Two-Tone Table, revisited

My love for farmhouse tables continues unabated, but I took a little break from that style this past week or so.

When I showed you the Wide Farmhouse Table I made for my friend Stacy, I mentioned that I had previously refinished another table for her, but it was looking a little worse for the wear after a few years with a family of boys!

My job was to make it beautiful again.  What do you think?

Here’s what it looked like when I got it:

And here’s what it looked like after the first re-finish job:

After some good hard family use, there were some real problems:

Not sure why my cell phone photos look a little blue!  Anyway, there was chipped paint, naturally.  And then the finish on the top of the table went very cloudy in places.  I blame an inferior polyurethane I got from Ace Hardware (sorry, Ace), as that is the only time I’ve ever used it, and I hated it even then!  I actually still had the same can in my stash…I have now gotten rid of it! 

I chose to use CitriStrip to get rid of the old poly, rather than sanding it down.  There really was no need to go back to bare wood, as I still liked the original colors underneath.

I did, however, refresh the color with a new coat of stain before putting on the polyurethane.  This time I used three coats of Minwax Hand-rubbed Polyurethane in Satin, followed by one coat of paste wax.

The chairs got a light sanding, and then I repainted with oil-based paint this time.  It tends to be a little more long-wearing, I think.  I recovered the seats in this pretty fabric.  You know I’m a sucker for typography!!

I love how the leaves on this table tuck away neatly underneath.  Pull them both out, and you have another 30” of table space!  Such a great feature.

I adore the legs on this piece…

I am so glad I got to be the one to give this set a THIRD life!

I have to say…it really looked gorgeous in my dining room!  It was hard to let it go…again!

What do you think??  Is there room in your life for both rustic farmhouse tables and beautiful antiques?  There is in mine!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
	Mod Vintage Life

A French Bench

I am frantically working on a whole slew of last-minute projects for the Ruffles & Rust Vintage Market THIS WEEKEND!  Set up starts tomorrow, and I still have sooooo much to do!  I am also hoping for just a teeny tiny bit of sunshine so I can take pictures of all my finished projects….that never really happened before the last market, and I’m still kicking myself for all the un-photographed projects.

But here’s one that does have pictures!

When my parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago, I dragged my mother and sister to JUST ONE estate sale before we hit the mall (they don’t share my obsession).  I found this little treasure, which I turned in to a “French Bench.”

I found it tucked away in an upstairs bedroom, filled with old sheet music, broken class, and spiderwebs!

I sanded down the old finish, which thankfully also removed the suspicious red stains.  What was that, I wonder?   Ink?  Kool-Aid?  Cherry soda??

I perused my Pinterest French Typography Board and pulled up a Graphics Fairy advertisement that was perfect for the top. 

I painted it on using an overhead projector and plain old acrylic paint like I did with my French Chocolate Coffee Table. 

I love the little bit of storage in this bench, and I love the funky iron base.  Wouldn’t it make a fun entry piece to store mittens and scarves during the cold months?

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
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Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Navy Blue Desk

I’m normally not much of a “blue” person, but every once in a while it just seems like the perfect color!  Case in point…this little desk.

When I picked it up at a thrift store, it had seen better days.  You can get a little hint of how scratched and faded the top was here…

It had this little chair sitting with it.  Although they were not really the same style, it fit perfectly, and I kind of liked the contrast of the streamlined desk with the pretty turned legs on the chair.  I didn’t notice until I got home that one of the dowels was missing, but it was an easy fix after drilling out what remained of the old dowel.

I used the navy blue paint leftover from my office project (Sherwin Williams Naval, BTW).  I had originally planned on staining the top, but it wasn’t cooperative to that idea…ever have a project like that?

I brightened up the pulls and the metal trim on the legs with some Rub-n-Buff (love that stuff!), and the seat got a bright new fabric.

I had cherished some hopes that this little desk might actually stay in our office; I imagined it floating in the middle of the room…however, I wasn’t crazy about it when I tried it out.  I don’t think it was big enough to fill the space.

So it went home with a sweet young woman who was going back to school.  It was fun to enjoy it for a little while!

Thanks to Knick of Time for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
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Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

You had me at “hello”—a typewriter table

Honestly I don’t know what happened to the month of August…it went by in a whooosshhh!

First it was getting ready for The Barn sale…

Then we squeezed in a family vacation…

Next it was my birthday, and I threw myself a party…

And after that I got to go on a quick trip to Utah by myself…

Next up was Labor Day and the first week of school!

Now it’s the second week of September, and time to get serious about my projects again!

This little typewriter table is one I finished for The Barn market.  It started out looking something like this (I forgot to take my own “before” picture):

source

The finish was a little beat up and boring, so I livened it up a bit with my favorite color…red!

I used my Silhouette to create a typewriter stencil and the word “hello” for the drawer…you know I can rarely leave well-enough alone! 

While at The Barn Market, I caught one lady trying to peel up the typewriter image with her fingernail!  “No, no!”  I said.  “It’s not vinyl; it’s paint!”  She apologized and moved on.  But later on I thought to myself…even if she did think it was vinyl, why on earth was she trying to peel it off anyway?? 

Thankfully the paint survived the ordeal!

I think this would make such a fun, quirky end table or nightstand…don’t you?

