Bedside Table

Three years ago when we bought our cottage it suddenly dawned on us that we had to furnish a full cottage and a guest cottage and had no money to do it! It's amazing what you can get for free. I will write a post one day with all of the items we were given and how we sourced them, but for now I wanted to show you the before and after of this cute little bedside table. Unfortunately the pictures don't show the full extent of the bad condition it was in, but it was free and we all love that, don't we?

When I was sanding the piece I found the note below taped to the top of one of the cubbies.  I had to put it back in once the piece was finished as it's part of the history of the table. I will try to remember in 10 or 20 years to look up this little girl and see what she is doing for a living.

I hadn't heard about chalk paint so thought I had to sand it all down to paint it and as I started sanding I realized what a great solid wood piece it was and it became harder and harder to convince my husband that it should be painted. In the end we compromised and only painted the cubbies to save me the work of sanding those. 

I used two coats of "Colonial Oak" coloured stain. That was okay, but not the colour I was looking for so I then added a coat of "Special Walnut". It didn't go as dark as I would have liked, but the wood seemed to be "full" of stain and wasn't absorbing anymore so I settled on this colour. I did two coats of Polyacyrlic all over and four on the top (I am obsessed about protecting the wood on pieces I refinish and don't even get me started on coasters, I have them everywhere!) I used homemade chalk paint on the cubbies and two coats of polyacrylic on those after to protect them.

 

 

What is your favourite freebie project?

 

 

If you don't want to miss future posts, go to the right sidebar and subscribe for free by email or to follow on GFC or Google+. Make my day and LIKE us on Facebook or pin us above.

Sharing With:

A Pinch of Joy      The Dedicated House        Crafty, Scrappy, Happy         An Original Belle
A Humble Creation   

Power of Paint

I was so exicted to open an email this week from Maryann at Power of Paint and find out that my Union Jack trunk was selected as one of her features!  She has so many super projects from such fantastic bloggers that I'm honoured to be chosen.  If you haven't been to her blog yet, do stop by for a visit, you will be amazed at what you see.  Off to do my little happy dance now...

 

 

Read more about My Take On The Union Jack Craze 

Featured At:

If you don't want to miss future posts, go to the right sidebar and subscribe for free by email or to follow on GFC or Google+. Make my day and LIKE us on Facebook or pin us above.

Have a Drink On Us

You might have seen the stool my youngest son made and finished titled Bird On A Stool (okay so it wasn’t the most original name I came up with).  Now my eldest son who is soon to be 16 finally completed his stool that he also made about three years ago (we’re not actually very good at finishing projects in a timely fashion as you can see).

Matt was not about to spend a lot of time sanding or prepping the stool so homemade chalk paint seemed like the obvious answer.  He came up with the design and painted two coats of red paint, sanding lightly in between. 

Next, he took the logo we had photocopied and covered the back with chalk.  He secured it to the stool and traced the outline of the logo so that it left a chalk outline on the stool when he removed the paper.  Then he filled in the outline with white paint and touched up the red.  To make the stool more durable we used two coats of polyacrylic in satin finish.

I hope you agree it looks good enough to drink!! 

 

If you don't want to miss future posts, go to the right sidebar and subscribe for free by email or to follow on GFC or Google+. Make my day and LIKE us on Facebook pin us above.

 What about you, do you try to get your kids involved in your projects?

 

 

 Sharing With:

I Gotta Create Wildly Original Link Party #34                      The Pin Junkie

The Rustic Pig                                                                        Crafty Scrappy Happy

The Inspiration Link Gallery Party Week 17                         The Dedicated House

Elizabeth & Co. Party #51                                              Alderberry Hill

The Shabby Creek Cottage #186                                            A Humble Creation

Debbiedoos - Power Of Pinterest Party                                  An Original Belle

Funky Junk                                                                             A Pinch Of Joy

Savvy Southern Style WOW #101                                         Life On Lakeshore Drive

The Chicken Chick                                                                 Fluster Buster

Not Just A Housewife

Top Furniture Projects for 2012

Having only started this blog in November I don't have many projects to choose from, but I wanted to look at the best of 2012.

 

Bird On A Stool which was made and finished by my 12 year old son, Justin is a favourite.

