This batch of signs went to Seaworthy Home in Seabrook, WA.
The owner, Lisa, likes to send me a challenge every once in a while! This time she asked if I had ever made a lighted sign, which I hadn’t….but hey, why not?!
This one was my very favorite! I used a battery-operated string, so it can go anywhere. I bought a couple more strings of lights, in the hopes that I may make another one someday!
I feel lately as if I have been “jack of all trades and master of none.” I’ve had a million things going on at once, and it doesn’t seem like I’m FINISHING anything. Or…if I am finishing anything…I’m not doing a very good job of it. Ugh!
But am I popping in this afternoon to show one thing that IS done and that I AM happy with!
A couple of months ago I purchased a table at a thrift store because it was on great, chunky turned legs.
It wasn’t as big as I wanted it to be, so I pulled off the legs to use for another future table project. You can see the top wasn’t in great shape, but it was certainly salvageable—so I did just that! I stripped and sanded it down to bare wood.
I built a new table base out of stock lumber. I’ve had some questions about what the underside of my tables look like—here’s a peek. I put in some cross-braces of 2x2’s to hold everything square and sturdy.
I also played around a little bit with my table legs, cutting each with a single taper. I really like how they turned out!
Then I got a little crazy with painter’s tape! Sorry; I didn’t take a picture of that part! I used a reference picture, a ruler, and a straight-edge and pretty much “winged it.” This is how it looked right after two colors of stain were applied (Minwax Dark Walnut and Mahogany).
The next day I stained the whole thing with that custom gray-brown mix that I am fond of. As much as I liked the bold colors—there were definitely spots were there was a little bit of bleeding under my tape. The new stain helped blur the boundaries a little bit, as did distressing the heck of of the whole thing!
And this is what I ended up with…
My kids are the biggest fans of this table (mostly because they’re big fans of Dr. Who and Sherlock) and keep asking, “Can we keep it??”
I am tempted…but I’m afraid not! So hopefully it will soon find the home of another Anglophile to reside in!
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If you follow me on Facebook, you may have gotten a sneak peek at some of the furniture adventures I was up to last week! Bought some, sold some, and did a lot of hauling in between. Hopefully the ones I kept will be showing up here on the blog one of these days soon.
In the meantime, I have finished up another farmhouse table for my friend Kim.
This one is similar to Stacy’s table, although not as wide—but I did cut off the rounded edges of the stock lumber (with my table saw) for a smoother top.
Kim wanted a dark grayish-black color for her table, and I think we ended up with a pretty good charcoal. This was achieved by first staining it all with Rustoleum Black, then a layer of Weathered Gray (well rubbed in), followed by another very light coat of black with an almost dry rag.
I built two benches for her as well (the plans are out of Ana White’s Handbuilt Home book).
I made a DIY chalk paint with the leftover paint from my daughter’s bedroom makeover. After distressing, I wiped Rustoleum weathered gray stain over all. It helped color the exposed raw wood, and dulled the color of the aqua a little bit.
I really like how using some of the same stain over the painted benches makes everything “go” together!
It was fun to step away from the brown stains for a little bit!
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The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving were SO busy….
I was working on three huge building projects.
Finishing up another table (pictures to come)….
Building another woven-back bench (this time out of cedar…it smelled SO good)…
and working on this buffet for the new owners of the Grand Truss Table.
I kept thinking that when we got back from our Thanksgiving trip, I would have a day or two to just DO NOTHING.
Who was I kidding??
When I got back from Thanksgiving, it really hit me….there’s only THREE WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!
I’m seeing all these homes beautifully decorated for Christmas and all these holiday projects, and my house was still stuck in fall mode!
So I started hauling out the Christmas boxes, and at least for one day…I “Christmas-ified” one little corner of the home….
This buffet is a modification of Ana White’s Rustic X Buffet. I used 4x4’s for the legs to match the chunky style of the Grand Truss table, which is why I’m calling it a “Grand” Rustic X Buffet! The horizontal cross-pieces are made from 2x4’s to match the extra thickness of the legs, and the top used one extra 2x6. I also changed the measurements to make this buffet 72” wide.
The finish is two thick coats of Minwax Special Walnut stain, followed by an over-glaze of black for some extra depth. The visible hardware is all decorative.
This will go to its new home this weekend…hopefully I can get some of the rest of my house decorated by then!
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This wasn’t the project I’d originally planned on posting today, but the quote on my chalkboard made it appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day!
Being neither Irish nor Catholic, I will admit that I don’t see a lot of point in St. Patrick’s day…so that chalkboard is the extent of my St. Patrick’s day decorating! But we may have something with cabbage in it for dinner.
The family that bought this Farmhouse Table commissioned me to make a buffet / console table for them as well. I used Ana White’s Rustic X Console table plan, although without the X’s or the decorative hardware.
I also shortened the table down to 64”. As the plan was written, it was almost the same length as I made the Farmhouse table, and we thought it would look better if they were a little different.
There is just something about this old-looking, scarred wood that captivates me, especially when paired with simple white dishes.
It looks great as a buffet, but I also think it would make a great behind-the-couch table, holding blankets and board games.
My daughter thought we ought to keep it!
**That’s high praise from a teenager. **
