Linking Up With Thrifty Nifty

Ok I know I'm supposed to be working but I am still on here. Procrastinating. I keep looking around at all of the projects and I sigh.  I am linking up to here today.





Stop by look around. Link up if you have something. And most of all have fun!

Plans Change Once You Find Something Else

Happy Easter to everyone. I hope you all are well and enjoying the holiday. We will be working today. Our family has never really been big on the holidays. We don't have big get togethers or do huge meals. Who knows since I have a big house now and the room for it that may change. The picture I have on My Family tab of all of us was pretty difficult to get. Putting  people in a tuna can and try to have room to move around, it was a hard thing to do. And that get together was a complete surprise. We all just happened to meet at the same time. Which was the best Christmas present I have ever gotten. I get surprised by visits from my family quite a bit now. And I am loving it. We moved closer to my daughter Ashlei and she stops by quite a bit now. My grandson Keegan has to come in and get his daily kiss and hug. I absolutely LOVE that and look forward to it every day.

Ok I am gonna vent for a minute here. Last night I go out with the dogs. It is dark. Shiloh pounces and Bella starts growling. Guess who is in my yard again. Yep the Rots from the house behind us! I started yelling for the dogs. The guy comes outside. Picture a sentence coming out of my mouth at the guy that is not fit to type. I was furious. He then asks "who was down there, just him" as he is pointing at the froggy huge male that took his attitude out on Dave just a few days ago. Ummmm hello who cares who it was. So again picture another sentence coming out of my mouth that is not fit to type. And another call to animal control. Now they were off duty with it being Saturday night. So the police showed up. He has now been told they have to be leashed at all times or build a fence. Yeah right. Whatever. I just keep picturing my grandkids being out there. They love to go out with me to let the dogs out. Grrr. I have them Monday through Friday until Midnight. It is highly possible that they could have been with me. And it was spooky going out into the dark and having this huge dog out there in the shadows with aggressive behavior. Now don't get me wrong. I have 2 rednose pitbull's I love dogs. I refuse to condemn a breed based on one dog's behavior. I have nothing against the dogs. I have no negative feelings simply because they are rot's. What I have a big problem with is the owner. He needs to be responsible. It's a male. We have 2 female's. Of course he is going to come down here. But if something happens ultimately the dog is going to pay the ultimate price. He is going to be sentenced for the owner's stupidity. And I hate stupidity. So I have a feeling that guy is going to see my wrath. Combine Cherokee with Italian and it is not a good mix LOL. Believe it or not there is a funny side to this though. Shiloh doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She is not protective of her yard or home at all. She even let a strange dog come into the trailer. Bella on the other hand, is going to be very protective. She is 6 months old and the runt of the litter. She isn't even knee high yet. But man was she growling and throwing a FIT about that dog being in her yard. Picture pip squeak going against Goliath. I giggled about that all night. It was almost like she was saying I got your back mom. While Shiloh is out there trying to make friends with him. We get into the house and I told Bella "look miss bad ass he would eat you" and teased Shiloh once again, "you are a disgrace to your breed, pit's all over America are shaking their heads" LOL. I am super happy she is like that though. She is such a good dog. She loves letting the grandkids sit on her back while they watch tv together. And she would move mountains for anyone in this family. She just like to socialize.

Since I found the page on Ehow.com about building a countertop from 2x4's I have been thinking about it. Kicking myself for all the work on the hardwood. I found this site and love what they did with the corners on their countertop. So we have changed plans and will be doing our countertop like this.    diy-new-kitchen-on-budget. I saw the article she is referring to and the negative comments. Come on people. What exactly do you think they make the wooden countertops out of in the factories. And even if they did have tons of money, maybe they just want to live frugally. Anyway ....I fell in love with the pattern on the corner. And I stink at the whole angle cut. And easy is the way to go along with beauty. I will update as we go and hopefully I remember pictures.

I Started the Countertop

Ok so I went to the basement today and started the countertop. After about an hour and a serious headache I was about to give up. I guess I'm just not feeling good today at all. I don't know. The wood seemed off and  not fitting together and on and on. I think it was just my mood. I took a break, about an hour. I went back down and started again. I figure the parts that don't fit together perfectly can be filled with wood filler later. I took a piece of 1/4" mdf that was here when we moved in and layed it across some cabinets and started gluing the boards to that. I did about half way across and clamped them then layed cement blocks on top. With my MS my hands don't work so well so I am doing small areas at a time. Here is what I have so far.

I didn't go all the way to the end because that is the corner for the snack bar area and will be cut for the angle where they meet. This is the sink counter area. The snack bar will probably be next.

I found this today on making your countertops out of 2 x 4's Ehow.com Build Countertops from 2x4's. So if this doesn't work out I will be trying that. I really want wooden countertops and we do not live any where near an Ikea. So I will be trying the methods I read about online to do this. It has been interesting to say the least.

Today I'm Linking Up With Classy Clutter

So I decided to try this whole Link Up Thing and Linked my TV Stand that I just finished. Go check out  Classy Clutter. They have lots of things to check out and learn from. If you have something to share link up and have fun.



