Another fun Project

My mom called me a few weeks ago and told me my Grandmother had given her two nightstands for my little sister's room, but there was a problem. Here's the problem:


Anyone want to take a wild guess on why my mom wasn't crazy about them? Dey UGLY! Ugly hunter green and brown don't really jive with anything in my mom's house, especially a little girl's room, mostly pink and white, for whom they were intended. She asked, "You can do something about them, right?"

Sure Mom, I'll hop right on that. Actually I was kind of excited to work on a project again in a space where I didn't really have to worry about dust, wind and the elements screwing it up.

I would love to have sanded these down and stained them a nice dark walnut, but...they're mostly MDF, and ya, that doesn't stain well.

I started out by removing drawers and knobs then busted out the hubster's power sander and sanded off all the finish. You have to at least give it a rub down with sand paper otherwise the paint will bubble and settle on the surface without getting a firm hold on the wood. It leaves it with an ugly finish if it doesn't have anything to adhere to and add to that, the paint will generally peel off if it gets nicked at all. Not fun.

Anyway, after I'd blasted it with a nice course grit, I went over it again with a fine grit to smooth down the surface. The next step is very important to this process or you'll have horrible results! After I got done sanding, I went over the entire piece with a slightly damp rag to remove all the sawdust, then let it dry. When it was dry and the wood pores were good and ready to accept paint, I sprayed on a lovely white semigloss for my base coat. When doing furniture you always get a better finish spraying it rather than brushing or rolling it unless you want to see the brush strokes (which isn't likely).

You can prime it first, but I didn't bother. Two coats of paint covered the piece as well as I wanted it to, then I got to bust out techniques I haven't used since college and antique the thing. I used a mahogany bombay stain, which is pretty dark and dry brushed it on all the edges, then worked it in with a rag. It would have been better if this thing had some classic lines and grooves to work the stain into, but it turned out pretty nice.


Last but not least, I picked up a couple of crystal cut glass and brass knobs at the Home Depot and put 'em on. They are very pretty and add a little sparkle to an otherwise boring piece.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! :)


Love me some projects! And although this took several weeks to complete because of the lack of time I could actually spend doing it, it was a great time and I love it, especially when compared to what it was...

Fire!

Today we had a funny experience at our house. While I was in my room this morning DA let out a piercing bloody cry that scared me half to death. I wouldn’t be surprised if I find gray hairs in a few months masquerading as blonds. I ran to the living room to find out what happened and if he was hurt. He was screaming, “Fire, fire, mom, fire!” over and over again. As I ran, I was trying to figure out how he’d gotten a hold of matches because I keep them well out of reach even for me! And I was trying to remember if we still had a fire extinguisher in the closet or if I was going to have to smother it with something. When I made it to him, he grabbed me around the legs almost tackling me and pointed at the couch. “Fire mom, fire! It went down the couch!” Tears were streaming down his face and he was hiccupping he was so afraid as he pointed in the crack between the cushions. I didn’t see or smell anything so I asked him where the fire was and he calmed down enough to say clearly, “No, spider mom, not fire.” He had a big old ugly spider that sat next him and tried to introduce itself. Needless to say, my heart rate slowed significantly. Spiders I can deal with. Or at least I thought so, but just then the spider came out to say hello again. It was huge! In fact huge doesn’t describe it. It was gynormous! Like bigger than a silver dollar with the fattest butt I’ve ever seen on a spider that wasn’t carrying an egg sac around with it. I sent DA for toilet paper and kept an eye on it. I just have to interject here that I hate squishing spiders, I prefer to trap them and let Jake squish them when he gets home, but I didn’t think I had a chance trapping this guy. The spider crawled up the back cushion and over the edge so he was hiding between the couch and the wall by the time DA got back with my squishing material of choice for the day. I pulled out the end table, then whipped the couch out screwing up my courage for the squishathon. The spider had paused mid step startled I suppose by the movement of his climbing surface. I took a deep breath and tackled the nasty. Just as I was going in for the kill, he reared up his front legs and I swear he hissed at me, but I put the kibash on his nasty aggressive temper and sent him to the trash thoroughly smushed. Squishing bugs with your hands regardless of whether there’s an intervening layer or not is never a fun experience. I can still feel the bum on that thing going “pop!” between my fingers, Ugh! I hope DA wasn’t traumatized. He seemed to be quite calm when he found out it was good and dead. Wish I had thought to get a picture, cause this thing was literally huge, but sadly my son's peace of mind came before the funniness of the situation.

Morning Snuggles

This morning DA came into our room for his morning snuggle and tickle. Jake pulled him up on the bed and said, "Hey you, come snuggle me."

DA piped up and said, "I don't want to snuggle you, you're stinky!"

