A little General!

Have you heard of General Finishes gel stains? I hadn't but from Pinterest I noticed some fantastic transformations of maple, pine, and oak furniture and cabinets.  

I was tiring of the pine and oak in my living room and dining room. I thought the only way to transform the furniture was the prime and paint method. 

The after:

 The before:

 The mid project:

 The final product:

But I wasn't sold on that for my dining room. Again, here is the before:

Yes, definitely pine and oak!

I am lucky enough to have a supplier here for the General Finishes gel stains. It was really inexpensive. After googling and you-tubing and reading (investigating and snooping) I decided on the Java stain. It is a dark, dark hue. I have to say what is the best part is --no priming! I just cleaned the surfaces and then began putting on the coats of stain. I think it took about three different applications. I began with a sponge brush and then used an old sock over my gloves for the final coat. Then it was on to the poly. I had enough in a quart to do both the table and the china cabinet and still have some left. I did the china cabinet one weekend and the table another. I haven't decided on what to do with the chairs yet!

I do have to say that using a sanding block with a 320 grit makes for a wonderfully smooth surface!

Almost finished:

And finished:

Excuse my photographs--I need a quality camera with a photographer that knows what she is doing.  

Awesome discovery!

I am all for anything that is going to make a dreaded job easier. Aren't we all liking this? Lazy? Smart? Yes.

Our deck and screened porch is on the shady side of the house. Needless to say mold and algae must like shady sides of houses because I have a green thumb for growing these.

In order to keep things clean Mr. Spouse has used the pressure washer. It will remove the mold. It will remove the algae. But it also removes the paint. Now I'm not wanting to keep adding paint to the deck and the spindles and the steps because that is a dreaded job.

Also the vinyl siding had the same growth features. It is supposed to be almond--not green or black speckled.

I was walking through Lowes and saw this product:

It comes with the attachment so that all is needed to use is to attach it to a water hose. Now that is my kind of work: attach, turn on water, spray. Rest for ten minutes. Spray with just water. (See the E-Z on the label?) So I bought a couple. They were really cheap--as in $8 each. And I tried it. AND it worked! It removed all those plant specimens. 

I first tried it on the siding. Mr. Spouse was elated (as in I had done it for him! type of happy). We raced back to Lowes--well actually on our next trip to Lowes I searched for the bottles. Gulp. They had moved them but being the diligent teacher that I am--they couldn't hide them from me. 

Saturday I decided to tackle the deck. We had out glass table on the outside deck and I was inspired by Rhoda after seeing her porch. If I could move the table inside to the screened in porch we could eat out there! I sprayed the deck and took a $1 rag mop from Dollar Tree and rubbed the decking. I sprayed again and rubbed a little more. Then I hosed it all off! 

Our table is now sitting on the screened in portion.

 My cleaned decking with two of the chairs.

Some of my beautiful geraniums and ferns.

And I also put some of my plates on display. These are plastic ones I got a couple years ago at Wal-Mart. I love the design in them.

Here's to the rest of summer and an easy job completed!

I was not compensated for this advertisement--just wanted to share a great product!

Too Much RAIN!

It has been a very rainy summer. Usually it is hot and dry--grass is a lovely shade of brown. Not this year. Rain. Rain. Rain.

We have a very old apple tree in our yard. It is full of golf ball size apples. Not edible. 

This is what we woke to this morning:

Just glad that we weren't underneath when this happened. Mr. Spouse had just mowed last night and I had just walked the dog underneath!


Guess Mr. Spouse has some work to do!

Desk make-over

I got a Craigs List dining table and moved my old round one in my office (after Mr. Spouse took MY desk). MY desk was perfect. It was a rectangle with a large enough work surface.

This is the new Craigs List table.

And my office table????

I made do. It did have a large enough surface to spread out my school work and laminator, etc

Then I began looking for a new table. I found one that I thought would work. The price was really, really cheap. I put it--in the backseat of my car (which should have led me to the idea that it might be a little too small.

Here is the makeover (after finishing with black stain).

The hunt is the fun!

Summer Porch

Finally it has warmed up in Tennessee. We have had a very cooooool Spring! Only the last two weeks have been consistently warm.

Here is a peak at some of my flowers on the screened in porch and deck.

The screened in porch (why do I use three words to describe it?) gets no sun due to the north facing side of the house. It makes it really nice because it is cool enough to enjoy almost every summer day! Ferns love it here just as much as I do. The little fountain was a gift from one of my students several years ago. Next to it is a remnant of a poinsettia from Christmas. I took it to school and it lived in the window there until school was out. It kept blooming--I guess because it got lots of darkness. When school begins I'll take it back and just maybe it will bloom for Christmas!

I love red geraniums. I've had great luck with Lowe's $5 ones for the past two summers. I tried to keep some over the winter and they are blooming--but not like these!

Our little home for some tiny birds entertain me. The funny part is that they move in without moving out last year's furniture! Mr. Spouse says there is not enough room for them but they love it here.

My project this week is to scrub the deck. By the same shady part of the house that creates a nice cool place to enjoy --it also gives green algae a home on the deck and side of the house. Last week I cleaned the siding. So this week I shall tackle the floor!

Summer Projects

I am. out. of. school! Yes, I am a teacher and this summer I am not teaching summer school. I will have time to relax on the screened in porch. I will have time to plan and FINISH projects.

I finally finished the last painting project in my living room. The curio cabinet was the easiest by far. It joins the others.

I think if I make a list each week I will be more dedicated forced to accomplish some of it. This week I really have to work on the steps. I have lightly sanded them and will have to sand and poly them. My son's dog scratched the finish on them. Hopefully I can make them more presentable. The issue will be that we will have to go out of the house via the screened in porch for a day or two. 

We will see next week if I accomplished this week's goal.

Happy summer!

Repaint. Redo.

This week I've been on Spring break from school. I also have spent hours with a paint brush in my hand. Not how I had planned to relax.

On the previous post I was not happy with the results of my painting pine project. The someday became yesterday and today. I think I changed my tactics. This time I decided to redo the tops of the end tables. I sanded and sanded them smooth. This time I put on a layer of Kilz 2 primer with a roller. 

I applied the Coffee Bean paint--with a roller. 

Looking  better already! Next went the satin poly top coat. They look MUCH better. Enough that I can live with them.

Today I tackled the base of my Fontana media cabinet. Since we hung the television above the fireplace we removed the top portion.

Again, I followed the primer, two coats of paint, glaze tinted with black, and top coat.

And the finished project is now finished! Completed. The rest of spring break will not be spent with a paintbrush!

I think it needs to be spent looking for a new camera. Mine has just bit the dust!