Table Troubles

This is my not so glamorous kitchen table.  We debated long and hard if we even should bring it to our new house. Neither of us wanted to display beat up furniture in a new home that we are so excited about.   

I'm going to show you the good, bad and ugly of this project from start to finish. This one may take awhile because I've never worked on a piece in this bad shape before.  The chairs are half black and half white because the white ones have primer on them. We purchased the chairs from a yard sale. The table was my Mother-in-law's table many years ago, it has sustained a lot of damage over the decades. 

 

It's not a solid top table and water damage from spills & heat (possibly from a rogue pizza box) has caused the lamanate top to raise and split and show the particle board underneath. The table is the texture of sawdust underneath the flaking off wood.  

 

The white paint on the table is from other projects past, it's been a table I used in my Saratoga Springs home when my kids were very small and we did many art projects on top of it.  I no longer do art on the kitchen table (most of the time) and my kids are older so I think it's time to re-finish this into something beautiful.

    I have at least two other wood tables at my house right now, and all are in better shape than this one -I'm a bit of a furniture hoarder- and my husband has asked me many times why I am saving this one. The answer is complicated, I like the size and shape of this one, and I want the challenge of seeing if I can repair something in such bad shape.  

  I refinished this one for a friend a couple of years ago. Her table is the same design but her table was solid wood and it was without major damage. 

 

I have a plan for my damaged table, it may take awhile since my workspace is still upside down. Moving to a new home is awesome but my wood shop at home will be non working for several more months, my husband is planning on insulating and putting in dry wall before he wants me to use it.  I'm planning on taking these pieces to the basement and painting in a makeshift spray booth down there, until my workshop is done. 

  Do you remember my media center I refinished?  Here is a refresher picture if you missed it.  

I want to do my kitchen table to coordinate with the media center and with my kitchen.   I want to do the base of the table in the antique white of my kitchen cabinets, and the chairs in the blue metallic of my media center, with a dark stained table top. 

 

The damage to the table top is very severe but I want to see if I can pull off a repair miracle.  It's not the table I ultimately want for my dining room.  The table I really want is one I want to build myself, with very plush tufted formal dining chairs.  It's going to be down the road a long ways so this is an interim piece.  For today and the next little bit, a tablecloth makes most of the badness go away.

I am definitely going to start with getting all the chairs one color.  I have a few other projects outside the home coming up, these ones are incredibly fun and exciting, I can't wait to show you! 

  Have a very Merry Christmas!  

Love, Lori 

Halloween Chair

Hi everyone!

   Sorry it's been such a long time since I did a blog post. I am in a constant battle between my bad back and trying to be productive. I have also been juggling back to school schedules and karate for my girls alone, while the husband has been working away. 

    I have been finishing up a few items for friends and I just finished this pressed back chair for my Mother-in-Law.

Here is what the chair looked like before. It is one of those detailed oak chairs that were pretty popular a few years ago but are becoming more of a rarity now. 

  Shirley gave me a lot of fun ideas of what she liked & found on Pinterest,  then she gave me creative license to use my own artistic eye.  I wanted to bring out the fun details of leaves and acorns in the back of the seat. 

Dark waxing wouldn't do because some of the grooves were too shallow, this is where a sharpie (several sharpies) and lots of hours went into getting the details. The dark wax did help to enhance it when it was done but most of it needed more attention to detail. 

The middle section to me looks like long finger bones, fun and creepy. Then I added words and a pumpkin on the seat.

I think it goes well with her home decorations. 

Shirley always does a great job decorating for every holiday. 

 Here is a little clown, resting his tired bones!

I was at first worried that the antique white details were too much for her decor but when I got it there, it matched perfectly. 

She has every corner adorned in spooky decor to delight the senses, most of it she has made herself! 

Everywhere you look it's a feast for the eyes! 

She likes miniatures as much as I do, so there are quite a few treasures hidden in each display. 

All of her items are consistent with a fun, vintage Halloween theme! Check out these pillows! I love these so much, especially the cat faces. 

My husband loves going home to see how she has it fixed up so nicely! Once we finish moving, I hope to decorate more like this. I just need to convince the kids to help me keep the house clean! 

So there are a few candid house shots from her place. 

There is really so much more I could show you! 

Literally every corner of her place is beautifully decorated and it should be in a magazine! 

Christmas is coming and her decorations for that are just as fabulous but Halloween is my favorite for decorations. 

I will be moving in a few weeks, (the drywall is done) and after we move I will have a dedicated work station. I hope to produce more, body willing, and show you more fun things! 

  

 Oh, P.S. I'm excited I got a stamp to start putting on my furniture and designs! Here is the first item I have made that I have been able to stamp. It went on the bottom of the chair. From now on, my larger items will get this stamp & maybe I will get a small stamp for my little design items in the future. 

