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 

Parade of Homes

I have been working with Cahoon Interiors to create some fun art and furniture designs for the Parade of Homes. The Parade of Homes is basically the Olympics of home building and interior design for the state of Utah. I am extremely grateful and honored that I have been asked to create for this project. 

This is the home I have been helping with. It's a stunning beauty in the hills above Saratoga Springs.

   I have been asked to do a few art pieces and furniture pieces to be showcased inside.  

This room turned out really lovely. The photo was taken by my friend Danielle. I did the dresser and the night stand for the room. I wish the whole room could be fit into each photo because the chandelier and the light pink ceiling are so delicate and soft.  This is the dresser and the mirror I painted. The dresser is in a metallic silver with gold highlights and the mirror is gold with silver highlights. I think they work out stunning together. 

I have done projects in other rooms that I will be showing in the next few days. 

  I am on vacation right now and I have gathered some fun new creative ideas for when I get home. Tomorrow I am going to a swap meet and I am excited for what treasures I might find down here.

   

More fun photos to come soon!

Until then, I'll enjoy a little sunshine. 

 Love, Lori

Moving day is coming!

  We are moving! I'm really excited about it. We had to sell our house and rent for the last three years due to medical bills, for both my husband and I.  We are both feeling strong and healthy now, so we are excited to put down some roots.

This little green stake will be my future home spot. I'm nervous but thrilled. 

  We have looked at dozens of homes (both this year and last year) but the timing wasn't right, or the homes didn't work.  We have found a perfect building lot and a house plan in our budget, so we will be moving in August or September.  Hopefully earlier if the permits go through quickly, but that's not likely.  Now for the fun stuff, how to decorate! 

I am a huge fan of industrial furniture. I am also a big fan of soft and plush vintage styles. 

I am hoping to marry the two styles together on a very tight budget. I have been collecting French chairs and a sofa from second-hand sources. I have been volunteering in the wood shop at the local High School all winter and my carpentry skills have been improving as well.  Most things I will build, or upholster myself, for the furniture and accessories. 

Many of the details we haven't worked out yet, but the kitchen colors may go in this direction. I love the high contrast between the dark counter tops and the white cupboards. It looks great with the industrial chrome lighting! 

I picked up six of these chairs from the classified ads for $30 total. 

  I will refinish them with an old oak table in my garage, they will look brand new when done!  I re-finished some for my friend and these will be very similar. My chairs and table base will be white distressed with possibly a bit of blue in the center of the base. (the tile color) The top stain will also be a darker walnut color. 

  The picture below I did for a friend. She chose a light green/white paint with a cherry top. I love how it looks. 

  I went and looked at tile. Our kitchen won't have much backsplash area so I can have a bit of fun with it. 

I'm loving the sky blue. It's my favorite color (and the color of my husband's eyes.)  The subway tiles are not too expensive so they might be the winner. 

I love these turquoise Moroccan style ones but at $26 a square foot they are well above my price range and about 3x the subway tile price.  

This is an example of the look I am going for. My cupboards will be a antique distressed white & countertops will be a bit different but a gorgeous black granite. The home builder has granite as a standard feature or else I wouldn't be able to splurge on this feature right now. 

I want to do bright a cheery color for the laundry room. Laundry is my least favorite job so if it looks pretty, I will want to be in that room more often right?  So many ideas! 

  In the months ahead I will post pictures of my progress with the house and with the progress on making my old furniture look new. That way I can move into a new house with the look of new furniture but not break the bank. 

Have a great day!  Love, Lori 

Vw dresser still in production

With both of my fashionista's in school full time I am excited I am getting back to work! I haven't sat down and blogged or had much time to paint, or build all summer.  These crazy gals keep me busy and I love spending time with them. 

With the girls gone all day, it's time for this mom to play! I am working on overall better health first and foremost (mind, body, spirit). I have been meeting with a personal trainer at Vasa fitness once a week and exercising as many days a week as possible 3-5.  I lost 5 inches on my waist so far but the weight hasn't gone down much. 

  I see a nutritionist soon (my insurance covers 5 visits with for free) to help get my diet more in line with my goals.  I have been listening to books on CD in the car and at home to get my mind active. The public library has oodles! I really recommend trying it out.

