Working on Stripping 1940s Oak(?) Floors

Hello all!
In the last year, we have purchased a home, and our goal is to rehab as much as we can by ourselves. At the moment, the majority of our projects are a work in progress (we want to have lives, too!) and our goal is to have a couple of them completed by the beginning of May.

I wanted to document some of these projects in hopes to help some people considering we all don't have Pinterest-Perfect Homes! And I do want to let you know that these are all works-in-progress. I am learning everyday, and I hope you will bear with me in this process!

At the moment, we are working on our oddly shaped attic/upstairs area. To start off, this area was used as an upstairs bedroom for the previous owners. Our goal is to try and make it an upstairs TV / living room. Here are some photos.

Looking towards the front of the house

As you can see, the area towards the front was carpeted, which we ripped out because we uncovered hardwood floor underneath. UNFORTUNATELY, someone decided to cut into the wood to drop in drywall and make a wall. I have no idea when this happened or why they decided to go that route, but we were pretty miffed by that discovery. You can see part in the images below.

Keeping positive, the hardwood floors were in above average condition. There was a generous amount of polyurethane on it (not to mention paint splatter and scratches spread throughout) which made us want to strip it. I know, if it's not broken, don't fix it...but I couldn't help myself (and neither could my fiance haha.)

I looked into getting it professionally sanded. The average quote was about $1.95/Square Foot (and that's JUST sanding - no staining involved.) Considering I'm a DIY-er, I wasn't going to go that route.

I was going to rent a sander myself, but I was scared away by people saying that I could essentially sand a hole in the floor, and I definitely didn't want that! I was then suggested to use a wood-stripper. I started this project last night, and I used some stripper that I had - Crown Tuff-Strip - but I think moving forward I will be using Citri-Strip (have not tried it yet, but I will post my review in a future blog.)

Using the chemicals in a closed area kind of scares me. I know my best route is to sand it, I want to increase the longevity of these floors, not file it down to nothing!

I put about 2 coats on last night of the Tuff-Strip, scraped it off, and then used sandpaper to get the excess out of the grooves, and I think it's looking pretty good so far!

***PLEASE NOTE, you should be using mineral spirits to remove the excess stripper off, which is what I will be doing moving forward. Also, I am not a flooring expert, but I wanted to share my testimony considering I have not found much about the subject. I have found one post that you should read before jumping into this yourself: How to Chemically Strip Hardwood Floors.***

Lastly, I BELIEVE that these are Oak Floors. They are Tongue and Groove, so I also believe that they are original to the house, which was built in 1942. If anyone has anything different to tell me, PLEASE let me know! I love learning about all of this stuff :). 

The Gussy Owl on Old Clothing

Let me start off by telling you a little fact. Did you know the average American disposes 68 pounds of clothing a year- as of today, May 16th, there are 315,866,240 people in the United States. Lets do some simple math: 68 x 315,866,240= 21,478,904,320 pounds of disposed clothing each and every year.

This doesn't even include the clothing we are re-using, donating or handing down.
Pretty daunting, huh?

People don't think of their clothing being an environmental risk- they couldn't be more wrong!

Different fabrics have different impacts, depending on what they’re made of:
Courtesy of Green Choices
Nylon and Polyester:
They are synthetic material and are NON-biodegradable. Nylon is 310 times stronger than carbon dioxide.

Rayon:
Another synthetic material that was created from wood pulp. Sounds green, right? Well, the wood pulp needs to be treated with hazardous chemicals such as sulphuric avid to be created.

Cotton:
Did you know cotton is the most pesticide intensive crop in the world? These pesticides injure and kill many people every year. It also takes up a large proportion of agricultural land, much of which is needed by local people to grow their own food. Herbicides, and also the chemical defoliants which are sometimes used to aid mechanical cotton harvesting, add to the toll on both the environment and human health. These chemicals typically remain in the fabric after finishing, and are released during the lifetime of the garments. The development of genetically modified cotton adds environmental problems at another level. Organic cotton is quite another matter.

We need to all try to obtain at least 25% of our clothing second-hand or upcycle our current clothing into something further useful. I will be honest, I didn't realize the impact on our clothing. I thought it would just decompose and it would reincarnate into another shirt or pair of pants!

Upcycling an Old Mirror using LOTS of Elbow Grease!

So yesterday I was itching to work on something new! I stumbled upon the beautifully horrific VELVET mirror.

It was haggard, dirty, gross! The brass detailing is what stood out, and frankly I think is gorgeous!

The key to good upcycling is good structure, if it can be converted into something modern and in style, and if it could last for many years to come.

So, I thought when I bought this piece that there would be some dated wood underneath or something somewhat pretty- turns out it was this odd manufactured wood. I tried staining it, sanding it but it just soaked the mahogany stain I used, and it looked so flat and boring!

I then tried to paint it- nope! Didn't like it!! So I was thinking some sort of fabric- everything I had on hand was extremely busy (I didn't want to take away from the brass part!) so I decided to use some duck canvas on the front and regular cotton on the back :) I used Elmer's spray glue, you can find it at any craft store, and a hot glue gun.

I then spray painted the brass frame and antiqued it with some sand paper to freshen it up a little bit!

Voila! I think this would go PERFECT for a baby's room, little girls room, a chic college girls dorm, or anyone who is with 2013 and respects the color of coral! :) I for one hope it stays in style for many years to come! It's such an airy accent color that can enhance a rooms appeal and style.

