China Cabinet Reveal!

Are you ready to see the china cabinet? I’m sure you are all tired of me dragging this on and on.

I am so very thankful for everyone’s wonderful suggestions.

I thinned the paint just a bit like Emily suggested.

I kept the vacuum by my side when sanding like Debbie suggested.

I wish I had known about Kristy’s suggestion to use a wet scrubby sponge for sanding. 

Great idea to cut down on the dust.

Oh and just a warning, this is a long post so get comfy. :)

Here she is!

And for a refresher of what she used to look like.

She’s quite a bit lighter and brighter now don’t you think?

 

I had a few panicky moments along the way.

I ran out of paint. I had some knob issues.

It took me a lot longer then I had thought. 

Mostly because that shelf doesn’t come out so I had to have my head in the cabinet and cut in all those edges.

I showed you the other day how we beefed up the molding on the top of the cabinet. 

It’s really very easy to do and can make a huge difference on lots of cabinets or shelving.

The knob problem was solved but cutting down the bolts and finding a thinner nut for the back. 

Then the little magnet assemble was moved forward just a bit.

Hubby discovered that late at night when we kept trying to get them to latch.

The idea to counter sink the nut was a great idea but I had forgotten that there was a metal plate behind the door and it was what was actually sticking to the magnet.

Not the screw head that I originally had said.

I still have not found anymore, there were only 6 in the box. So for now the rest stay wood.

I know I worried a lot of you that I did not cover up my floors.

No need. It all cleaned up very easily. I just wipe as I go. 

Even if some spots dried, it just scraped right off.  

Let me show you some of the tools that made things easier for me.

1. Sanding Blocks: top is 320 grit for between coats and the bottom one is heavier grit for distressing the edges if needed. 

2. An old sock slipped over your hand make it easy to buff out the wax.

3. Bolt cutter. I knew we had some tool in the garage for this!

4. My Pampered Chef scraper got those dried bits of stray paint right off the floor. I swear!

5. An emery board is great for getting the chalk paint off the hinges. I left them on thinking I would paint them and then changed my mind. So this got off where I wasn’t so careful.

6. A razor blade. I taped off only one side of the glass doors. It was much much easier to just scrape the paint off the other side then it was to carefully place the tape, then score it to get it to come away from the door.

Are you still with me?

Just checking.

I just want to mention a few things about my experience using Annie Sloan’s chalk paint.

The first can I ordered through Robyn Story Design. They are super fast with their orders. 

The second can I found locally.

I had a hard time deciding on getting the paint because of the higher cost. I had rationalized this in my head with not having to prime, dries fast and easy to sand back. Not priming being my biggest draw.

But using Pure White on top of a stained piece caused some coverage problems. I had some odd spots that bled through. You can see where I tried to cover them with multiple coats but it wasn’t until I spot primed it that they went away. I also had to use 3 coats in most places to get good coverage. Now, if you’re laying one color on top of another this won’t be needed. So keep that in mind if you are using any of the whites.

I loved the way it sanded. Smooth as a babies bottom. Smooth but yet you can still see my brush strokes. Odd? A bit. The brush strokes bothered me at first but then I got used to it.

Would I use it again?

Yes!

I might stick with pieces that aren’t so hard to paint. 

I would have to consider the cost factor. I used almost 2 cans of it on this one piece. 

Yes, I could have primed it then did another coat but for me that defeated the purpose of buying it in the first place.

I’m anxious to see how a color goes on. I haven’t used my French Linen sample yet.

Thanks  much for sticking with me to the end.

I know I bombarded you with a ton of pictures.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed: Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk Interiors: SNS 105
Savvy Southern Style: WUW
Primitive and Proper: Piece of  Work Wednesday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday

Dining Room Curtains

This is something that took a ridiculous amount of time to do. Why? I have no earthly reason. I really don’t. I bought these panels on clearance at Target when we moved here. A year and a half ago. I even painted the walls a while ago to go with the curtains. If you look closely you will see that my son used this fabric for the background to my blog. We just changed the tone a bit.



I had all sorts of excuses. I didn’t have a silver rod, I didn’t like the chandelier, I wanted a rug….none of it made sense really. I had this black rod and so I thought I’d just paint it silver. Then we had this crazy weather and that wasn’t going to happen. Not with spray paint. So, I said enough already. Let’s just get this done and hang them up. If I hate the black rod I’ll take it down another day and paint it. I didn't think the panels would be long enough so I was going to sew them together with another pair. But it was a miracle that they were just long enough. I'll have that project for down the road some time. Would you believe me if I told you I guessed the height of the rod? I did.

I’m not hating the black so much anymore. I like the glass finials and so it’s working out for now. The chandelier, it had some large silk shades on it in a tan and I took them off. I liked it better but not the color so that is going to get painted. I’m thinking it will be something like the silver mirror on the wall. It is silver but it has streaks or flecks of black in it too. Any opinions on what I should do with it? Rub and buff perhaps.