Fun in the Sun

This week, DA and I spent the week in Sunny California and loved it. We stayed at a resort in Indio that was fantastic. We'll be visiting there again for sure. Thankfully, it wasn't just me and him. Dad spent the first couple of days with us and some of the cousins came too.


This was the night before we left. DA is just too adorable for words.


We went and saw "Despicable Me" with the cousins at the theater. Little Miss sitting next to DA really got into the movie and almost cried when they took the girls away. I almost did too. It was a fantastic movie though, and super funny.


One evening we went to a street fair out in Palm Springs. It was a blast! We'll have to visit again.




DA loved this fountain and just wanted to hang out there for a while, so we did!


The last morning we were there we went shopping at an outlet mall. The kids didn't want to look at clothes, so they watched Sid the Science Kid on cool chairs while the moms checked out the merchandise.

Then we went outside and the fun began...







They wanted to ride every single ride there, so they climbed in and had a blast.

The ride home was LONG. We did the whole drive in one day, and DA was quite the trooper. And thank goodness for my sister's nephew who drove with us! He drove part of the way home and we wouldn't have made it without him.



He loves his Lightning Blanket he got for his birthday. We take it everywhere.


We saw the most beautiful rainstorms on the way home and double rainbows that crossed the whole sky. It was amazing to be out in nature and see these beautiful sites. It's good to be home, but I need another vacation. I came home to these little guys crawling around my bathroom:



So not cool! I have yet to identify them, but I'm working on it. I'm also praying they didn't get into my food storage!

The Repeat Exchange

This week, DA and I spent some time with Dad in Arizona. It was a blast!

One morning DA came in and asked me for breakfast.

DA: "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy..." repeat until I acknowledge.
Mom: "Yes dear."
DA: "I'm hungry. Will you get me breakfast please?"

I said sure. As we headed for the kitchen, DA turned around and said, "I love you mommy!" Made my heart warm then I decided it was time for DA to learn something.

Mom: "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you..." repeated about a hundred times.
DA then turned around, put his hand on his hip and said, "Mommy, I know!"

I don't know if the lesson was learned or not, but it sure was funny to see him act just like me.

DA also got into lots of trouble this week. Jake lives on the second floor in a condo that has two decks, one on the front and one on the back. DA became obsessed with the decks and by the time we figured out what he was doing out there, there were several items of importance missing. The first thing to go was the remote, then the throw blanket in the living room, a glass cup, some things that belonged to Jake's roommate, several of DA's favorite toys, some hand towels from the kitchen, a tube of caulking, and I don't remember what else. Each and every one of the missing things was thrown off the deck so he could watch them fall. It was like going on a treasure hunt when we went to reclaim them. We didn't take many toys with us, so when DA got bored, he had to use his imagination and natural curiosity to stay busy.

We discovered several things about AZ: Barnes and Noble's play section rocks! The mall has an incredible play place that DA could literally bounce off the walls (which he did) and not get hurt, rain is a beautiful thing, Pita Jungle is delicious, and fire alarms going off in the middle of the night for no reason are not cool.

It was a fun trip and once again I forgot the camera (and my pillow and DA's church clothes). No pictures but lots of fun memories.

Mom, I have something to tell you...

This week, DA and I went to AZ to visit Jake. Arizona, or at least the parts I've seen so far, is covered in red rock and evergreen forests. While we were driving through a redrock canyon, DA piped up from the back seat. This was the conversation that we had:

DA: Mom, I have something to tell you.
Mom: What's that DA?
DA: This is beautiful.
Mom: What is DA?
DA: The world.
Mom: It is, isn't it? Heavenly Father must have loved us so much to give us such a beautiful world to live in.
DA: Yep! And Mom, Heavenly Father would be very sad if we broke it.
Mom: What do you mean?
DA: He would be very sad if we broke the world. Let's not break the world, okay Mom? Does that sound like a plan?
Mom: Sounds good DA.

He was so earnest while he was telling me that it made me laugh and smile with pride at the same time. It also made me want to rush out and champion recycling, go green, and cleaning up the beautiful world we live in. Thank goodness for children who remind us what living is all about.

How I do love it!

I just finished my most recent project and how I do love it! I'm so excited. I didn't get any before pictures, but believe me this thing was not pretty.


It was a medium oak all over with stickers almost permanently embedded in the top.


I saved it from the trash heap and re-finished it. I sanded down the top and removed those stickers with a very little elbow grease thanks to Jake's orbital sander. I then re-finished the top with a beautiful Bombay Mahogany stain followed up with a Dark Walnut stain. It has delicate red undertones from the mahogany stain, and still is in the dark family of wood I love.


I painted the bottom and the legs a fabulous antique white and the contrast looks amazing.


For an investment of $0 for the table and around $20 for the paint and stain I have a beautiful end table and I can say, "Ya, I did that."