A little PB knock off anyone...

We has a stuff swap for a RS activity last week. One of my friend brought these old candlesticks. I claimed them right away :) They were exactly what I was looking for. I had seen these beautiful distressed ones in Pottery Barn but at 69.99-89.99 a pop there was no way that was happening. So with a little paint and sandpaper there they are. Although I think I will spend some more time distressing and staining them to look older.

Dining room re-do...

It all started with the table.

When I bought the table I was always very aware that the chairs didn't match the table. Not a huge deal. The chairs are a cream with a bit of a glaze over them. The table was just plain white. It always bothered me. I know that is crazy, most people didn't even notice, but just the same it bothered me. So after I finished painting my hutch I have a bunch of red paint left over and the table was just calling its name. So my plan was to just paint the white part red. That was it, a quick coat of paint or two and it was done...

Yeah, not so much. My dear hubby and I hauled out the table and set it up in the garage. My new toy was a paint sprayer and I was itching to use it. We sanded it a bit and then painted it. It took all of 30 min to do the whole project. BUT the next morning I went to check on it and my heart dropped, the paint was peeling and bubbly, plus with the slightest scratch the paint would peel right off.

So I decided to scrap the whole red idea and start over. It took DAYS and DAYS to get off all the red paint. Thank goodness for an electric sander and sharp razor blades. It took for ever to get it all off. During all that sanding and scraping I decided that I was going to redo the whole table. So I decided to re stain the top and match the bottom piece to the chairs. I am really glad the red didn't work out. The re stained top looks so much better!

Before

This is how it sat in the garage for a few weeks. Then I moved it inside because I was sick of not having a table. So again it sat like this covered by a table cloth for a few weeks. I was so worn out by so much sanding I couldn't bring myself to finish the table. Which is so not like me. I like to get stuff done quick. But since this gets used so much I knew it needed to be done the right was which meant I needed to take my time and do it the right way.

Here it is today! I love it!

So much better. I love the dark stain on top and the antique white on the bottom to match the chairs.

So since the table got a beautiful redo the whole room needed an up date too.

Here is how it looks now.

New paint color (good bye yellow-hello Gobi desert)

I love the new curtains.(or should I say mistreatment's seeing as they are an old table cloth pieced together with no sew tape and staples)

Changed the placement of the table to allow room for the hutch.

I moved the red hutch into the dining room to make room for the new piano :)

It fit perfectly into the little nook.

Some new vinyl and some sweet cast-iron stars from Goodwill.

So again here is the before...

And after ...

(please excuse the unpainted wall to the right and brushes to the left... always a work in progress)

Red...

Thing you must have when redoing a piece of furniture...

A great sander. This cuts down on a lot of work. Sanding is a must do in any project and an electric sander is a must. I am so glad Jer persuaded me to buy this one at a yard sale for $10 bucks. Laine was very interested in this. She watched me sand the whole hutch. It took about an hour. She sat on the other side of the screen door watching the whole time.

Paint. In your favorite color. I was worried to do it red but all your comments made me go with my gut feeling on this and go red. I am very picky when it comes to red. I wasn't going for barn red or crayon red. But more of a deep burgundy red. I found "Royal Garnet". Mmmm, yummy. It is beautiful. I went back and forth on how much paint to buy. Is a quart enough, a gallon to much. Well I bought a gallon and it is way to much. So stay tuned for more Royal Garnet paint projects.

A good paint brush. I have made the mistake before of using a cheap paint brush and have ended up picking out stray brush hairs all the time. So I bought a nicer brush this time and the end product was much better then I expected.

This was a fun must have for this project. Wallpaper bead board. Ever since I hear about this stuff I have been wanting to try it. I originally wanted to use real bead board on the back but it wasn't long enough. So I bought a roll of wall paper and just covered the back. It was a bit tricky. I wasn't sure it was going to stick the right way. But it turned out perfect. Now I have beadboard wallpaper left over and again stay tuned for more breadboard projects.


With all my work I turned this...

Into this...

The picture makes the red look kind of bright, it is much deeper in person. I decided against the black wash and I need to update the drawer pulls.

Up close of the bead board.

Oh one more must in any project for me is two tolerant kids and me knowing my house will be a total wreck before the end of the project.

Oh craigslist your are my best friend...

I have been searching craigslist for months for a "fixer-upper" entertainment center. I haven't found one, well one that was in my price range. But on Monday morning I happened to look and found this! I was so happy! Plus here's the kicker... it was only $175 bucks. I have been looking for this style but couldn't find one for less than $1100.00. Way w-a-y to much for my budget. So to find this one was perfect. I immediately started calling the number, but they didn't answer. I kept calling and calling. They probably thought I was some kind of stalker. But finally a lady answered and said they still had it. Yay! Thank goodness my sister has a truck. So I ( more like she) arranged for us to switch cars with my Brother-in-Law and for him and his Brother-in-Law to pick it up for me. Thank you John and Micah. I am such a girl! I don't know what I would have done without your help. Anyway I packed up my kids around 9:30 drove to Gilbert, picked it up, then got home around 12:00 and started painting.

It was a funky color green, so not me, so I painted it "charcoal". It took a lot of sanding, paint and time, but it is so worth it. The only down side is that it will only hold a 37" TV. Oh well. That is ok with me. We don't need a huge tv. I will live with the 27" until we upgrade again*

* Funny side story. We actually got an upgraded tv not to long ago. Rena and Steve got a new tv and gave us their old one( it is about 10 years old). 47" I think. We have had it for about a month. But I couldn't pass this entertainment center up. So first we upgraded the tv, then the entertainment center, so back to the old tv with the nice entertainment center. I am kinda bumbed about not having the big tv in the living room anymore. I guess it was not meant to be.

Before with the funky green color.

(not our tv)

You can really see the nice shade of green in this picture.

After

s0 much better

I had to "shop" around my house to find things to decorate the shelves with.

Maybe in the future I can find some good things to go in there. Hobby Lobby here I come.

Not any time soon though.

(Little Laine swinging in her swing in the corner)

Bode was my big helper. He thoroughly enjoyed the three days of playing in the garage.

I do not what he did but everyday I worked on entertainment center he got so filthy.
I guess if the filthyness is in direct correlation to how much fun he had...he had a BLAST!

Dirty Feet.

If you are wondering why he has no pants on, we are potty training again.

He does really good all day but only if he has no pants on. Plus he like to pee in the rocks.

That is a different story.

I will take it for now, one less diaper to buy.

This is the lovely ring he left in the tub that night. Look at the water. Oh my!