pressed wood all over!  That stuff can't get wet or it crumbles.

Then I got a can of 99 cent spray paint (bad idea, you get what you pay for) and sprayed the sides with a coat, but the pressed wood just soaked it in and you could barely tell it had anything on it, and I realized at that rate, we would use tons of cans of paint. 

Next I got my great Rustoleum paint and did two coats.  I Wasn't real satisfied with that though as the gloss was kind of hit and miss and the top of the table just looked weird.  I tried painting it with my interior semi gloss, but it left brush strokes.    So I decided to use my Walmart exterior white semi gloss, and I applied it with a small roller, so there would be no brush marks.  But before I did that, I noticed as I moved the table from the kitchen to the garage and back, every where I went there was weird dust, looked like mouse droppings.  Upon further checking, the bottom of the table was crumbling into tiny flakes.  Can't have that happen.  So I remembered buying some white duct tape at Home Depot.   I put the table on a rug in my living room upside down and I covered the bottom of the table where it sits on floor and the ridge that you can see with the white tape, and I really think its great for protection and I don't think you can tell its taped unless you look really close.  Now I move it around and no dust particles, plus no damage to wood floors.

After spray painting and using interior semi gloss.  I've got table upside down, and the part at the top is where I later added the duct tape.

After applying numerous coats of paint, went to  Joannes and shopped for material.  You will be amazed at how many kinds of "cat themed" materials there are.  I finally found the perfect one.  Keep in mind my son and his wife are both school teachers, so I found a pale green (remember living room wall color) with cats, and pencils and words like math, science, etc.  I thought that was perfect;  at this point they could still refuse the table, but I figured I'd find a teacher somewhere who wanted a table for her cat. I bought 2 yards of this material and when finished, still have a good piece left.  I could put in curtains. I measured the inside walls (5) and they were 11 inches wide each and 16 inches tall.  So I cut the material 55plus 2 (for overlap if needed)   x 16.5.  I had already painted inside the cat house in case no one wanted it covered or if cat ruins it.  Then I got table on counter so I could get into the table easier.  I started stapling it, stretching, staple, stretch, at the top all the way around the inside of the table.  It was so easy!!  It fit so well, and where it was too long because of what I had added, I turned it under for a nice edge.  After I had the top all stapled then I pulled it down taut and started stapling the bottom, making little waves so it looks like drapes rather than smooth and straight. Then I cut a piece of the cloth for the bottom and turned it under at the doorway and stapled it down all the way around.   After that I took a pillow form I had bought at Joannes and covered it with the same material.  I just hand stitched it together.  It fit in there perfectly.  So this kitty King Simba will have a nice soft bed.  I also bought a ceramic rectangle and painted it and press on letters at Michaels to make a name for the bed.  I was going to put it under the edge of the opening, but if I did, kitty might not get in without hitting it.  So I'm just going to give them the name plate and they can do with it what they want.

Cute kitty material, "teacher or school themed".  Its sort of a flannel.



The too large name plate

The final cat house before trim on edges.

After I finished with the interior, my son, Jeff came over to cut my wood trim I had bought at Home Depot to cover the edge of the table top as it was rough and unprofessional looking, and around the opening of the interior.  I didn't cut it myself because my miter box doesn't have a 30 degree cut.  (360 degrees divided by 6 is 60, half a 60 is 30 so that's the cut you need for your miter cut.)  Jeff had my electric miter saw that you can set for any angle, as he just finished laying laminate in a almost 4000 sq ft home.  So he came over and in about 15 minutes had all the cuts made, and nailed  the trim on with my nail gun; he even caulked the trim so it is seamless.    Then I painted it with two coats of white exterior paint, (I had already brushed on 2 coats also before he cut the 2 8' pieces) and while I did that, I put two more coats on the whole table.  I imagine by that time I had 7 coats of various paints on it; but if it gets hit, it is now less likely to chip.


The final step was covering it with Rustoleum clear gloss for further shine and protection.  I really loaded it on the top.  And who knows, before Sunday when they come to get it, I might add another layer on the top.  I don't think you can ever get too much on a surface that might someday have cups setting on it.  And the good news:  They loved it and want it. 

Final, see that trim.  Doesn't that add a professional touch?

Can you see gloss, shine?  Do you think King Simba will enjoy this bed?

But further good news, I found 2 more tables just like it at the Restore, and I may go back and buy them, and do two more tables as I have almost a full gallon of exterior paint left, and coupons galore from Joannes for material, and I just might be able to sell these tables for a little spending $$$.

Ode to My Staircase.

Howdy!  Judy writing again today.  Poor Tera has sick children and just hasn't been able to get on and write.  Hope you aren't tired of me.


