Hey Everyone!
Vale and I have arrived to freezing cold Milford, PA. The plane landed at 4:30 pm yesterday to nineteen degree weather and darkness. As we flew over the southern part of the state some lady behind me goes, "It looks like a freakin' black and white painting." When I stopped laughing I realized that she was right. I forgot how stark and lifeless everything looks this time of the year. We awoke to four inches of beautiful snow this morning. Now that I've seen it I guess we can turn around and go home (ha ha). Just kidding. I'm so excited to be here with my sissy and her family, to see all of my wonderful friends, meet some babies, and celebrate Christmas. Best time of the year! If my organs don't freeze and fail I'll be really thankful for this trip. I text my sister to tell her our plane landed and she texts me back saying, "I have a surprise for you." She removed all of the doors off of the cabinets so I suspect she wants me to get crackin' on the kitchen makeover right away. She stacked all of the doors in front of the coffee maker so I couldn't even drink my "Don't Kill People" juice first. She's maniacal. Next week, if I'm still alive to tell the tale, I'll write all about the kitchen makeover. This week I want to talk to you about the table I worked on for my fun new clients. They have great taste and purchased a Pier One table a few years back for their previous home. They sold that house and are moving in to a new one (right down the street from me) They are planning to do a lot of cosmetic upgrades, including a new color palette for the existing kitchen, new wooden flooring in the dinette, and a new dinette set with a more French Country look. Enter moi. This is what their dinette set looked like in their old home: This is what the new space looks like (before cosmetic renovations). The plan, I'm told, is to replace the tile in the kitchen and dinette with something like the hard wood throughout the home. The cabinets will get a bright white makeover. Counter tops and back splash will change, paint colors will be changed, and then the dinette set they owned will get a makeover to compliment their new kitchen. I was unsure what I would be able to do with the Pier One table until I saw it in person. My client was pretty open but wanted a lighter look than the black she had. The plan was to paint it white if the table couldn't be stained, or stain the top and paint the base if it could be stained. She knew she wanted cool tones throughout the home. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. The table was obviously wood, when I saw it, but I wasn't sure what condition the wood was in underneath the black paint and varnish. The first thing I did was test a patch with Citristrip (an inoffensive stripper I often use).
The table was soaking up the stripper like crazy, but third time was a charm. As you can see the wood underneath was very red in tone, but beautiful.
I applied the stripper to the entire table top after opening the table up where the insert would go so I could strip it clean and not have any of the goop run through the crack. I let the stripper sit on the table top for a full half- hour before I used my putty knife to scrape it off. I started from one end of the table and scraped along with the wood grain toward the other end. I used a plastic paint liner to catch all of the paint and varnish that came off. This stripper is really messy so it is important to scrape it off in one direction. The last thing you want to do is rub any of the old goop into the new, clean wood grain. Click the link to read my blog post on proper cleaning and stripping techniques. When I removed all of the black paint I filled a disposable paint pail with mineral spirits and brushed it on the entire piece. I then used paper towels to clean the piece, swiping the towel in the direction of the wood grain and removing the remainder of the sediment. I've noticed that this method works best to keep the wood uniform. Any time I've ever poured the mineral spirits on, or dabbed it on, there have been white spots in the table. The whole idea is to remove all of the crap in the wood and minimize blotchiness (?) when you stain or seal the piece. I also lightly sanded the whole piece with 220 grit sandpaper-- rough enough to keep the grain open, but not too rough to dice up the table.
Now that the table top was cleaned up I needed to let it completely dry out before applying stain. If the wood is wet with mineral spirits or stripper it will not take the stain properly. It was at this point that I started cleaning up the table's base. It needed to be scrubbed down with mineral spirits and then lightly sanded so it was smooth again. The table top was incredibly red in tone, even after being cleaned with mineral spirits (sometimes the wood takes on the orange color of the stripper if you don't completely remove it) so I decided to bleach it instead of using a colored stain.
Above is what the table looked like after I used Sunbleached Stain and before I painted the base. I always work from top to bottom in case I make a mess. I was really happy with the color -- nice and warm for a bleached table top but still cool enough to compliment the new home's color palette. I lightly sanded the table top with fine grit sand paper (use above 220 for finishing work if you're able) and then got to work painting the base. I taped the table base where it met the table top because the table top's underbelly was nice and matte black; I didn't want sloppy white paint everywhere. Once that was done I painted on three coats of crisp, white chalk paint. I should have primed the darn base but normally with chalk paint, even if you're painting over something dark, you don't have to. It's possible there was still some residual mineral spirits on the table's base and that's why I needed the extra coat. This is what the first coat looked like:
After three coats of paint I started distressing the table base as per my clients request. It was a major mistake, which I realized early on. The black and reddish tone of the wood showed through and was not a good compliment to the table top. I decided to paint over it and keep the crisp base look which was much better.
