The Deconstruction: Faux Eames Reupholstered

We picked up two of these faux Eames lounge chairs off of craigslist a few years back and we've finally re-upholstered one of them. Here you can see how faded the fabric was and the ripped arm rest. The cushion was also non-existent. So we took the whole thing apart and refinished the wood, added new foam, buttons and fabric. 

Dressing Up a Campaign Dresser

We picked up this campaign dresser awhile back off of craigslist for my wife to use as her new vanity in our guest room/dressing room. The dresser was it pretty good shape it just need a a little sanding and wood putty on the banged up corners. There was also one missing brass bracket, so we picked one up on ebay (it was harder to find than I had expected). We cleaned off the hardware and gave it a fresh coat with brass colored paint. I think the brass hardware looks great, especially against the new white finish. 

BEFORE:

Organization, Light Demo and the Find

Now that the renovation is days away we needed to get organized. We started by moving everything we could into the utility/boiler room. As you can see, we crammed in quite a bit of stuff into the small 13' by 10' room.



Then we started on the light demo. Removing as much as I could without moving the existing electrical. This wall is coming down to make room for the future shower and the closet will be transformed into a proper closet re-framed out and adding a light and a door.

Drawings Approved, Permit in Hand

Well I went into the permit office this week and walked out with a permit. I showed up super early and was the first inline. You would think that would mean that I would be the first to meet with someone. It’s just like the DMV, I received my ticket and waited for my number to be called, but everyone else seemed to be getting called ahead of me. After a few questions back at the reception desk I was given a new number. This time I’m waiting in front of the DDOE station window and I see the guy moving papers around, sharpening his pencils, tapping away at his computer, but not calling my number. After staring at him for almost 15 minutes (keep in mind I’ve already been waiting for 40 minutes with a number and another 30 minutes before the place opened). Finally, I hear my number and I sit down with the guy and explain what I’m trying to do and show him my drawings. He starts asking me questions about the forms I was given as if he’s never seen them before. For example he says to me “what do you think an ‘existing dwell units’ means?” I say it’s a single family home, so it’s 1 unit. He says “you don’t think it means the number of bedrooms?” I mean isn’t this your job? So then he starts drawing all over my drawing (thankfully I brought a bunch of extras in addition to the 4 sets I need to get stamped and signed). After 15 minutes of this he finally realizes that I’m the homeowner and not a contractor and suggests that I talk to someone in the Homeowner’s Center where they are more helpful. At this point I’m a bit frustrated that I wasn’t directed here in the first place since that’s exactly who I asked to speak with, but I’m just glad I’m headed in the right

The Homeowner’s Center is a breath of fresh air. The guy here is straight forward and just asks me to show him my materials and what I’m trying to do. He tells me to go wait in the lobby and he’ll have everything in order in a few minutes. 5 minutes later he hands me a receipt and say go pay this and when you come back ill have your permit ready. Sure enough, 10 minutes later I have my permit in my hand and jumping for joy.

The next thing I do is call my contractor and send him the approved drawings and our detailed work items. We're ready to move forward. Next up, we need to get a revised quote and sign on the dotted line. Then the contractor needs to get the plumbing and electrical permits (they don't give those the regular folks like me).

Detailed Work Items

The Plan: Basement Renovation

We are endeavoring on a major renovation project that is beyond our capabilities, so we have found a contractor to help us renovate our unfinished basement. The plan is to clean out the basement (currently our catch all storage area) so we can add a full bathroom, a few closets, and a new living room. In an attempt to save money on this project we are planning on acting as the project manager and have decided to handle the designs and permit process ourselves. Wish us luck.

We haven’t signed a contract yet with the contractor, we’re waiting for the permits to be finalized so we can them included in the SOW. The hope is next week I can go back into the permit office and pay some exorbitant fees and walk away with a beautiful permit, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

Mid-Century Hi-Fi Restored

We picked up this old mid century hi-fi stand awhile back, but it needed a fair amount of work. There were a lot of blemishes on the wood and the previous owner started drilling holes in the white support pieces trying to remove them (I assume they didn't have a saw). So we cleaned it up and patched the holes and added some additional support . Then we stripped it down and refinished it

BEFORE:


More photos after the jump

Re-Upholstered Erik Buch Chairs

We bought a gate-leg table a few years back and refinished it, but the chairs still needed to be reupholstered.  As you can see the fabric had a number of stains, their previous life was in the former owner's basement as a kids arts and crafts table. We took the chairs to Modern Chair Restoration up in Catonsville, MD. We saw a post on their blog detailing a re-upholstery job of our same Erik Buch chairs. Katherine did a fantastic job and even gave us some great tips on how to re-upholster faux Eams lounge chairs (we just finished one and it turned out great, the posts are in the works).

BEFORE: