Horse Tack Coffee Table

Confession o’clock.  I’ve been creatively spent during this pandemic. 

This time last year I was desperately clamoring for a “new normal” while transitioning back to my day job after maternity leave.  I had no idea how to do things with a baby in tow and certainly didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to absorb the larger problems of the world.  Admittedly, this is when my StyleMutt projects started to take a back seat to juggling family and work.  I sought fewer and fewer outlets to create and found myself too creatively spent to be inspired by many new projects anyways. 

I was just beginning to chip away and new work again (see my goals for 2020 here) when COVID-19 enters stage right.  Suddenly, my husband has turned half my workshop into a home gym and we are splitting up who gets what “me time” between working from home and engaging the baby without daycare. 

For some, stay-at-home orders and the lack of access to the rest of the world seemed to fuel many to alternative creative outlets (did you see this post about Chelsea’s home garden project?) but I actually found it to be quite draining. The unique challenges of this upside down world have been eating up all my creative bandwidth: how can I safely buy used project pieces now? How can I safely interact with clients in my in-home garage workshop?  How can I maintain proper social distancing when helping someone load up a piece?  I admit, these questions halted my already limited motivation. COVID-19, I would very much appreciate if you could exit stage left now pleaseandthankyou.

I can’t be the only one who’s yearning for “normal” out there can I? I want you to know that I feel you friend and I do believe it’s going to be ok.  I may be mourning what used to be, but I don’t believe this will be forever.  And it’s ok to acknowledge that.  I have to acknowledge that if I’m ever going to find a way to a new normal.  I have to call it what it is and try to move on - even if it took me 8 months to share my first flip of 2020 (let’s be real… that’s like 19 in Coronayears.)

So I clumsily got back in the saddle, trolled facebook marketplace for a new project, put on my facemask, and bought myself a big fat box from a nearby horse farm:

Don’t let the listing pic fool you. I could probably quarantine in this thing if I needed to - it’s that big. The original owners said it was handmade by grandpa and basically used for garage storage, but it was in great shape and it had that warm wood stain I like so much so I thought why not? It would make for good project to flex my atrophying creative muscles.

At first I thought I would add legs and make it a bar cabinet but I felt like it needed a shelf or two. I was looking for a simple project to get my sea-legs back so in the end, I opted for some small embellishments to make a simple storage coffee table.

I’m calling it a horse tack box to pay homage to the farm I bought it from although it’s in such good condition that I doubt it was ever near a horse.

All I did was add a few black accents: black casters so it can roll away if needed

Some black corner braces for character

And a black hasp (aka a latch) for the lid

And this guy has loooooooads of storage. We’re talking blankets, or board games, or bodies - whatever you’re into these days. (Oh come on - don’t tell me you don’t need your own secret hidey-hole just to get away from your family during quarantine?). Huh - must just be me ;)

Large coffee tables are fun to style - there’s such a large surface area to play with.

I went with several stacks of coffee table books, some backyard branches, and a few figurines.

I have a few more pieces coming your way as I get my mojo back (here’s a tip: check out the shop to see what’s available). But if you’re looking for big blanket chest, email me so I can work with you for a contactless pick-up.

Horse Tack Coffee Table
Now Available for Sale
48”L x 24”D x 19”H
$295

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

Gel Stained Dresser | 2020 Flip List Item No.1

In this world of consumption, it grounds me to create instead. I think that’s probably why you’re here too is it not? To get inspired by what you can make out of the world’s sloppy seconds? Or open your eyes to what can be rescued from the dump?

Sometimes it feels like we live in what I call a “Disposable Culture”. Things aren’t really made well enough to last and it doesn’t matter anyways because you can instantly replace it on a whim. If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught me it’s that almost anything you want is available for delivery and on demand. But I wonder how our consumerism affects what we find value in. On the one hand, I can’t complain because I’m in the business of making things from what no one else wants. But on the other hand does the ease we can waste and replace lessen our concept of worth… and how far does that infection go?

Stories like George Floyd’s haven’t been lost on me. I couldn’t bring myself to watch the footage because I knew how wrong it was.

No person should be disposable.

As a middle-class white woman, I can’t say that I’ve felt the knee of the BIPOC struggle. And it’s a hard pill to swallow. My color automatically classifies me as a contribution to society. And not everyone is afforded that luxury.

I know, I know.  I don’t normally open up about such galvanizing topics here at SMH.  And if you came here for the furniture, I will get to that. It seems trivial to keep using this platform just to talk about design and not first acknowledge that. After all, it has been a true joy for me to find the value in what others may have dismissed.

Can’t we all try to do the same in each other?

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Last year, I stumbled across a free dresser on the Facebook marketplace. It was a little beat up. It was missing the original legs. And the family had no use for it because the daughter was tired of the family hand-me-downs. I wanted the chance to restore it so I scooped it up and hoarded it in the workshop for a few months, and eventually added it to the 2020 Flip List to hold myself accountable.

But like most things in 2020…

Things did not go exactly as planned.

