Finally Finished, Table and Chairs!

I haven't been around much. Sorry about that. I have been working like crazy to finish as many projects as I can before we move next month. Can't afford all the weight that my "collections" will add. Hehehehehe

The number one project on my list to finish was a table and chairs set that I have been working on for almost a year now. I actually got the chairs first, then kept my eye out for a table with a similar look. To see the pain process I went through on the chairs (or at least one of them) go here.

I was super excited to find this table for a good deal, and picked it up within an hour of them posting it! She said she had about fifty offers for it from the time I called and the time I got there 20 minutes later. (I forgot to take a before picture, so my friend who has the exact same table, took a picture and sent it to me. Thanks Brandi)

I thought of a couple different way to complete this, but eventually I discovered two-toned furniture. I fell in love! So, I combined my new found love of two-toned furniture with glazing and came up with this.

Here it is, all finished. Now for a closer look at the details.

I am thrilled with how the whole thing turned out. I already have similar plans for the table and chairs that I am redoing for our family, and for our master bedroom furniture. Now that I know what I am doing, maybe it will go smoother! HA!

Everything is a learning experience and I learned A LOT with this project.

Just for fun, here are a few more Before and After Pictures:

Thanks for stopping by!

Now onto other projects.

Linking up to these blogs:





Tatertots and Jello: Weekend Wrap Up Party

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. My husband worked all day and didn't get home until after 8:00 at night so the kids and I enjoyed a nice Valentine's dinner without him.
I didn't do anything big. We had heart shaped biscuits with sausage gravy. It's breakfast food, I know, but someone made it for us for a dinner and we have been having it as a dinner ever since!

Then for dessert I made a brownie cream cheese heart shaped dessert.
I had to leave one plain for my pickiest child! They sure were yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Please stand by...

We are experiencing some weather difficulties. IT. WON'T. STOP. SNOWING!

In the last few weeks, I have had one nice day (see pics below) where I was able to get out and paint, otherwise it has been all rain, snow, or just COLD. Don't get me wrong, I like snow, when I am living in places where people know how to drive in it, and they have the ability to deal with it. Not so much here where any talk of snow sends everyone into panic mode! It's crazy! The kids have had more half days, early out days and canceled school days this year then I had my entire school career, and that includes college!

You'd think that with all this snow forcing us inside that I would get some inside projects done, but we thought it would be more fun to hibernate and play Wii. What can I say we just got it for Christmas 2 months ago. :-)

But just so you know that I have not been sitting around doing nothing, here is a little peak at some of the stuff I was working on.
I was finally able to get the last 3 chairs sanded and primed(back on that one warm day). Unfortunately I ran out of primer before I could finish, then of course, after I got more, it got cold again. Live and learn!
Primed these with a gray primer. These side tables will be black when I am done with them, and there is a matching coffee table that still needs a little more work before I can prime and paint it.


Here is a great before and after, but it wasn't by me.

BEFORE:
I was helping a friend redo her dining table and bench. I helped her sand and fill stuff in with wood filler, sand some more, and paint. It was a lot of work because there were a lot of decorative "holes" that did nothing but accumulate food, so we filled them all so she could keep her sanity when cleaning off the table.
We worked most of the day and only got the first coat of paint done before I had to leave.
After the first coat of paint

She finished up painting and then sealing it with a polycrylic satin finish on her own. It was her first BIG project and she did an awesome job!!! Here is a picture of the final product that she emailed to me.

AFTER:
(She refinished the table and one of the benches, then bought a bench and the 2 chairs)

Great Job Brandi!!!

Next week the forecast says Sunny and in the 50's. I sure hope that the forecast is correct, I have a garage full of projects that are waiting for the weather to warm up! I should have more to show after that!

Refinished Dresser turned Entertainment Center

I have had this dresser in the garage for a while. It has been patiently waiting its turn to be refinished (I was also airing it out, since the place we got it from stunk big time!)


When my hubby got his new TV it was obvious that our old entertainment center wasn't going to work anymore, so he started eye-ing this dresser. Finally, he convinced me that it would make the perfect entertainment center. All it needed was a little paint and love.

