Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year & Thank You

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is enjoying some quality time with family and friends and enjoying good company and a good life.

We are spending Christmas in New England this year. It has been very cold (especially for this Southern living girl) and I have not been out to take too many pictures.

I did take a chilly walk to the waterfront (and braved the wind too) and thought you all might like to see this photo. It is a lobster pot tree, for those of you who have never seen a lobster pot. The tree decorations are all lobster pot buoys. You can see more beautiful New England photos from this summer post.



I want to thank you for reading my blog, and for all the encouraging wonderful comments since my first post a little less than 1 year ago. I really love to share my projects and am thankful for the opportunity to do so.

Wishing everyone a Healthy, Happy, & Prosperous New Year!

Kristina


p.s. I'll be back with lots of projects in 2014. We finally have a closing date on our new house........and it is in less than 4 weeks!!!

Monday, December 16, 2013

The stools are {FINALLY} done!

Well, maybe that title is untrue. The stoolS are not done. Rather, one stool is done. But now I feel like the second stool will go much quicker, except that is the one I have to fix a little on the legs.

If you remember from this post, this is the stool I got for $2.99 so I am not going for perfection. If they don't last long, it was not a big investment lost!

The only supplies I needed to buy for the first stool was the trim I added to the rough edge below seat. This trim was on sale at Hobby Lobby for 0.44/yard. I needed a little over 2 1/2 yards (but that is for both stools) so I paid under $1.50 for it. I had the paint, stain, wax and paint brushes on hand.

This is a picture of the stools when I bought them.



I used a paintbrush and can of paint for this project, as planned. I was unsure of how that would go. I wanted the kind of finish and strength you get from paint from a can, but I also wanted the ease of spraying. I am happy to report that the brushing part was not bad. What I did do was turn the stools upside down (after removing the seat from the legs). This way I painted on the underside of everything first, then turned it right side up and painted from the view of looking down. I did not miss many areas doing it this way. I did do TWO coats of paint letting it dry for over 24 hours in-between (mostly because it was humid and I wanted a strong finish since feet/shoes would be on the bottom rung).

This is after one coat. Oh - I also did a sanding to the entire chair, including the cane, before I started painting or staining.



The next photos show the stain I used and how I applied it to the cane using a paintbrush. After getting the entire top stained I lightly rubbed it off and then let it dry for a couple days (humid weather -- remember).









After finishing the top and the legs and putting them back together I had to cover the ugly plywood showing under the seat. These stools at some point during their lifetime, were repaired or redone resulting in a plywood circle under the cane top. This rough edge shows and I had to cover it. I found a nice neutral trim and glued it to the plywood.





So here is the finished stool. I am very happy with how it turned out and can't wait to finish the other one and get them to the new house!









The new house is getting close. Like so close I don't even want to think about it too much. We are scheduled to close in THIRTY SEVEN days! Whoo Hoo! I don't even want to tell you what is going on between now and then and what my list looks like.

Thank you for spending time reading my blog today! Have a great week - the last full week before Christmas.


Visit these blog linky parties where I am linking up: Between Naps on the Porch, Rain on a Tin Roof, The Dedicated House, Southern Hospitality

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Boys Bathroom Sign (a reminder...)

Is everyone busy busy busy getting ready for Christmas, parties and travel?

Me too. I love this time of year!!!

Today I have a quick project that has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. I made another sign. I was painting the base of my $2.99 cane stools and thought that the grey I was using would be great on a sign. I had one last piece of pre-cut Poplar craft board from Home Depot that I wanted to make into something. I did not want to waste paint on my paintbrush (does that surprise you???) so I grabbed the board and started painting.

I decided I wanted a sign for my boys new bathroom. I decided on "Wash Your Hands". Wonder why?!?!

My boys came up with a few more ideas including; Flush and Lid UP then down. If you have boys.....then you know why all these are important!



Here is how I did it:

I used the transfer method that I show on my Tooth Fairy Sign Tutorial (here is a picture from that post).



Then I painted in the lines with my tiny bottle of sample size of BM paint. I did 2 coats.

I also did a dot pattern on the ends - just because. It is very easy to make dots. Just turn your paint brush around and dip the small wooden tip in the paint and dot it on the wood. That's It. Perfect little dot every time.



When everything was dry I used 2 different waxes and kind of mixed them together. I did not want to use too much of the antiquing wax because I did not want the letters to get too "dirty" or the sign to get too brown either.



I think when I hang it I will staple twine around the board and hang it from that. I will show pictures once it is hanging in the bathroom....we have to move first for that to happen!






Thanks for reading today and come back again please!

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I have linked to these fun parties: The Pin Junkie