Tray Changes

I look at a lot of blogs on a daily basis and one of them is Centsational Girl's blog. The other day I was really inspired by the sweetheart tray she posted about. I actually have a little wooden tray in my house that you may have seen in some of my past guest room photos:

I thought, "Why not paint it white and add a new twist to it?" So, that's exactly what I did last weekend ... well, at least the painting white part!

Phase two will be to stencil the bottom. I bought this stencil at Michael's and some black paint, which I'm planning on using.

Not sure if I'll use the stencil just once in the middle of the tray bottom or both on the top and bottom of the tray bottom. We'll see. Once I get it stenciled, I'll also put a coat or two of sealant on it, so that it will last.

Bedside Table Reveal

Last week, I told you about my yard sale project. Well, I finally got it done on Saturday. Here's what it looked like before:

I used Young House Love's suggestion on how to paint it, which included starting by sanding everything down and then applying an oil-based primer. Next, I applied two coats of Glidden's Toasted Oatmeal, followed by a sealant. It all was very easy. As suggested, thin coats are the key. You don't want to goop it on or you will have a mess.

Here's what it looks like now:

I love it! Now, I have a cute bedside table in my guest bedroom.

I haven't placed anything on it yet because I want to give it plenty of time to dry so as not to mess it up. I will be adding an alarm clock and maybe a book or two for guests to flip through. I'd love to put a small lamp, too, but don't want to fill it up so much that it's completely full. I may have to look for a reading lamp at IKEA that will go on the wall.

I have one more planned project for this room and still need to buy a few more pillows, but I'm liking how it's coming together!

Yard Sale Project

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I had such a busy weekend and the week started off with a bang, too. 

Per my post last week, you are probably wondering if I got around to painting anything this past weekend (and if you aren't wondering, well, I'm still going to tell you!) ...

I did spend much of Saturday tackling a small project. You know that I bought a table on Craig's List and am planning on completely redoing it. It's an ambitious goal, but one I'm very excited about. Still, I made that goal having really never painted or refinished any wooden furniture. So, I thought Saturday was a good time to test my skills on a smaller piece of furniture.

Back before Christmas, I had a Saturday early morning choir practice. I promised Landon I'd pick up lunch on my way home, but little did he know I would bring home a little more. Right next to the Jimmy John's restaurant, there just happened to be a yard sale. So, I walked over intending to look at a leather footstool, which ended up not being in the best shape. But, then I happened upon a little table that I thought would be just perfect for my guest room night stand. 

 

It's simple but with a little paint, I thought it could look great. Being at the end of the yard sale, the women were pretty ready to get rid of things. I offered $5, but after realizing I only had $2 and some change in cash, they were gracious enough to take just that! I figure for $2 something, it was a really good deal.

Currently, I'm using a dresser beside the bed, which you can see in this post, but it's doesn't work as a bedside table because it's too tall. This table should be perfect.

So, I did paint it this weekend, but unfortunately, I didn't get to finish the process, so I don't yet have a pic! But, that will be the first thing I do Saturday morning (or one night if I can get home from work before dark) so I'll have a post all about the process with pics soon!

The good news is, the process wasn't difficult, so it gave me hope that I can indeed tackle the dining room table soon!

Have you ever painted a piece of furniture? Any good tips?

Friday Fail

I decided that I will reserve Friday's to tell you about my projects or ideas that have failed. I'm hoping this won't be every Friday!

But I have one for you this Friday ... a cleaning project that did not work so well. The shower in our master bedroom is completely tiled. When we moved in, it was beautiful. Three weeks later, it looked horrible. The grout had gotten completely dirty with mold and mildew. Part of the problem was that we were taking hot showers without turning on the fan and when done, we closed the door, keeping in all the moisture.

I tried lots of cleaning products in an attempt and get it to go away,  including a magic eraser, but nothing seemed to work perfectly. Of course, I did a little Google search and saw this article. I read the comments and noticed one woman who said that it would have worked great, but she couldn't get past the smell. I immediately coined her as a "wuss" and bought all my supplies, which included:

Shower Cleaner
Scrub Brush
White Vinegar
Paper Towels
Clorox Bleach

First, I cleaned the shower with the cleaner and scrub brush. That was the easy part. For the next part, I opened the window and turned on the fan, because what I had to do was soak the paper towels in the white vinegar and line the shower walls. 

Already, the smell was getting to me. I coughed quite a bit. But, I finished and left the paper towels to do their thing. You are supposed to leave them on a few hours, keeping them wet. Unfortunately, I ran out of vinegar, so I couldn't re-wet them. Also, I should mention that I did this on the same day we painted the dining room, so I probably did rush the process, which wasn't wise. 

After about two hours, I removed the paper towels (still coughing from the smell) and scrubbed. Nothing happened. Since I was without vinegar, I thought I should try a little of the next round, which includes soaking the paper towels in bleach. 

I think I was able to soak about 10 paper towels before the fumes overtook me. I had to get out of the bathroom and decided it was time to give up.

The lesson I learned through all of this was ... don't let your shower get dirty! Ha! Okay, I will say that the bathroom did look a little better after, and we have started turning on the fan and spraying the shower down with daily cleaner after every use, which has also helped. 

Have you found any tried and true cleaning tricks?

Old Man Winter

Old man winter needs to leave! I'm dying to paint something! The problem is that everything I have to paint needs to be done in the garage and it's just too cold to stay in the garage. 

The good news is that it should be warmer this weekend, so I'm hoping to get some things done on my table. We started taking off the cushions tonight and looking at how to fix all the wobbly chairs. Next up will be sanding and painting. I know it's going to take more than a weekend, especially since we have an all-day church event on Sunday, but I'm so excited to get started!