Friday's Fabulous Finds...

I spy with my Etsy eye a...

summer carnival.

Clockwise, starting top left:

Vintage Metal Carousel

Seaside Carnival Photograph

Vintage Tickets  

Retro Popcorn Bags

Ferris Wheel Photo

 

Wishing you a fun-filled weekend!

Bloomin' Tuesday...

Is there anything more lush or lovely than a peony?

As far as flowers go, the peony certainly deserves a top spot on my "favorite flowers list."

Although its blooming cycle is short-lived, for a few weeks around the beginning of June my garden is transformed by the big bright colors of this gorgeous plant.

I love making full, voluptuous bouquets of these beauties. Because our plants are over-achievers, we can bring an armful of flowers inside and still leave more than enough in the garden.

I have two peony plants in my yard. Because one is more shaded than the other, they usually bloom about two weeks apart, which provides us with blossoms throughout the early summer! Heavenly.

I wish I had more room in my garden to plant about 102 more peonies. 

Make that 105...

I'm not sure even that would satisfy me. 

Have a wonderful day!

Furniture Refinishing -- Kitchen Table -- Part 3...

I do have a way of drawing out a project, don't I? Part 1 and Part 2 of this kitchen table redo have been published previously. The hubs is thrilled this project is taking weeks, instead of hours. I'm usually a fast worker, so a project like this is good for me. It's kept me busy for days. Last week was spent adding urethane to the top of the stained table and refinishing the base of the table.

I used Helmsman Spar Urethane Clear Satin to finish the top of the table. This is an incredible product. It's self leveling, so there are no brush marks whatsoever, and it gives the surface a beautiful satin finish. I'm so happy with the results. Just follow the directions on the can for a beautiful finish. It literally looks prettier than when we bought it 25 years ago!

I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to paint the base of the table black or white with distressing. Since I had another piece of furniture in the room that was distressed white, I decided to go with that. You might remember that the base of the table was originally a golden oak finish, similar to this one...

Here's the process to paint over a varnished surface:

Step 1: Clean the area you are going to paint with Zep All-Purpose Cleaner & Degreaser or like product.

Step 2: Use Klean Strip Easy Liquid Sander Deglosser or sand it till your arm is numb.

Step 3: Apply Kilz Original Oil-Base {spray or can} to prime and seal the wood and block stains.

Step 4: Apply paint -- can be either enamel, latex, or oil. I used Behr Statuesque eggshell paint.

Step 5: {Optional} Glaze, paint, or stain the wood, if you desire to add a distressed look. {Google "distressing wood" to get ideas.} Distressing wood is an imperfect science. You just eyeball it till you get the amount of color and detail that suits you. Then you kick it a few times, slap it up one side and down the other, and presto... it's distressed. Or you leave the newly painted project in a room with the grandkids for 10 minutes. Pretty sure the end result would be the same. Distressed.

Because distressing is not an exact science, it can feel like you are wrecking your project as you add the distressed look. That's how I feel every time I distress a piece of furniture. In fact after doing the base of the table I called my husband and told him I was frustrated and wanted to repaint the base of the table black. Then I came downstairs and decided it wasn't so bad after all. Just remember to stand back to look at the project. Up close the distressing looks pretty horrible, but when you stand further away, you'll more easily see the beauty of the distressed wood.

FYI: I used a combination of light brown, dark brown, and dark gray enamel eggshell paint to distress this piece. I just brushed it on with an almost dry brush. I couldn't find a glaze like I'd used in the past in the stores in my hometown. I did, however, find one on the internet. This is what I plan on using in the future when I refinish my kitchen cabinets -- Van Dyke Brown Water Based Glaze.

Later this week I'll show you the finished project!

Friday's Fabulous Finds...

I spy with my Etsy eye a... 

magical creature.

Clockwise, starting top left:

Gold Unicorn Candle Holder

Doggie Unicorn Hat

Unicorn Headband

Unicorn Pillow

Felted Unicorn  

Wishing you an enchanting weekend.

Bloomin' Tuesday...

There are many flowers blooming in my garden right now, but none outshine our beautiful clematis plants. We have several clematis vines that were planted years ago and are well established, but a few years ago we planted three more in a different location. It's taken them three years to really take hold, but this year they are thriving.

We have two lovely shades of violet clematis. The variety of clematis in the first and third photo is called "Blue Ravine." This vine has huge lilac-blue flowers with pinkish highlights and contrasting red centers.

The clematis below is Starry Nights Clematis. It has spectacular dark-violet, star-shaped flowers with pinkish/red stripes. Most clematis do well in full sun to partial shade.

