Table Benches Part 1

Oh my heck! This project... it will be so worth it when it is done, but if I ever get to done it will be a miracle. The table... unfortunately has had some issues {face palm}. In the post about my table I mention polycrylic binding to impurities and debrit in the wood? Well, apparently this table had them. It started to create air pockets between the wood and the finish. And then just insert kids into the mix, and the picking begins. So one night after dinner, I was looking and had to surrender to the fact this table was going to peel. And so I let them have at it. Within 5 minutes, it was peeled and stripped, along with the map and everything else. The pencil marks got left behind, so that is bonus, right? LOL!

Table Redo Part 2

Okay, so I have previously revealed to you my plan for this awesome thrift store find. And I have begun to work on it and it has been beyond therapeutic! Working with things that you get to make into your own piece of heaven is always an amazing feeling! So first things first, let me show what I have done to get things moving.

THE PREP WORK

I have refinished a lot of furniture over the last 10 years. I have done this by sanding, stripping and sometimes just painting over the top of the existing paint. It all depends on what I want the finished product to look like for which method I decide to do. In this case, I combined all 3. 

The Legs

The legs were awesome as is. As in the nicks, dents and grooves were perfect and I wasn't about to touch them to ruin them. So I knew that I was going to paint over them. No sanding, no stripping. This is where we have a curtain call for a handy little product we call Denatured Alcohol. I don't know exactly how it works, but it does. You get an old rag and saturate it with the denatured alcohol. Thoroughly wipe down the surface you are going to paint over. This type of alcohol seems to penetrate through the existing paint (whether it is acrylic, latex, oil, or enamel) and preps the surface for the new paint to adhere. And adhere it does.

I used Rustoleum spray paint in Almond. I feel like their paint seems to have more saturation of color so more covering power, and their color is just pure color. You get excellent coverage and you only have to wait minutes in between coats verses hours. Always read the back of the can of the spray paint you are using. Not all spray paint is the same. And if you do not re coat within the window of time on the back of the can- WAIT. Always wait. If you don't, then you run the risk of it peeling or not adhering, or scratching off. Just trust me on this.

The legs took me a grand total of like 60 minutes.

The Tabletop

This was a little more of a delicate part of the table. I needed to strip down the paint because I wanted the top to be a wood color. I didn't want to sand it down, and I am really glad I didn't. It would have been a huge expense in just sand paper. I tried a small part and it kept gumming up underneath the paper. So I got out the paint stripper. The one I use is spray able and I am all about easy. I sprayed it on the table top. By the time I got to the end of the table it had been the 15 minute wait time to start scraping off the paint. I recommend gloves. I don't know what is in paint stripper, but I know there is enough of something to eat away years and layers of paint. So I am sure eating through your delicate skin is no problem (yes, it burns...badly).

I got a really nice surprise as I scraped off the paint. There was a perfectly oiled butcher block like table top. Who covered this up?!? Well, no wonder the sand paper was gumming up. It smelled like Danish Oil under the black paint. So I am sure that was another reason the paint came off so easily. There were parts that left little flecks of the black paint behind. But I couldn't have placed them more perfectly. My husband, that is new to this DIY redo stuff kept asking if I was gonna get it off. I just kept laughing at him. Now that he sees it... he gets it. I did have to sand a little bit as there were places there were knots in the woods that seemed to have the sap disappeared with the paint stripper. But not much effort was put into the prep of the table top.

Next, I wanted to darken up the wood a bit, and even it all out. Not to mention the fact I am kind of picky about the color of "wood" I have in my house. It can't be too yellow or too red... just a good neutral.

So when you apply wood stain in this type of setting, the method is pretty important, to me at least. This table has all these nicks and grooves in the top and I want to make sure these depressions get the stain in them and that this color gets left behind. I use one of those cheapo little brushes from your local home improvement store to wipe a thick layer of the stain on going with the grain. Then I use a rag (that I plan on throwing away) to wipe the stain and really rub it into the wood going against the grain. I then finish it up by wiping with the grain, again. After this, I let it dry. Since I did this in sections, I used this rag to wipe onto the almond color legs to accentuate the worn look on the legs and give it a nice patina.