Sorry about no before shots. I think the hardest part of this whole thing was taking pictures of the window without looking like the sun fell from the sky and landed outside. The shot below is with a flash, not good I know. But now you can see all the dead plants outside. Gosh, I could have at least set the table or fancied it up somehow before taking pictures. My efforts were all on getting a usable shot, not decorating.



I also have my hutch to the right. You might have seen it with all my Christmas dishes in it. Sadly they are still there. I want to paint that hutch so I'll take everything out of that at once when I'm ready to paint. I'm thinking white or the color of the wall. I want it to recede as it's really too big for the space but I need the storage.

Then there is the table. I like the size of the table as it can get 108" with all the leaves in it. But the chairs take up so much space. They're very wide. I have my eyes open for different chairs. The room is not large as you can see so something without a huge back would be nice. I have thought about painting the chairs. Because I'd also like to paint the base of the table and darken up the top just a bit. To go better with the floor.

   
Let's review what still needs to be done in here shall we? Paint light fixture. Maybe even recover the shades with a light linen fabric. Paint the hutch, replace knobs. Paint the table base and darken the top. Either paint chairs or find different one. Oh yes, get a rug. And lets throw in some crown molding too. Am I forgetting anything? Ummm, the rod. Black is looking pretty good right now with the list I have going.



I am joining Marianne @ Songbird for her very first Gitter Done since taking it over from Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors. I will try harder to get more done for the next one. But I make no promises. Thank goodness Marianne agreed to take this over. I am hoping this will push me a long. I can always use a good shove!

Live writer went all wacko on me tonight and I had to redo this whole post. Since it's almost 1am I will visit everyone tomorrow, or later today, whatever it is. Nite all!



see ya,

Where Has The Time Gone?

Boy it sure is zipping on by isn't it? I'll be off the grid for awhile while. I'll be cooking and preparing for the big feast over at my sister's house. I hope to share some pictures when I get back. I'm going to try to schedule a post for while I'm away. Fingers crossed that it works. I will be joining the Mortal Muses. They are having a thankful blog hop starting Nov. 25 and will be open all weekend. There is a button on my side bar if you'd like to join along. It's always nice to stop and give thanks. You know for like wine, pie, chocolate, the important stuff.

I would like to throw a little thanks out right now. I am in the Top 10 over at the DIY club. Yea me! They seemed to like my little round table revamp. I'm up against a lot of great projects but I have my fingers crossed. If you have a minute you could stop by and maybe share a little love. I'd appreciate that.

I'd also like to thank Beckie from Infarrantly Creative. My new bathroom that used to be a closet was her fav pick over at The CSI Project. You should go over there an see all the amazing bathroom redos. Lots of talent. It's amazing. Beckie herself is one talented and creative lady. And she happens to be having one sweet giveaway right now. It might be one of these.

Okay, it is. Oh how I'd love to wrap that puppy up and stick it under the tree for myself. You can stop by Infarrantly Creative yourself and enter. Tell Beckie hi for me.

Before I go I want to show you that I got the framed coffee sack hung up. Almost had to make a run to the ER after hubby slid down the stairs. See how the steps curve at the top? That is such a pain. No pun intended. But all is well and it got up. I had thought about hanging it on the opposite wall. That would have required the really tall ladder and I wasn't going to push it. No time for the ER this week.

 Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

 See you later,

Round Table Revamp

 

You may have seen this table before in my living room. It was next to my old chair. It looked nice in black and from far away  seemed okay. But up close this is what the top looked like. Not so pretty. It had one neat lions head knob and one random knob on the other side. The claw feet were in good shape so those got taped off.

I decided to try to strip the top to see what shape the wood was in. I used Motsenbocker's Lift Off which is a good stripper that does not have an overwhelming smell to it. It is not a fast stripper though and did take several coats.

Here it is after one removing one coat and after I applied a second coat. It had black, then gold, then some green under there before I hit the wood.

I'm getting down to some wood now! It was goopy coming off. But what is good about this stripper is that you just let that goop dry and it's safe to just throw out. That I liked. 

It's all off now and here is what I was left with. A dark ring. My plan was to try to lighten it. I knew I could not sand a lot since it was a veneer and not solid wood. So, I sanded it some and then decided to bleach it.

There are wood bleaches out there for problems like this. I just went with household bleach. I didn't want to buy more stuff and I just needed it to lighted somewhat since I was staining it dark. I let it sit for awhile, then wiped it off and repeated a few times. I then rinsed it with some baking soda and water because I read something about neutralizing the bleach. I figured it couldn't hurt. I let it dry overnight before sanding lightly again and then staining with a dark walnut stain. That is a simple wipe on wipe off process. I did two coats.

