Redo Revisited...for the last time! (Finally!)

It's no secret that I have been working to refinish a buffet for quite some time now. When I realized I wasn't going to meet my deadlines...there may or may not have been more than two....I settled with, "As long as I'm making progress each week....". But in reality, my garage was starting to look like a furniture graveyard.


{yea...and see that table to the right? thanks to some family friends, I found my next project! after the bench of course (not pictured, soon enough)}

So, I decided it was time to get the job done. Plus, I really had the perfect motivation. My main squeeze's (SWL) big 3-0 was right around the corner. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get the buffet finished, in it's new home, and top it off with a new flat screen tele and make the grand reveal on his birthday. Still, while I have since finished the buffet 100% it was not in time for my man's milestone. I did however snag the flat screen as his gift. I was nervous beyond words to give him his gift. #1- flat screens aren't cheap (who knew?). #2- we do NOT spend money like that without talking to each other first (definitely purchased the shiny new tele on the down loooow). #3- did he even really want it and was it a good enough "big 30th" birthday gift??


{me before giving SWL the television (sporting some pretty cool gold framed glasses, don't hate)}



{my sad display since I didn't finish the buffet in time and i couldn't seem to find a roll of wrapping paper big enough to wrap the box, lame.}



{me after the big reveal, SUCCESS!! he loved it!! phew...}

Anyway, back to the real reason for this post. Now that there was a flat screen sitting on the floor of the living room, begging for a place to settle in....the real motivation started to kick in a bit. Who wants a shiny new tele sitting on the floor?! Comon'! I grabbed my gloves, paintbrush, stain, and mask and got down to business. I went with a deeper stain for a rich finish to stand out next to the orangey-colored brick in the living room.



{One coat in. A bit more red-tone than I was going for...but that was settled with a second coat.}

After a couple coats, a few touch ups, a run in with a spider, and a couple "Why didn't I just buy a new buffet?" type thoughts, my good friend Mr. Buffet, you know this guy, was finally finished. Complete. Donezo. Finito, muah! Shelves, drawers, doors and all!!

It has actually been living in it's spot for about 4 weeks now, but we all know how awesome I was at posting last month...Nada. I was having some issues getting the hardware in place so I wasn't totally ready to share the news anyway. The screws that came with the new hardware weren't quite long enough to make it through the door and into the handle...something I should've checked before I bought the handles. BUT, easy fix. New screws were acquired, a little elbow grease assistance from my big sis, SYL, and the handles were put in place. I am in lurrrrvvvvv with my "new" used piece! Check it out, how'd I do?



{love love love the decision to go with the Pottery Barn inspired pulls}



{still working on figuring out how exactly to store the DVD/Cable Box in a hidden, yet functional manner. Can you guess what movie that is...might be one of the best love stories ever!}




{Ahh...feels so good to be done!}

Thanks for sticking around to see if I would ever even finish the thing or post about it again! Totally worth it, right? ;-) While I'm feeling pretty accomplished and enjoying my beloved buffet, I know I still have at least three other pieces of furniture calling my name (creepy). For now, no mention of what I might get into next. I think I'll only share progress updates, it might actually get done that way!

As always, thanks for reading!

Until next time...

1st giveway ever!!!

Hi...it's April...March is gone....and where was I? Everything has been flying by: time, birthdays, gatherings, projects...and I have totally let you down by not sharing. March was a slow, slow month for me in terms of postings...lame. So, guess what?! I am partnering with one of my favorites to kick things off in April and get this party started!

I was totally honored when Abby, over at Abby Neese Photography, ask me if I wanted to participate in a giveaway! Of course I said Yes! Head over to check out her work...you'll see why I was so excited!

After thinking about what I could contribute and going back and forth on a few ideas we thought a Spring inspired tutu would be great! I scooped up some soft colors - white, blue, pink, yellow -  and got to work! It was my first ever and I can't wait to make more! For a chance to snag this one head on over to Abby's blog to enter!

{fluffy, girly, all sorts of cute}

Abby, of course is offering up an amazing giveaway! Spring is in full force and with all the beautiful blooms and pops of color why wouldn't you want to have a photo session?! She has a $50 gift card up for grabs!! Booya!! Here is what you have to do...there are three ways to enter:

Rules:

#1 - Head over to Abby Neese Photography and follow her blog, then leave a comment letting me know you did.
#2 - Log on to Facebook and "Like" Abby's page (Picture By Abby Neese), then come back here and tell me about it.
#3 - Leave a comment saying, "CHEEEESE..." and as a bonus tell me how you'll use your $50 gift card!

I can't wait to here from everyone! Hope Spring has been treating you well so far!!

The winner will be selected using random.org and will be announced next Monday, April 11 by 12:00pm. Let me know if you are interested in a personalized tutu for a little sweetie of your own! You choose the colors and ribbon and I'll whip it up for you! I'm working on a few other goodies, so stay posted!



Until next time...

Total Bust...well not completely, I guess...

So, as you all might have noticed there is nothing posted about any kind of excitement from being finished with the buffet redo. It's because I failed....I didn't meet my deadline of January 31st. But I have been working on it. It's just taking way longer than what I anticipated.

Over the summer, back when I first purchased the buffet, I was in the middle of like 4 other projects and so I only sort of started working on the stripping of the buffet. I chose the top because it was flat and easy to work with at the time. I put the stripper on and you could see it begin to work almost instantly, even though the jug says to wait for about 25-30 minutes. Here's an example of what I'm talking about from another piece I was working on. Those bubbles were like perfection, it meant the stripper was doing its job and I was on my way to a "new" piece of furniture.

