My little sis pesters me about furniture because she’s always looking for great finds and she knows if she gets me talking about old furniture I’ll ramble on for days. Sis has been looking for a small sideboard or buffet, so when I stumbled upon this antique at a thrift store last week for $75, I quickly snatched it up for her. I liked the size and solid structure with its dovetail joints, plus it had no major damage. But it was a little sad looking and definitely in need of new stain, or perhaps even paint.  

I was on the fence about whether to paint it, but thought I’d try to restore the wood first. I had heard about a product from several antique dealers that breathes new life into tired old antiques and doesn’t require the typical strip/stain/poly steps that are required to fully refurbish wood furniture. The product is Howard’s Restor-A-Finish and I thought this latest vintage piece was the perfect candidate to give it a try.

I followed the instructions and used a very fine grade steel wool (level 000) to wipe down the buffet in the direction of the wood grain, then applied two coats of the Restor-A-Finish. I also pulled off the acanthus applique attached to the back because it was bugging me, then replaced the center hardware and broken pulls with new ones lightly coated with Rub N’Buff in ‘Antique Gold’. 

Here’s a peek at the easy transformation that took about an hour.

Before:

After:

Not bad!

I grabbed these three products at my local True Value Hardware to see how well they’d perform on this buffet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oh hello y’all, how are things?  I’m feeling pretty good today having finally finished the laundry room over at our adopted Alma House.   For those who don’t know, earlier this year, the hubs and I decided to adopt a house in partnership with our local COTS (Committee on the Shelterless). 

The Alma Project began as the transformation of a fixer upper house into a comfortable functional home for women who desperately need it. Living inside the Alma House are single mothers, previously homeless, who reside for free on the condition that they are learning skills, stabilizing their lives, attending counseling, and that they remain drug and alcohol free. Busy remodeling their lives, these mothers have no time or money to fix up this house.

Over the past few months, we’ve given our time to this project with money donated by so many of you. Some of you blogged about the Alma house and others held small fundraisers to benefit the project.  We cannot thank you enough. 

In April, we spent a day transforming the entry hallway to create better utility:

In May, we built them this media center. 

Over the summer, we set out to build the families a laundry room center in the garage and at last it is complete! 

Here’s a glimpse of the space a few months ago:

Here it is today!

Read the rest of this entry »

The mister and I sat down to look at the fall schedule and with all the soccer games, entertaining, and holiday related events filling up our days, we concluded there are not many weekends available for any more big home improvement projects.   In January, I wrote about all of the home goals we had for our casa.  Today seemed a great day to take inventory on how I did and I’m proud to say I finished a lot of them.  Some will just have to wait until next year, but here’s a quick recap. 

Goal #1 – Replace the kitchen backsplash.  Done!  I was sooooo happy to swap out the yellow fruit plate last winter for a cleaner updated look.  Back in February I removed the old decorative tile and installed plain white tile in its place tile for a more cohesive feel. 

Goal #2: Create a homework and art center for the kiddos.  Yep, finished!  The blank wall in the kid’s play space got an upgrade with the addition of a homework and art station, including a desk, floating shelves, and frames for their artwork.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve mentioned before, we have a little guest studio above our garage that we’ve rented out in the past, but mostly use for guests, especially this time of year.  A few months ago I refinished the kitchen cabinets, and last weekend I thought it time to refinish the old Pottery Barn pedestal table that sits in that space.  It used to be our breakfast table, and over the course of ten years it has had its share of damage done to it.   

I’ve got to give PB credit, they make a a high quality solid wood table, but over the years it had suffered the typical wear and tear that comes with daily living.  Scratches, dents, paint residue, kid crud, you name it, that table had it.  After all the damage, I decided the time had come to refinish the surface. 

So often, when there’s damage to wood, the first inclination is simply to paint it and I confess I do that all the time.  For this table, I thought it would be better to take the time to restore the beauty of the cherry wood and I’m so glad I did.  With all the light and bright in this studio, I loved the idea of a classic wood pedestal table grounding the space.  Besides, let’s face it.  Dark wood pedestal table?  Totally timeless. 

Here’s a glimpse of some of the damage before . . .

. . . and today !

Here’s the skinny on how I restored the surface of this pedestal table in a weekend:

Read the rest of this entry »