My Spinning Head

I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO! My work space is almost unusable due to the crazy amount of projects I have going on simultaneously. I'm not really sure how it happened either. Look at this!

My little "helper"

In these photos you can see the mirror for my new vanity, the blue desk I'm working on for Jio, the rocking chair that I still need to fix, and the disaster buffet that I'm not ready to talk about just yet. What isn't shown are the two adorable end tables I picked up today. Check those out!

Well this is just one, but the other is the same so you get the idea. 

In addition to these are a couple of chairs that need to be upholstered (I'm procrastinating on those). I'm a little overwhelmed. However, I'm having a lot of fun with it too. Unfortunately, I'm at a bit of a standstill with the projects. I'm out of sanding pads, primer, paint (chalk and regular), and sealers. So now, everything is just sorta sitting out there waiting on me to get my butt moving. Anywho, hopefully I'll be posting a finished project soon (the desk maybe). Until then, ciao! 

The Mid-Mod End Table

This is yet another piece I found on Facebook. It had been posted in my furniture group for quite a while. I'd scroll by it and glance at it every now and then, but I didn't think too much of it. Then, one fateful night (haha), I was browsing Pinterest and found a really cool updated mid-mod table that was kinda similar to the one for sale. I was instantly inspired! I knew I could bring this thing back to life. All it needed was some love <3. After some haggling, I was able to get this baby for only $25 buckaroos!

The Inspiration. 

The plan:
Paint the outside white, stain the drawer, and paint the inside a color. I also decided to stain the legs to match the drawer. I really loved the piece I found on Pinterest so I figured I'd use it as a guide. No need to reinvent the wheel. Once I got the table home and really started looking over it, I noticed some areas that needed a little extra love. The feet and drawer pull either needed to be replaced or painted somehow. Also, I needed to decide whether I wanted them in silver or gold. That decision could wait. There had also been doors on the front at some point, but I'm guessing they were long gone. The hinges and latch remained though, so those needed to be removed. Easy peasy.

First coat of primer done!

The first thing that needed to be done was sanding. I used an 80 grit sandpaper (I couldn't find my other ones and was too lazy to really look) to rough up the surface and help remove some of the gloss. Proper adhesion is very important when painting furniture. I'm a huge fan of Kilz primer (I seriously use this stuff on everything) and I did about two coats of that to ensure the paint would adhere. That part only took a few hours (that includes drying time).

Once the primer was dry, I added the first coat of paint to the inside. I got very lucky with the paint. My sister bought a house and is currently painting every room. She picked up a bunch of color samples, and gave me the ones she didn't use. Lucky for me, I really liked the colors. For the interior, I chose Behr Fresh Guacamole. Its a pretty green that's fresh, yet feels retro at the same time. The color was perfect for this project! The table needed two coats of the color. Really, it looked pretty good after one coat, but for safety, I added a second. Side note: paint dries really fast when its a million degrees outside! That's September in Alabama for ya.

Lookin' good!

The color I chose for the outside is called Swiss Coffee from Behr.  This was yet another left-over paint I had floating around. Unfortunately, the paint went on all gloopy-gloppy. The texture was TERRIBLE. I had to go back and sand the entire thing down to smooth it out. I added a little bit of water to the paint to thin it out, and then put a second coat on the outside. The second time went MUCH better. The paint was quite a bit smoother. I did, however, decide to do a third sanding and subsequent coat of paint. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. The bit of extra effort worked out well. The outside came out very smooth and even, exactly how I wanted it.

Once the painting was finished, I needed to sand the drawer face and legs.  This part had to be done by hand - my orbital sander is missing. Booo! This also kinda took forever. And because this took forever, I decided against staining and just decided to paint. I painted the drawer the green from the inside, and the legs were painted the same color as the outside. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

The legs post paint.

The hardware on this piece was honestly very annoying. It couldn't decide if it was gold or silver. Gold flakes kept coming off the drawer pull, revealing the silver underneath. The feet had the same issue, but were also pretty scraped up. I used nail polish remover to get the rest of the gold off of the handle. After about a half an hour of scrubbing, the pull was clean and shiny! The legs, however, were a different story. No amount of scrubbing was getting the gold off those things. Finally, I gave up and just decided to use the remainder of my most hated silver spray paint (you can read the story on that here). I was pleasantly surprised about how well it worked out. So, yay!

Finally, I was ready to seal this baby! After lots and lots of research, I chose to use Minwax Polycrylic. This stuff comes in various finished (satin, semi-gloss, and gloss), and I went with the gloss. I wanted the table to be shiny and have a wet look to it. Three coats of the polycrylic went on the table. I sanded (using a very fine grit sandpaper) between each coat, and gave it ample drying time. I don't think I could be happier with the finished product! Take a gander!

  

This turned out to be a thing of beauty! I love it, love it, love it!! 

Here are the products I used:

Kilz Latex Primer

Behr Paint Sample - Fresh Guacamole

Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss

One more Before and After:

Here is a sneak peek of my next project:

Stay tuned...

