Project Sneak-Peaks and a Project Revisit

I have a few projects currently on the go, and I had hoped that I would have at least one finished to share with our readers today. I worked so hard, but couldn’t get anything finished!!

I can share sneak peaks of two of my projects, though…

A couple of weekends ago I had Brian pull up one of the three cedar trunks I saved when we had our mega-tree removed. It was a large and attractive tree, but it was also old and – according to the arbourist we consulted – “not a good specimen”. Plus, the tree’s roots were going to make the building of our new front steps extremely difficult!! We removed the tree back in July 2009 and I’ve had these three stumps waiting for me to work magic on ever since!!

What do I have planned for these stumps? Take a look at this post and, if you read past the tree-removal photos, you’ll see all about it!! Yep… I’m making stump tables!

Brian plunked this particular trunk in the centre of our living room, I pulled together my tools and got to work de-barking it. It’s SO neat to see… the stump has both chain saw slices in it (see in the photo above) and spike marks from the tree-remover’s boot spikes. I’m excited about incorporating these “blemishes” into the finished product and I know it’ll look FAB!

Even though the stump had many months to dry… there was…

lots of sap!

Now I have a very cool-looking stump without bark that needs to be sanded and then urethaned (or some such thing). I wanted to work on this stump last weekend but sewed pillows instead… and I posted all about THAT project last Monday! :-)  I wanted to sand the stump this weekend, but it rained on Saturday!!

So… instead… I got started on another project. Well… okay… truthfully? What I really did was pick up a project that had been left waiting for me for more months then I care to count. Does this sound like a pattern with me? Oh ya!!

If you’re a regular reader of DesignTies you’ll know that back in January I attempted to FINALLY start the sewing of my dining room drapes… and at that time I promised to stick to it and finish them within a few weeks. I got a little done, but I DID NOT come close to finished!!

This last Saturday, because the rain kept me from working outside on my stump table, I decided to finish my drapery… and I’m almost done!! WooHoo!! But not done enough to share the end results with you today. I’m sorry!! Very, very soon… I promise! I’m very happy with the results so far… but let me tell you, it’s HARD to make drapes without a work table… especially when my living room floor had to do duty as my work table… working on my hands and knees is not fun!

But that’s all I can share about these two projects… I said a sneak peak, didn’t I?! You’ll just have to keep DesignTies on your blogroll and come back later to see how everything turned out!! ;-)

But since I’m participating in Between Naps on the Porch’s phenomenal blog party Metamorphosis Monday, I’d better show you a transformation hadn’t I?! The last thing I want to do is break Susan’s rules!! HaHa!

Take a look at this…

My client Kate’s fireplace before I got my hands on it…

And after:

The entire fireplace – all 17 feet of it – was wrapped in fir, and stained in a dark brown/black. For visual interest, and to cover the joins in the wood, I had stainless steel strips added. A very contemporary look for Kate’s fabulous loft!! I need to head back to Kate’s place, style the room and have professional photos taken… THAT would be great, hey?

Thanks for dropping by DesignTies… and thanks to Susan for hosting Metamorphosis Mondays. Come see Kelly and I again soon! And be sure to head back to the blog party at Between Naps on the Porch; there are many more transformations to see!!