Monday, December 26, 2011

I did it!

I love finding that perfect Christmas gift.  Sometimes I have to go out in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday.  Sometimes I have to look and look (and look).  Sometimes I'm not even looking for it and just stumble across it.  And sometimes I have to make it.

This year my favorite gift to give was homemade...sort of.

My sister, Kerry, was remodeling her living room/dining room area and she wanted a new table.  She wanted one that was smaller than the mammoth antique cherry table they were currently letting reside in the middle of the dining room.  He got an eviction notice and had to be out by Christmas Eve.  I wasn't sure exactly what she was looking for, but I mentioned that I bought a table at a yard sale over the summer that I could refinish (remember this make over) for her if that's what she wanted. I had already sanded the top and started to prime the base.  Here's what it looked like at that moment.


Kerry said she would love to buy that table from me.  So we talked about stain colors and base colors.  She decided she wanted the base white and the stain a little lighter than the stain on my first table.

**Let me insert here that this conversation took place on Thanksgiving, giving me a month to get it done because she wanted it for her annual Christmas Eve party**

So I painted the base and resanded the top.


Notice that it was dark outside.  Hope my neighbors didn't mind the noise after 9:00 :)

The first coat of stain is always my favorite.  It's at that point that the table really starts to take shape for me.  So I lovingly added that coat of stain around 10:00 one night.  It was quite a sight, I'm sure.  It was cold (we even had a few snow flurries earlier that evening) so I was bundled up with sweatshirts, a coat and gloves.  Sorry I don't have a picture of that babe for you!  But I do have pictures of my table after one coat of stain...



Lovely isn't it???  I almost had a heart attack!  You know how aliens create crop circles...I think they create stain madness as well.  Seriously...I didn't have time for this.  After some research, I think I figured it out.  Remember those few snow flurries I mentioned?  Well, I think the moisture caused the strange blotchy outcome.

So...

I sanded it AGAIN (two rounds with 60 grit, 2 rounds with 100 grit and 2 rounds with 150 grit).

I was very nervous about putting stain on it again.  I didn't know what I would do if those "hidden" marks were still there.


Not bad, huh?  Then I stressed about how many coats of stain to put on.  I put three on my first table so I was originally thinking two for this one.  But I really liked the color after one coat.  I decided to leave it with just one.  It was time for polycrylic and polyurethane. I wanted the table to be durable so I added three coats of each.

I kept Kerry informed on all of the problems that I was having.  We had several days of rain.  Rodney and I moved the table in and out of the house about three times in the last week.  I knew she wanted it for Saturday night, so I told her I would try to have it done.  I also knew she had to work Saturday morning.  I made arrangements to take it to her house while she was at work, so that she would be surprised when she got home.

She was!



I love the little glass knobs on the drawers.  I found them at an antique store and thought they would be perfect.

Merry Christmas Sis!

1 comment:

  1. Hey sis, absolutely love the table!!! It was the talk of the whole party! Everyone kept asking "your sister did this?"... and I proudly said "She sure did... isn't it wonderful!" I can't thank you enough for the PERFECT Gift!!! I will love it and treasure it forever... just like I do you!!! Love you, ME!

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