I finished my dresser tv stand

Thats right I did. It sat in the garage since Christmas and I finally decided to finish it.

I was going to paint it white because I look white furniture, it just gives it a more feminine look. Anyway I started sanding it and the wood was really nice so I decided to stain it. I wanted a more natural look so I went with a honey colored stain. I forgot to take a picture before. We got it for $40 of craigslist. The lady selling it said she was going to take it to the dum
p! So I sanded it with 150grit all the way around with my new sander which I LOVE! It uses 1/4 of the regular sand paper sheets so its WAY more cost effective than my old mouse sander.

This is what is looked like a little bit when I bought it, I have already taken all the finish off. I broke off the legs because it was too high for what we wanted to use it for (tv stand)

I figured out that the wood it red birch. It was a really nice grain. When I looked at the drawers I noticed the dovetails

That is what made me decide to stain it. So I sanded it all down with the 150 and then found this:

It didn't matter how much I sanded the old imprint of the hardware way bleached in for some reason, so I had to keep them. These sides were a bugger to sand. There was alot of cat stratch damage. But it got it nice and smooth.

then I decided to stain it with a honey color I had in my garage and it came out much darker than it had on the pine table I used it for previously.

We had alot of trouble finding a top coat and one of the top coats we went with ruined the color so I had to resand the whole thing! I just lightly re-sanded it with 320 to get the top coat off and then re-stained it and then waxed it. It is sooo smooth. We really like it so far. Well Daniel really likes it. I think it looks really masculine. But oh well. Here was the area before

and here it is now(at night time so really bad light)

Another project out of the garage and now the tv is safe from little hands.

Stained

I have been working on this dresser that we will be using for our tv stand and its stained! Yay for progress. It came out more red then I expected but I think that is because if the wood

ottoman recovery

I FINALLY recovered my ottoman. This is the ottoman I bought for $15 at a garage sale. My

kids ripped the fabric off (it was leather)

and I let it sit in the garage for a year!!!

The other day we cleaned out the garage and I saw how many unfinished projects I had and made the goal to finish them all. I went and chose an outdoor fabric my husband liked. Then I took the old fabric and used it as a pattern.

I cut up the fabric sewed it and then tried and tried to squeeze it onto the wood. I should have ironed on some reinforcing fabric under the stitches but I didn't. I wanted it super tight but I just made it too small.

This is what it looked like after 5 fifth time squeezing and squeezing.

I ripped the seams that many times and just went and resewed it adjusting it to be a little bigger each time. It only took about 3 hours but I could have done many things better and differently. I also could have chosen a more feminine fabric. The great thing is that the project is done and the husband loves it. The TV Family room is his room for design so I guess we are good. My kids also love it:

I plan to recover it again but only when my kids destroy this one and I find the perfect outdoor fabric for it. It has to be outdoor. My little boy seen in the picture loves strawberry's so he snuck some onto the ottoman and all the mess came out with one wet rag and a couple of minutes.

Here it is in its glory. Now I just need two captains chairs in this room and a new rug and we are good!

Yay for finishing some projects

Miriam

P.S My sewing skills are very minimal. I got a b- in home ec in 8th grade and that is all I have learned so far :) Just saying this is a way easier projet than I thought

Mirror Mirror

I got this mirror

rr

from my parents in Law. It looks like a victorian styled mirror and I really liked it but I wanted to change it up a bit. So I grabbed my tube of silver rub n buff and took 5 minutes to make this

which now hangs on my last empty wall in the family room wohoo for free

and mirrors. I have to admit I LOVE mirrors.

Especially when they have to many details.

I have actually finished a lot of small projects in the last few months but have been lazy with the blog.

Miriam

thrifting score

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Oh our short trips to Utah I like to pick up blue and white teapot looking items for my souvenirs this time I found this at the down eat outfitters outlet store that doubles as a potterybarn outlet store. I found this guy for $3. So I got him and now he is in my hutch. I got other things too but its been a month since this photo was taken (for shame I know) so its all a blur. Project time it coming up and we have already done one that I love! I have also done other projects that I didn't show but thats fine no living in the past over here. I have organised my entire house and every closet and this past weekend we cleaned the garage! Now we have a sort of clean slate to organize wohoo! More later

Miriam

Couch dreaming

I love this love seat. I was browsing world market yesterday and it was there. Its a nice neutral with many different patterened buttons. If only it didn't cost 400. That's not very prudent. The search continues. Happy new year. This year my me theme is a mixture of organization and peacock colors.