by Jessica on November 28, 2011
After what seems like an eternity of talking about it, we actually got down to refinishing Brody’s dresser this weekend. I bought it from Craiglist and we soon figured out that the top (which I planned to stain dark) was veneered. However, after researching, it seemed like this would not be an issue since it was a thick piece of veneer that could be sanded down before staining.
The before (well, this is as “before” as it’s going to get since I forgot to take a picture before Trevor started sanding!):
Well. That was quite a process to get all the off-white paint off of the top. It took Trevor many hours to do. It definitely looked odd once stripped, but it still looked like wood.
I went ahead and applied the stain Friday morning. I waited the designated 20 minutes, then went to wipe off the excess. I was so excited because the color looked awesome! Until I wiped. And every bit of the stain came off on my rag. Disaster! So, I reapplied, and waiting for 45 minutes. Yeah, same thing happened. The stain absorbed on the edges, but not on the top. It appears that the veneer was either not actual wood or was sanded way too smooth to absorb anything- either of these could be true.
This was after the stain… obviously, not the best look with stained trim, zebra-esque top and seeping edges:
After I got over the overwhelming urge to cry, I started to formulate my back-up plan. I decided to keep with the two-tone look I had my heart set on, so I made a quick trip to Home Depot and bought a small sample-sized can of paint in a dark brown for the top. At this point, I have painted two coats of brown on the top, primed the body of the dresser and the drawers, as well as painted two coats of white latex paint on the body and drawers. I have also spray painted the hardware all oil rubbed bronze.
tonight, I am tackling one of the last steps in distressing the piece- I’ll be sanding the edges and probably hitting those sanded edges with some stain to darken it up a bit, depending on how it looks after sanding. Then, I just have to polyurethane the whole thing and let it dry before reinstalling the hardware. Of course, I’m making you wait for the finished product before showing any more pictures! Hopefully it all goes well and we have no more DIY disasters!!
by Jessica on June 22, 2010
Doing crafts with a five month old= not very easy. Just so you know. This was Trevor’s Fathers Day gift from Knox:
I was really happy with how it turned out, though the picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s a floating frame (you see glass around the pictures) with Knox in the middle and his hand and foot prints on either side. I saw SO many frames like this online, and I was about to buy one when I realized…. that’s stupid. Why on earth would I pay $50 for a dinky frame just because it comes with a tiny ink pad for prints or a little bit of clay to make an imprint? So off to Target, I went. I bought a three picture floating frame for $17 and a set of Crayola kid’s paints (non-toxic, washable, etc.) for $2.94. I already had card stock, which is what I used to put the prints on.
I knew that the hardest part of this whole things was going to be creating the prints and actually making them resemble hands and feet. I was so right to be anxious. What a mess that was. Obstacle number one: Knox is quite ticklish on his tootsies, and was not thrilled with me for painting on them with a wispy little brush. He kept curling his toes and kicking his legs, and oh yeah, try squishing a baby’s little foot on paper by yourself. The paper goes everywhere, the paint goes everywhere and it’s generally kind of a disaster. After about 20 times (no, really) I finally got two good foot prints (one went to Grandpa). Once dry, I wrote “Fathers Day 2010″ up the side of the print.
The hand prints were even worse. At least his foot stays in an open position. He’d look at me, keep his little hand open, and once I got it painted, smile and squish his little fingers closed. There was paint all over creation. Mainly, all over me, and I still don’t quite know how that happened. I tried to hold his hands open, paint them while holding them open and finally stamp them. Knox just kept laughing at me.
After a lot of paint, a few faux-cuss words (ie: dag-flabbit, gol-dingitt and Trevor’s favorite “Shizer”) and a pile of mess-ups later, it was done. I think I’ll wait until he can control his own limbs before doing any more art projects. It just makes good sense.
by Jessica on August 31, 2009
I got inspired this weekend to be crafty, so I decided to go ahead and tackle the wall letters. These are the letters I saw on Etsy and loved, but I refused to pay $20 PER letter when I knew I could do it myself.
I went to Michael’s and got all the goods to do it for $30. I couldn’t find basic circles to use, so I got circular plaques with a beveled edge and just used the back. I painted each circle the background color, first. Then, I freehanded the letters on paper and made myself stencils so I wouldn’t get pencil all over the circles. Then, I started with painting the letter and added in details. I did one letter at a time. Then, I put a clear topcoat on each one to prevent scuffs or nicks and hot glued the ribbon to the back. Voila! Wall Art! Here is the finished product:
We really like how they turned out! It took about three hours to do the actual painting, and only about 15 minutes to attach the ribbon.
We also went browsing for baby furniture this weekend, and MAN are there WAY too many choices!! We got stuck between about three. Of course my favorite is the most expensive, but that’s always the case. It was espresso and had lots of pretty details. Trevor fells in love with a big, chunky crib (which was awesome) but the finish was antique black, and it didn’t go with the idea I had for the room. It didn’t come in espresso, either. Boo. I think we’ll have to go back again so we can make a final decision!