The Crackle Chairs

Let me start this post off with an apology. Its been far too long since I've posted. In the past two years, I've had another baby boy (Oliver) and I became a stay-at-home-mom. Its been a busy time for me, so not a whole lot has happened on the DIY front. I'm back at it now though with 4 projects. This is the first of them:

I run a furniture selling group on facebook called "Eastern Shore Furniture." Its a great place to find awesome deals on pieces that need some TLC. I've found so much on there already and its very difficult for me to resist buying EVERYTHING! I'm fairly certain my husband will divorce me if I bring home another piece of furniture. So, for the moment, I'm going to finish the projects I've started before I invest in more pieces. 

I picked up two of these chairs for $15 a piece (great deal)! They were painted with a cream-ish crackle paint. The color wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. The seats need a bit of work and to be recovered. I figured this would't be too tough of a project since all I really needed to do was paint and recover the seats. I would like to point out that I had never recovered anything before or used a staple gun. I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. Anywho, first thing I need to do was pick a color. To go with the silver/Mercury glass accents in my master bedroom, I chose a silver paint that I would later antique using an antique glaze. 

The paint I decided on was Valspar Metallic Silver paint. I would like to point out that I'm not really a fan of this spray paint. I mean, its okay and it does the job. However, it comes off very easily even after its dried. I'm fairly certain there's a better paint out there. With that being said, I coated each chair a couple of times using about a can and a half of paint. I let it dry for about 8 months (yes, 8 months - I did have a baby during that time so I think I get a pass). Since they sat so long, they needed a bit of a wipe down from the dust that had accumulated. In this process, some of the paint rubbed off, and I had to touch up the affected areas. REALLY annoying. 

Before and After Painting

Once the chairs were painted, I was ready for my favorite part - the glaze!! I found this incredible glaze on Pinterest somewhere and decided that I was gonna try it out. This stuff is MAGIC! It takes some practice getting the right look, but once you've got it, its transformative! Doing small areas at a time to prevent drying, I used a soft brush and painted the glaze on. You don't want to use too much because you're going to dab some if it off anyway. You do, however, want to use enough that it gets into all of the nooks and crannies of whatever your glazing.  After I dabbed the glaze off of the chairs (remember, one area at a time), it left them looking almost pewter-like instead of the bright shiny silver, and I LOVED it! All of the detail in the legs popped and it just looked so perfect to me. It had such a fantastic aged look to it. 

After Glaze

After Glaze

I let the glaze dry overnight to ensure that it would be completely cured. To finish off and seal the paint, I used a clear furniture wax. Having never used furniture wax before, I had to do some research. Much like the glaze, you have to apply the wax to small areas at a time to ensure that it doesn't dry before you can wipe it off. If you try to put it on the entire piece before wiping, it will dry and be seriously difficult to remove. It will also have a cloudy or hazy look to it. After spending a couple of hours watching Youtube videos, I was ready to wax! I started with the back of the first chair in case I screwed it up. Turns out, its pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I just wiped the wax on with a lint-free cloth (an old t-shirt), and then wiped it right off. Now, you've got to put your back into it to get the right look. It should be kind of shiny and smooth once you're done. It took me quite a while to finish this part. I wanted to make sure I covered absolutely every part of the chairs. 

Once that part was done, I was ready to recover the seats. I went round and round for months on this. I found lots of fabrics that I liked, but none that I loved. And then it hit me. I had these curtains that used to hang in my bedroom that were a perfect shade of blue with such a pretty pattern on them. They were fairly thick and heavy (very close to actual upholstery fabrics) so I knew that they would work for what I needed. And BONUS, I saved some money in the process! Yet another thing I had never done before was recover seat cushions. I'd also never used a staple gun. This seemed a bit scary to me. I had this very rational fear that I was going to staple my fingers. I decided I would face my fear and recover my chairs by myself. I measured and cut my fabric (I cut both pieces of fabric so that they would have the exact same pattern on each seat, because I'm weird like that), centered it on the seat how I wanted it, and prepared to staple. My dad has this staple gun that I'm pretty sure is older than I am, but it works so I used it. With the fabric pulled tight, I was ready to staple. If you've never used a staple gun before, be warned: its really very loud. It scared the crap out of me and my four-year-old. After a few staples were in, I got my technique down and the rest of the process went rather quickly. I was very pleased with how the seat turned out. The fabric was nice and taut, and the pattern was almost perfectly centered. Go me! 

The final step I did a few days later to ensure the wax was nice and dry. All that was left to do was attach the seats to the chairs. I used really long screws for this - I didn't measure them because who cares. And that was it. Finito! It was a long process, but it was well worth it! 

This photo is terrible. I'll put a better one up later...

Here are the products I used:

Valspar Silver Spray Paint

Valspar Antiquing Glaze

Minwax Paste Wax

The "Can You Say 'Bachelor'" Chair

Before

What can I say about this chair?  The wood frame had a terribly ugly stain color that was also peeling off.  The pad for the chair was black.  No.  Faded black.  Really what I like to call "bachelor pad black."  You all know what I'm talking about.  Anyway, my husband LOVED this chair.  He was given this chair which had been sitting in someones garage, he'd had it for who knows how long and it was his favorite place to sit and play video games in his single days.  I'll admit, this thing was comfortable as can be, but it was not coming to our new place looking like that.  We are married and we have a baby; we are adults!  I was not having my place look like a bunch of college guys lived in it.  No.  I had to do something... drastic.  