 So from beginning to end, I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm happy with it and I think Shirley is too.

  Have a very Happy Halloween everyone!

Love, Lori

Dallin's Outdoor sectional

First, I have to say that I know a LOT of incredibly talented people. This post is about my friend Dallin's outdoor sectional he made from pallet wood. 

I am generally not a fan of pallets, they have oils and paints in them that dull the blades on power tools. They are hard to work with and to tear apart. That being said, there are ways of working with them to save your tools, and this project he did may just make it worth saving pallets for!

After he tore them all down, he rebuilt them into a fantastic outdoor sofa sectional. 

He also made a very cool propane feature out of pallets to go with it. 

The dedication and hours that he put into this project are definitely something to be admired! 

The beauty of this old wood in a new design is what keeps bringing people back to using pallets, there is nothing like it. 

Here is Dallin hard at work. We go to BYU together and he is rocking his man bun for the photo. (Photos courtesy of Dallin and his lovely wife) 

Look how gorgeous this turned out!!! Stained a beautiful and rich color and then cushions and pillows added for comfort and beauty. 

Again great job Dallin! You have a lot of talent.  I think this free pallet project is definitely the best one I have ever seen. 

I hope your family can enjoy it for many years to come! 

  If any of you are working on projects and want to share them, I would love to see what you are up to! 

Sincerely,

Lori Hatfield 

 

Real Wall

Here is another project for the Parade of Homes., I was able to help with

  This family is very into sports, especially soccer.  Danielle with Cahoon interiors designed a fun room with that in mind. 

She picked out fun colors and textures to go into this adorable boys bedroom. My part of the room was to paint the soccer logo and grain stripe on this brick wall. 

  I have done murals before but this was my first on brick. It was something I really wanted to do. Several months ago I posted about what designs I want to do in my future home using brick.  Here is a link to that post if you are curious. http://2spruceup4me.blogspot.com/2016/03/bricks-and-lofts.html  (You probably will need to copy and paste the web address, I couldn't get it to attach the link.)

  

Here is the room during construction. I think it's fun to see the before and after shots of any piece.  

I like to take pictures during the mid-process as well, just to show some of the detailing that goes into the work. 

  I really enjoy how it turned out. I love that aged brick look that we achieved in the final result after it was weathered and distressed. 

Thanks Danielle for this fun project. 

Here is the floor decal as well I was able to help with. My sister Michelle was able to get me connected with a designer at her work and together we made this happen.  (Thanks sis!)

It added a pop of fun color to this beautiful sports court. Pure Haven Homes and Cahoon Interiors did a great job with build and design. 

Dry erase table

This is the dry erase table I painted for the Parade of Homes and my husband epoxied. It was another request from Danielle with Cahoon Interiors. The table started out like this. It had great bones but it needed some work. 

I started by tightening everything up. It was very loose and the legs were slipping away from the frame. Next step was white paint to make it crisp and clean. I made a stencil for the design on my computer.

 I have found that stencils are never perfect so you have to put some skill into it. 

I ended up spending a lot of time with a sharpie and a steady hand. 

Then more detailing with the sharpie! It was a long process. When the white needed touch ups, it was a tiny brush and a steady hand. 

I think it worked out well.  When it was a good as I could get it, and dry, my husband helped me epoxy it. Sherwin Williams makes an epoxy that coats over surfaces to make a dry-erase board. 

Geoff works with epoxies at work everyday so it was great to have a Pro in the house to help! (Thanks Geoff!)

I spent the next few hours checking and re-checking to remove lint fuzzies that fell from the air. Using tweezers helps avoid fingerprints. I think every tree in the neighborhood tried to send cotton in the air that night. It was a bit stressful! 

I love the way it turned out and that kids and adults can sit and color for years to come!  A big thanks to Danielle for coming up with this challenge for me. 

Love, Lori

Map wall

My friend Danielle, with Cahoon Interiors asked me to help her design a metal map for a curved wall in the Parade of Homes. 

We walked the house together when it was just at its studs discussing ideas and shapes. Having a curve in the wall could pose a challenge. 

Also doing too much detail or too little could also not make it work out right.  These are some of the prototypes I sent in to Brian at Critical Laser.

We worked with Brian to make it just right. This is the final scale and shape we came up with. 

They were able to roll the metal to match the shape of the wall and drill holes to attach to the studs. 

  Here is the mock up of where the holes would be drilled. (You have to look closely to see the map outline.)

  

We spent time at their shop looking over their work and patina's. They are an amazing company and I would love to have more items done there in the future. 

Danielle decided to go with the patina acid wash on the metal. I think it turned out fantastic! 

From studs to finished work, I think it looks great! 

It gives the room a lot of texture and appeal.  I was happy to help Danielle with her vision for this space.