What to do with her?

Well, the weather has turned COLD, and that means no projects.  But I couldn't resist buying another antique.  This dresser has a tag on the back that is from Statesville NC furniture company.  I haven't found much information about the company, so I can't date the piece.  But I love the details.  Now the problem I have is the  one leg has pulled away from the side.  So do I attempt to glue it back together and keep it a dresser, or get creative and make something.  All my fellow bloggers have given me some great ideas.  Now I need to pick one.  here she is now.  I love the little jewelry/change keeps on the top.  Great detail!

Home Remodel, a work in progress

Three years ago we bought our first home. It wasn't the perfect home that I had imagined growing up.  But we have made it home.  We live in a single wide mobile home.  It's a 1984, and when we moved in, it looked like a rundown old home.  The first thing we did when we got the keys was paint the rooms.  Last minute before the furniture was to be moved in, I decided that we needed new flooring.  So off to Ollies for laminate wood floors. My husband started installing the living room floor at 4 am the morning our friends were coming over with the furniture.  Luckily, we had a friend that knew what he was doing with the floor, and he helped finished as hubby cleared out the apartment.
Here'a what the outside looked like when we got the keys.  It's very plain.

With a little landscaping we made the outside prettier. We bought a pergola from Target.  I think this style of pergola is the best.  The top canvas rolls out for shade, and back for sun.  We put a small chain on the handle for when we close the top, the wind doesn't catch it and rip it. And since we are going into winter we take the canvas of so the snow doesn't fill it up and tear.

Since we are always outside and didn't want to mess up the grass, we laid a boardwalk from the front of our home to the back. It also helps keep some dirt out of the house.

We are trying to get a beachy feel around here.
UGH a 1984 trailer kitchen is horrible.  There was so much water damage in the cabinets the shelves were warped and falling apart.  I couldn't live with it.  So slowly we gathered cabinets from Lowes.  We would walk the clearance sections probably 3 times a week, looking for the cabinets that were out of box or slightly damaged. Most of the damage was to the backs of the cabinets, so you can't see anything.  Our pantry was actually in pieces because the glue that the manufacturer uses let loose on all the joints. We got our $295 pantry for $20 because it was apart. We also picked up a three drawer unit for $5 because the drawer faces overlapped, we had to move 1 drawer face, and it's perfect! Here's the pitiful before.

There are more pictures on my other computer, but you get the idea.

So much better!  But what would make my kitchen perfect is if all my cabinets and pantry had roll out shelves.  But I am so happy with the results. My hubby does great work!

She's SOLD!

I sold my first piece.  It was really difficult for me to part with this beauty. It was a dresser that my husband picked up along the side of the road for free. It was dirty, and I'm not sure if someone tried to paint over the varnish, or if it was so much furniture polish build up over the years.  Here's what she looked like before.

It took some elbow grease, but I got her all cleaned up.

I followed directions of many of my favorite bloggers a bout making your own chalk paint.  So I mixed up some black.  I left the drawer front and top natural, and painted the rest.
Here she is, and now making someone else very happy in their dining room as a buffet.

And while I waited 3 days for a buyer...lol, I followed more fav bloggers and made some drop cloth curtains for my living room. I bought a 9'X12' drop cloth at Ace Hardware (my hubby works there so I get decent discounts). Right now the are plain, I am trying to figure out if I want a design on them, or some trim for the edges.  Not sure right now.  But they are hanging.

Sunday yard sales!

I think I got some great deals today!  I was looking for some wood furniture, but the antique metal pieces really caught my eye.   And old tall cabinet (which my husband stole immediately upon arriving home), a old metal kitchen cabinet with bread drawer.  2 fold up chairs, a wood chair that matches my kitchen set already, a music seat, an old fold up kitchen stool and some odds and ends.Here are a few pictures after getting home.  Now I want some good weather to get these things painted and fixed up.

Oh craiglist...I love you.  Especially the curb alerts!  In yesterdays post there were pictures of boxes of yard sale left overs, and a large stack of chairs.  As I was telling my husband that I wanted one of the chairs that was sitting at the curb, I noticed in that small picture a corner of an old dresser, buffet, or something large sitting behind the chairs.  All I know was it had tall legs.  So off he went with the truck.  As he pulled into the driveway, I noticed he didn't have any chairs, but the truck was packed.  To my surprise I received 3 vintage dressers. Ohhhhh, and my first thought was my friend is lacking a tv stand!

My husband said he didn't want to break up the set, but unfortunately, one piece is going up the street when finished.  The veneer was peeling horribly.  I have never taken veneer off before.  I knew I needed heat, and I thought steam might work better.  I have an old clothes iron in my cupboard collecting dust, so I tried it.  Sitting in my living room I used the iron and a metal scraper and removed the veneer from 2 of the drawers.

