Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Now You See It. Now You Don't.

The view of my yard yesterday morning:


and this morning:


What a difference a day makes.  If only grass could be grown this quickly! 

Monday, May 16, 2016

I Really Don't Like Refinishing Furniture

Back when money was tight, I refinished quite a few pieces of furniture.  I'd much rather buy new at this point in life, but two pieces dragged me back into paint brush mode recently.  

First, my son's girlfriend was given a piece they liked except for the color.  I saw this as a great opportunity to try out chalk paint!  I've read rave reviews about it for years now.  It's gonna be great, right?  Not for me.  This doesn't look bad from a distance.

Jordan chose this color which I think is called Midight Blue.  I loved, loved, loved it with the first coat.  Unfortunately that first coat did not provide nearly enough coverage.

Close up, it's another story.  It's streaky as hell.  When the third coat still showed streaks, I decided I was going to claim it was supposed to be a shabby chic look. 
Not the solid look I was going for here.
This was Renaissance paint at $36 a quart plus shipping.  I'd ask people to let me know what I did wrong, but my present plan is to never EVER refinish another piece of furniture again.

To top it off, I also used Vax which is an expensive substitute top coat to replace wax or poly.  It may be great for flat surfaces or people who work really fast, but for this bench with all it's nooks and crannies, the speed at which it dried was a negative.  Additionally, any buildup in corners or the slightest drip dried to a milky white finish that stood out like a nasty little zit.

I worked so hard on this piece!  I even painted the inside.  So much work for a just okay end product. 


Fortunately my second project went better.  I stained and poly'd this piece that Brian made to hold all the television paraphernalia.


We both would have preferred buying a finished piece but couldn't find something that had a solid back, tiles, and three open shelves with the bottom shelf being high enough not to interfere with the heating and air conditioning vent. Is that asking too much?  Apparently it is.


The tiles just drop in place.  Since the edges of the tiles weren't covered by grout, I used a black Magic Marker on all four sides so that they would blend in nicely with the dark finish.  The $36 dollar paint was a flop, but the old Magic Marker worked out great.