Other than that there isn't much going on today. We worked on the wood for the counter top yesterday. Oh my what a mess. They obviously used flooring from somewhere. Where I do not know. But they put it on the wall dirt and all. Yes I said dirt! We literally had to scrape it off. I told Dave no way is that going in my kitchen. Either we clean it or we scrap it. So 5 hours later we have enough done to do the sink area. Here are pictures of the basement and wood pile. What a mess.

See it looks like beadboard. Not a bad concept or idea just not very good execution. That is a duck border along the top. Kind of pretty too bad they had the flood down there.

Any way everyone have a great Easter!

A Kitchen Cupboard Repurposed

When we moved in there were cupboards already in the kitchen...kinda obvious huh. They were nice enough but we had recently replaced the cupboard's in the trailer with oak from Menards and we brought them with us. So I used the corner base cabinet that was here to make a tv stand for our room.

  First we put a 2 x 4 in the center for a brace

Then we added some 1 x 6 pine boards across the top. These were just scrap out of the scrap bin that I had for my stockpile at the trailer. They have lots of knots, dings and even some grooves on the edge for a rustic look. I used some wood filler to fill in screw holes and gaps. Then I used my electric hand sander with 80 grit and sanded down the top and sides. I also rounded the edges out a little bit.

I have been doing some research on chalk paint. Annie Sloan has a chalk paint line but at 30 something a can that is out of my budget. I found a recipe online that calls for baking soda. I went to Menards and bought sample pots of Pittsburgh Paint in White Chocolate and another blue green color. Sorry I can't find the card to tell the color. That happens alot to me. I sit something down and it walks away in this house. But no one touched it. Any way. 

I mixed the chalk paint at a 3 to 1 ratio. First I mixed the baking soda with water and mixed it really good. Adding just enough water to make it soupy. Then I added the paint and mixed it with a whip. 

I used a foam brush and brushed on 2 coats of the white and let it dry inbetween each for 24 hours. Then I dry brushed the blue over the top and also let it dry 24 hours. I literally just randomly slapped it on. Now the blue is not mixed with the baking soda yet. I did that later for the inside. Then I mixed a glaze with Minwax Dark Walnut and water. Using the wipe on wipe off I glazed over the paint and again waited 24 hours. With the glaze you want to wipe in on with a clean rag. Then using another clean rag wiping it off after about 30 seconds so work in small areas. This tied it all in.

Then I stained the top with the dark walnut stain. This made all of the rustic in the top pop out. Again waited 24 hours and brushed on one coat of Poly. One side of the cupboard did not have a door or drawer so I added some from the sink base that fell apart when we took it out. The left side has a drawer and the right is just a front glued on with wood glue. I put the glue around the edges and clamped it letting it also dry for 24 hours. Then I painted those without using the glaze. This made them stand out.

I finished with the paste wax again. Now the chalk paint has a rough finish so you want to use something to put over the top. Not only to smooth it out but for protection. I didn't want a shine on the body so I opted for the wax. This smoothed it out and gave it a dull sheen.

This is how it turned out. It looks like it has been sitting in a barn for years. This antiquing is pretty easy and lots of fun. 

Chalk paint is wonderful stuff. You can paint over anything with it with no sanding or primer. So we have a beautiful tv stand and best of all it cost a total of 4.00. Repurposing is the way to go. The uses are basically endless. Look around your house. What can you use to make something else?

I 

Brighten Up My China Cabinet

   My china cabinet used to be my mom's. She gave it to me about 20 years ago. I love this cabinet. It had seen better days though. Being shoved into the kitchen at the trailer it had gotten bumped and bruised.

Using the same technique as the table, I washed it, then used gel stain. This time I brushed it on lightly with a foam brush and let it dry 24 hours in between 3 coats. Then I finished it with the finishing paste wax. Look at this beauty now.

I absolutely love using the gel stain to brighten things up. It is so easy and doesn't change anything about the piece. We are having so much fun doing this. and it is a great filler project. Easy to do and fills in time while waiting for other things to dry. 

A Table Revived

  Wow have we ever been busy. Remember this table.....

Well just look at this beauty now.....

It doesn't look like the same table! I am absolutely in love with this table. Here it is in the sunroom. 

I left most of the imperfections. I think it gives it character. I love the ring and all of the dings on it. 

 

I found a website with refinishing tips. First I washed the table with the equivalent to dish water. Then I let it dry for 24 hours. The next day I used Minwax Gel Stain. I love that stuff. 

I just used a rag and wiped it on. Then I rubbed it off with another rag after 3 minutes. After another 24 hours I repeated the steps again on the center of the top to darken it to match the sides. The next day I used Minwax finishing paste wax. I forgot to take a picture of that stuff. But it is in the stain isle at Menards. I used a rag to wipe it on, waited 10 minutes and buffed it out to a shine with a clean rag. 

This is the first of the never ending list of projects. We have been working on the dining room floor. Remember all of the paint? Well 95% of it is now off. We will be renting a floor sander probably next weekend and start sanding away. I can't wait to show that off once it is done. It already look 100 times better. And the wood is absolutely beautiful under all that crud.