FINISH

At this point, if you had no intention of putting anything else on the table top, you could just seal it. So if you have no desire to paint a piece of furniture with a map or anything else, I will mention finishing before the hand painting. I have used polyurethane and polycrylic, and my vote is for polycrylic. It doesn't yellow and when it dries, it is really hard and durable for high traffic areas like tables and chairs. BUT, there is a catch... polycrylic adheres best to water based stains and paints. And if there are impurities on the wood, it tends to draw them out and bind to them instead of the wood. So in this project, I used polyurethane. 

As for the chairs, I am going to refinish 4 of my chairs. The others are going to be used to create benches for the long sides of the table. I am really excited (and you should be to, because it is going to take your breath away!) for this as I am going to paint a bunch of different colors (imagine coral, gold, teal, olive green, and a brick red). So yeah, this project still has a ways to go... but it will be oh so very worth it!

HAND PAINTING & STENCILING

At this point I hand drew out the map using a pencil. I tried as best I could to come as close as possible to what the map looked like. Of course, I am not perfect, so there are errors, and mistakes.

 I planned the vinyl, and positioning of all the stencils.

Here is a close up of the compass rose in the upper right corner of the table.

And this is a close up of the map name I designed. it is stenciled in the top middle of the table.

I used a very small brush (a nail striper) to trace the lines of everything that was not a stencil. I used a more full (eye) liner brush for the pink, green, and yellows. And just a regular paint brush for the stenciling.


  

I peeled the stencils while they were still wet so that the paint didn't peel off with the stencil when it dried. Once this was all dry, I began applying the polyurethane.

And after hours of waiting to dry, I had to call in an army of guys to lift this heavy thing into the kitchen. We had only minor injuries... :)

I apologize for the dark pictures, but it is winter in Utah. The sun goes down early, and I have an east facing house with a covered porch. It is just not a great combo for will lit photos.

This one gives you a view of the chairs I still have to refinish....

Thanks for stopping by... I better get going! I am really excited to get started on those chairs!!

#rustoleum #tableredo #awholelotofschmidt #tableredowithvintagedutchmap

Table Redo Part 1

So I know for the last year in my Coming Up section has been some info about redoing my current table. The day I sprayed that first chair, it snowed later that night. Ugh... Total frustration! It put a damper on getting anything else on it done. I do believe now it was divine intervention as my life has so drastically changed that if I would have redone that table, it would have been for nothing...

Chores For Hire- Magnet Board

I'm a mean mom...I do not believe in paying my kids to do chores that contribute to our every day living. BUT, I do believe in giving them an opportunity to learn the power of working hard and earning money when they want to contribute in an extra way. For instance, my 14 year old son will probably not have many chances to babysit to earn money, but my daughter will.

Charger Plates

This is my favorite time of year. I don't know why, but since I was young I have absolutely adored the fall, I love the crisp air, and warm sweaters. I love the fact you can wear denim and boots and you don't even need a coat!

Now, top this with decor and you have the perfect time of year!!!

A few months ago I had the opportunity to help a friend out in a bind. She designs and sells vinyl as a side business and her computer crashed. She has been trying to figure out a way to recover YEARS of vinyl designs. A call came in to her to help with an LDS women's ward function (most of us know as Super Saturday). It is a day dedicated to crafting! Sign ups are provided to be able to make said crafts.

 Since her computer is down, she gave that woman my number. 

I don't know why, but I am sooo excited to do this. When I met with the lady in charge of this one project, she said they had 13 inch charger plates that they wanted to do vinyl on. I was given full creative reign of what I wanted to do! 

How cool is that? The only thing I have had a really hard time with is remembering to keep cost in check and not give away my services or product. This is definitely a learned attribute...

