Vintage Reclaimed Rules!

While all of the kitchen reno and vintage shopping has been going on, I’ve been working on quite a few projects at home in the few stolen moments I have available. This week’s project: Vintage Reclaimed Ruler Side Table-my new favorite piece!!         Gotta give Coach credit where credit is due. Once I mention that I have something in mind to try to create, he goes all out to find me the proper materials at his yard and estate sales. Little old side table? $3.

Vintage rulers? Not free, but he’s been collecting them for awhile and stands at about 50 & counting!

What I love about these rulers are that they originated from old and defunct local businesses, many of them with original phone numbers-no area codes! Brings a little nostalgia to the piece. How sweet is “Make It Your Rule To Graduate From School??”

So, with Lisa from RitaJosVintage’s assistance, we created this cute little reclaimed side table using nothing more than some paint and varnish, wood glue, a brad nailer, painter’s tape and of course, rulers-some for actually measuring and the remainder for decoration (some Coach wouldn’t even allow us to cut because they were too vintage!) Here is the how-we-did-it: Cleaned the table and of course, noted the large crack in the top.

That was repaired with some wood glue and a couple of nails. It wasn’t going to be visible so no need for fanciness, just security. I painted the table with two coats of this awesome new chalky paint from DecoArt called Americana Chalky Finish that I bought at Michaels (with a coupon, of course : )

This deep graphite gray color is called Relic, which fits in nicely with the piece, don’t you agree? After the paint dried, I sanded it with a damp sponge sander.

I have discovered with this paint that since it is quite chalky, dry sanding results in a very fine dusting of the adjacent surfaces, but the wet sander smoothes the surface and removes the edges cleanly.

I attempted to remove the drawer pull to clean and polish it, but it was fastened in a way that it just kept twirling around but would not budge. So, I did the next best thing: painted it, then sanded it. Gives it an antique, finished look.

For the top, we decided on a design based on an old  “Log Cabin Quilt” pattern, one of my favorites. We measured the first length, then cut it and taped it into place. Then repeatedly cut and taped until the entire top was covered.

You know, I gotta say, its a lot easier when someone else is doing the cutting and I am photographing them-thanks Lisa! (So, what’s wrong with this picture?? Lisa is not wearing goggles or glasses-my bad! That is a big no-no when using power tools. After all, if you damage your eyes while using power tools, then you won’t be able to see to use power tools any more. Don’t do this at home!!)

Once the top was completed, we lifted each piece as we went along, added the wood glue and then resecured the piece,

then waited until the glue was dry (which was pretty quick because it was about 95 degrees that day!). After that, the tape was removed

and the edges were sanded to smooth out any imperfections or uneven edges.

Then we secured all of the pieces using a brad nailer. This is the mini version of a nail gun, shoots both staples and tiny little finish nails that you can barely see.

At this point we stopped for the day, as the sun was setting, as evidenced by the blue hue of daylight. Not safe to work in the darkness!

The next day, I added two coats of this Americana Decor Ultra-Matte Varnish from DecoArt

to finish the entire piece, including the top (which I had initially glazed to enhance the colors of the different woods of the yardsticks, but then decided I wanted it to have a matte finish as well). This stuff is simple to use, brush it on, allow to dry, no buffing needed. It leaves a slightly textured, very matte finish that works perfectly on pieces where you want to accent the color but not add any shine. After all, this is a relic, right?

It stands now in my dining room with some simple staging.

A sweet salvaged side table that works as both a decorative piece and a handy tool (how many times do you go looking for a ruler to measure something and can’t find one?! Now it will be at your fingertips-as long as you only need to measure 12 inches or less : ) I hope your Friday rules, everyone-TGIF!! Susan