Between The Sheets Blog

Between the Sheets Blog - life's little luxuries, like BTS lingerie & loungewear, play in style

You are here: Home / 2024 / Archives for January 2024

Archives for January 2024

building BTS studio – diy vintage dresser to sink conversion

by // Leave a Comment

Marketplace find

We chose the DIY approach to create a unique vanity for the studio bathroom using a vintage dresser. As with many marketplace finds this piece had some damage that wasn’t visible in listing photos. I see these types of tables all the time but this piece had unique corner details and bevels on the marble that I liked. The damage was actually helpful in that I didn’t feel as bad about destroying the piece’s use as a dresser/vanity!

Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser to sink conversion for bathroom.
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser remove doors and shelf
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser removed door

Marble refinishing & Making room for Plumbing

The marble on this piece sits on top, so we needed to drill a hole for the drain and a hole for the faucet… we later learned the drainhole was a bit narrow and had to redo it. While we were doing that we refinished the surface with a drill and marble wet sanding discs. (This had a bit of a learning curve and I had to do it again bc after it dried I didn’t like the finish.) We marked and cut new plywood to create a section where the plumbing could drop down past the drawer, meaning we can still use the drawer instead of it becoming a false drawer.

Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser to sink conversion drilling a hole for the plumbing
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser to sink conversion refinishing marble top
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser to sink conversion sink and faucet dry fit
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser cutting holes for plumbing
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser marking the drawer
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser notching the drawer
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser finished notch
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser with marble top fitted

Staining and Sealing

After sanding and patching any losses in the wood – I chose a darker stain to mask any issues and finished it with a sealer since it will be in a potentially moist environment.

Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser staining and sealing
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser staining and sealing front view
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser staining and sealing door view
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser staining and sealing doors, drawer, and dresser
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser staining and sealing, letting the stain dry
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser all stained pieces set to dry

A Surprise Interior

This was probably my favorite part of the project. I knew I didn’t like the way the new plywood didn’t match the original wood of the dresser so I found a contact paper to line the piece with. This piece has herons/cranes and blossoms and in the same colors as the space and adds such a fun surprise to this piece.

Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser surprise interior drawer
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser surprise interior drawer with wallpaper
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser surprise interior drawer before and after
Between the Sheets Studio vintage dresser to sink conversion. Cabinet, sink, and faucet placed in unfinished bathroom

I won’t reveal the full install just yet, but we switched from brass rolling casters to leveling feet, and there’s some hints here at what it looks like set up with vessel sink and faucet.

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

building BTS studio – Floor and Stair Trim install

by // Leave a Comment

Between the Sheets Studio floor and stair trim view up the stairs. Neon sign in vestibule with words it was all a dream

The next step in the Between the Sheet studio Project was installing floor and stair trim. This was another element of the Project we decided to DIY.

If I learned anything from this project it’s that Pattern making skills are surprisingly similar to carpentry skills. Planning ahead, careful measuring and cutting, and understanding how pieces fit together. For all the parts of the project that we managed it involved calculating materials ahead of time- I was worried that not knowing what I don’t know that I would be over or under and for the most part my typical way of calculating consumption in pattern making of adding 20% to accommodate for mistakes worked out in this project as well.

Painting the trim

Back to the smaller sprayer and the trim size bottle – using pre primed trim and an enamel self leveling paint. This combo with the sprayer gave the best finish and was so much easier and cleaner than trying to tape off and prevent bleeds between black trim and off white walls.

Between the Sheets Studio floor and stair trim, painting trim
Between the Sheets Studio floor and stair trim, painting trim outdoors with cardboard to catch any overspray
Between the Sheets Studio floor and stair trim, painting trim with a paint sprayer
Between the Sheets Studio floor and stair trim, painted trim set to dry
Between the Sheets Studio floor and stair trim, painted trim lined up in a row

Start with the longest runs

In patternmaking you cut your largest pieces first. So my plan was to start with the longest runs because if we made a mistake we could always cut a board smaller but couldn’t make one longer. Puzzling together this gap/sill on the stairs and the entryway was probably the hardest part. Otherwise it all went relatively smoothly. I measured and marked, Josh made cuts with the miter saw, and I nailed them into place.