After 5 hours of stripping, and sanding this dresser, this is how it turned out.

There are so many bug holes through this wood, I hope I can bring out the beauty of the holes (and still look good with their decor).  Tomorrow, picking paint or stain.

So we picked the stain Zarrs Rosewood.  Here's what it looks like with 2 coats of stain. Just have to get some cool knobs from Hobby Lobby!  There is a new shopping area near us that put a Hobby Lobby in. I could spend hours in there!

I wish the stain wouldn't have covered up all the bug holes in the wood, but the piece isn't for my house.  It's what my friend wanted.
Here is the tall dresser painted.  It's now in my son's room, couldn't get a good picture with all his stuff laying around, but it gives you an idea!

And while I was at it, this other dresser was spray painted primary red, blue and yellow (it was in my son's room but took up too much space). I couldn't sell it in primary colors, so I fixed it up, and a woman purchased it to use as a tv stand as well.

                                                                        Awesome!

Oh what a beautiful day!  After weeks of rain, the sun is finally shining once again, and we can get outside!  So I took advantage of the beautiful day to work on my dining chairs.  I have 5 of them, but on seat bottom broke as I was sanding it.  So I focused on 4 chairs (since that's all we need for our family).  Sanding, priming and painting, that was my entire day.  But I am so happy with the color.  I am still experimenting on my technique on spray painting.  Even though today was beautiful, it was windy, and not very good for spray paint.  So I hid myself and the chairs beside the house and hoped over spray didn't cover too much of my deck and house. Here is the before and after of the chairs.  I haven't finished the seats, but for now they look much better than they did.

This rain is making me crazy! I know, I shouldn't complain, there are states out there having raging fires and drought.  But it's been raining for months.  I need the sun!  And it's really difficult to do any painting in the rain.  i don't have a garage or shed/workshop for my projects, so I need a rain free day.  I've been doing some small projects around the house. I found a set of mirrors at a yard sale that I have painted.  And I have a few empty picture frames that I have painted the same color. My living room is a deep red, and my furniture is all neutral, so I need to add some more color. Here is a picture of the mirrors.

I also picked up a foot stool.  It's yellow and already chippy paint naturally.  I don't know if I'll paint it, and I am kind of liking the split seams.  It's in my living room now, the living room that is in total chaos!

I made it to the other side...

After being hit with Hurricane Irene last week, and torrential downpours for the past week, everyone has been affected by flooding.  We seen to be living in a small pocket, protected by the harshest weather.  Not to say that 4 feet of snow 2 winters ago was protected, but that doesn't happen all the time.  This year has been horrible for weather in Pennsylvania.  In the Spring we had rain constantly, and too many tornadoes.  I thought I was living in Kansas.  The summer was pretty dry, my new garden was pitiful to say the least.  My carrots were only about an inch long.  My broccoli and cauliflower grew to only about 2 inches tall from seed. I could go on and on, but now entering the fall the East Coast has had its share of Tropical Storms.  So today was the first time the kids and I got out of the house in a week.  So we drove to the other side of town, thru traffic (hate it), and made my way to the Salvation Army.  I was on the hunt for a desk for my son. The one that I have is just too big, so he needs a place to play in his room.  So we had a choice of 5 and Zachary got to pick what he wanted.  I think he made a nice choice.  It's going to take a little work to make it pretty, but he's happy with it, and so am I. Oh, and it's heavy! So when he gets mad and doesn't want to do his homeschooling, it will hold up...LOL.

My NEW old table

I love vintage and antiques!  The quality is awesome!  Real wood...that's what I'm talking about.  This new wood (MDF), once it gets wet, forget about it.  My husband picked up a table and chair set a few months that he found out for trash.  I was thinking about taking off the old fabric from the chairs and putting something bold on them.  The table top itself was peeling.  They put a wood laminated top on, and thru the years it was chipping.  Everytime I brushed against it (my kitchen is small), I would catch the snags.  Well one boring, raining day I decided to peel, strip, whatever it took to get that laminate off.  A razor blade did a pretty good job.  But once I got all that junk off, and sanded, I realized it was more mdf underneath.  And some parts I sanded too long, so there was no way I was going to stain the top.  So I was on the hunt for a new table top.  Well, on craigslist I found an old set, table, 5 chairs and 2 leaves for $50.  Yep $50 bucks!  Posted my old set for free and sent hubby out for my new to me set.

That is my sad old part.  Here is my new set just fresh from the rain.

I love it.  The chairs need to be tightened.  Now I'm thinking of painting the chairs and the base of the table, and just sanding the top and poly it. Here's my dilemma, the guys had a difficult time getting it in our narrow door, so I think I have to refinish it in my kitchen.  But for now, I love it, finally real wood in my kitchen.