So, I went to work on this thing.  I started by taking it apart to see what I was working with.  The stain looked like it would come off relatively easily so I got to work sanding the frame.  By hand.  It wasn't until two hours later that I realized I had an orbital sander. Took me another two hours but I got it down to the raw wood.

Raw Wood

Finally, I was ready to stain.  I chose Rustoleum Kona Brown for its rich, dark color.  I put on some gloves, grabbed an old t-shirt and got to staining!  Let me tell ya, staining is actually really fun.  Well at least to me it is!  After about 3 coats of stain, it was finally the color I wanted.  I'd say the entire staining process took about 6 hours which included the in-between drying times. 

First Coat: splotchy and way too light

Second Coat: better but not quite there

Third Coat: PERFECT!

Next up, polyurethane!  I used Cabot Satin Polyurethane and put about two coats on the frame allowing it to dry overnight before applying the second coat.  I took this time to work on sewing the cover for the pad.  And what an adventure that was!  As it turns out, the seat and the pad were two parts, a fact of which I was unaware until I started dismantling the whole thing.  This presented a minor inconvenience because I now had to sew two different pieces which required even more fabric (YAY! <sarcasm).  I ended up with about 3 yards of fabric, which lucky for me was half off at the time.  I believe I ended up spending around $60 on the fabric and thread.

The Fabric!

As I said, I had to sew two different pieces for the chair: one for the frame and one for the pad.  I sewed them like a slipcover so I would be able to change out the fabric later if I wanted.  So, after lots of measuring, cutting, pinning, sewing, checking for fit, re-pinning and re-sewing, I finally had my finished pieces!  The sewing process took up about another 6 hours of my time (mainly because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these sorts of things and it had to be just right!) but I ended up with a perfect fit.  On a side note, I'm really terrible at working my sewing machine which is probably why it took 6 hours.  I secured the cover to the frame with Velcro (which is annoyingly difficult to do by hand).  The pad was then secured to the frame with an elastic band that I had sewn into the bottom and top seams.  Early in the process (during measuring) I included enough fabric for an flap on the pad cover that would go over the top of the chair to the back onto the frame.  I did this to hide the area where I used velcro to secure the cover onto the frame.  To secure that flap, I used really pretty decorative hooks (see photo).  

It gives it a really nice finishing touch I think.

Flap and hooks

The entire project took about 3 days which I completed over a weekend and cost about $85-$90 with the fabric taking up the bulk of the cost.  The chair now sits happily in our apartment and is still as comfortable as ever!  Needless to say, my hubby is more than happy to have been able to keep his favorite chair!  

The Finished Product!

In case you were wondering, here are the products I used to stain and seal the frame:

Lowe's Price: $9

Lowe's Price: $12

THE END

Why I love DIY

My favorite re-do so far!

Hello Future Readers!

I'd like to begin my story by telling all of you how much I love DIY projects.  Let me count the ways:

1. I love the Idea of creating something, making something from nothing, bringing new life to forgotten/abandoned pieces.  
2. I love the Process of finding/imagining projects to do.  The search for my next DIY project is one of the best parts for me.  Its exciting, I get butterflies, and I become totally obsessed with it! 
3. I love the Effort that goes into re-doing outdated/broken things.  Granted, sanding and painting can be tedious, but knowing that the end result is just a few paint strokes away makes it totally worth it!
4. I love the Finished Product.  With all of my heart!  My sweat, possibly my blood, and maybe even a few tears along the way went into that piece.  It has certainly earned its place in my home and my everlasting love and devotion.  Well maybe not that last part. 

DIY for me is therapy.  I can lose myself in these projects and just release any frustration or stress I may have through the work.  Its all about the journey and a little about the destination.

Now, regarding referring to myself as a "DI-TRY-er" is my husband's doing.  One day we were talking about a project I wanted to do, and he started to chuckle and said "Now honey, are you sure you're going to do this?" And I replied, "Of course! Why wouldn't I?!" I was very indignant about this. Okay, so I see you're confused.  Let me back up a little bit.  While I love DIY, I'm a bit notorious for starting projects and never finishing them (for whatever reason).  My husband, as he should, knows this about me.  At this point in the conversation, he loving referred to me as a DI-TRY-er and from then on out, I adopted the title with gusto! I may not finish everything in a timely manner, but that doesn't always matter to me.  And I will say that I have made a commitment to myself (and my sweet helper of a husband) to get projects done!  Before we even start one, we give it a timeline and a budget-two thing that are crucial to the success of re-dos and builds. 

So, that's my story.  This blog will be my documentation of the continuation of that story.  I'll be posting projects (big and small), my how-to's, my mess-ups, and other DIY related things.  Enjoy!