Between the Sheets Studio trim installed along stairs
Between the Sheets Studio trim installed along stairs view from the bottom
Between the Sheets Studio trim stair landing
Between the Sheets Studio trim installing along stairs
Between the Sheets Studio trim view of installed trim pieces from the top of stairs
Between the Sheets Studio trim challenging corner
Between the Sheets Studio trim near the door
Between the Sheets Studio finished stair trim, seen from top of stairs
Between the Sheets Studio trim around corner at base of stairs

Finish nailer vs framing nailer

This is a good time to visit another change in tools needed – when we did the walls I used a framing nailer but here I needed a finishing nailer. For framing we knew we wouldn’t have electrical in yet so we got a battery powered framing nailer. For this finishing portion we opted to get a compressor and finishing nailer combo instead of a battery powered nailer. We added a lot of tools to our arsenal for this project but saved ourselves thousands doing so much of the project ourselves.

Between the Sheets Studio trim measuring boards to cut
Between the Sheets Studio trim measuring before nailing
Between the Sheets Studio trim preparing to nail

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

DIY – recaning and reupholstering vintage cane chairs

by // Leave a Comment

I got these vintage chairs on marketplace a few years ago for only $5 each. They were wobbly and needed new cushions and cane but they are the perfect height for sitting at a sewing machine so I held onto them and finally got around to finishing as we pulled the final space together.

Here’s a step by step on how I went about breathing new life into these vintage chairs

Removing cane and cushions

First thing to prep them for paint was removing cushions and damaged cane. One chair the cane wasn’t damaged but it still had to come off bc I knew matching new and old would be nearly impossible so off it all came. A steamer helped loosed the glue and a flat head screw driver to lift spline and help with removing the fabric from cushion. Since the seats had been repaired over the years it needed a new plywood base as well so I only had to remove one seat cushion cover to make a template. This and removing cane was the most tedious part of this project.

A hand with various tools removing old fabric from the seat cushion on concrete floor
Seat cushions are removed from vintage chairs that sit on concrete floor in garage.
Recaning and reupholstering vintage cane chairs. Removing old fabric from the seat cushion
Several seat cushions are stacked in the floor. Layla holds one of the cushions vertically showing the bottom covering.
Wood seat base with fabric and foam cushioning removed sits on concrete floor with a pair of pliers. Old fabric from cushion lies on floor.
A brown wooden chair is shown with the focus on the seat back with damaged cane.
Several brown wooden chairs are shown with cane and seats removed.
Close up of wooden chair with cane and seat removed.

Painting

Before painting we glued and checked all the fasteners to make sure the final result was stable. I didn’t want to risk popping off the wheels and not being able to get them back on so I just taped those off. I used the same enamel paint on these as on our floor trim in the studio space. I painted them at a different time though and the temps/humidity meant these may not have cured as nicely. (In hindsight it might’ve been worth trying a chemical stripper before painting.)

A brown wooden chair frame is shown upside down on a concrete floor with metal clamps holding glues pieces in place.
Three brown wooden chair frames are shown on a concrete floor with metal clamps holding glued pieces in place.
Three brown wooden chair frames are shown on a concrete floor. Stacks of fabric bolts, staked cardboard, a garment rack, and other materials are in the background of the garage.
Two wooden chairs are lined up on cardboard on the grass next to the BTS studio. Layla uses a paint sprayer to paint black
Four wooden chairs are lined up on cardboard on the grass next to the BTS studio. Layla uses a paint sprayer to paint black
Four black wooden chairs are lined up on cardboard on concrete floor inside a garage for paint to dry fully
A black painted wooden chair frame has a roll of caning material resting on it.

Recaning

There are two types of caning- hand woven and spline. Hand woven is basically holes on a chair seat or back and you weave the pattern, spline caning is what these chairs have and it involves cutting and sheet of cane and inserting it using spline and glue. To size this you have to measure the channel the spline is inserted into and then order accordingly.