I will say, however, that our three year old clematis vines were planted in partial shade and have had a harder time {than our full sun clematis } getting established. All our clematis were planted next to a fence and are great climbers.

I love these blossoms that are as big as a salad plate. They are hardy, once established, and become a mass of blooms all from late spring to early fall. So very pretty.

I hope you're able to enjoy the blossoms in your neck of the woods today!

Furniture Refinishing -- Oak Kitchen Table -- Part 2 {Epic Fail}...

Last time I wrote about my kitchen table refinishing project, I was feeling pretty good about it. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last very long. Ugh. Within a few hours, I realized I'd made an epic mistake. I know it's just as important to post failures as it is successes (you learn more from the failures), so I will tell you my sorry story. Up until I applied the Minwax Gel Stain, all was good, but when I applied the gel stain I blew it. As I mentioned before I began by applying the stain on the leaves of the table. I'd never used gel stain before, but the leaves took it beautifully. I applied the stain with a 3" brush and wiped off the excess with a rag. However, I used the same rag to wipe off the excess stain throughout the whole project. I didn't realize it at the time, but when I got to the tabletop the rag was so saturated with stain, that I wasn't removing enough of the excess stain as I "wiped it off." It removed some of it, but mostly I was just moving the stain around. When the stain dried on the tabletop, I could see swipe marks and the tabletop was darker than the leaves. Frustrating. What to do?

Here's a photo showing some of the problems...

It almost killed me, but I decided to redo the tabletop from the beginning. Once again a varnish remover (which also takes off some of the stain) was applied. Then, the after wash was applied, which took off a little more of the stain. I waited 24 hours till the tabletop was dry, and then I sanded (a lot) again. I feel sorry for myself as I type this. It was a pain in the neck, but I wanted it done right. The next day I reapplied the stain. This time I used several different dry clothes to wipe off the excess, and it turned out beautifully.

I applied two lighter applications to get this desired effect. Next, I'll use Helmsman Spar Urethane in Satin to give it a protective finish. Live and learn. Here's a photo showing the incorrect method and the correct method...

That photo makes it pretty obvious how important it is to change out your cloth as you wipe off excess gel stain on your project. Wish me luck on the remainder of the table!

Friday's Fabulous Finds...

I spy with my Etsy eye something... 

woodsy.

Clockwise, starting top left:

Potting Bench

Chair Garland

Child's Chair Dollhouse

Hand-Painted Signs 

Vintage Crochet Mallets

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

 

Furniture Refinishing -- Oak Kitchen Table -- Part 1

I love refinishing furniture. There's something about taking a piece of furniture that's seen better days, and making it beautiful and new once again. Our oak kitchen table has needed a face-lift for a year now. It served us well for almost 25 years, but it needed a little tender loving care. I had noticed recently that the varnish was starting to wear, and in one little corner the varnish seemed a little "sticky." I've read that this stickiness might be the result of the original finish being improperly cured or mixed. In any case, it was time to take this girl to the spa and give her a make-over.

The table was originally similar to the one below, but ours is larger and has two pedestals. {Our table is solid oak -- this one could be a wood veneer.} We decided to keep a stain finish on the top of the table {only darker} and paint the pedestals white with a brown/gray glaze.

I began by refinishing the top of the table, which includes four leaves. This table sits 12 people, so it's not a small task. I did quite a lot of research online before I began. The steps that I used worked beautifully, so I'd definitely recommend this process.

To strip the top of the table and ready it for the stain, I first used Zep All-Purpose Cleaner and Degreaser. I then applied Citristrip Stripping Gel. This is a great product that I've used before. The gel formula makes it much easier to apply and it does a beautiful job of stripping away the old varnish and stain. One caution: On the can it says you can leave the stripper on the piece of furniture for 24 hours before taking it off. The first application I left on for three hours, then easily removed it with a paint remover tool. I decided to apply a second coat to remove every trace of the stain and left it on overnight. Mistake. The Citristrip dried on the table and it was much harder to remove. I would definitely remove the paint stripper within three hours of application for an easier removal. After removing the Citristrip I cleaned the table with Klean Strip Paint Stripper After Wash. Then, wait until the table is totally dry to sand. I used my orbital sander with a 220 grit sand paper to make the top of the table as smooth as glass. Gorgeous unfinished oak...

When the table was ready to be stained, I applied Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. This product prepares the wood for staining and prevents blotchiness. The next step was to stain it the color we'd chosen...

We decided on Minwax Gel Stain in Hickory. While researching products to use I wanted to stay with the same product line for the prestain, stain, and protective finish. That way the products "work together." Minwax has a nice website that helps you choose the products that are best suited for a particular project. This Minwax Gel is wonderful. I really enjoyed using a gel stain over the more common runny version. Here are some photos of the stained wood. It's much darker than the original honey oak color of the table. This first two pictures were taken right after the stain was applied -- still wet. It still has a reddish hue to it.