(This table is now white and lovely, you see, because the stripper worked. Hmph!)

But I never got the bubbles with the rest of the buffet. I don't know what is going on but so far it seems like all the buffet is doing is soaking up the stripper. Awesome. I even let it sit for the entire amount of time mentioned in the instructions...and nothing. When I start to scrape its like I might as well sprayed the thing with water! Extremely frustrating.

At first I thought the issue was the kind of stripper I chose. I was out of the old, so I opted for the "environmentally safe" choice. It did "okay" but took forever....and while the smell was way more bearable and I felt better about cleaning my supplies and throwing things away, I couldn't take it. I broke down and bought some of the "real deal" stripper. The stuff that has to be "disposed of properly". (I hate it...I do.) But when I gave that a shot thinking, "I'm in business now! Bwah hahaha", nothing. More soaking up, waiting, and a whole lot of no real results. Here is what I got...

(One of the doors from the buffet..all butchered up now, sad.)

A sorta, kinda, half way there, but not really done door. What the?!?! So, here I am...and I need your help. Names of strippers (ha), tips that work, anything....please? This was supposed to be easy, well not easy, but not this hard.

I'm quite discouraged and thinking I might have ruined a perfectly good piece of furniture just because I wanted it to be a different color. Tear :*-( Any advice, or pointing in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Until next time....

Treasure...?

While I will say my progress is not what I thought it would be at this point, at least I can say there has been some in the buffet redo department and that I fully intend on having the project completed by my deadline (January 31st, 6 days from now...). I have also decided no photo updates until it is complete, because really I shouldn't be blogging about it right now...I should be working on it. Buuuut, here's a little something to keep you interested.

While I was disassembling my lovely masterpiece, cleaning, and what not, I made a discovery. I found these tucked in the back of the buffet, under one of the center drawers.

A rubber band, an old poptop thingy, some old coin wrappers, and a black and white school photo (the most interesting of the bunch).

Whether you can call it treasure, I don't know. But fun to make a find just the same. Alright, that's all you get for now...more to come...in no more than 6 days to be exact. :0) Wish me luck!

The one and only, ever curious, and totally excited (can't you tell?) helper, Riley.

Until next time...

Simple Solutions

For a while now I have been hounding my hubs to get a "recycling center"... fancy for " small bins to throw your trash in at home until you take your trash somewhere else to throw in bigger bins". Yea, so it took me a while to come to the realization on the whole "seriously, they are just bins" idea. I thought I needed the ones with labels, holes specific to what you were throwing in the bin, color coordinated, slanted lids, yada yada...you know bells and whistles. But once again, "seriously, they are just bins".

So, shortly after Christmas, the hubs and I made our way to Lowe's because, of course, what happens after Christmas...SALES! We weren't specifically looking for anything that had to do with recycling. But we were looking for things to help us get organized. Along the way we came across a great deal on bins like these...
Regularly this little ditty is about $14 and we snagged it (along with as many we could find and thought we might have a use for) for only $5!! Five buckaroos, is way cheaper than any piece of a recycling center I could find.

As for labels, well my handy dandy label maker set to the largest letter option worked fine for me.

A grand total of $20 later, plus a few labels and my recycle center was up a running. It may not be as small as other options, but it saved me a good chunk of change and the bins are big enough to hold all the garb that we are throwing in until we can make it to the "bigger bins" to unload!

Hope this inspires some simple solutions around your ranch! Do you have any to share? Until next time...

PS- there has been some progress on the buffet redo...more to come on that later!

Goals, people!

Goals, deadlines, pressure. Whatever you want to call it I need it. Last year I purchased a beautiful piece of furniture, pictured below, with every intention of stripping, staining/painting, adding new handles and giving it a new home in my living room. It is to be the home for our television, DVDs, movies, etc.

That was in July....6 months ago July. Now it's January...and can you guess where this lovely find is located? Oh, what's that you say? Finished and in my living room, beautified for all to admire? Ummm, no. So far, I have stripped and sanded the top of the buffet...and it sits in our garage...and that's it. I know, lame.

So, in order to motivate me to make things happen my darling husband, SWL, offered up some encouraging promises. First, he says that if I can get the buffet finished and ready to move to it's new home in our living room we can get a new T.V.! I was like "Whoa! heck yes!!". And then he said, BUT (oh no, not the BUT) it has to be done by the end of January. Eh, reasonable.

Now, let's see...it's January 14 and have I touched the buffet? Ummmm, negative. So, the way I see it I need to step it up, turn up the pressure, set some goals, and start checking them off. Here we go, Project #1 2011 - Buffet revamp.
a- Strip buffet of any old stain/paint
b- Sand all elements of buffet to smooth surface as best I can
c- Remove old hardware
d- Decide on and purchase new hardware (aka handles)
e- Stain/paint buffet new color
f- Add new hardware
g- Put all the pieces together again, move upstairs to the living room

Seven steps. Seventeen days. That's a little more than 2 days per step. I can do this....I can.

This is the first project of 2011. There are several others that desperately need attention, but for now this is what will get my attention. What about you? Have you come up with projects, set goals? How do you make yourself stay motivated? Or should I say, who motivates you?

Tips are welcome, ideas are great, please keep 'em coming!

Until next time...