I went to a week long church retreat, and I start part-time online college at BYU-I next month.  I am really trying to work on self-improvement without getting overloaded, I will let you know if it works. 😉 

  So on to the fun stuff! I started working again on my VW bus dresser.  

I raised up the blue line a bit and I added a silver trim line.  It's not much of a difference so far but I am happy for any progress. 

Soon I will add the lights back on permanently, put windows and the windshield wipers and finish the tiny details.  Here it was with the lights clamped on in the spring.  I think raising the blue and adding silver really added to it.

They are fun working lights and the small ones are the yellow blinker ones.  I was at a local VW dealership looking for my future mid-life crisis mobile. (I am wanting a convertible VW bug someday in the distant future) On the wall of the dealership I saw this graphic. 

VW's are just fun to me. My first car was a Jetta that I purchased a year before my wedding and I loved that little thing. We sold it for a "family wagon" but since we are only able to have the two kids, I am thinking a zippy fun car is in the works for the future once again.  

*update* windows are on and here is me adding a touch of chrome trim to them. I love the shiny silver. I used silver guilders paste and my finger between the tape lines. 

A long, long time.... In a galaxy very close by

So unfortunately this isn't a Star Wars post, though I do love the show. 

  The long, long time is in reference to how long it's been since I have posted.  It's summer time and having my little fashionistas home with me 24/7 has given me much less time to work on home decorating and furniture than I had hoped.  I do have a bit to show you.  Remember when I said I was dreaming of buying Beddy's zip up bedding for my girls? I still dream of it (I LOVE their styles) but I am on a very limited budget.  For now I found a less expensive solution and I purchased Zipit bedding for their bunk beds. 

This is their beds now. I had them make it. -I wish I would have tucked in the bottom one for the photo-  The bedding is a fitted sheet that zips on both sides and attaches to the comforter and one standard pillowcase.  Any additional pillows or accessories don't come with it.  Each of these costs approximately $50 so around $100 for both bunks was a good value to me.  The Beddy's seem like a much higher quality bedding set start around $250 each. 

Making their beds is super easy now they just zip up the side and arrange the pillows. It takes about 5 seconds and no tears and that is nice because it's so hard to make bunk beds! When I ordered the bedding and I was about to check out with two in my cart, it said it would waive shipping and handling if I ordered another. I was curious if it would do this on one bed set and make the overall purchase price less and YES, it did! So if you decide to order 2 or more, only put one in your cart and then it will make you a "deal" to get more.

I saw these cute turquoise curtains at Target the other day and since my girls have decided on hot pink and turquoise, I may have to pick them up on another visit. 

   I have also been working on my VW bus dresser. 

I have a little model car on top for perspective. I want to move the turquoise color lines up higher because they are too low for a bumper and license plate to be added and I really want to have those. All the lights are just clamped in place right now but they will be bolted on eventually.  The colors would match my girls new color palette for their room but I haven't decided quite yet if I will keep it. It is still up in the air if I will sell it, keep it in the garage to hold my tools or add it to the collection of random furniture in the house. I do like that the headlights work. When I get done with it, I will do a blog post about how I got them all to work including the little yellow safety lights. 

I hope you are having a wonderful day! 

Love Lori 

This little light of mine

I found this pretty light at Lowe's hardware the other day on clearance and I knew I had to get it. 

With tax it came to $24.01 and I thought the flower shape would be perfect for my little girls room.  I haven't done a lot to make their room very interesting.  I have one dresser I painted that they share. 

These are the drawers of the dresser in their room.  Here is the before & after picture. 

I did go back with the silver guilders paste and lighten the hardware.

Here is the light installed, I think it's beautiful!  We saved the original flush mount light to re-instal when we move since we are renters. This was my Mother's Day gift to me.  I would love to buy my girls "Beddy's" zipper bedding to make their bunk beds easier to make.  (It's on my wish-list.)

These are the type of bedding I would like to buy for them.  They are a local Utah company that I am not affiliated with but I drool over their designs.  The best part is they have zippers on both sides of the bedding so kids can zip it up like a sleeping bag. 

