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!

Second Chances

We all need second chances.  Me, I'm on my 1000th second chance right now!  The key is not to get discouraged. 

Last week, I stumbled upon a yard sale full of opportunity.  I hopped out of my car and began wandering around.  All of a sudden I found myself in an argument.  The conversation went like this:
Stranger:  Come over here!
Me: (strange look on my face) What?
Stranger:  Come on, give me a second chance.
Me:  I don't even know you.
Stranger: We could get to know each other.
Me:  I don't need you.
Stranger:  I could make you happy.
Me:  I don't even know what I would do with you.
Stranger:  Give me a second chance and you'll figure it out.

I know what you're thinking...believe me, I was thinking it too.  But that stranger would NOT take no for an answer and somehow that stranger ended up in my car.  I rushed home and asked Rodney to help me get the stranger out.

Here he is all scruffy and dull;  just waiting for some love:

This old oak table was calling my name from the time I saw him.  Now I should insert here that we don't need another table, I wasn't looking for another table and I don't typically buy furniture for no reason.  But I just couldn't leave him there.  Look at those legs:

Okay...so it's ONE leg, but isn't it handsome?  You can see in this picture that the little metal screwy-thing was screwed out too much.  That was an easy fix - just screw it back in!
The top was a little less handsome.  But look at all the memories left behind.

And guess how much it cost me to bring him home?

That's right...One big smackeroo!  I didn't even offer less like I normally do at yard sales.  In fact, I felt like I should offer more!
So...I took this stranger and gave him some love.  I sanded him down, stained the top and painted the bottom.  He is still awaiting a final coat (or two) of top coat. 

Not bad for my first ever furniture redo, huh?  I still don't know what I'll do with him, but I think I'm  in love!

Frugal Finds

Later this month Rodney and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.  I can't believe that it has been that long.  And while I consider my husband to be quite frugal, this post is not about him.  When we got married (15 years ago)  we bought a cheap kitchen table set with 4 chairs.  After we moved into our current home, I wanted a bigger kitchen table.  I fell in love with a farmhouse style table.  We found it in the back room of a furniture store on clearance.  I couldn't leave it there.  So we lugged that bad boy home where it landed smack-dab in the middle of our kitchen.  Perfect!  Almost.  The table didn't come with chairs and there were no matching chairs in the back room.  But I didn't care...we would find the perfect chairs eventually.  Meanwhile, we kept the chairs from our old table.  Our new table was meant for 6 chairs, so to fill in the space we added beautiful, brown metal folding chairs (do you hear my sarcasm?).  Afterall, it would only be a little while until we bought new chairs, so we could handle the mismatched chairs until then.  Right?  Well, that was 9 years ago. We grew attached to our metal chairs - OK, not really.  It was never really a priority and we just never found a great deal on kitchen chairs.  Until yesterday, that is.  I was at an auction looking at four beautiful oak chairs.  One of the ladies that works there asked me if I was going to buy those chairs.  I told her I would love to, but I needed 6.  She told me that her granddaughter works at restaurant nearby.  That restaurant just bought brand new chairs and they were selling the old ones for $5 each.  What??? $5 for solid wood chairs?  I called Rodney (because he works right across from the restaurant) and had him go check.  Guess what?  They still had some.  YAY ME!!! Can you see me doing the happy dance? Six chairs for $30 is amazing.  Sidenote:  the oak chairs at the auction sold for $40 each.

Here is my great find.  They are darker than I would like, but they are in great shape.  You can see that they do not quite match my table.

I have some ideas for them, I just haven't made up my mind yet.  I'm still smiling about the fact that I finally have matching chairs.  But here are some of my thoughts:

Maybe I'll paint them white like this,

or this,

or maybe I'll make chair covers,

or perhaps I'll paint them black.

What do you think?  What would you do?  Time will tell. Let's just pray that it's not another 9 years.  As for our 15 year old kitchen chairs, I have plans for them too...I think a car wash is in store!  More on that later!

Wanna see more frugal finds?  Check out the Shabby Nest  every Friday to see some super-sized frugal finds!