Nightstands

So in lieu of updating you about my original summer project: the chairs that I bought almost a year ago, I'm going to share with you a wonderfully finished project instead.

Just for the record, I feel like I can breath a sigh of relief when I say *finished* project. I mean seriously, thank the Lord! Those chairs have been taking the life out of me partially because I have extended the life of the project *much* past their prime.

Any-who, my husband and I recently moved into an awesome apartment. With a much bigger master bedroom, and we had NO bedroom furniture! So I wanted side tables. And I found this:

The most wonderful nightstand in the world! How fun! How different!!

How expensive!

OK, so I found a nightstand I loved, but couldn't bare to spend more money to buy the matching table... I figured, what the heck? I'll paint a table and do what they did. In a matching motif. That's gotta be cheaper, right??

Of course!

Enter in Before/After of nightstand Numero Uno:

But hey? Why am I paying for an expensive nightstand when I can just do it myself?? So back went the "inspiration" and in came the Before/After of nightstand Numero Duo.

And just to make it more girly, (i.e. more appropriate for MY side of the bed!) I went with a different motif.

Tah-dah! And here are a few close-ups of the details for those who care. The only thing I am sad about was how the color I picked to "match" my inspiration table ended up being a lighter than the original side table. Oh well, I still love them and am proud of my money-saving techniques, (and the new hardware! I love glass knobs and things!)

Yay for new nightstands!!!!!

Craigslist Chairs, Before and After!

Well this week has been a harrowing week to say the least. I have been spending it at my parent's house, helping them as they are away on vacation. And doing some amazing reupholstering projects!!! Sadly, the week has gone a bit slower than I initially thought it would, and I have not been able to finish all the projects that I wanted to ::cough, cough, chairs, cough, cough:: though I have picked up another set of chairs! Yikes! My husband looked at me in my face this past week when I was getting overwhelmed and said "You took too much on." Boooooo!! Can't I do it all? Who really needs to sleep??

Anyway so at the beginning of the week my little heart leapt in joy when I found these on Craigslist for $35. Despite some hesitations, (I knew this would totally make my week much more hectic taking them on,) I absolutely HAD TO HAVE THEM. I've seen too many cool chairs re-done like this on my favorite blogs like betterafter.blogspot.com and designsponge.com to pass them up. So here it is, my very own project! Yay for BEFORE AND AFTER!!

Honestly, the chairs were pretty awesome on their own. And as much as I absolutely LOVE to paint wood I can hear the little voice of my parents in my head "Why do you paint wood? Wood is so beautiful. " And this wood was in great condition, so I kept it. I just made the chairs more youthful. :)

It's all in the details! I heart tufting. I am always left devastated when somebody decides to nix the tufting on a before and after...

So for a first DIY upholstery job, I'm happy. They look great. Though I know I can do better. You know what that means right?? MORE CHAIRS TO COME! YAY!

Stay tuned for the next set of chairs... (ie the chairs I've previously posted about!)

For the record, I decided to paint those. AND I'm using springs and hand-tying them. Oh boy! Do you understand why my husband said I was overwhelming myself? LOL

Beaten and Worn Down

Well hello everyone out there in blog world... aka like 2 of you who might actually read *my*blog, (thank heavens this is more therapeutic than necessary!) This is how the chair has been doing...

Yikes! He's all scratched up! ;) And so is the process of redoing a chair... to paint or refinish you have to sand up your surface. And well, can you tell I'm leaning towards keeping the wood natural? I'm actually going to try and lighten up the stain on the wood. So here enters sand paper stage right. And dry, man hands...

And a tired me!

After I spent a night of me sanding down the frame and thinking that indeed I am completely crazy for wanting to go all professional on my own first chair project... (side note, I must name them, any ideas?) I finally ask my husband, "Where is that hand sander you have?"

"In its box somewhere."

Oysh...

But surprisingly, and super thankfully, it was at the very top of our amazingly packed closets! (We live in an apartment with virtually NO storage space...) So I pull it out, and get to work.

YAY palm sander!

And I'm getting excited... because all of a sudden, this project now seems doable. And the sanding is doing a WONDERFUL job taking off the finish of the chair (at least on the flat surfaces, lol...) And then, my conscience gets the better of me...

When I look at the clock...

Hmmmm... It is before 8am... and my husband is asleep in the other room...

OK, I'll just have to hold my excitement until after 8am... does 8:01 work? :oP

The Help

I have just completed about 70 pages of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. You know what I realized? In a book, you can write about whatever you want. There is no reason for me to be self-conscious about what I write. I can have little short stories or thoughts from the past, I can have the main character's thoughts run in a tangent that is sometimes difficult to trace back to reality. My book can be as unique and creative as its author-- and yet even more so. It's ok. I can write, without the fear of people.

Thanks, book.

What I really mean to say is thank you Jesus for allowing me the freedom to be even a fraction as creative as you are. Imagine what joy the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had during the time of creation? When the earth was fresh and new, before any sin had entered the world? Imagine how much God truly labored to get to that end result? Though it might not have been the same type of labor that we have on this world, truly he must have labored if it is even mentioned that on the 7th day He did, in all of His glory, stop to rest.