I bought a house in 2003 after a divorce in an attempt to help my kids start over without all their memories blasting them every day at home.  I let them pick the house, and I ended up with a 4 bedroom 2 story, built in 1960 and added on to (the upstairs and huge den) in 1966.  At that same time they added a BOMB SHELTER.  Over the bomb shelter the man built a workshop; which I have turned into a library/office. 


One distinctive thing about the house was the maroon/red carpet, which was old but very, very thick, soft and cushy.  It also hid a ton of living.  With 3 teenage boys, I needed that.  Even though I am NOT a red person and hated the carpet, I never spend money unless I have to, so I decided to live with the majority of the carpet until such time as it showed wear.  I had some removed in the formal dining room and uncovered gorgeous original wood floors, which I had rejuvenated by a super guy who rented from me (that was before I started doing that myself, I was teaching school then).  I loved it so much I had him pull the carpet up in the small living room, but oops, found plywood, not original wood floors.  So I shopped and found the closest thing I could to the original in the dining room and had it put down.  I left the red carpet in 3 of the 4 bedrooms (later changing one to blue) and the large den and hallway and staircase.  Boy that red carpet held up so well on that staircase, all the running up and down those boys did, and then 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter came and it still held up. 


Red carpet in den, probably 25 years old.

See how the carpet was rolled over the sidewall

Previous picture had grandson and this is granddaughter looking at  me back in the day when she played with her baby toys. 

I remarried in 2005 and my new husband believe it or not had the same carpet in his house, and he was sick and tired of red carpet, and for the next 9 years he talked a lot about changing that carpet.  So finally in October, 2014, I did get new textured carpet in the large den and the staircase, after we pulled down the popcorn and retextured the ceiling and the wall of the staircase and covered a brick wall with sheetrock.  The den really looks larger and brighter now with the gray carpet. 

 

This is the newer wood I had put down to match original in dining room.
 

The staircase presented a real problem though.  I've never seen this before, but the carpet on the stairs wrapped around the edge of the stairs onto the sides of the wood trim.  When the carpet guys pulled the red carpet off they didn't roll it but left the stained, beat up sides with lots and lots of staples left in it.  It was a mess.  But I was busy with other things, and left it like that for a year.  When I returned from San Antonio and flipping a house in Converse, a suburb of San Antonio, in October, 2015, I decided it was time to fix the sides of the staircase.

The first thing I had to do was remove all the staples, which still had some of the carpet under them.  When I pulled the staples out, chunks of the wood came with it, so then I had a beat up sidewall besides staple holes.

  So I got some wood filler and coated the sidewall and left it to dry all night. The next day I sanded lightly with my palm sander the sidewall to make the surface even.  Smoother but still butt ugly.

Please note that I do cover carpet where I'm working with drop cloths.
 

 I could tell the worse parts on edges would always show, so I went to Home Depot and bought some wood trim we sometimes use for shims, and with a hand saw and my miter box on the kitchen counter, and my measuring tape, I started measuring and cutting the trim to wrap the edge of the sidewall from where the carpet ended.  Zig zag, zig zag was the pattern.  I used my nailgun to fasten the trim to the sidewall.

After I finished the trim, I then got out my trusty can of semi gloss white paint and painted the trim (which was already primed) and the sidewall.  In the end I put on 3 coats because all those wood chunks, filled, and bumps in the wood itself took a lot of paint to cover.

After I got my new white sidewall, it still lacked something; so I went to Michaels and found some wood medallion pieces.  I glued those on with gorilla glue and painted them white too, and I really, really like the sidewall now.  It has a Victorian flare to it.  I've had a lot of compliments. 

Now that I've lived with it for 11 months, I feel that the spindles on the railing need to be painted white too, but I dread doing that with the new carpet there.  Plus I'd want to leave the handrail top and the big post the shiny MinWax stain; but that may look weird, but it ties it into the 1960's brown paneling in the large den with the big Spanish door.  Yes, one day that will be my next project, but believe it or not my hubby loves wood paneling. 


Most women never think about adding wood trim to things to dress it up and if they do they think they need a man.  LADIES, it is easy to use a hand saw and cut through thin trim pieces, and with a miter box with has slots for the angle where sides meet which costs about $8, it really is easy.  If you are wondering what I mean by miter cut, look over your interior doorway trim and see where the top and sides meet at the top, and you'll see the wood cut in a 45 degree slant.  That's a miter cut. 


So if you think I should paint the spindles, let me know.  If you think NOT, let me know that too.  Sometimes I think the stain is rich, but other times I think how it would look more "today" if they were white.