Holidays

We are getting ready for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. We are planning on going to be with Billy's parents for Thanksgiving, and a few days after. Billy has a small project there to help his Dad with some electrical wiring. This is way out of my league, but I get to help by looking for wires in the wall, and running for things, and as always holding the light. I just hope it's not off the ground. I just shine the light up at him then.

I am still working on a desk for our son Brandon. We got it at Goodwill for $10.00. It is getting a new stain and I don't know if I will do something special with the drawers. You never know, and neither do I, most of the time.

I just had a customer call about decorating his home for the Christmas season, so this is going through my mind. That's how it works most of the time, thoughts go in and out, until something sticks. I'll just have to see how it comes out.

Ladies Holiday Banquet

I have spent the last week or two working on the Ladies Banquet for our church. Forty or more ladies decorate a table each for 8. Tickets are sold and we meet tomorrow night to enjoy the fruits of our labor. This is hard work, but a fun event for the ladies of the church. We always sell out, and the room is so full you can't move your chairs once you get seated. We are served by the men, and this is their gift to us. It took all afternoon just to get the tables set. They are all beautiful. My table is to honor my Mom and Dad. I used the china that my Dad hand painted, many years ago. I know he would be pleased to see it used.

The chair project is moving along. We got all the old finish off, sanded, and are in the process of adding a new finish. Bryan picked a new stain color, Rosewood. It is a really pretty deep color with a rose tint. My dad used it on several sets of knives he made several years ago, so this is special. I usually don't pick a stain this dark, but it is beautiful. All we need now is the finish. Bryan wants a high gloss finish, so that is what we will do. I am posting pictures to show.

FAMILY PROJECT
This is the new family find. We had a day of what we call "treasure hunting", and this was one of our finds. Becky found the chair hiding among the school band sale stuff. They were willing to make $10 for the band, and we had our new treasure. We had a time getting it to the truck though. We put it on the wagon, and the girls rode on the throne, all the way to the truck. I started working on it, planning to use the trusty paint stripper gun, only to find out that is why they call it a paint stripper gun, as it doesn't work too well on stained furniture. I then went to the old method of the smelly, liquid stuff. As this chair had not been touched in 30 years or so, the finish came off fairly well. Just the old paint it on, scrape it off, and do it all over again routine. Good old work.
Bryan and Becky shopped for new fabric to cover the cushions. They picked a black leather, and have sent them off to be recovered. That is one job I am not the best at. I can do chair bottoms, and a little recovering, but not a major job. Always call in the professionals when you need them.
While stripping the chair we found a name plate on the bottom. The manufacturer was the Cushmam Co. It is a "Cushman Colonial Collection # 1108". Bryan did a little research about the company, but we don't know about this particular chair. I will bring you pictures as we progress with the FAMILY PROJECT.

I wanted to give you a quick tour of the finished piece. Remember this was left on the curb as a white changing table for baby. With a lot of love and some hard work, I think it turned out pretty well. You could even add bun feet, stain them to match, and this will give you an even more elegant look. You can do this too. Don't be afraid to look at things in a different way, and think of ways you can change what you don't use into something you can use with pride.

This is a picture of the granite painting technique. I painted this with a sea sponge and three or four different colors. I finished with two coats of a good polyurethane finish.

Do you have treasures in your attic? I bet you do. I love to recycle old or odd things into things we can use in our home. I even go hunting around the neighborhood for castoff furniture and decorating items. My neighbors are now telling me when something is put on the curb. This is a little embarrassing to my grown children, but they love the new things I whip up. My latest find was a baby changing table. It was spray painted white, with decals and letters glued on it. I forgot to get a picture before starting work on it. That was not smart on my part, as some of my friends wanted to see a "before". I took out the trusty paint stripper gun and got to work. We have always used a liquid stripper before, but at a garage sale (of course) we found a used stripper gun. Boy where had that been in my past. It is the greatest thing. Works fast and is easy to use. After the paint was stripped, I found the original finish was a natural color. The baby changing pad just came out, and it had a long drawer across the top. The top was hinged in order to be used for changing baby, but you don't have to use it. I stained the whole dresser (except for the top) a dark walnut color. On the top I did a paint technique to give a granite effect. We drilled holes in the drawers for pulls I painted to match the granite color. Added two coats of a sealer, and yea! A new piece that my kids put in their living room as extra storage. That didn't embarrass them at all . It looks like an expensive piece with a granite top.