 

And My Take On The Union Jack Craze as I was so pleased with how it turned out and it had the most views of any of my projects.

Wishing you and your family good health and great happiness in 2013.

 

 

If you don't want to miss future posts, go to the right sidebar and subscribe by email or to follow. Make my day and LIKE us on

Facebook

Sharing With:

Funky Junk Interiors
Debbiedoo's Power of Pinterest Party
Fox Hollow Cottage Power of Pinterest Party
I Gotta Create Wildly Original Link Party
Diana Rambles -Best of 2012
Feathered Nest Friday
Embracing Change

Bird On A Stool

My 12 year old son and his brother, Matthew, both made a stool like this at a wood working course a couple of years ago.  (See Matt's stool HERE).  It sat in our basement unused until now.  He has been watching me refinish furniture and blog and I finally convinced him to work on it.  I Googled some pictures for inspiration and he set to work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First he sanded it smooth.

Then he stained it using Special Walnut colour.

 






Then we found a bird image online, enlarged it to the size we wanted it and printed. We cut the bird out and he put in on the stool and traced around using chalk.








We were going to use homemade chalk paint, but we found the exact colour of paint he wanted in artist acrylic paint and it only took one good coat to cover it.  After we left it to dry overnight two coats of polyacrylic were applied with a light sanding with 220 sandpaper in between.

I hope you agree the finished product is something to be proud of. 


Before

 

  

 

If you don't want to miss future posts, go to the right sidebar and subscribe by email or to follow. Make my day and LIKE us on Facebook


Linking to:

The Rustic Pig                                                                    The Pin Junkie

A Pinch Of Joy                                                                     The Shabby Creek Cottage

Sarahndipities

Kathe With An E

Coastal Charm

Homemaker On A Dime

Primitive And Proper

Between Naps On The Porch

Home Stories A To Z

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Funky Junk

Crafty Scrappy Happy #19

Debbiedoo's Newbie With A Twist Party

I Gotta Create #36

 

My Take On The Union Jack Craze

Can you take another Union Jack project?  I know I am late to jump on the band wagon, but my excuse is that I've just gotten back into refinishing furniture and to justify the Union Jack, my husband is English and I did live there for three years so I think it's okay.

I found this trunk in the garbage and managed to cram it into the back seat of my car to haul it home.  My husband is great, but he is fed up with me sending him out in his van to pick up garbage which I have "discovered".

 

 

We pulled out so many nails and tacks I thought we would never be finished, but finally it was no longer a dangerous weapon, instead just an ugly old wooden box.  I sanded it all over, stained the sides with Colonial Oak coloured stain and then did a lot of research to make sure I had the Union Jack right.  I measured out the size of the top onto newspaper and drew out my Union Jack.  It took a few times to get it right, but doing it on paper made it so much easier later.

 

 

 

 I painted the entire top white with homemade chalk paint and when dry I placed my pattern on top and I traced it out.  The newspaper print came off just enough so it left a mark to show me where I had to put my tape (I use Frog tape because although it costs quite a bit more, it doesn't bleed).  I mixed some red and blue homemade chalk paint using the little bottles of acrylic craft paint from the dollar store and then painted away.  When it was dry I distressed it a bit and then covered it with two coats of polyacrylic on the sides and three on the top.  I added some Special Walnut colour stain and urethane all in one to the top and rubbed it off to age it.  We also removed the small, old wheels which I thought might damage our soft pine floors and replaced them with locking rubber ones from Home Depot.  I'm so pleased with the result, now we have a great coffee table with storage for my husbands record collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't want to miss future posts, go to the right sidebar and subscribe by email or follow. Make my day and LIKE us on Facebook 

 

 

Linking to:  The Rustic Pig , Primitive & Proper , Thrifty Decor Chick , Red Hen Home A Pinch Of Joy

 Debbiedoo's Newbie Link Party, The Dedicated House-Anything Blue, An Original Belle

Savvy Southern Style Wow-us-Wednesdays, Embracing Change, Diana Rambles

Funky Junk- Crate Party, A Humble Creation, Made In A Day, All Things Pretty Thursday

Crafty Scrappy Happy

 

Featured At: