IKEA Lack Table Update

When we first got married, we used a black leather storage cube for a coffee table. It wasn't perfect, but it worked: it was a place to put drinks, our tv (and by "tv", I obviously mean "laptop"), and most importantly, it was small, and so was our little apartment. 

In Cleveland, Carson found a secondhand chest that we used as a coffee table for about three and a half years. It was slightly larger and could hold some appetizers for community groups, doubled as seating, and held extra blankets. We stripped and stained the chest earlier this year and even though I liked it before, I really love it now! 

I wanted a real coffee table though. A big reason was that the chest was obviously used for storage, and it was a little annoying to have dinner (oh yeah, we also used it as a table) sitting on the table and then need a blanket. It was also a little small. 

We looked at thrift stores for coffee tables but I really wanted something pretty big, nothing with glass, and a fairly simple design. I was drawn to something industrial or farmhouse - and nothing at thrift stores caught my eye. 

So in February, we bought the IKEA Lack Table. It was cheaper than buying the supplies to make a whole table, but we'd have the ability to modify it if we wanted. We'd been meaning to get around to modifying it since then, but our weekends have been full, so we finally got around to it in June... what's four months? 

We picked out 1x4s at Lowes (Carson inspected to make sure they were mostly straight). 

We got nine boards, and they didn't have to be cut at all, which was terrific!

Carson put one coat of Minwax Dark Walnut on the boards and wiped them off. He'd paint it on one, paint it on the next, then wipe off the first one to give it a little chance to soak in. 

The nice thing about Carson running point on this project is that he does things a lot more carefully than I do. Like measuring instead of eyeballing, and knowing to buy the gun thing for the glue. 

The cheapest place we found clamps was at Walmart. Carson seemed to think that they were a screaming deal. So go there if you need clamps. 

The glue might have been good enough alone, but to be safe, Carson drilled some screws into the bottom of the table to secure everything. Genius.

Here it is! Isn't it pretty!

We put some weight on the table to prevent any warping. I have no idea if it helped (and we did put more weight than just this), but better safe than sorry. 

Chalk Painted Dresser

Do I have a plan to refinish all the furniture we own? Maybe. 

I received this bedroom set as a gift for my eighteenth birthday. It was secondhand then, and wasn't in the best shape, but nine years later, it was time to make it pretty again. I really wanted to sand and restain the top and paint the bottom, but the top is veneer, so I decided to leave that alone and just paint.

I did this on our sixth anniversary. Carson left for a conference that day and upon dropping him off at the airport, I hit the home improvement stores. I didn't think he'd have a problem with the pieces being finished, but he is a lot more conscientious of the time and work (and lets face it, the mess) that these projects take, so I didn't tell him about it. 

Here's my before, with drawers removed. The dresser you can see in the mirror is part of the same set and I almost tackled the two together but decided ultimately that it would be too much all at once. 

I prepped by wiping the piece down and dusting, as well as emptying out all the drawers. 

There's probably a reason for this, but the top always has this filmy cloudy look to it, and every time I wipe it, the cloths and paper towels I use turn brown. I was excited to get rid of the ugliness. 

Here are my supplies, with one exception. That wood putty is completely the wrong thing. The one I bought doesn't dry for some reason, so I had to head back out (grumbling) to get real putty.

No turning back! I bought a big plastic tarp and put it under the dresser and over the end of my bed, since I was painting in my bedroom. One nice and surprising thing about the chalk paint is that there's not really an odor, so painting inside was fine!

I really wanted a stained top and painted bottom to this dresser, but decided to paint it all. 

After three coats (the dark wood needed that many to cover it), I let everything dry with a fan on in the room. It took a very short time for each coat of paint to dry and I think everything was painted and finished in about five hours.

I carefully put the handles back in (some of them had stripped screws so I couldn't remove the pulls and tried my best not to get paint on them). I then gingerly put the drawers back in and called it a night. My room was still a mess (I spent Monday evening sorting through things to give away, keep, and neatly fold back in the drawers), so I slept on the couch.

Not bad for an afternoon though, is it?

