Frightful to Fabulous...

I'm taking a little break from telling you all about Ireland to show you this "Frightful to Fabulous" transformation.

I was asked by my mother-in-law to update this haggard sewing cabinet for my niece's birthday. She got my niece a new sewing machine since she has been teaching her granddaughters how to sew. My mother-in-law can work miracles with a sewing machine! It really is a lost art. I took the required sewing class in Jr. high, but I never developed a passion for it. I am so very grateful my daughters will have this skill (and that they enjoy it)!

I started this project by taking the cabinet apart. I removed all of the hardware, door, and flip-top. 

I spray painted the hardware with Rust-o-leum's Hammered Copper.

I removed the legs of the cabinet because at some point in time, they were shortened. The easiest way for me to fix that was to make new legs out of 1" x 1" wood strips. I measured my mom's sewing machine to find out how tall the legs should be.

When the front door to the cabinet is open, there is a small hole that allowed for a hand to go in and make adjustments to the machine. It was obsolete for this cabinet's purpose, so Hubby suggested I make it a cubby. I found some scrap wood in the perfect sizes to make a box. I glued and clamped it to the underside of the cabinet. 

This cabinet was old, so it was made for the machine to "hide" inside the cabinet. Way cool, in my opinion, but sewing machines aren't made to do that anymore. Thus, I had a large hole in the top of the cabinet. I solved the problem by attaching some "braces" underneath the hole to give some support to the large piece of wood I added to the top. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the wood I nestled into the hole. 

I didn't like how the surface looked, so I ended up cutting some thin plywood to attach to the top for a new surface. That was stressful! The cabinet top has a slight decorative curve to it. It is lovely, but not fun to replicate. I glued the plywood to the top and then used my jigsaw to cut along the curves. I clamped the plywood while the glue dried.

I gave the whole cabinet a good sanding before painting it. I used Valspar's Color Radiance in flat black. This paint is a little more expensive than other spray paint, but it is soooo worth it! It is paint and primer and nice and thick. It covered the cabinet with one coat and it dried quickly. It saved me so much time and it looked beautiful!

I could have just used the paint, but I was worried about the durability. Just as a precaution, I used some Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane spray on top of the dried spray paint. Unfortunately, it was a semi-gloss. While I love the look of shiny black, I was really attached to the flat black look this cabinet had. And it took forever for the poly to dry. But, I had to finish what I started, or else the whole sewing cabinet would look very strange! 

I found my niece's initials in bright pink metal magnets at the dollar store, so I painted them with the hammered copper paint and added them to the door. 

The plywood top I added makes it so the flip-top doesn't sit flush, but it won't lay down once the sewing machine is on top anyway. 

The sewing cabinet has become classy and will hopefully be timeless. Now my niece is ready to start her fashion empire!

Ireland: Day 3

Our third day in Ireland was spent at Titanic Belfast, a museum dedicated to the history of Belfast's linen and shipbuilding industry. There is so much to do at the museum, we signed up for the White Star Premium Pass and didn't schedule anything else that day.

The Premium Pass includes a walk through of the museum (if you take your time and read all of the info, it alone could take you all day!), a guided tour, and entrance to explore the SS Nomadic. 

Front entrance to Titanic Belfast.

I should also mention there is a ride included! I was not expecting a ride and got a little panicky about how terrifying exciting it would be. Turns out it was very mild. Hanging cars take you slowly up and down, as if you are part of the building crew for Titanic. It was a hard life! It took workers 30 minutes to climb up the scaffolding for work every day. There was an elevator, but the men were too wary of it to use it. The men were given two 10 minute restroom breaks per shift, but as it took so long to go up and down the scaffolding, you can imagine what they ended up doing. I videotaped the ride, so you can experience it too!

I did take multiple pictures in the museum, but the lighting was bad and most of them were blurry. 

At the center of the building is a compass. Each of the 4 doorways are lined up directly with North, South, East and West. Also, the floor I am on is how high the life boats holding passengers were dropped to the water.

Actual size of one of the Titanic life boats.

Surrounding the building is a world map. Can you see the pixelated (upside-down) lands of England and Ireland? The white line is the planned route of Titanic.

On the left is the slipway for Titanic. The patches of grass on the right represent the people on Titanic. The first patch of grass is the amount of First Class passengers, 2nd - Second Class, 3rd - Third Class, and 4th - the crew.