This is the HALLOWEEN plate. I know this type of saying is EVERYWHERE!! But honestly, I love it. I designed the spider web and spider, and just added the font.

Here is the FALL/HARVEST plate. I made this specifically for use during September, October, and November. I love keeping my pumpkins up as long as I can.

Last but not least, the CHRISTMAS charger. Every once in a while I do things that even amaze myself.This is one of those things. I designed the star, and put a lot of work into it, and I love it! Not the most spectacular things ever, but it brightened up my week to make them.

Craft of the Day

So it's not like I have a set aside day of the week to do a craft, let alone do I do a craft every day.  We have to be very clear about this, because I do NOT need the pressure to be that high for me or anyone! 

One of the blogs I follow she has some great ideas, I love 'em! And this is project was inspired by her. Seriously such a wonderful, uplifting statement. It sits in the corner of my countertop to the right of my sink. I see it everyday. It is a positive reminder that I have the power to control my life.

I saw her plate and and I wanted to take mine a little further. I designed both the background and the saying on my Silhouette. I measured the inside of my $2 plate (from Wallies) and when I cut the background I cut the diameter of the circle with it so it was perfectly round. That's it. That's all there was to this little ditty!

Inspiration

... Finished That!

Is anyone out there like me? You have projects (a lot, unfortunately) that are about 99% completed and for whatever reason they never get finished. My crafts and projects usually don't get finished because I start them, and they take longer than I think they will, and then my kids get home from school. That usually brings a lot of things to a halt.

And, to add insult to injury- I try to keep them out (usually on the counter) so I can finish them. After a week of wiping the counters around the projects, I get so tired of seeing them, so I put the offending project away. Then it is out of sight, out of mind!

Imagine this a couple times (maybe 10...) over, and then you have yourself a real problem.

So, today was a "Finish That!" day. I rounded up a lot of these little projects and finished them. Some of them were just cleaning tasks, and now that they are done.... HUGE load off my shoulders! Here'sis what I did:

*Picked Vinyl for 5 leftover projects

*Putaway 3 baskets of random objects

*Hot glued the rest of my styrofoam orbs

*Touched up the paint in the kitchen

*Put up decorations I have been meaning to

Now I can make room for the tasks that will pile up again. Now, go get your projects and finish them! You can thank me later. :)

Vinyl Obsession

If you saw the tab that lists my current faves, you will see that Vinyl Lettering is in the top 5 right now. I purchased a Silhouette about 3 years ago, and then... never used it. I now have the opportunity to be creative again, and love using this awesome machine.When I say it in my head, the word "machine", I want to do the Tim-the-tool-man Taylor grunt cause it is UH-MAZE-ING!

 I love it so much in fact, it has doubled as a label maker.

I was making this Menu Chalkboard for the kitchen. This was the start of the craziness! If you know me, you know I love words. I wanted to put something on the chalkboard to make it pop. Tiffany is taking french and is fairly obsessed with it. so I asked her how one might say "Welcome to the kitchen". Translated it reads "Bienvenue `a la Cuisine". As I thought more about adding stuff, I designed the curly cue at the bottom too. I saw how much it added to the whole project and I have been "adding" to others since.

Containers in Pantry

Jars- I have these old school jars that I use for my flour, sugar, rice, and protein powder.
 Todd has been so good to not use the eye rolls at this time, but he is over compensating with snarky remarks :) ...{ "So if I hold still long enough, will you label me too?" } I swear... verbatim!

I designed this from the monogram to the photo corners. It turned out pretty decent I think.

FHE Magnet Board- (I will probably do a separate post on this alone!) With my own vinyl cutter, the Family Home Evening board had no limits!

This my bucket list. Ha ha... see the bucket? My friends and i got together after being inspired by Pinterest.

Even the walls aren't safe! Although, this project was way to big for my cutter so I had to outsource it. Thanks Tammy!

I even labelled my house...

But then again... it is an OBSESSION right now!