Thanks to Elizabeth & Co. and Knick of Time for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
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Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

The “Free” Waterfall Chest of Drawers

Have you ever surfed the “free” category on Craigslist?  Well don’t.  It’s addicting! 

The siren call of getting something for nothing can be hard to overcome.  I know, because I spent several weeks checking it obsessively for something wonderful.

The hard part is, if you’re not willing to get in the car and go someplace RIGHT NOW, you’re going to miss out on the wonderful stuff.

And mostly, the wonderful stuff…really isn’t.

As my mother said, “If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is!”

But here’s my story!

This is the end result of a pretty little waterfall dresser I picked up FOR FREE! 

When the ad popped up, I excitedly e-mailed the owner, only to find that it had already been spoken for.  <sigh>  Much to my delight, the freeloader before me prior interested party was a no-show, and I was next on the list!

This is what it looked like when I got it.

Not bad, right?  There were a few chips and dings, and the finish was old and faded, but all the drawers and hardware were there…I picked it up without looking a gift horse in the mouth!

When I got it home, the hidden problems became apparent.  A couple of the drawers were pretty much held together with spit and baling wire, and I think all the drawer guides, slides, and whatsits were missing.

But the exterior was really in such good condition that I couldn’t bring myself to paint it!  So instead, I sanded off the old finish coat and used General Finishes Gel Stain to bring the wood back to life.

Look at this detail!

The problem was that fixing the drawers to work properly was really beyond me.  I could cobble them back together so contents didn’t fall out the cracks, but I really didn’t have a clue how to construct new wood slides and guides.

So this was a piece I chose NOT to take with me to the barn sale.  It did go to a new home via Craigslist yesterday, but of course I had to be completely honest about the condition of the drawers.  I felt bad that I couldn’t really restore it to full usefulness and beauty.

But hey…it cured me of cruising the “free” category on Craigslist…at least for a little while!

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The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
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Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	A Little Knick Knack

For the Birds: a dining set

My dining room has been “full” for a little while again, and it has been so nice!  A friend of mine was moving and didn’t want to take her dining set with her…and I just happened to be willing to take it off her hands!

The sad part is that I canNOT find my “before” pictures.  I remember taking them…really I do!  But they are not to be found, either on my phone or my camera.

Suffice it to say that the finish on the top of the table was utterly shot, one of the chairs had a large hole in the caning, and the seat cushions were stained and dog-hairy.

This version, I think, is much better!

I will admit it took me a looonnnggg time to finish this project!  I got the table top stained and the body and chairs painted, and then they sat…and sat…and sat.  It was WEEKS before I replaced the caning (using my tried-true kitchen tools, as shown here)  put the poly on the top and glazed and distressed everything else.

I don’t know why I waited so long!

I love the pretty legs on this piece.

And I really love the seat fabric!  I ordered it from Fabric. com here (it’s called Richloom Birdwatcher Meadow).  I am such a sucker for birds, and I think the whole dining set re-do was just an excuse to use this fabric!  If you love the fabric like I do…they have a couple other color options.  I chose to go with the more “neutral” one, but my heart was really pulled toward the Meadow colorway. 

You can see my Milk & Cream lazy susan made an appearance on the newly finished table…it’s always fun to put a few new things together!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
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Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	A Little Knick Knack

Zack’s Room: Oak to Espresso

I have a friend who’s been putting gentle pressure on me to refinish some furniture for her son’s room (I painted a desk for her daughter last year). 

I kept telling her, “Wait till spring!”

As soon as we had two consecutive days of 60-degree weather, she was calling me 

The tricky part was that she didn’t want painted furniture this time, she just wanted to darken the existing stain on some pieces she already had.  I will frankly admit that I was NOT excited about that plan.  The only way I knew to get a good, stained finish was to get down to bare wood as best as possible—and anything with creases and corners is a nightmare.

One lucky day, however, I came across this project from Monica Wants It where she used General Finishes Gel Stain to change a boring oak vanity to a beautiful espresso.

Can blogs be answer to prayers?  I think so!

And is it OK to be in love with a refinishing product?  I hope so!

I am SO impressed with the gel stain!  I did NOT have to strip or sand to bare wood.  After scuff-sanding all the surfaces…

And trust me, there were a LOT of surfaces…

A dresser with nine drawers and two cupboard doors…

…a TV stand-turned-nightstand (also has two cupboard doors)…

…and a bookcase headboard with two shelves…

Sorry, that’s all the “before” pictures I remembered to take!

I applied the gel stain (espresso color) using my husband’s old socks!  (That’s what Monica recommended for her project.)  It worked GREAT!  I may have to buy my husband some more socks so I can have the old ones!

You can’t freak out after the first coat goes on…it’s going to look at little splotchy.

OK, maybe it will look a LOT splotchy!

But it’s better after two coats (I waited 24 hours between coats)…

…and SO much better after three!

The funny thing about this gel stain—it smells sweet!  And it looks (and feels) like chocolate pudding.  I was almost tempted to take a taste! 

No, not really!

To finish things up, I used two coats of General Finishes Top Coat (using more socks), and I painted the hinges and the casters with ORB spray paint.

Then I pestered my friend until she let me come take pictures of everything in Zack’s room!

Zacky was happy to show me his “new room.”

I always like to see a satisfied customer!

Featured on Better After!

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Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
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Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	It’s So Very Cheri
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