Cut to size and Soak spline and cane to soften it.

Line it up with chair and use wedges to press it into channel and hold it in place

Use chisel and hammer to trim cane

Insert spine using wood glue into the channel and a mallet to hammer it in without shifting the cane. Actually relatively easy

Let it dry and the cane tightens and glue holds cane and spline in place

Black painted wooden chair frames lined up on studio floor section of caning.
Two black painted wooden chair frames lined up on studio floor section of caning.
Cane and spline for recaning chairs soaks in a large plastic tub, on floor of studio
New cane is added to back of black painted wooden chair frame using wedges.
New cane is added to back of black painted wooden chair frame using wedges
New cane is added to back of black painted wooden chair frame using wedges and excess cane is cut
New cane is added to back of black painted wooden chair frame using wedges. Chair is shown laying on its back on tile floor. New cane is stretched across the seat back.
Black wooden chair is laying on its back on a patterned carpet. New cane has been inserted into the seat back and excess cane has been trimed from edges.
New cane is added to back of black painted wooden chair frame using wedges. One black chair frame is on the floor on its side. A second chair has cane inserted in the chair back. View faces towards studio bathroom
Black chair frame has new cane fully installed with spline attaached.
Image shows before and after images of recaned chairs. Top shows black painted chair with new cane back. Bottom of image shows brown wood chair with broken caning, prior to refurbishment

New seats & cushions

To fix the seat cushions we started from the plywood base and cut 4 new ones using the old seat as a template. Dry fit to make sure it works

Then k carefully seal ripped the old seat cushion to make a pattern for new cover.

Or this I am using an old set of curtains as material for the new seat cushions (cutting on the floor since our cutting table had not arrived yet)

Also cut new foam for the seats and test fitted this once before getting it right and cutting and assembling all 4

Next step was stapling the fabric to base and adding dust cover to that, then securing it to the seat with screws.

Two black chair frames with new cane backs are shown. Old fabric covering from chair seat rests on chairs.
Black chair frame with new cane back is shown. A newly cut chair seat base made from plywood is dry fit in the chair frame.
Old chair cover is set on a piece of pattern paper. Pattern weights hold the fabric on the paper. A pair of scissors and a marking tool set on the paper
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. A wooden table with various tools and pattern paper is shown.
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. A wooden table with various tools and pattern paper is shown.
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. A wooden table with various tools and pattern paper is shown.
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. Seat cushion foam is stacked on a sewing machine table
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. The pattern is laid out on the floor, on top of a piece of fabric, held with pattern weights
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. The pattern is laid out on the floor, on top of a piece of fabric, held with pattern weights
A newly covered seat cushion sets on a sewing table in the BTS studio.
Newly covered cushion is fit into a newly repainted black chair frame. Chair sits on tile floor in BTS studio with back facing a row of sewing machines
Using the old seat cushion a pattern is created for a replacement cover. The cover is wrapped around a pieces of foam and affixed to a new wooden seat base. A stack of newly covered chair bases sits on the floor, next to a chair frame.
Final recaned and reupholstered chair sits on a brown tiled floor in the BTS studio. White walls and a portion of a sewing machine table can be seen.
Final recaned and reupholstered chair sits on a brown tiled floor in the BTS studio. A row of industrial sewing machines sets behind.

Final result

From start to finish these look like totally new chairs and match the details of the space perfectly. The new storage hutch in the coffee bar area is also black with pale cane and it really ties the look of the space together to have these details echoed throughout the space.

An image of brown colored wooden chairs from before recaning and refurbishment sitting on concrete floor in garage.
Final recaned and reupholstered chair sits on a brown tiled floor in the BTS studio. White walls and a portion of a sewing machine table can be seen.
Four final recaned and reupholstered chairs sit on a brown tiled floor in the BTS studio. Industrial sewing machines can be seen in the sides and background.

About

Between the Sheets Inc – purveyors of luxury lingerie, designer loungewear, and luxurious lifestyle products brings you a blog about our brands, collections, and life’s simple luxuries.

Press

Archives

Categories