The drawers need a little work. The random knob left an indentation on the drawer front. So I filled it along with the chipped veneer with some wood putty and then sanded smooth.

Plan A was to paint the base a creamy white without any primer. I was going to sand back to let some of the black show through. I used my brand new Purdy 1 1/2 inch angled brush. See how you can get a nice clean line with a good quality brush? So very important. And look at those smooth bristles. I know it's new but as long as I wash it well it will stay like that and keep it's edge. Keep the wrapper it comes in to store your brushes.

When you have a good brush there is really no need to tape off edges. Like around windows and doors. It saves so much time. I do use tape for some things. Like stripes or on the feet for this table. But that was to keep me from dripping stuff on them. I could have easily painted right up to it without a mess. 

Okay, here is where Plan A went wrong. There are some woods that tend to bleed. This being one of them. There were some spots on the base that the black paint had chipped away. I had sanded them down and it left some of the wood showing. I had a funny feeling this would be a problem but I tried anyway and thought I'd show you what NOT to do. Below is with the paint only.

This picture below was taken within seconds of applying a water based primer. It's coming through again that fast. You can click on the pic if you can't see it well. So I went with Plan B, which I knew was going to happen. I had to run out and get an oil based primer. I went with Zinser's Cover Stain. It worked great and I just primed the whole base with it since I had more then this one little spot. No more bleed through.

The base was top coated in a SW creamy sample I had. Then the next day I used a coat of clear briwax on the top and lightly glazed the base. I mixed burnt umber with a glazing base. You want to make sure everything is thoroughly dry first. I didn't glaze a lot, just mostly in the groves. I used a light hand and wiped off with a dry or damp cloth depending on how much I wanted to take off. You can see it better in the close ups.

I'd like to find another lion's head ring. For now these make a great stand in. The color is great with my rug. Which you can't see, but it does.

At first I was unsure of the wood grain on the top. I can always change it down the road but I'm liking it more and more. The ring disappeared with the stain. I wish I had done this sooner. I really love the results.

Linking up with:
Miss Mustard Seeds Furniture Feature Friday
Savvy Southern Style Before & After
Primitive & Proper Piece of Work Wednesday

Cottage Instincts Make It 4 Monday
The DIY Showoff Project Parade 
The DIY Club Project Party

see you later,

Chair Makeover

Well, Helloooo! I know it's been awhile since I posted. I'm so sorry. I welcome those of you that have chosen to follow and you are probably wondering when the crazy lady is going to do something other then the trashcan. So, I thought I'd show you one of the things I've been working on. Off and on. Okay, mostly off. Funny how things don't go the way you have it all planned out in your head.

Here is a reminder of what it looked like in it's previous life. When I went searching through my pictures I realized it was over a month ago I bought this. It was right around the time my bathroom project started. The reveal on that will be coming shortly. I promise.

This is what was going on with the black paint. It was coming off like a bad sunburn. So, I new I had to strip her. I got a recommendation from Miss Mustard Seed on a stripper called Motsenbocker's Lift Off. It's a gel and it's water based. It worked fairly well. It was the groves on the back and the legs that were making me want to pull out my hair. I think this stuff would be awesome on a flatter piece. This was going to be a pain no matter what I used.

I used the stripper shortly after I got her but then she sat because the bathroom workers were in my way. I finally got around to stripping some more and then I brought her inside to sand. Yes, I sanded it in my kitchen with an electric sander. A bit of a mess but I wanted to get this done. Then to top off my impatience I decide to prime it inside with a brush. Big mistake. It was hard to get into the grooves and there were drips and brush marks. Not pretty. So, I waited a bit to bring her outside and then sanded a little more and then sprayed her down with some heirloom white. Those are tuna cans she is sitting on.

For the seat, I had a quilted shower curtain that I had never used. I added a bit of batting first for a little more cush. I really like this fabric and have a bunch left over. But just when I was almost done I ran out of staples. I have 2 guns and neither had staples. And why do they have so many different sizes? They don't even take the same staples. So, I went to buy more and ended up with yet another gun. But an electric one that shoots brad nails too. It was only $25. Not bad and it was fun to use.

I haven't even secured the seat down yet. I was running out of light and wanted to get some shots. You can tell in the picture below. Oh, and I love that grass mat I found at Tuesday Morning.

I'm happy with the way it turned out. It was more dinged up then I had thought. The black paint hid a lot. I'm going to try to use it in my bedroom so I'll have an extra chair to pull up to the computer.

The paint and fabric I already had on hand. So tell me, are you trying to use up what you have lying around the house too? What have you repurposed lately?

Linking up to:

Southern Hospitality Today's Thrifty Treasures

Between Naps On The Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Coastal Charms Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays 
Domestically Speaking Power of Paint Party 
Primitive & Proper Piece of Work Wednesday 
Brambleberry Cottage Time Travel Thursday 
Cottage Instincts Make It 4 Mondays 
Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday