Blog Archives

Before and After: A Year of Fun Projects

12/26/2016

As the year winds down to a close, I've been flipping through all the projects I've done and realizing that it's been a great year for repairs that are both beautiful and functional. Here's my pick of the three best before-and-after projects of 2016.

Rebuilding a Really Rotten Railing

This railing rotted away from the inside because the original builder didn't use pressure-treated lumber. It looked solid until I touched it with my chisel... then it fell apart! I rebuilt it with water-resistant materials for a truly solid and lasting stair railing.

Before

After

Tori's Built-In Bookshelves

Noted author Tori Hartman moved to Montford and needed shelving around her fireplace. I installed custom shelving which complemented the room beautifully.

Before

After

Here it is after she styled it:

A Light, Bright Office Update

The Griffin Agency moved into a new office in an historic building in downtown Asheville, and they needed a fresh coat of paint to brighten up the place:

Before

The transformation was somewhat heightened by my new camera.

After

In addition to interior painting, I also installed a new kitchenette which fit right into the decorative scheme of their office:

Before

After

Does your New Year's list include a resolution to get those small home repair projects done? If so, give me a call. I'll be glad to help you go from boring "before" to amazing "after."

Let's get started!

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A Perfect Porch, Plus an Instant Potting Shed

12/22/2016

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You've probably dreamed about having a "vine covered cottage," but this winter one of my clients took the first step to making it happen: she had me install some good, sturdy lattice.

Here's the "before" picture so you can see where we started.

This home in Montford has a big back porch with white stairs that wind down into the yard. It's beautiful architecture, but the skimpy lattice under the stairs left the "potting shed" area underneath exposed. I installed all new lattice to wrap around the stairs...

...which gives it a much more solid look. She'll still have lattice to support her flowering bushes, but now it also hides the potting bench. This makes a more private shed to putter around in on a Sunday afternoon:

Call the decorating magazines! This place is crying out for a few casually draped gloves and a pot of geraniums.

Decorative touches aside, I also had some more practical work to do: repairing and repainting the porch floor.

(Click any of those pictures to enlarge.)

I make it look easy, but the porch floor repair was actually something of a challenge. The biggest challenge was getting a day that was warm and dry enough to paint the new boards. Fortunately living in Asheville is right next door to living in Paradise, so even in winter there's usually a good day if you time it right.

If you have a porch or railing in need of repair, please give me a call. I really enjoy work like this, so I'd be glad to help.

Yes, I want a perfect porch!

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How to Save a Sofa (with a Rustic Touch)

12/13/2016

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It was the talk of the dinner party: how could she save this sofa?

My client Suzanne had a beautiful old red settee which had belonged to her grandmother. Unfortunately the legs were falling off, and she was afraid to let anyone sit on it. She couldn't let it go, but she couldn't use it. What to do?

She was talking it over with her dinner guests one evening when suddenly the idea popped into her head: why not replace the legs completely? Then she remembered the Rustic Industrial Hutch which I recently built for her, and the inspiration was complete.

We had a great time working on this project together, and since Suzanne was there to help me out, I got lots of pictures. Here's how we did it.

We started by flipping the sofa over and cutting off the legs. I just used a simple Sawz-All for this step.

I was very careful not to cut into the fabric, since Suzanne didn't want to have to reupholster the settee.

The cut was flush with the bottom of the settee. This step was quick and easy.

The next step was to cut a set of plywood gussets and screw them to the corners on the bottom of the sofa. These would serve as sturdy attachment points for the new legs.

Here's a photo showing a gusset attached, along with the upper flange of the new leg so you can see how it will all connect. As you can see, I painted the edges of the new plywood corners with dark gray paint so they would blend in.

Each leg is made from plumbing parts: two flanges and a pre-threaded length of blackpipe. I bought these pieces as-is from the local hardware store and simply twisted the flanges onto the pipe.

We also added felt pads to the bottoms so the legs wouldn't scratch the floor.

This was a very rewarding project for such a minimal investment of hardware.

If you've got a simple furniture repair that can be done onsite, I'll be glad to discuss it with you. Give me a call today to get started.

Get Your Project Done

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Pretty Organized

12/6/2016

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My wife really likes this project.

One of my clients had a somewhat small guest bedroom in serious need of shelving. She had a set of beautiful, ornate shelf brackets, plus a small vanity chair, which gave her the vision to add a set of shelves on either side of the brick chimney in her historic home.

Here is a before-and-after of the shelving installation.

My client liked the new shelves so much that she immediately styled them, so I took a glamor photo:

It's not your imagination: the chimney leans to one side.

The formerly cluttered guest room now has a dressing table and a place for books. I guess I can see why my wife likes this project.

As an added bonus, I did a little minor onsite furniture repair to that chair: