Refinishing Wood

On my last post about my refinished desk, I was asked a question about how I did it. I started to give a quick response in a comment, but I decided it would make a good post. So here is the skinny (or probably not so skinny) on refinishing wood.

1st - you have to consider what kind of condition the wood is in and how you want the finished product to look. If you are painting it you just need to scuff in up a little with sandpaper. If you are staining it the wood will need to be completely stripped with some kind of chemical stripper.

If you are painting it and want the piece to be nice and new-looking, fix any holes or cracks or dings with wood putty. Let it dry and sand it flush. I'm not sure of the exact process for fixing imperfections if you are planning to stain the wood.

I like a more aged and worn look, so I leave the dings and cracks as they are. I think it adds character.

Next - If you are staining it, just rub the stain on, wait a bit, and rub off the excess. Then seal it with polyurethane or wood wax, and you are done.

If you are painting, give a good even coat or two of primer (I like the spray - it's quicker and easier). If you are painting, you need to use a good primer to cover the entire surface. There are different color primers. Basically, if you are painting a light color use a light color; if you are painting a dark color, use a darker primer. Easy enough.Then just paint and enjoy!

Tips (learned from experience):

Paint with primer in it does NOT equal a primer coat. You will have problems with pealing.

Black stain is not really black. If you want black you have to paint.

For the desk I just finished I didn't do any surface repairs. I painted the body with Kilz Semi-Gloss Bulgar Wheat paint. (The guy mixing the paint kept calling it "Burglar Wheat" hehe.) Then I mixed 1 part water and 1 part Ralph Lauren Satin Ebony paint and used it as a wash for the desk surfaces so the wood shows through just slightly.

Hope this was helpful for anyone starting a refinishing project. Good luck!

A New Look for an Old Desk

I loved the form of this old desk. All the compartments and drawers were beautiful. It was worn out and ugly, but I just knew it had potential.

Here is the finished product.

That is one amazing transformation! It's amazing what a little paint can do.

Welcome Fall!

I just love the fall.

And Modge Podge is a very dear friend of mine.

A Fairy Tea Party

My little princess just had her 4th birthday. She wanted to have a fairy tea party. We had the party in the back yard. A party with fairies just has to be held outdoors, if at all possible, don't you think?


The invitations

At the party, the girls sat on toadstools.

The place cards were tiny flowerpots.

We ate flower-shaped sandwiches, fruit wands, and white chocolate dipped strawberries.

We had flower and toadstool cupcakes.

When the girls first arrived, Tinkerbell sent them on a treasure hunt. When they completed the hunt, they each received their own set of wings.

We played Evil Fairy Freeze Tag, Musical Toadstools, and had a buzzing contest. The fairies each made their own wand that matched the color of their wings.

All the fairies sat in a circle on their toadstools while the birthday fairy opened her gifts.

All the little fairies had a wonderful time, and the birthday fairy was so happy with her party that she wants to do it again next year!

Jam, Pie, and a Blue Ribbon

Yesterday I entered my strawberry pie in a neighborhood fair pie baking contest. I didn't take a picture of it because I wasn't going to win. I was just doing it for the fun of it. Well, guess what? I won!!! Can you believe it? I won the blue ribbon!!! (I do have to point out that it was just a neighborhood contest and only included about 9 or 10 pies - I'm not ready for a "real" contest by any means.) But I was still quite pleased with myself. Then I realized I hadn't taken a picture of my pie. Probably the only pie contest I will ever enter and win, and I didn't have a picture of it. AAAACCCKKK!!!! This has got to be documented because I am sure that 100 years from now my great-grandchildren are going to want to know all about how their great-grandma won a neighborhood pie contest thereby changing the entire course of their lives. They will want to know what this wonderful pie looked like, and I will have failed them all because I didn't take a picture. This is all they will have to look at:

The shame, the guilt, it's all too much. So I took a picture of my ribbon with the pie that I had made for my family, because no mother can make a pie to take somewhere else without making an identical pie for her family. She may just find herself kicked out of the house for a blunder such as that. So, although this is not the actual pie that won the contest, it is pretty darn close. The other pie was a bit prettier, it was fuller and the whipped cream was not melting, but it's close enough.

To celebrate my victory I made Triple Berry Jam.... mmmmmmmmmm.

I love homemade jam.

ABC's & 123's

How do I help my kids get rid of "summer squishy-brain," as we call it at our house?

By making alphabet and number shaped sugar cookies. You would be amazed at all the number and alphabet games that were played in our house.

"Summer squishy-brain" has left the building!

Semi-Homemade

A REALLY long time ago I posted about how I was wondering if I should make Baby K's blessing outfit, or if I should use one of the ones I made for my other boys. Later I told you that I had "sort of" made him his own outfit, but that I was waiting to get the pictures back before I wrote my post. I know you thought the day would never come, but I just got the pictures back about 2 days ago, so here is the long-awaited post.

I decided to call his outfit "Semi-Homemade"

Shirt - Store bought

Tie - Homemade

Socks - Store bought

Booties - Homemade

Shorts - Store bought

Blanket - Homemade

There you have it - "Semi-Homemade."

{Thanks to my wonderful friend for the great pictures. She took some REALLY fantastic pictures. Visit her blog here.}