Moving Forward

Sometimes moving forward actually means going back. For me lately, that's been the trend. We've been married a long time. 

A loooooooooong time. 

And in our history, we've picked up some pretty cool items. Some are being passed along to our children, and others, after being moved often and stored away for years, are coming to the light of day once again. I have loved rediscovering our old junk, and seeing the patina that the years have added to it as it sat in the dark.

We brought the copper back out that used to grace our newlywed kitchen, and I think I love it more now than when we first got it!

We're also enjoying old pieces in new places. This was given to me by my grandmother. She worked for a time in a California museum and was given this piece when she left that position. I have always loved it, and now for the first time, it resides in the kitchen.

While what we have we've always been thankful for and it's served us well, sometimes a change is nice. With that in mind, we decided to shake up the dining room a little and replace the chairs. When we got married, we were graced with hand me downs so that we wouldn't have to sit on the floor, and one of them was a green game table with large orange chairs. It served us well, but because of their size, we decided early on to replace the chairs with unfinished ones we bought at a discount store. We set to work finishing them, and the green table to match. For nearly 40 years they've been great. But change is nice, right?

So the decision was made to pass these sturdy chairs on to some friends that can also raise their children on them like we did ours, and go with a brand new look! Over the past month or so, I've been collecting deals. And now have 6 "new" chairs to show for the effort! 

All very different, but "It's gonna be great!" 

Primed

And painted. 

Can I just say, I love spray paint? 

And then the torture of choosing fabric that will work in the room. Some of the chairs have fabric seats. The choices were narrowed quite a bit as it needed to be suitable for outdoors. Not because these will be used outdoors, but because we have many little people that will be growing up on these chairs, and outdoor fabric is nearly indestructible! Making these kinds of choices used to be so easy. I think age steals more than just your figure, looks, and memory! Perhaps it drains good taste away too! I'll save you the torture of looking at all the possibilities. Let's just say, I'm really thankful for my daughters who help with such decisions!

And I think we have a winner folks!

Cutting new seat bottoms and recovering them is an easy task, and I love my jig saw and staple gun almost as much as spray paint. And polyurethane. I love that too.

All finished and in place. Now a small room looks a little bigger with the smaller "new" chairs. 

Family Stuff
Other Projects

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, 

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

For his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1

It All Started With Some Free Wood

I'm blessed enough to have friends that feed my habit for junk. Call them my enablers, but they often provide me with the most wonderful transformable stuff. Sometimes I sit on it awhile, sometimes I get to work right away, but eventually it all gets used. 

A couple of months ago, a friend that was moving out of the area gifted me with four 4X4 posts, and I knew immediately what they would become. It didn't take long to get "my person" to work with his chop saw to cut them into cubes. He also gave them a rough sanding so that I could get to work.

Some circles and a paint pen were all I needed to make dice

A good sanding with the palm sander, and a couple of coats of my good friend, polyurethene

I love the way classic inside games are being converted to play outside, and the idea isn't an original one, but I loved it so wanted to make some of my own. The posts became a few "YardZee" games. Our short people are gonna love these!!

Laminate the score cards and use dry erase markers for outdoor durability!

They make really fun "shelf sitters" as well. 

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to 

undergo decay.

You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. 

Ps. 16:10-11

Other Family Junk

Resurrection Upcycle

"Hello? Would You Like This?"

Anyone who has known me for any time at all, understands my affinity for trash. Not literal garbage, but those little gems that people put at the curb that have so much life in them that I just can't leave them. Rescuing these treasures isn't a new occupation. I have a beautiful set of copper bowls that I retrieved out of a neighbors trash nearly 40 years ago that are still hanging in my kitchen

That's why people call me with questions like "Hello? Would you like this?" Rarely do I say no! And that's how I happened to come into possession of this beautiful little dresser. My friend said that it had belonged to her uncle, and had been sitting in the garage for a LONG time being used for storing garage stuff. She had had enough of it and it was going to be disposed of if I didn't want it. Well, HELLO!! Of COURSE I wanted it!! Luckily my daughter was here with her minivan and volunteered to go up and get it. Yay!!

It was so sturdy, and I always find it amazing how roomy these old dressers are. Not as big as new ones on the outside, but huge on the inside. I loved the "original" green color, which wasn't the original color, but a coat someone had put on in the 60's I would guess from the shade. The house I grew up in was actually this same mint green for several years. (That one was for free. You're welcome!) I had intended to just strip the top and stain it, but the paint was a mess and there was some water damage on the side, so the more I looked at it, the clearer it became that the whole thing needed to be made over. 

First step, strip the top.

Sometimes I'm really happy that previous owners didn't go to the trouble of properly preparing the wood before finishing. It doesn't always work out well, but this time it put a smile on my face!! Didn't take any time at all for the old paint to peel off and what was underneath was pristine! The one part of the piece you'd expect to be all beaten up, and there wasn't a mark on it!!

Didn't get so lucky with one side and a bit on the front. A little veneer damage could't be re glued, but I found a way around it.

Did a little painting and distressing after the repairs were all done.

Here's a little tip. One of my favorite places in the world is the mis-tint bin at the local hardware store. You can find some truly ugly colors there, but there are also some beautiful shades that people simply didn't want. I came up with a quart can of really high quality paint for $2.50. SCORE!! I've been able to use it on a few projects now, but the top got so crudded up that it would no longer close tightly. 

So, out comes the trusty canning jar. I've used this method several times to store left over paint and it works great. Just don't drop it!!

I used the original hardware. Just stripped the old paint off of them as well (Another tip: Drop any paint covered metal "stuff" in boiling water and let it simmer a bit. The paint peels right off!) Gave them a little spray paint and scuffed them up. 

Voila!!

This project took me about a week, and much of that was dry time. But now it smells fresh and looks great. Looking forward to seeing it in it's new space!

You have made him for a little while 

lower than the angels;

You have crowned him with 

glory and honor,

And have appointed him over 

the works of Your hands;

Hebrews 2:7

Other Family Junk

Resurrection Upcycle