Sweetest story

I'm turning into such a sap in my old age.  Truly. 

So, let me tell you the sweet story behind this piece of furniture. 

The owner of this table lost her mother at the age of 14 and this is the only thing she has of her mother's.  She remembers going with her mom to pick it out.  It was the first piece of new furniture her mom ever bought. 

 It had been well used over the years...

So, I had the honor of refinishing it for her!  Here's how it turned out...

What a precious piece of history!  I hope it will be enjoyed for many more generations!

Buffet & Hutch

Sold
Before...

New Home Office...Finally!

My husband's home office has been in desperate need of some attention.  It's at the very front of our house and you can see it from the street and from our front porch. It was just one of those thrown together rooms with a bunch of mismatched junky furniture.  OK, I'm going to show you a picture but don't judge!

 And here it is now.  I still need to paint (I'm thinking blue like this) but that will come later, when I can talk my husband into some wood floors.

 Scroll to the end to see the "before" of these wall hangings.  They're AWESOME (in a ha ha kind of way)!  Because I was on a non-existent budget, I just covered the backing of the pictures with muslin fabric and hung these little rod iron things.  They'll look much better once the wall is a color.

 Four years ago, my husband's little brother was killed in a training exercise with the Air Force.  It was so tragic.  He left behind an awesome wife, and three kids.  The youngest was only 6 months old.  When my hubby was 17, his older sister who was only 19, was killed in a plane accident.  His mom died of cancer 16 years ago.  His family has been through so much and they are incredibly close.  So this photo wall is kind of a dedication to the loved ones he's lost.

There is an amazing group of artist who will paint a picture of soldiers who died in the line of duty.  They do this as a service and thank you to the loved ones left behind.  My sister-in-law was sweet enough to have copies made for all the siblings.

His wife has a very touching blog where she shares some of her thoughts on losing the love of her life.

 These are some of his patches, a program from his memorial, and other special memorabilia.  Brad served in Iraq for about 6 months and brought the flag back.

 "Thornhill" is my husband's mom's side of the family.  All the boys have Thornhill for a middle name. And "F" if for Funk, our last name. 

 Grandpa Thornhill was a photographer at one time, and these are some of his old cameras.  We also have his old harmonica,  a pair of his glasses, and a pocketwatch.  So cool.

I have an old table Grandpa T. built that I want to refinish and then it will be living between these two chairs.  There are a few other things to finish but I was too excited to wait! 

These are the frames with the muslin covering them.  They were in a building in Las Vegas that the bank had taken over.  The one of the man on the balcony is my fav.  Doesn't it just scream Vegas?  

Want to see the before of the desks?  I STOLE them! Not really, but I only paid $40 for the wall set, and $60 for the big desk.  That's right!  I only paid $100 for some really heavy-duty furniture.  I felt like I won the lottery!

I'm much happier with the office now.  I love the heritage all around us!

New Dining Table & Chairs

For this project I need to first show you the "Before"...

 At first glance it's pretty cute, right?

 But close-up, not so much.  The paint was goopy and dripping on every square inch of this piece.  I honestly don't even know how someone would get that many drips. 

 So, here I am in the process of stripping the three layers of color, and drips, and yuck! The cane back was extremely brittle and broken so it needed to be removed.  Then I had to figure out how to make chair backs.

 Usually a table like this takes 2 days to refinish.  This took an entire week but the end result was worth it.  It turned our beautiful. New cushions, chairbacks, and paint, and it's ready for a new generation.

How to paint furniture

I get a lot of questions asking how I paint furniture, so I thought I would do a little post to about it.

I now have a spray gun and use lacquer for all my projects, but before that, I used spraypaint. Unless you're refinishing a lot it's more economical than buying a sprayer.  I LOVE it! You get a great, professional looking finish and it's much more durable than latex paint. I really like the advice on this blog, and I don't see the need to restate everything she has already said. She also has some video tutorials on glazing and spray painting which are great.

There are a few things I would do differently. I really like the Kiltz spray primer but I don't use it on every project like Brooke suggests. It's really expensive, and if you do sanded edges it will show. I only use it on raw wood, dark colored projects I'm painting a light color, and really thrashed stuff. If the project has a decent finish I just scrub it with a kitchen sponge on the green abrasive side, and a bucket of water with dishsoap. Then, rinse it and wipe it dry.  This gets off all the greasy fingerprints that keep the paint from sticking, and roughs it up enough to make the paint really adhere to the piece. 

Also, I like the Valspar spraypaint from Lowe's. I haven't ever found a protective coat in a spray that I like so I brush on several coats of polyacrylic. Verathane brand works great. 

Try to avoid buying pieces that someone has already painted.  They end up being a lot more work!  Usually the paint needs to be sanded down or stripped completely because not everyone preps their pieces properly and then the paint just doesn't stick.  And, there are usually brush marks and drips and chips and it's just a mess I like to avoid.  :)

Please email me if you have any specific questions about refinishing.  I'm always happy to answer any questions.  :)