Upcycling an Old Picture Frame

I among many people use Pinterest to find inspiration for Christmas gifts, around the house projects and just because projects. From all of these ideas, I came up with one on my own! (unless my subconscious saw it somewhere else- then that's a bummer!)

Basically I'm turning an old picture frame into a memo station/ coat hanger

What you'll need for this project is
A picture frame
A canvas to fit into the frame
Spray paint- be creative on what you choose! I chose navy and cream
Hanger hooks- I got three
Clothes pins - the ones with the metal
Push pins ( the ones that v out to open and close easily)

This frame would have cost an arm and a leg if I got it made (not to mention it's better to save some trees and find a used one.) So I just found one at Salvation Army. I sanded the frame, including the divets so the spray paint would take.

I spray painted the canvas and frame, hanger hooks and clothespins to make everything look cohesive.

I then glued the clothespins with heavy duty Elmer's Glue-All Max- definitely don't need a ton and it did the job quite well :)

I then measured where the hangers should go, so I used a ruled and permanent marker to make points to drill.

Obviously this is a flat piece to hang against the wall, so instead of using nails or screws I'm going to use push pins (the ones that v out) not to mention it'll adds nice accent to your piece. You could spray paint those too if you decided.

Lastly, I had canvas on my frame- so I just took some paint and hand painted it- that was the most time consuming part so I would leave it the same color if you are in this situation.

Hope this excites you as much as it did for me :)

What Does Gussy Even Mean?

I've told some of my friends about my upcycling/ refurbishing idea- the first question they ask me is, what are you going to name your business? I wanted a vintage flare nod and something that would spark interest into the name- hence The Gussy Owl.

The definition for Gussy is:

tr.v. gus·sied, gus·sy·ing, gus·sies Slang

To dress or decorate elaborately; adorn or embellish: gussied herself up in sequins and feathers.

Sorry for those who already knew that, but some don't! 

I chose the owl in homage to my sorority mascot- the owl. If it wasn't for those women in my life, I wouldn't have found inspiration to find this love of upcycling/ refurbishing and try to pursue it as more than a hobby.

I hope to fund this dream in the next few months and share my tips and tricks of my endeavors! In the meantime, I want to work on smaller projects and share my research with you :)

- Gussy

What to do with that used wrapping paper!

Tis the season to be green!
I know, we are constantly bombarded by being Eco conscious and helping the planet out at every turn (which obviously we should all be acknowledging) but I just thought today while I was wrapping Christmas presents- what can I do with that used wrapping paper post December 25th? I've come up with some creative ideas, and hopefully you'll be able to use one or two in your home for the holidays :).
- first and foremost, if you don't want to do anything with your wrapping paper- RECYCLE IT!

- if you have a big piece available, keep one from every year and put it in your picture frames for the holidays. Just measure the piece with the glass in the frame- voila! Super easy! It'll bring back memories, and you don't have to waste more paper wrapping your frames for an artsy flare!

- if you have small pieces left, buy some tiles from a hardware store and mod podge the wrapping paper on top- instant Christmas coasters! And you don't have to drop 10-20$ on store coasters (which are usually tacky looking anyway)

- use cardboard from Christmas boxes, cut out reindeer, snowmen, or whatever you like and make ornaments out of it for next year!

- Along with that ornament idea, buy some pin clasps, make your cutouts smaller and make it a brooch! You can even bedazzle it too if you want. Just make sure you mod podge over the paper so it doesn't fade! To learn which mod podge to use check this page out:
http://www.ohsoprettythediaries.com/2012/09/the-diy-book-of-spells-with-mod-podge.html

- oh! Use it as scrap paper! We all think we need these fancy stationary pages when we usually throw the paper away. We all make grocery lists, honey do lists, lists lists lists! Just cut the paper up and throw it in your junk drawer. Sooner or later it'll be used and it doesn't take up a ton of room. 

- make pennant garland! Just buy some yarn, cut your wrapping paper into diamond shapes, fold the diamond in half over the yarn and you're on your way to a beautiful Christmas garland :).

- if you're a scrapbook fiend- keep the paper for a future scrapbook! We all know how expensive it can be to scrapbook, so every penny counts!

I hope some of these ideas come handy to someone. Every little bit we do counts! Not to mention, you'll probably make some neat stuff with it. 

Happy Holidays!
-Gussy

Introduction

So here's where I'm at:
I'm 23 years old, recently finished college majoring in studio art and marketing- the trouble is I want to use my skills to my greatest ability possible. Sure, everyone says that, but how many of us settle and stray of the track they want? I don't want to settle and stay with the norm of what everyone is doing today. I don't want to be a corporate big wig, but I want to spread ideas to a multitude of people. The trouble is- how does one actually achieve this? I'm not going to sell myself on YouTube or strike. I'm going to start from the basics- with this planet.

TRUST ME
I'm not trying to go all hippy crunchy on this blog. What I want to do with this is discover how we as consumers can reverse what we've done to earth by changing certain practices such as throwing things away to buying items. Even the development process could be changed.

I know blogging is for people that are knowledgable in their field of choice, but I want to use this as a self discovery page and hopefully I can inspire a few people along the way. I really like to excite people about things I myself care about. Throughout this blog I want to discover

• My questions ranging from waste disposal
• consumer behaviors and 
• whether or not this is really a problem for the planet. 

One thing I want to leave you all with is a website I stumbled upon while at my previous job- http://www.verdestl.com/.
Verde Kids is an Eco-friendly children's store. I really admire people that are proactive about the world and produce items that anyone could buy! No matter how Eco- friendly you are, cute is cute :).

-Gussy