As the stain dried it became darker and the red hue disappeared...

I love this dark stain. I'll wait a day or two to apply a coat of  Helmsman Spar Urethane in Satin Finish. Before I'm done there will be three coats of protective finish -- with a light sanding between coats. After that's done, I'll start on the pedestal prep and painting. I can't wait for the finished product!

*** Unfortunately, I've had an epic fail with the Minwax Gel Stain. {My fault.} Stay tuned and on Monday, June 6th, I will update you on this Project: 
Furniture Refinishing -- Oak Kitchen Table -- Part 2.***

Bloomin' Tuesday...

The weather has finally warmed {for the most part} here in Colorado, so my garden has really started blooming! The last few weeks have been filled with potting plants, making wood planter boxes, reconditioning soil and planting flowers, watering, mowing lawns, etc. It seems as if there is always something to do, but I love working in the yard, so I'm good with that. So much of our yard is in flower beds and container plants that it takes a lot of time and money to get it going in the spring, but it's worth it. The other night the hubs and I had dinner on our backyard patio -- surrounded by a myriad of container plants, green grass, buzzing bees and Beau {our puppy}. It's little moments like that that I treasure. Here is a sampling of what's happening in our garden today...

A few of my grandkids gave me this adorable Mexican bull planter for Christmas. They know I love blue and white pottery and gardening, so this was the perfect gift for me...

Last week I got the impatiens planted off the patio in our backyard. These impatiens looks scrawny right now, but in a month they will be lush and beautiful and fill in that whole area.

We have a high school in our town that specializes in career and technical education. Kids from all over the district can take classes, like horticulture, at this school. At the end of the school year, they sell a huge variety of flowers and vegetable plants that they've grown. They are beautiful plants at a great price. I bought almost all my flowers and tomato plants at this sale this year. Here are a few examples of the containers I planted with flowers from this school.

It seems like a yard will go for years without the need of major renovation, and then suddenly a complete overhaul needs to take place. That's what happen in our yard this year. Two large mounds filled with junipers had to be taken out and were replaced with new soil, a border of large rocks, and perennials. We also took out four large planter boxes that had rotted with age. These planters were filled with roses bushes. I love roses, but they never did well in that shaded location.  We made four new cedar boxes and planted impatiens that will fill the boxes and thrive in that shady location.

Today I plan on weeding {it never ends!} this little perennial flower bed by my front door and planting some diascia. They thrive in the only sunny spot in this flower bed!

Friday Finds...

I spy with my Etsy eye something...
eye catching.

Clockwise, starting top left:

Teddy Bear Broach
Baby Teething Toy
Giraffe Painting
Plush Monster
Garden Rose Quilt Pattern
Fancy Forest Quilt Pattern 

Wishing you a fun-filled weekend!

Friday Finds...

I spy with my Etsy eye a...

potpourri of fun items. 

Clockwise, starting top left:

Tissue Pom Poms

Printable Spring Party Pack

Mandala Style Stencil 

Leather Cuff Bracelet Kit

Jewelry Dish

Wishing you a fun-filled weekend.

Shabby Chic Baby Tutu...

This is my favorite baby tutu that I've made for a variety of reasons. In my book, there is nothing sweeter than a shabby chic style on a little girl. Love the lace, the creamy colors, and the charm. This tutu took a little more planning and execution than the leopard tutu and chevron tutu that I blogged about previously.

For this tutu I bought a 100% cotton onesie and dyed it an off-white color in a tea bath. {You can google "dyeing fabric with tea" and find thousands of tutorials.} I wanted a vintage feel for this little outfit, and the dyed onesie instantly provided that look. It was interesting that the onesie took on a rosy hue next to the pink lace.

When that was completed I sewed a lace owl {found at Hobby Lobby} onto the front of the onesie.

Then I got to work making the tutu. For this tutu I used soft laces of different sizes and color and ribbon instead of tulle. 

I attached the lace and ribbon the same way as I attached the tulle on the other tutus. What makes this outfit especially wonderful is some of the lace I used. My mother used to make jointed teddy bears. Her creations were beautiful.
 

Several years ago as we were moving her to another home, we found some lengths of lace that she hadn't yet used, and I became the recipient of those treasures.  Some of the laces {the pinkish one and a cream colored one} are used on this tutu.

It's makes me feel good that a great grandchild will be wearing some beautiful vintage lace that my mother bought and used on her teddy bears. Sweet.