So we dragged it out of the garage, and started by repairing some of the damage to the top and front.
Then I took out all the drawers and fixed any that needed fixing and tightened anything that need it. Luckily this dresser was VERY solid and well made, so it didn't take much.
Then I gave the whole thing a light sanding.
Then I painted it.
I did 3 coats of roll on Satin Black paint, the a final coat of Satin black spray paint to give it a final finish, especially on the drawers where it was hard to get into the design.

Finally we just put back on the existing hardware and called it good.
Here is a closer look at the finished product. The flash makes the hardware stand out more, but I'm still not completely satisfied with the way the hardware looks against the black. I was thinking about spraying down the hardware, but I'm not sure what color to spray them. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Other than the hardware, it has turned out to be perfect for what we wanted and needed. It fits the movies and games perfectly. I also redid the small shelf next to the entertainment center so that it matched. That holds our DVD player, sub woofer and Wii, and then we cover them up with the little curtain.

Christmas Crafts

I did a lot of crafts this year and wanted to share some of them. Most of the crafts I did where ideas from other blogs. I love that there are so many creative people out there, and that I can use their ideas to help my creativity! So thank you to those who are willing to share their projects!

Christmas Ornaments
I saw this craft on Sweet Somethings Design. As soon as I saw it, I had to try it since I had a cool whip lid sitting downstairs on my counter. I didn't do it exactly like hers. I didn't have the nice glitter so I just used what I had on hand. Once I did the first one, I made another, then another. It was pretty fun. I only used the cool whip lid on one, the rest where made out of card stock that I cut out with pattern scissors.
My mess.

First I had to cut out letters (I didn't have enough of the original so I made new ones), then I had to paint them and add glitter.

Here are a few that I had almost finished.

Here is a finished one.
I didn't have a chance to get pictures of the others that I finished before I shipped them off.


Personalized Soaps
I got this craft from The Idea Room
I wanted soaps not hand sanitizer and the only ones that I could get had their own clear picture inside with some stickers on that back that depicted an ocean scene. I had a hard time getting it off, until I finally tried Goo Gone.
It took me a while to get it off of the 20 that I put together, but it finally worked.
Here is the final product. They turned out really cute.

Jewelry Holders
This craft I figured out on my own.
Here are the final products.
I made these for my nieces. I wanted to make something that was personal and useful.

Here is how it started out.
This dresser was so damaged that I couldn't salvage it, so I decided to use some of the wood for other things.

I ripped off the drawer fronts, and stripped the first layer of paint off.
Then I stripped the second layer of paint off. I then had to sand it off really well, and repaint it.
I filled in the holes in the back and sanded it down. I didn't get pictures of the next part. I just primed it, painted it, then Mod Podged on the scrapbook paper.
After that I drilled holes for the hooks.
Finally, I screwed in the hooks. I had to screw in 50 hooks between the two jewelry boards. My hand hurt...a lot.
I also put on some fun little sayings. Then the last thing I did was to put their names on them for the finished product. I will be making more of these for my daughters, only they will be bag holders with larger hooks and less of them. I'm linking this project to these places.






Christmas Card Holder
One of the last things that I made just for fun this time, was my card holder. I saw this on Mom Endeavors, and decided to give it a try. I tried to put paper on at first with the idea of using Mod Podge, but changed my mind when it wasn't working.
Basically, I got a scrap piece of wood from my pile, and cut it to the size that I wanted. Then I wrapped some material around and used a hot glue gun to secure it to the back. Then I got some ribbon that I had on hand and cut it the length I wanted and used the hot glue gun to secure it to the back as well. Finally, I attached a picture hanger so I could hang it up. I decided not to do the other piece of wood like she did on the blog.
Then I cut out letters and once again used the hot glue gun to put them on the front (I did this without a Cricket, although a Cricket would have been so much easier and less time consuming) and added the bows. I made a few more bows, painted my clothes pins white and glued the bows on, and that was it.
It was a lot of fun, and now I have something for next year! Although, I might use a different ribbon. I only used this one, because I have so much of it!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season! Thanks for visiting!