Scale model of the dock where Titanic was built and the modern day museum. The height of the four "corners" of the building were built the same height as Titanic.

The picture isn't great, but this is a model of a 1st Class Cabin. Pretty snazzy, especially for the time!

Model of a 3rd Class Cabin. 

Samples of the carpet on Titanic. Notice the sign? Two whole bathrooms for all of Third Class!

There were many stories of the passengers, both survivors and casualties.

There was also a short video in a small theater that was about finding the Titanic wreck. I remember how big a discovery it was when I was in 5th grade. I remember the Captain's safe was recovered and they opened it on live television. I was glued to the TV! It was a bust, though. Just some papers securely locked up. After the video, we explored an interactive virtual debris field. It was so interesting! (All the pics were blurry.)

These machines were at the end of the tour. Aren't they cool?

After the guided tour, we headed over to the SS Nomadic. It is now in dry dock and has been refurbished to it's original condition.

The brick building is the original business office of Harland & Wolff, the company that built Titanic.

"Pierre," the virtual First Class barman ready to serve us.

Tourists taking the "Jack and Rose" picture. (Just so you know, I have never seen the "Titanic" movie, so I had to Google their names.)

After all of our exploring, we were famished! We didn't want to waste time finding a place for dinner, so we ate at the restaurant on-site. There is also a cafe, for light snacks.

I had the roast chicken with root veg, fried potato and potato mash. Gotta love the Irish. Why don't we have fried potatoes AND mashed potatoes together as sides? I am positive I got my love of potatoes from my Irish ancestors. I also had Victoria sponge for dessert. It was FAB-U-LOUS!

I saw this while walking around outside. I did a double take! It is not a naked person standing in a window. Just a mannequin.

On our way out of town, I noticed this building cut in half. This is why I always needed my camera at the ready!

We had a fun, long day at Titanic Belfast! Next up, Giant's Causeway!

Ireland Day 2...

As I write this, Ireland is being battered by Hurricane Ophelia (also known as Storm Ophelia). I couldn't quite believe it when I read the headlines! You just never hear of such a thing. There have only been a handful of noteworthy tropical storms to hit Ireland. Hurricane Ophelia is different, though. It is on course to cross the entire country, south to north. Schools and all of the ancient monuments and historical sites are closed. I can't believe my sister and I experienced such beautiful weather just a few weeks ago! I hope that everyone will be safe and and the storm won't cause too much damage.

How about I share some of the beauty we experienced while in Ireland? For our second day, we planned to visit Mount Stewart House and then walk around Belfast before heading to our B&B. Mount Stewart House is a stately home and gardens bought by the Stewart family in 1744. It has been in the family since then. 

Mount Stewart House view from the Spanish Garden.

Front entrance.

The house was added onto several times, but it has remained unchanged for the last century or so. Lady Mairi Bury lived most of her life on the estate until her death in 2009. In 1957, Lady Mairi donated the gardens to the National Trust. She donated the house and most of the furnishings to the Trust in 1976.

Entering the house is like walking into a time capsule. 

Part of the silver collection. Check out the stacks of plates!

Domed hallway and crystal chandelier.

The Londonderry family had a love of horses through the ages.

Lady Edith Londonderry is responsible for the immaculate gardens. She designed them herself. Lady Edith had many other hobbies as well. If you have the time, google her name. It makes very interesting reading!

North end of the house. 

Sunk Garden

Shamrock Garden with "The Red Hand of Ulster" and sculpted harp.

Strangford Lough, which connects to the Irish Sea.

We had planned a small walking tour of Belfast to finish the day. However, traffic was worse than expected and we were quite tired. We did end up finding a car park and walked to where we planned to have dinner, The Crown Liquor Saloon. Our tourist book pointed out we should visit this place, even if we are teetotallers. It is the most famous pub in Belfast.

I had the traditional Irish Lamb Stew with wheatie bread.

In case you decide to eat here someday, make reservations! We were unaware of this, so we waited an hour to be seated. Then waited 30 minutes for our food. Then waited another 30 minutes for our check. We were so exhausted by the time we got back to the car. It really was a great day! Here are some fun places that I just had to get pics of:

I totally would have stopped here if they were still in business!

I love that so many businesses have such clever names. I needed to have my camera out at all times and I still missed pictures of them. Some that spring to mind are "Sew It Seams," and "Knobs and Knockers."

P.S. The gardens were so beautiful and full of plants that I took tons more pictures. I have already used some for inspiration in my art!