I got a phone call today from the school district that I work for. Turns out they do indeed want help for their summer school program. I am very thankful for this call, and was truly expecting it to come... because it means that I will have a "job" for a month... June to July. And it is a job that is only about 2.5 hrs every day for the afternoon, which is indeed wonderful, and what is even more fabulous is that they pay splendidly. For the amount of money that I would have made if I worked at a summer day camp for 8 weeks from 9-4pm, I'll make in one month working 12:30-3:00pm. Thank you Jesus! While this will put a little bit of a time crunch on all of the things I wanted to do this summer, (which if you have read this post you'll remember is quite a lot,) it will provide me with a little bit more structure... which I feel that I need. And it will get me out of the house (the school is only 3.5 miles away from my house!) and thus provide me with a more scheduled time for when I will work out everyday. And it is at a time that my husband, if he is working, will be away. (He works retail, so you never quite know what days he will have off.) Can you see the Lord's hand? Surely this can only be His work!

Plus, the extra money will make me feel not so guilty about purchasing the materials I needed for the chairs... and the other crafts that I want to make this summer! :-D

Help! I'm Nakey!!!

My chair is officially nakey. Why hello chair in all your birthday glory. :) I found some interesting things as I completely took apart the chair. I noticed that the chair had been redone once, but only by the upholsterer using fresh webbing, (this is the foundational layer to a chair with springs.) And I have decided and committed (meaning I spent money!) to how I am going to re-do the chair. Will I use foam? Will I go the old fashioned route and use springs? Stay tuned!!!

But before I move on to my next step I have to decide what in tarnations I will do with the frame of my chair. These chairs are not perfect... (this one in particular has a crack in the frame that I must glue,) and I am completely ok with that because it is my first project, and I fully expect my work to not be perfect. Is this setting myself up for disaster? I don't think so, just building in the freedom of messing up on a first try. I mean honestly, who is perfect?

Anyway back to the frame... Should I paint it? Sand it and restain it? I am not sure yet... though I love this idea that I found over at designspongeonline.com, where part of the chair was left so that you can see the original woodwork. I know painting furniture is so popular right now but my gut says that painted furniture is just a passing fad, and within the next few years everyone will fall in love with natural wood again... and all of us who have painted furniture will be left to learn how to strip it down and stain it. But hey, us DIYer's are ready for exactly that aren't we? A new project is always welcome!

Anyway here is the link to the original post on designsponge that I fell in love with this idea in the first place. If anyone is out there, let me know what you think!

Nervous!

Day 1 of Vacay

I can't help it. I'm nervous!

There has been a project that I have been wanting to work on all year... I know how wonderfully reupholstery projects look when done well... but I also know how ambitious I want to be with this project... and I'm nervous!!

Here are my two parlor chairs that I fell in love with. Notice that I started the deconstruction process? I want do completely re-do them. And well... there is a lot to them. There are buttons... which can be an adventure in and of itself. And I really really want to redo the springs that it has as well.. but I am tempted to just buy high density foam and well, kind of cheat... because not only will this project be lengthly but it will also be costly... well, costly for the cheapest woman in the world. LOL...

I'm half tempted to just get rid of them and try again. But I've already bought some things that I will need for the project. Now it's decision time... should I go the whole way and change out the springs? Or should I just "cheap out" and buy some foam, and go from there?? Oysh! I don't know!! Feedback?

A Summer's Focus

I am on the eve of the rest of my summer. Today was my last day working for a school district as a 10 month employee, therefore I have 2 months off to do as I wish.

But I do not want this summer to be like other summers, ones that just pass by you so quickly that you forget what you did all those days of July and August. I want my summer to have purpose, and I want to note how much I’ve grown during them.

So here it is. The first blog post of the summer. I have already decided what my two main foci will be, (and I say only 2 because I recently read you can’t fully commit to more than 2 goals at a time. One is actually optimal.) My 2 goals are:

· Focus on Relationships

o That’s right… I love people but I am a very task-oriented kind of person. So guess what? I have made it my task to be focused on developing relationships with people around me. Friends old and new, I hope to reconnect and strengthen those friendships that are around me. I also want to embrace as many opportunities as possible that will help me meet this focus. For example, I have decided to be a part of a book club. First book up: The Help! (How exciting! Yay books!)

· Write a book

o I have an idea… for a series of books… that I am very excited about. I know there are a lot of books out there, but well, I’m passionate and I love writing. I just have to get over my self-doubt to take a plunge. I am very excited, very excited.

While these are my two foci for the summer, I also intend to make a daily schedule for myself. These are the things that I will try to incorporate into my daily schedule:

· Do a bible study/devotional daily.

· Work out daily (try for at least 5-6 days a week… those ten extra pounds need some help moving out.)

· Work on a project daily. I don’t necessarily have to complete a project daily… but I want to work on one daily. I have a laundry list of things I want to do… So I want to set aside time everyday to pursue and complete these projects. Staying focused will probably be my biggest challenge in this category.

· Work towards developing a relationship everyday. Meaning: meet up with someone, invest in someone’s life, write a note or letter… every day. Make it a daily goal.

· Do at least 15 minutes of cleaning everyday… ::GASP:: Oh man? Has it come to this? My husband is indeed the tidier out of the two of us, and I must honor him by trying to make an effort… however feeble attempt it may be.

· And of course… write or work on my book everyday. This might not be so stringent (not because it is not an absolute passion of mine,) but more because I realize that the creative process comes with its ebbs and flows… Meaning I don’t want to get down on myself because I had a slow day of writing… when in two or three days I could just go to town and whip out a strew of well-written, inspired pages. Don’t fake it, just make it.

So there it is! It might seem simple, but to me it is indeed very complex. Maybe I should make a calendar of all the projects I want to do and the things I want to accomplish to set mini-deadlines for myself. What do you think? I don’t want to get legalistic, but I don’t want to lose sight of my daily goals either. J We’ll see how it all goes…

By the way, don’t you just love the bright blue toes? Totally weird pic, but I couldn’t resist. I’m so excited about them! Yay summer toes!