It was in overall good shape - I only had to add legs and repair some damage to the trim work. The wood grain was so beautiful that I didn’t want to do my usual finish. But the location of the repairs would make it tricky to match the original walnut stain. I still love to play with contrast in details so I decided to try gel staining for the first time. I chose a black stain that I hoped would allow me to mask the compound repairs on the trim while darkening the wood grain instead of loosing it to a flat paint finish.

I was loving what I was seeing! The blacken body helped play up the warm wood in the legs and highlight the sculpted details on the trim work. Yes everything was going according to plan.

Or so I thought…

See, I blatantly ignored the instructions on the can of gel stain choosing to seal it with my go-to soft wax finish instead of the recommended polyurethane. And as I applied the first coat of wax, I found that most of the dark stain I had painstakingly left to cure for 36 hours was wiping right off!

Now it wasn’t the end of the world but it certainly wasn’t the finished look I was imagining for this piece. Don’t get me wrong, the gel stain still did it’s job and overall darkened the existing wood grain while masking all of my repairs. I can still count it as a win, but I had wanted more contrast between the black stain and the warm walnut details.

Instead this dresser ended up with a moody finish from the varied shades of black stain.

Although the finished product wasn’t intentional, this was a valuable learning process for me. And ultimately, I’m glad I took the risk even if it didn’t turn out the way I had imagined. I still spared this piece from a trip to the dump - and found a way to keep it relevant in this new-is-always-better world.

It still celebrates the warm walnut tones but in a more rugged way than my signature matte paint finish.

For styling, I deconstructed a Thonet rocking chair. I know that may be a crime to some, but to me was a crime of opportunity - I’m just in love with those cane shapes!

This piece has sold.

But if you are interested in a custom order like it, email me at cate@stylemutthome.com

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Thank you for letting me share my raw thoughts along with my finished pieces. I appreciate having this space to be creative and honest and I hope you are continually inspired to do the same. It takes courage to be vulnerable. But I think that makes for good soil to do some beautiful things.

Catch up on the 2020 Furniture Flip Bucket List

Black Garden Green Thumb

To be perfectly clear, MATT has the green thumb. He comes from a long line of green thumbs, in fact! We’ve discussed growing our own veggie and herb garden for years but like many of you with your home projects, hadn’t gotten around to it until this quarantine! A silver lining to what’s going on, indeed. So in a matter of a week Matt was struck with instant motivation and after 13 trips to Home Depot, we were ready to build!

He knew he wanted to make a 8’x4’ raised garden, meaning above ground. Meaning no digging. (hooray!) Matt, our kids, my sister who is staying with us, and I all pitched in and we finished the whole thing in a weekend. To be honest with you, I had no intention of turning this project into a blog post, let alone covering how we did it. But after sharing an image of our garden in an Instagram story, I had several interested peeps ask if we were going to share how we did it. SO, without further adieu, StyleMutt Homes first how-to video tutorial! Thank you, Matt!

So there’s our process in a nutshell.And here’s our list of supplies linked for your reference:

Raised Garden Supplies:
-Weedblocker Fabric
-Hardware Mesh
-3” PVC Pipe, 10 x 12” pieces, (so we bought 5 x 24” sizes and cut in half)
-2x6x8 lumber, (need 6: 4 you will keep whole, 2 you will cut in half)
-1x2x8 lumber, (need 6: 4 you will keep whole, 2 you will cut in half)
-2x2x8 lumber, (need 6, which you will cut down to 36”)

Now for my very small contribution. The black! Turns out the best spot for our garden is the side of our house near the front, which is perfectly seen from the road and as you enter our neighborhood. Because it’s so easily seen I wanted it to look sleek, modern, and like an extension of our home, (which is white with black shutters). I knew after a year that the raw wood would start to look gray-ed out and old, which wouldn’t bother me if it wasn’t in such a prime and visual place! So I chose exterior black paint to give the outside of the box and surrounding fence an upgrade.

Here is where we started, for reference, and some images of our process:

I had to include this just for Matt’s beard - one week before caving in to a trim! Thank you, Lord!

As Matt indicated in the video all 4 surrounding wall panels are removable, so our access to the garden from any side is easy-peasy! We will store these panels in our garage during the off season.

And one more itty bitty detail of our garden is our homemade garden stakes.

I used air dry clay, (found here from Michaels), and formed the stakes. Then I used tiny metal letter stamps, (borrowed from a neighbor - thanks, Beth! I’ll return soon, I promise!), and printed the name of each plant. While I love the typed look of these, the letters are incredibly small. We made some of these for my Mom for Mothers Day, and Shire carved the name of the plants in with a toothpick, which also looked sweet.

I can’t wait to add some landscaping here and make it a happy and pleasant place to be, but we are already having so much fun with this garden. There’s something about gardening that feels like such an act of hope and trust. Our house feels too small most of the time and there is so much uncertainty with our future that feels dependent on Matt’s job. But we’re continuing to sow roots anyways. And why not? When it’s time to go, we will obediently go. But in the mean time we will continue investing in this home that has served us for the past decade.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!