They even do grown-up sizes! They have Queen ones and soon they are launching King sized bedding.  I have a King sized bed and I might actually make my bed everyday if it only involved zipping.  They have an online website and they are starting to sell them at RC Willey stores so I am watching/waiting for a great sale. I am thinking Christmas would be cozy with these.  Other than getting a new light, I have been taking it easy. I just had another operation (low back nerve ablation) and although it's helping, I am not quite ready for work in the shop. 

I hope you enjoy something beautiful today!

Love Lori

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 

Paint spraying 101

I have been fortunate enough to be around a few excellent paint teachers.  My husband and my Father in Law are both professional contractors who specialize in painting and coatings.  They mostly do industrial painting (water treatment plants, utilities, sewer treatments, airports.... Big jobs) I am pretty sure I talked about that before. 

Here is my hubby's truck, they are Orion Painting and Coatings.  Every day at home and every family holiday party I hear a little "shop talk." My husband has been painting over 15 years and my FIL over 20 with general construction before that.  They have painted homes, schools, businesses and everything in between.  I have always listened to the shop talk but only recently I have become fascinated by it. 

I just finished painting this desk and chair for my friends daughter.  It's still wet in the photo. 

I will post better photos later and show the before and after with all the steps.  This post I wanted to share a few paint tips I have learned about using an air compressor and a spray gun. 

For this one I used plaster of Paris and water to make a chalky base.  3tbs of dry mix and about 3tbs of water (mix well in cold water) then mixed into 8oz of paint makes a good chalk paint.  *not chalkboard paint*  I brushed it on and it made an excellent primer.  

You can see it's streaky on the chair which a first coat or primer will be.  I kinda wish I would have used regular primer (or tinted the primer) because I could have sprayed it on and not had the brush lines.  

The good thing about using the chalky primer is that it's super sandable,  so you can sand off the lines or paint drops before putting on a regular latex top coat.  I did have a few places to sand smooth before using the non-chalky finish coat. 

Chalk paint does not spray well, it's very thick and it clogs the sprayer easily.  I recommend straining all paint before putting it in the sprayer.  Disposable plastic cups are a great way to strain and keep paint in small workable quantities.  When you need a break, Glad Press and Seal Wrap makes a good lid. 

See the big paint chunks? These would clog the sprayer and slow progress way down.  All paint in sprayers needs to be watered down.  I like adding about a tablespoon of water at a time to the strainer to thin the paint.  The free at Home Depot paint can openers, make an excellent small stir stick. When the paint dries, it peels right off the metal and you can use it again. 

If you do get a clog,  the paint won't come out where it's supposed to. In this photo you can see it coming out the top valve.  I had to stop and clean out the sprayer and all its parts.  I have had several sprayers and this one is my favorite, it's a gravity fed cup gun.  I have used the kind that the paint is below and it pumps it to the top,  they work but this is easier and the cleanup is quicker.  If you can't afford an air compressor plus a cup gun,  you can get the electric spray gun for not very much. 

I think I got this one for under $20 at Harbor Freight with a coupon.  Now that I have the experience with both types, I definitely recommend the air sprayer.  When you get the right consistency of paint (when it is runny like milk) it sprays on nicely.  Several thin coats are the way to go.  Don't try to do it too thick or it will run, drip and cause more misery later.  On a warm day a thin coat will be dry to the touch in about 10-15 minutes.

When cleaning the sprayer I recommend using brushes to get in the little paint holes.  I picked these brushes up free at Harbor Freight with a coupon.  I love the freebies there.  I didn't show it in the photos but the tip also comes off & needs to be cleaned.  

When it's all cleaned out its good to fill up the cup gun with water and use the air just like you are painting to make sure it's completely clear for the next time. 

When closing up a paint can, place a drop cloth, rag, or paper towels on top of the can. This will keep the paint that gets trapped around the rim from flying everywhere.  

Then you can tap the hammer around the edge and save your floor or walls from unwanted splatter.  These might be simple tricks and tips that you may already know.  Some of you have never painted before.  If you have any good tips for me, please send them in!  I am so excited that I just got an airbrush set, I can't wait to try it out and tell you all about how that goes.

Have a good day and don't be afraid to try something new! 

Love Lori