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,

Sticks and Stones

I was gathering some pictures of all my twiggy things I have around the house. I think my favorite has to be the large tall tin vase of the curly willow on the mantel. It's tall and sort of wiry but I think it fits with the height of the fireplace and the ceiling. I actually found the willow at a thrift store. It was still greenish when I got it. I chose not to plant it. Let's face it it. It would have ended up dead either way. So I let it turn into this golden brown  color which I really like. I stuck in some fake berry stems for the fall.

This is actually two twig wreaths and a white berry wreath all bound together. It's hanging in my sad little guest room that really needs some attention. So this is the only view you're getting.  I am still trying to find a trundle bed that I like so I can get rid of one of the twin beds and make room for my sewing stuff. Craigslist is not cooperating at all for me. 

And lastly I will leave you with some stones. Since it was in the title of this post and all. Donna has a twiggy themed link up this week so I'll join up over there.

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special: twigs/branches/sticks

see you later,

Sunsets and Roses

Not enough hours in the day. I ran out of time to put together my post for my round table I painted. That will have to wait for another day. So I thought I'd show you our view the other night. Hubby and I went out to dinner and ate outside to catch the sunset.

Look in the tree. At first I thought it was fake. But it was real. He sat there for the longest time until he decided to go catch himself some dinner.

Then the other night, after a wee bit of a disagreement, hubby picked this from the yard. My lonely scraggly old rose bush somehow produced this huge flower. He stuck it in this bottle and set it by the sink for me to find. A quiet "I'm sorry"? I'd like to think so.

Off to the high school. It's going to be a nice cool night for a football game. Hope you all have a great weekend!

see you later,

Feasting Like The Pilgrims

It's November and we are well on our way towards Thanksgiving. I thought I'd share with you our Thanksgiving from last year. Our family celebrated at my sister's house. I have shown you her house before. It sits on the St. Johns river in Jacksonville. We decided to try to have our feast outside. You know, like the pilgrims. Fingers were crossed for the weather and were absolutely blessed with a glorious day.

We are a large bunch. A large and crazy bunch. I have lost count but you can try to count the chairs. We put two very long tables together out on the patio. Draped them both in white cloths and then I cut two burlap runners for the middle of the table. We fringed the ends.

The center pieces were 3 rectangular galvanized planters that were filled with potted mums, croton leaves and wheat. It was cheaper to just buy potted plants then to buy cut flowers. I think I paid .99 for each small mum and 1.99 for the large ones. The small pots fit right in there. The large mums were cut and put in jars of water and then inserted in the planters. The leaves were free and the wheat I had. The leaves really help fill them out and give them added color. It really isn't that hard to put together a large decorative table with a small budget. Just look to nature to lend a hand.

The silverware was wrapped in the napkin very casually and tied with a jute ribbon with a silk leaf tucked behind. We used some plaid ribbon when we ran out of jute. The kids wrote all the names on the tags, trimmed the tags with some skinny self adhesive ribbon and tied them all up for us. They had to earn their food.

My sister found this garland at Home Goods. It's all sorts of nuts, twigs and small pine cones. They are a little hard to see in this shot but I wanted to show them. See those bamboo folding chairs? One of my sisters found them at an estate sale for a ridiculous price of like $5.

The we sat under this huge old oak tree. The food was under the tent so that nothing fell on it. The dishes were stacked there with the food so you just load up your dish under the tent. It was a lot easier then trying to pass the food around the table. That would have taken forever. The drinks were set on the smaller tables you see off to the side.

The dessert table was inside. Dessert is just craziness. Everyone brings something different so there was quite the variety. To decorate this table we had two large cake stands and each one had a tall glass hurricane on it with small pumpkins, leaves and pine cones around it. We just tied some pretty plaid ribbon on the tops. We had so many mums we put some in the center. The pitcher is filled with some spiced cider punch which was very good.

my lousy picture above but I wanted to show the whole table

Thanks Justin for getting these shots to me with only three hours of sleep. Such a good kid. If you are in the Atlanta area and need any photographic services then you can contact him at JustinHadleyPhotograhy.com.

I also forgot to put my answers to our Halloween costumes. I'm sure you all are on the edge of yours seats wondering. Erin from LikeGrandmas was the first to answer correctly with Deviled Eggs and Pigs in a Blanket. Yes, we were the appetizers for the party :)

Joining up with the CSI project to share Thanksgiving ideas.

Also with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

Linda @ Coastal Charm

see you later,