Botched carpentry and a plate rack makeover... ~ Interior Design Trend 2014

I've been tinkering with my new plate rack and I figured it might be time for another carpentry masterclass. Or, how not to do things as the case may be...

This was my inspiration:

Found on Pinterest (Vintage House blog)

Whaddya know? It's a Swedish blog! No wonder it's so gorgeous.

What I loved about the first plate rack I found on eBay is the wooden rails to keep the plates from falling off, for example if your dining room is small and your guests leap up in a hurry, forgetting what's behind them on the wall. To spare those guests from the embarrassment of smashing all the china, a rail is a good idea.


The too small plate rack.

But nothing fit on this one. So onto the next plate rack, very much larger but without the clever rail.

It's a disaster just waiting to happen.

So... here's how I added a rail to the new plate rack. I bought some wooden dowel. I winged it on the size but it would look good to have the dowel the same thickness as your shelves. Luckily mine was.

I measured (VERY carefully this time) and made sure my things would squeeze behind the rail. I used a Spade bit which has a nice pointy middle so you can be spot on with your hole drilling.

As my dowel was 18mm wide, I went for the 18mm spade bit. I asked the man in the DIY shop if that was right.
Well it wasn't right. I had to spend 15 minutes sanding the inside of each hole so that the damn dowel would go in.

When you use a spade bit the top side of the wood is lovely.

The bottom side gets all splintered. I don't care. This is being painted and that's what wood filler is for.

bottom side

Hooray, the dowel fits! Eventually.
I cut the dowel 5mm shorter than it needed to be so that I didn't have bits poking out due to inaccurate measuring/rubbish sawing. The recess was filled so it would be smooth.

I also needed to add a small lip to the shelf to prevent plates from slipping through. Oh yeah. My plates aren't going anywhere! There's a groove for plates to sit in but it's in the wrong place for really fat plates. And I'm thinking of displaying something other than plates on this. And they are fat.

So I took a piece of moulding. It's a bit of pine glass beading. So I popped this on with wood glue and thin panel pins. When using thin beading, the thinnest panel pins are the best. The thicker ones can split the beading. I've made this mistake before with my panelled doors.

old plate groove and new pine lip in front

Caulking the joins is the most important next step. If you don't do this you'll get cracks in your paint along every join. I've made this mistake too.

I'm a firm believer in just doing things and learning along the way! I think you remember by making mistakes. I do anyway!

Speaking of mistakes, I also treated this plate rack for woodworm. Often if you buy things with evidence of woodworm, the seller will tell you they have been treated. Never take their word for it. I bought my reproduction French bed from a 'reputable dealer' ( let's just say they are a French furniture dealer in York with a showroom in London also) who assured me it was treated. Well, it certainly wasn't! You need to sort this sort of thing out well before you paint a piece.

I treated this one, went away for a week, and painted it with chalk paint. Grease marks from the oily woodworm treatment showed through the paint. It takes a long time for that woodworm killer to dry out! As I was in a hurry, I just went over it all in a stain stopping paint. Not ideal.

Eew!

I used Polycell Stain Stop

and it was awesome. Just one coat and no more oil marks. (This is not a sponsored post.)

So, FINALLY time to paint!

I did a bog standard two colours of emulsion, sanding one back so the underneath colour showed through. And I thought I should perhaps try some Swedish embellishment. I turned to my furniture painting books and realised I'd made a bit of a booboo.

You know I like everything as pale as can be? Well it seems that in Sweden, this look is to be found in the 'fancy furniture.'


Posh stuff

I can't do 'posh' in this house as the ceilings are too low. So what I had to work with was more 'chunky country pine', more of a 'folk' vibe.

But all the pictures I found of that kind of thing are incredibly colourfull!

Oh dear, we can't have that!
Fortunately my Swedish dining room is a 'fantasy' Swedish dining room so I'm allowed to break the rules.
I've gone for a hybrid version.
Folky painting with pale colours.

I turned once again to the best painted furniture book ever written...

and found a design I liked.

I was worried it was a bit twee but now it's up, it's so small that I don't think it matters...

The problem I have now, is what to display on here. Are you ready for the big reveal?

The before: