Tuesday, October 29, 2013

TV Cabinet made from reclaimed floorboards


A few weeks ago I went for a morning walk with my girl and dog and we walked past a big TV cabinet on the footpath in our next street. It was council clean up and the owners had obviously put it out early hoping someone would come and get it.


It looked sad sitting there all day and when the garbage trucks started rumbling down our street I decided I could not see it get thrown into the compactor so I jumped in the car and drove round the corner. I was standing there wondering how I was going to get it into the car by myself when the original owners and the neighbours came out to help me.  They all knew who I was from the seeing me painting in our carport and the owner said "Oh I was hoping you'd come by!"

I think I'm getting a reputation!

The owner told me it is made from reclaimed floorboards out of a house in Balmain. The boards on the top are lovely - full of character.



I gave the TV cabinet a very good clean and sand when I got it home and then 2 coats of ASCP French Linen. I wanted to be able to see some of the timber boards through the paint on the top surface so I watered down the paint a little.


I don't always paint inside cabinets but the pine was so ORANGE that I wanted to cover it all. I checked my colour wheel and realised that red is a good contrasting colour to ASCP French Linen and I still had some Miss Mustard Seed Paint in Tricycle so I mixed 3 tablespoons of that up and it was enough for 2 coats inside the cabinet and the drawers. I love the overall effect.



The cabinet is for sale at a great price as I was given the cabinet and am only charging for my paint and time.

In other, halloween-ish, news, a crow fell into our back yard on the weekend. Just dropped out of the sky. Indian minors were attacking it. It couldn't walk or fly and we really thought it was going to die. I was all wow that's my halloween decorating sorted! No seriously we placed the poor bird in a box and my daughter lay some flowers around him and wtrote a cute poem and we expected him to not survive the night. But this morning his eyes were open and he is much better this afternoon. He still can't fly far but can now eat and drink. Luckily my best friend does lots of rescue work for WIRES and has been advising me. There is another crow circling our house and crying since 3pm yesterday. A mate or child? It's heartbreaking. 

Sunday afternoon

Monday afternoon
Hopefully he'll be able to join his mate soon.

I thought you also might like to see a piece I'm working on. A huge oak cabinet for a customer who wants it white. 

It was damaged in a fire so I've got my work cut out to do some repairs as well as paint.


Do you decorate for Halloween? Ever had a bird drop out of the sky and land at your feet. That's very halloween!!

have a great day
Fiona xx


sharing at 
Perfectly imperfect

14 comments:

  1. love this so much- the pop of color inside is awesome!

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    1. thanks Cassie - I wasn't going to bother at first but definitely had to cover up all that orange pine

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  2. Awful story but I found a dead crow in our yard once... headless (??????) There were lots of crows in the trees around calling for the rest of the day, that was what made me go outside to see what was going on to start with, there was so much noise. I think they are very social birds with strong relationships.

    Love the red!
    Rosemary

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    1. Yes I think I read that they mate for life. The other crow was absolutely distraught.

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  3. Looks very nice love the pop of colour ...I wish that oak cupboard was mine oh well you can dream-love dee x

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    1. Thanks Dee, I love the red inside, slowly getting through my emails. Still owe you one from last night. Hope you are ok.

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  4. love that TV cabinet Fiona, what a great find...next time tell your neighbours to drop it off at your place instead of put it on the street lol...better still do a leaflet drop in your area ;) The only furniture left in my street today was a laminate desk and the guy across the road just came home with it, lol.

    Looking forward to seeing what you do with the oak cabinet...

    You are braver than me rescuing a bird, I'm scared of them. There were two flying round inside the chemist shop the other day, it was awful!

    No we don't decorate for or celebrate (?) Halloween, it is too American and commercialised for me. Trick or treating seems to be getting bigger here and I won't let my kids do it - I'm not following the masses on this one, for my own good reasons. My kids whinge and don't get it when they see others doing it but I really don't care. I'm the mother :) Each to their own though!

    My blog reading has gone down lots lately because I am sick to death of seeing decorated pumpkins and 'fall decor' too...Think I need to find more local blogs...any suggestions gratefully accepted!

    xx Karen

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    1. Hi Karen
      Laughing about the laminate desk! Wonder what your neighbour will do with it.
      Finished the oak cabinet tonight - she just wanted it white and distressed. It was huge but relatively easy to paint. (just not move) but she’s hired a removalist to take it home. Costing her a fortune but I said I couldn’t help her move it back to her house – had to hire a van to get it to my place.

      Mr Crow was must better and we let him fly away yesterday – he flew straight to the other crow, who must have been his mate, it was beautiful. Not scared at all especially when he was so helpless.

      We have guitar lessons tomorrow so not trick or treating – although kids said they are dressing up for the afternoon and I’msure they’ll walk up and down our street at some time. It’s huge in the inner west and very community based. I never mind as my kids don’t eat hardly any lollies – jonty is too fussy!
      Have a good week
      Fiona x

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  5. Good job rescuing the TV stand (love the red interior!) and the crow! Crows are so smart, but many people have a grudge against them, so they miss out on some compassion...

    I hope you will detail a little on how you dealt with the burned wood once you complete your client's cabinet - I will definitely be watching for it's rescue!

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    1. Thanks Angela, I’ll definitely blog about the oak cabinet rescue.

      I read that crows can recognise human faces so I hope that our crow remembers us and our kindness! He was released yesterday and flew straight to his mate.
      Cheers Fiona

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  6. another fine job on the cabinet....do you think someone harmed the bird on purpose as crows aren't exactly popular birds...some people are like that! hope not....
    that last dresser looks beautiful with lovely detail.
    have a lovely week
    Bec x

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    1. Thanks for that Bec, I don’t think the crow was harmed by any one. We live under a huge gum tree and I think it fell form it. It had been harassed by Indian minors so perhaps it lost it’s bearings.

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  7. I love the TV cabinet, we measured but unfortunately too high under our already wall mounted TV. As for Halloween, I agree with the comment it's not for us either . However, I have a bowl of sweet tiny mandarins so if any children come to the door (would never have let mine), I was thinking I could texta on a pumpkin face and hand those out- healthy any
    way.

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    1. oh Sandra thanks so much re the tv cabinet. (yes it's high). the scary mandarins sound fabulous!

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