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 

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 

 

4 year old princess!

Danielle with Cahoon Interiors had an idea for doing the most perfect pink princess room.  Here is how it turned out. My contribution is the night stand, mirror and dresser for this room. 

The dresser is more silver with gold highlights and the mirror is golden with silver highlights. 

They looked much different when they came to me.  The mirror was a brassy gold with a few broken spots.

I repaired the edges and made them look like the original flower and leaf design. 

Once primed and painted, it's nearly impossible to see the parts that were fixed. 

The dresser was a honey oak color and needed updating. 

It took sanding, priming, a base coat & several coats of metallic paint to achieve the look. After all of that, it still needed to be dark waxed and glazed. It was a long project with many steps! 

Even the handles were lightened and then silver added after. They are such a pretty shape, I'm glad we stayed with the original hardware. 

I love the chandelier and the soft pink ceiling Danielle picked out to go with it. 

From the delicate pink curtains to the soft textured rug, I think it's perfect for a princess!  Thanks for reading my blog, please like comment and share to keep seeing it in your FB feed.

Thanks! 

Lori

Parade of Homes part 2 Aged Basketball Hoop

 

Here is an aged basketball hoop I made for the home. 

I teamed up with Cahoon Interiors again, to do this art piece that goes above the basketball court. 

I built the backboard out of blue pine with a knotty alder frame for the contrast. Then it was stained brown and grey washed. 

Here it is before I stained and distressed the backboard and hoop. It was a fun project to build. 

I made Danielle's family a smaller version for her home as a little gift.  I think it turned out really nice. 

A big thank you to my husband Geoff for helping me and supporting me in all these projects and the time I spent away from him and the kids. 

North Star

I have worked on this old nightstand for awhile now.  It's still not all the way done but it's getting close.  

Here it is today.  Here is the old girl when I began a few months ago. 

I think it looks a little neater now, what do you think? 

I started by cutting out a vinyl design on my Silhouette Studio.  I then wood burned the image onto the wood table top. 

I then colored all of the compass and  I did an overall dark stain with Americsn Finishes Java Gel stain.  I liked it but I wanted to fade it out just a bit.  

The top is the more faded out look.  I did go back in later and apply more stain. 

When I had that big primer day, this was one of those pieces I primed with several other pieces. 

Then I went in and I sprayed it all "old white" color.  I used the Annie Sloan color and I had Home Depot match it in Behr paint because spraying chalk paint doesn't work well but I wanted the same color.  When requested I do use Original Annie Sloan but it's one I paint on without a sprayer. 

I sprayed the handles in Rustoleum in Oil Rubbed Bronze finish.  It still needs another day or two of work. (and a few more screws for the handles)  once I spray one more finish coat on the sides and clear coat the top it will be done but I just wanted to show it to you today. 

Have a great day, 

Lori 

Lights, camera, accident!

I was in a hurry to get to the Home Depot lighting class.  I was meeting my good friend Scott there who I haven't seen in about 2 years.  I jumped into my car and started backing up when I felt the hit.  My 5 year old had left her small bike in the driveway right behind my SUV.  It was crunch time! 

Normally wheels are not supposed to be taco shaped, I hear.  I pulled it up by the front door to show my husband, I had to go.  I left it to him to break the bad news.

I made it to the lighting & electrical class. I am at Home Depot about every other day and I never noticed this wall before.  They have a dedicated station to teach people how to wire plugs, ceiling lights and switches.  

This is my buddy Scott.  He mastered the outlets like a boss!  The instructors were great and they took the time for each of us to try out each station.  

I told these gentlemen they were going in my blog.  Each one was very cool about it.  The group was small and the instructor spent a good two hours showing us so much about how to wire our own electrical switches and sockets.

The instructor is a professional electrician  and he was incredibly knowledgeable about code and simple tricks to make it easier and less intimidating.  I so far have been the only girl in these classes.  I really would love other ladies to come join in. 

When I learned how easy it is to change out a light fixture, I kicked myself for not learning this earlier.  My hubby is exceptionally handy but working long hours doing construction, makes him not enthusiastic about doing it at home.  I could save us both a bunch of stress learning to change things out myself.  

Here is my hand after wiring this light switch.  Oh yeah, I rocked it.  Around my place we have a lot of sockets that a plug just falls out of because they are old and loose from wear.  I may just have to change them out to ones that will hold a plug again.  

He showed us all the tools and what they were for, from beginners to pro's.  We learned SO MUCH, I honestly couldn't remember it all.  I was also having too much fun joking around with my buddy.  The teacher said if I needed help mid-project to just call the store and he would walk me through the details again. As for the broken bike..... 

The frame was bent, the tire was toast and the training wheels were destroyed.  I had a talk with my little lady & we made a deal that we both would be more responsible.  Her with not parking behind my car and me with checking before I drive.  

We ended the day with replacing what was lost.  I learned my lesson and I hope she did too.  It was a very informative day all around.  

P.S. I am not sponsored by Home Depot yet but I would love it because I use their products.  I just think more people would benefit from their free classes and help.  Also please click on the Bloglovin button to follow me.