Refinishing

My mother bought this table when I was in middle school and several years ago she passed it on to me. Between my sisters and I, and now my kids, this poor table has been through quite a lot.

A lot of wear and tear and a fair bit of water sitting on the table (my kids used to leave spills for the magic fairy to clean up) and the clear coat broke down. The table was pretty damaged and I considered building a new one.

Here's a wider shot that also shows the water rings, paint spots, and marker streaks that have graced the table over the years.

So I thought maybe I would try to refinish it first and if it didn't work out then I would build a replacement. I bought some Citristrip and liberally sprayed the table then let it sit for about 3 hours. I then came back and scraped off all of the goop (eww), wiped it down, sanded a little, and tried to stain it.

I say tried because what I ended up with was an ugly blotchy mess. I was pretty sure the table was ruined and it's been sitting in my garage for 2 weeks while I was really bummed about the outcome.

Then yesterday I was out in the garage and I noticed that actually the dark spots were the color the stain was supposed to be and the rest was kind of yellow. I realized that the Citristrip must have only taken off part of the clear coat but not all of it. I felt a small glimmer of hope that I had a thick enough veneer left to sand again and restain. I pulled out my mouse sander and went to town. By the time I was done the table was so smooth it felt like butter.

I reapplied stain and, lo and behold, it was a consistent color! I applied two coats yesterday and today I'll add another 2 coats.

It's finally working! I'm not done yet so there's still a chance I'll ruin it but so far I'm really happy with the outcome. The legs will get painted white and I think it will look really nice with the walnut top. Then it will get an absolutely ridiculous amount of poly to be sure that it never looks so sad and abused again.

Homemade Coffee Table

It was time to get a little more grown up in tables and the train table needed to move on.  So I turned to Ana White and her awesome plans.  I modified her plans for the Adirondack Coffee Table and created this a little wider and longer (49" x 33") with a lower shelf that will hold up to 6 of our toy buckets.  It's 20" tall to accommodate the extra storage.

Cabinets and Counter Tops

With the boys moved in to their rooms we are working on the cabinets on the outside of the wall. I'm pretty happy with how they are turning out so far.

I didn't want to buy expensive countertops for this and even the cheap prefab laminate counters were $100 each and I needed two. Yeah, no thanks. So I built my own counters for about $55 total. Thrifty Decor Chick just did something similar here and I thought I could work that idea in to my project. Because I was putting this on top of 12" cabinets I couldn't use 1x4s only (at 3.5 inches it would only be 10.5 inches total and I needed more like 12.5 inches). I did still want it to look like it was intentional so I didn't want to tack a random 2" piece on the back.  Luckily, it turns out the measurements worked out for 2 1x4s with a 1x6 in the middle which looks way more balanced. In order to hold it all together I put a 1x12 underneath to screw through but since that's only really 11.25 and not 12 it didn't stretch all the way. See the hole there on the back of the bottom?

To fix that I just used a tiny piece of scrap from the 1x4 I had chopped off earlier. I screwed all of the boards up from the bottom into the top boards so there wouldn't be any holes to patch later.

The cabinets on the left were going to have an angular hole to the side of them that will hold a computer switch. We were going to need access to it so we cut a hole under the shelf in the back so we could get a hand or two in when needed. 

I also cut a hole in the back of the cabinet for the power plug but I forgot to take a picture of that part (whoops).  I'm hoping that having it up high under the counter will prevent more things from falling in there but at least it will be easily accessible if they do.

So here is where we are at now. The bases and the cabinets are installed. The counter has been fabricated for about $55 (not including the stain we'll need later).  I will need to stain and paint next week and then I can start work on the shelves to go on top.  

One of my little helpers refused to eat dinner so he got to come hang out and keep me company for a bit. At least we got to have a nice chat while we worked on our tasks.

Craigslist Score Refinished

It's almost done! I bought this baby a couple weeks ago and I've been chipping away at the project in between work, kids, camping, etc. All of one's time seems to disapear in the summer but it gets done eventually. It's still missing two doors that I'm finishing up in the garage and I still haven't decided if I'm going to stencil the back but otherwise it's looking good.

If you remember I started with this off of Craigslist. She was $60 and had a few scratches and dings and whatnot needing repairs and some paint. (Awesome quality Craigslist picture here).



I started sanding her down in the driveway the same weekend I brought her home (yes it's a girl). I could have tried to sand in the garage but as you can see that's a bit of a tight space in this picture with that never ending project list hiding in there.



For the hardware I gave it a good scrub and a few coats of ORB paint to match the ginormous light fixture in my living room (that I still have yet to post, shame on me). I didn't make a full tutorial on how I painted the cabinet (sand, prime, paint, poly) because there are lots of them (I like this one) so I hope you'll forgive me for that.



Finally my bowl has a home where it fits. I bought this at TJ Maxx a couple years ago because I thought it was just beautiful but the size and shape don't lend themselves to easy display and it's always stuffed into some akward spot where I hope the kids won't break it. When it's laid down as a bowl the bottom is really skinny and tips easy and to make matters worse it was, of course, holding my glass ball collection which gave me a heart attack anytime the kids messed with it. Now it can be pretty and safe behind a pair of doors. Whew!





I'm hoping I'll finish the doors tomorrow and hang them on Wed. night and then I can fill the cabinet in a bit with some of my pretties. What's your opinion on stenciling the back? If you did it do you have a favorite pattern or color you'd play with?



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I scored on Craigslist

Last night I scored on Craigslist. I know that sentence sounds bad but really it was a good thing. Who would sell a solid wood buffet/hutch for $60? It's beautiful and I have a new paint project. That's right, MORE PAINT. Aw, yeah! Luckily I just about have one of my other paint projects done and ready to leave the garage so I have space (hubby will appreciate that). This is the picture from the ad. I need to take a better one but last night it just got put down in the middle of the living room so I haven't gotten one yet.



I have to tell you I was so nervous I wouldn't get it. With a price like that (when all the others were $250+ and not as nice) I figured it would go pretty quick. I called 50 minutes after it was posted and I was already the 5th call BUT he said he was first come/first serve and I was the first to make arrangements. Booyah! (Can you tell I was excited? Haha!).

Anyway, so we made an appt. for 6 but then I was reading Mandi's blog and I got nervous that someone would offer more money because it was definitely worth more. Then the guy's wife got called to go into work and they share a car so it was almost off again. Luckily they said she could come a bit later and my father in law came to help me out. This was great because a)I needed his truck and b)I'm going to meet people I don't know at a storage unit and what if they are sinister people (turns out they were really great people and not crazy people luring me to a storage unit and I was psyching myself out for nothing (as usual) but we'll overlook the "I'm crazy" part). I owe my FIL big time for the help, too.

And now it's home and I'm in love. She's in really good shape, too. There are a few dings here and there to clean up and that's about it. Can't wait to start this one!

Oh, and what perfect timing, too. Mandi is doing a Look What I Found Friday right when I actually found something (normally I would find something 3 days from now when I can't play so the timing is nice). Anyway, go check her out because her blog is awesome and she has great style.

Have you found something fun lately? Anything (find or otherwise) have your stomach all tied up in knots right now?

Random moment: I just noticed that I don't have post tags for Paint or Furniture. That surprises me since I do a lot of both. Huh.

Random moment #2: Why is it that, even though I know how to spell definitely, I always spell it wrong anyway (definetely) and the spell checker has to point that out? Every. Single. Time.