DIY Ring Holder

Well here's a little project I started working on in October for Christmas presents. It's a little different, but it was fun and easy and not so expensive. I know it's April, but we gave out the last of our gifts in March, so here you go!

I started with plastic dinosaurs (I bought a pack of 12 on Amazon.com), liquid gold leaf (had left over from a project, but I found it in the paint section at a craft store - spray paint or acrylic paint would be great or even better), 4" clay saucers (found in a pack of 6 for $2.99 at Hobby Lobby), acrylic craft paint, and super glue.

Here we have our dinosaur.

And here we have the dinosaur with the gold leaf.

And HERE, we are painting the dinosaur (I did two coats, and you can use gold leaf or acrylic paint. I just used the gold because I had it.).

Isn't he pretty?

Here they are, drying on my paint palate, a paper plate.

And here we have another dinosaur modeling where he's going to live for the rest of his little plastic life.

I used craft paint to cover the clay saucers. I did some white, and some in other colors. They dried very fast, I think because of the clay. 

Then I glued the little feet of my dinosaur to the saucer and tested him out. It's quirky, right? And kind of fun! You could use any animal that has a part to hold a ring. I used a deer for my "deer cousin" Morgan and thought other animals would be fun as well. 

Faux Floral Arrangement

I love fresh flowers, but I do not love paying for them weekly, so I decided to make an arrangement that would last a little longer! With coupons and a little hunting around, I saved, and this will definitely be cheaper in the long run than if I had decided to get real flowers often.

I used:

- Three faux peonies from Jo Ann Fabrics, purchased with a coupon, cut down with pliers, 

- Small glass vase from Michaels because Joanns didn't have any close to the size I wanted. 

- Acrylic water kit, purchased on Amazon, but also sold at craft stores 

The kit comes with a tray to mix in, a Popsicle stick to mix with and two bottles of liquid: epoxy resin and acrylic water. 

I mixed the epoxy resin with the acrylic water for roughly two minutes, until the mixture was totally clear. Both liquids looked clear individually, but there was sort of a silky look when they were added together. I will also note here that I expected the mixture to have a strong smell, but it barely had a scent at all. 

Once mixed into the little tray, I poured the liquid into the vase and added my flowers. Tiny bubbles appeared and so I mixed with the Popsicle stick for a little bit. It seemed to help and the bubbles don't really bother me anyway. Water  bubbles sometimes, right? 

It said that it would take 24 hours to set, so in case the flowers shifted, I took precautions and put something on top to keep it in place and centered. 

I touched the outside of the glass at one point and it was super hot. I'm guessing some sort of reaction was happening. 

I think I would have left the stems just a little longer because with the one vase stacked on the other to make sure the stems were centered, it pushed the flowers down maybe a little further down than I would have liked. 

I am pleased with the end result. The light in the apartment is so bad, so I took this picture outside (duh) since I'd put everything else together at night. It wasn't a difficult thing to make, and any addition of flowers seems to freshen things up, so I'm glad I've added this to my living room!

Table and Chairs

We refinished our table! It's been something I've wanted to do for a long time, but doubted that it would ever happen. For one, the tabletop is linoleum or something, and the whole project just seemed daunting. Secondly, I didn't think Carson would agree to it.

Thankfully he did and so one weekend we decided to tackle the beast. It took longer than anticipated because oil based paint takes forEVER to dry, but it was finished within the weekend and we're pretty proud. 

We went with an oil based primer and a Rustoleum oil based gloss white paint for the top and the chairs (which were a last-minute addition to the project, one Carson sort of regretted at the time). The navy bottom was Carson's choice. It was between white and gray, and since the whole thing was my project, I let him have the final say. We used a color called Royal Navy by Valspar. The power went out in Lowes as we stood waiting for our paint to be mixed, so it took a little for their systems to go back on, but it was finally finished and we were off to paint! (as a side note, that would be a terrible place to be in a long blackout. Lots of helpful flashlights and things but it was so very dark in that split second moment.)

We did one coat of primer on everything, two coats of white on the tabletop and chairs, and three coats of navy on the base. We then did a coat of poly on the top of the table to seal it, but sort of regret it because it's yellowed a little in the weeks following. Strange. 

Anyway, here's the photo evidence of our weekend.