For a table that is going to be used daily you want to apply at least four coats of polyurethane. I say four, because every piece of furniture I applied that many coats to has held up to a lot of abuse. I used a spray poly for the table's base and she was ready for pick up. I am so happy with this before and after! The next piece to this project will get started the second I come back home from Pennsylvania. My client purchased four cool, old chairs to complete the French Country look. We found these suckers on Offer Up and they are nice and sturdy, a great shape, and a perfect candidate for paint.
We haven't yet picked out the fabric, but she definitely wants something patterned, non-geometric and non-continuous with a white background. Here are some of the options I was thinking about proposing. Tell me what you all think in the comments section below!
Thanks again for reading, friends! Stay tuned for the Milford Kitchen Remodel! Can't wait to post some before and after pictures!
xoxo Cookie Bakin' Lady Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or read about that time I was obsessed with Christmas!
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Hi, Everyone!
It's been a while, but I've been making so-freaking-merry that I haven't had the time to blog! As most of you reading know, I am psychotically, uncomfortably, obsessed with Christmas. I love everything about this time of the year: the food, the movies, the ACTIVITIES, the look on everyone's freakin' face! It's all so perfect, and magical. And NOW I have a toddler of my very own to celebrate with. Christmas was still just for me the last couple of years, but this year I feel a change. Valen is ready. SHE'S READY! So I've been baking every single day, and we run around the house singing Christmas songs while jingling bells. My kid is in the sweet spot right now -- too young to think I'm nuts and too old not to love that I'm nuts. She watches The Grinch every single day, on replay (Don't judge me, it's Christmas), and she sings the songs and makes the Grinch's faces. She carries around a sparkle present purse and can say 'Santa'. See what I mean? She might actually be the Grinch though, because she rips the ornaments off of the tree and throws them around the house. She's colored all over all of the Christmas cards and she cackles while she does it. I'm still holding out hope that she's not a serial killer, or worse: anti-Christmas! So, the first weekend of December my friend and I planned to take our kids to do some fun Christmas stuff. We received this little calendar in the mail that had all of the holiday activities in our area on it. Well, all of the dates were wrong and so it wasn't until Sunday that we finally decided to start Googling stuff and stop trusting this noodle-for-brains realtor lady who sent out the calendar. The second weekend of December, this weekend past, we Googled and had plans to go to a boat- light parade down on the beach on Saturday. It ended up being super-duper cold out and we didn't go. Sunday we took the girls to the mall to see Santa. The son-of-a-biscuit-eater let us wait in line for 45 minutes and then his hell-minion (Elf) sent us packing so he could go on a two-hour lunch break. Wear a diaper and eat a McMuffin, Santa! It's Christmas and these kids are two! Anyway, we took a bunch of sh**ty (but adorable) pictures in front of the Christmas trees that lined Santa's ass.
When we were done with that we rode the carousel, and then we came home. We had a fun car ride with the little chickens and both of the girls had their first hot chocolate experience. It was a top-notch weekend, despite all of our endeavors failing.
I keep saying this, over and over, in all of my posts: I am so insanely blessed. Life has thrown me a few curve balls as of late, but my kid is happy, healthy and loved. She has great friends, and so does her mama. She had a blast this Thanksgiving when our family came down to visit and I think she's genuinely excited about the holiday season. That might have something to do with the amount of cookies she's been allowed to eat, or the fact that the TV is always on with Christmas music/movies playing. Who can say?
In two days she and I are getting on a plane to see Aunt Kiki and cousin-bud. I was so stressed out about a last minute, early trip (Thanks, guys) but I can't wait to get up there and see the kids play in the snow, have a night of debauchery with my best bitches, and celebrate my favorite Holiday with my favorite people. The real kicker is whether I can pull off a Christmas miracle and finish this table (sitting in my garage) before Tuesday night!
It's such a gorgeous piece of furniture, and I think it's gonna be a Dime when it's done . Can't wait to show you all the final product! The chairs will have to wait until I get back, but they are equally sassy. Very excited to be working with a new client and for all of the fun projects ahead!
Speaking of fun projects -- Ye Olde Nieder House is getting a kitchen makeover! New paint, new hardware, new back-splash, and a fun cement-finish to cover the old laminate. It'll go great with the new floors my sister put down. Maybe she'll actually grout them once the rest is done (ha, ha). I distinctly remember her, this time last year, laying tile down while I was baking 800 Christmas cookies. She was literally (and this is one time I am not exaggerating) laying tile down under my feet while I baked 800 cookies. Should I say it one more time? I have a feeling this kitchen project is going to go similarly and I am afraid for my life, and that of my cookies. Here are some more random Christmassy pictures of my adorable child. She wears the same outfit four days in a row, layers it with costumes and accessories, and peppers her body with household items. Be sure to note most of these pictures. when she's wearing the same outfit, were taken days apart. I'm not a bad mom, I've just given up. Only took two years. MERRY CHRISTMAS, and look out for some fun 'after' pictures this month (or let's be real, in 2018 when I have some time).
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AlyssaMama to a beautiful and hysterical toddler. Owner of Young, Wild and Thrifty. Archives
May 2018
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