Big Dining Table

 Well here is the big oak dining table that we were so blessed to receive from my Dad's cousin's estate.  It was his mother's table, my Great Aunt Margaret.  I remember eating at this table when we visited them in Gunnison back in the '70's.  Dad says he remembers 17 people sitting around for breakfast.

 The table is 45 inches square without it's leaves and it has eight 10 inch leaves, making it 125 inches when all the leaves are in it.  We found the table in the shed, with no door, left open to the elements.  No telling how long it had been there but the table itself seemed in pretty good shape but the leaves had seen better days.  Several of them were split and dried out.  Well we put the leaves in (thankfully the mechanism for the table still worked perfectly) and then went to sanding.  I wanted it to still have some warts and blemishes.  Jan wanted it to look brand new, but I assured him it needed to look old and loved. 

Then when it was smooth I used some wood filler on a couple of places and the split leaves and gave it a nice coat of oak colored stain/polyurethane.  It is a Minwax product.  The dry leaves really soaked up the polyurethane and it needs a couple more coats.  I think it is going to look really good. The base doesn't need more than a good scrubbing and some lemon oil.  It should look really nice and come in handy for the family reunion this summer. 

I also have some plans for the old buffet in the old house, a chair that needs reupholstering, and we are working on the chest of drawers that we got in Montana also! So much to do. I love it.

Abigail's furniture

Well since Abigail came a little early, I was definitely behind in my preparation for my third grandchild. I had promised Sean and Krysten a chest of drawers for the baby and I bought them a rocker. Well they needed a little sprucing up as they were old. The chest of drawers was Jan's when he was a child. His parents gave it to us when we got married in 1980 and we used it until we had kids and then it was for my kids to use. I had previously painted it red with red, yellow, blue, and green drawers and coordinating knobs, but that look was long ago in the dinosaur wall paper days. Anyhoo I've been reading a lot of furniture and decorating blogs, like missmustardseed.com, betweenblueandyellow.blogspot.com, and storiesofahouse.blogspot.com

and have been inspired by their work and their tutorials. So I gave some of their ideas a try.
All of them like to leave the tops in a wood finish and then paint/distress/antique the rest of the pieces. This little chest didn't get distressed because of the red underneath but I did go over the paint with a walnut stain and then wiped it off. The top got a walnut stain and then several coats of polyurethane. I took off the old knobs and bought some cute crystal knobs at Hobby Lobby on half price. I think they make it look a little more feminine. We used the dark walnut stain to match the color of the crib and the changing table. They are both a dark wood color.

I also lined the drawers with fabric using Mod Podge to attach and to coat the fabric. I remember using this stuff to decopage back in Jr. High School.
This is the fabric I used. I bought it at Hobby Lobby, and it was on sale also.

This lamp I had bought at a garage sale many years ago and it had been red, white and blue. I spray painted it white and mixed some craft paint and did the turquoise trim, and then I had picked up a self adhesive lamp shade at the thrift store for $.99 and used the same fabric and covered the lamp shade and added some ric-rac trim. I think it looks pretty cute! I am having a good time doing this especially since I never got to do a girl's room before.

The rocker is one that we bought on Craig'slist and it is an Ethan Allen rocker. It was painted a VERY dark green, almost black, with grapes and vines on it in a typical Early American style. Not Krysten's style though, so per her request it got a coat of the same ivory oops paint that I got at the Ace store near our home. It looks white until you put it up against some real white then it looks yellow. It also got a coat of stain that was wiped off. I am very pleased with the result and hope my kids are too. I have a mirror to go over the chest that will receive the same treatment of ivory paint and stain. It is very ornate and was painted a very shiny gold, but I think will look really cute painted ivory. I hope Abigail loves it. I have some more stuff to do for Milly's room next. It has been fun.

Patio Furniture

A couple years ago I was looking all over Craiglist for the perfect patio furniture. I wanted wrought iron so it wouldn't blow away, and it would last, I wanted heavy because cheap stuff looks cheap. Alas, I couldn't afford anything that I liked. Age old problem. For as long as we have lived in our house there was another house in our neighborhood that had this stuff, thrown out in the backyard, willynilly, upside down and neglected. It had no cushions and looked very unwanted. So one evening on my way home from work I stopped and asked if I could buy it. They said I could just have it. I was ecstatic. I ran home and got the truck and boys to load and had ourselves a sofa, rocker, another chair and a side table. They were painted a very pale green, and I wanted a timeless look so we repainted them in a black. I bought foam on sale at Joann's and then for batting bought some cheap comforters at the thrift store. I bought the canvas on sale from Fabric.com and away we went.
A couple years later (yes I am a big procrastinator) I got these lovelies all done and I am so proud of the way they look. They are comfortable and pretty. You can now take a nap or read a book out on the patio and we have adequate seating for guests. The pillows are made from fabric that I had on hand and tie in to the royal blue cushions on the patio chairs that go with the dining table.

My motto: It never hurts to ask!