Kitchen Table Redo

I have wanted to paint my kitchen table for over a year now! It was a beautiful natural wood color that matched the cabinets in our first home beautifully. And now our cabinets in this home are much darker. (And I knew my DH would FLIP if I tried to paint the cabinets...he he he.) The table was bought new, but in the last 8 years, it has taken a beating...marker stains, fork stabs, etc. I knew a new dining table was out of the question right now. So I started making plans to paint.

Before:But I thought I would wait until it warmed up and then I got pregnant and then my DH wouldn't let me paint anymore...at least in large amounts that was noticeable.

So in preparation for Miss Sunny's Baby Blessing I decided I was going to do it...no matter what!

Over several weeks in the cold, cold January in the cold, cold garage, I slowly painted my chairs...one at a time. First, I did a light sanding (I didn't spend too much time on this part.) Then I primed it with a gray spray paint. Then I spray painted it black.
Fortunately, the picture doesn't show my many mistakes. I ran into a little trouble when deciding what to use as a top coat. I tried a couple of different things on a couple different chairs, so in person they look a little different. I really don't like the triple coat clear top spray paint. I may go back some day and fix it, but my dear twins are destroying the chairs faster than I can fix them, so I don't know if it's worth it.

I did the same process on the bottom half and under the table. It isn't perfect looking under there, but I figured no one over the age of 6 is going to be underneath there inspecting my work.

Then I sanded the heck out of the top using a heavy grit, a medium grit, then a fine grit. After a good cleaning I stained it using a stain with a polyurethane (Minwax Polyshades Pecan Gloss) already mixed in. I ended up doing three coats to darken it until I decided I was finally okay with the color.
My final product and I LOVE it!!! I am soooo happy with how it turned out!!! And I've learned a lot about painting and staining. I'm so glad I pushed myself to do this! It has made my kitchen feel a lot more "put together." At least to me...and that is what matters, isn't it?!

I'm linking to Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party

St. Patti's Day

We made a leprechaun trap.

The leprechaun took the coins, but left some Twix candy bars in the trap.

The leprechaun also turned our eggs green.
*Mental note: kids will not eat green scrambled eggs.

Little Miss was disappointed the leprechaun didn't turn our milk green like last year,
so I let her put in a few drops of food coloring.

We colored shamrocks and rainbows.

We had green grapes, honeydew, and green Pasta-Roni.
*Mental Note: kids struggle eating food that is green...
unless she drops the food coloring in herself.

We made chocolate cupcakes with green frosting.
And I thought a hidden rolo inside would be fun...and yummy.
*Mental note: when hiding chocolate inside cupcakes don't push it down to the bottom...it sticks to the liner.

We all wore green...except for dad. But he handled his pinching well.

Little Miss apparently had a blast at school with leprechauns, rainbows, lime sherbet floats, etc.

And we called Grandpa to sing him happy birthday.

That sums up our fun St. Patti's day!

Real's Mom's Dinner: Hot dogs with white cheddar and shells Pasta-Roni (dyed green) and green beans.

I'm Back!

Okay, so I've taken a much needed break from this little hobby of mine. Not that I've taken a break from crafting, just blogging. I had a darling baby girl in December and life's been pretty crazy since!

My last couple posts were about a my December Daily Album. Well, I'm happy to report I did do it. I mostly finished it. Although it wasn't quite as complete as I wanted it to be. It started out really cutesy. Then the middle of the month is pretty bare.

The end just has a few notes thrown on the pages.That crazy project is done. Will I do it again? I don't know. I'll decide next November.
Maybe I'll do a Summer Fun Album.

So I have lots of ideas for this blog. I might be changing things up. But I definitely will be posting a little more regularly now.

Real Mom's dinner: Last night we got together with some friends. We had some seasoned chicken. mashed potatoes, homemade mac n' cheese, and strawberry shortcake. mmm....