Dining Room Table Redo

I bought a dining table and chairs off Craigslist several months ago and it sat in my dining room taking up space, collecting junk.  I had towels on the chairs because the fabric was dirty, and it was just a mess.  I started working on the chairs a few weeks ago and kept dragging my feet, not really getting it done.  I didn’t really know what I was doing and I was scared to mess it up.

Today we had a housewarming party and I really wanted the table and the chairs to be done so everything would look nice.  So I was outside in the garage every night last week stripping the old stain, sanding, painting, more sanding, more paining and then I put a top coat on the table.  I can’t believe how different everything looks with a little bit of paint and new stain.  I love how it turned out and it was much easier than I expected it to be.

Before:



After:





I’m totally hooked on redoing furniture.  I have a buffet for our TV that’s next on my list of things to do.   Hopefully it won’t sit in my garage until Christmas!

Linking to:
I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Funky Junk Interiors Tatertots & Jello, Dittle Dattle, Between Naps on the Porch, The Girl Creative The DIY Showoff, Skip to my Lou, Keeping It Simple, CRAFT
Making the World Cuter, Sew Can Do, Embellishing Life

First Soccer Game

Watching four and five year olds play soccer is the most frustrating thing ever!  Yesterday was Madison’s first official soccer game.  We went over everything before the game:  run after the ball even if no one else is, they’ll follow you; try to get the ball into the goal; the goal what the net is called;  try to keep the ball away from the other team; the other team is wearing a different color than your team, etc. 

She seemed to get everything we told her.  Then the game started.  She kind of remembered what to do so she was having fun.  Then at the end of the game she was standing right in front of the goal with the ball all by herself.  She looked down and then looked at us like she didn’t know what to do!  Everyone was screaming for her to kick it in the goal.  By the time she realized what she was supposed to do, the other team had caught up and kicked the ball out of the way.  She didn’t score a goal yesterday, but her team did win. 

I’m also trying to finish up some old projects and get caught up on my scrapbook pages.  I’m really trying to clear out some of the clutter in my craft room so I can figure out what I want to do with it.

Labor Day Weekend

How is your weekend going?  Ours is pretty quiet.  The extra day off just means more time for running errands, cleaning and having a BBQ on Monday instead of Sunday.  Even though we’re not doing a lot, I am getting a lot done and sometimes that’s all I want.

After I ordered my project life album for 2011, I loved it so much I ordered a second album for all my 2010 photos.  I finally finished it last night.  A few of my favorite pages:

Since starting project life I hadn’t done a single traditional scrapbook page until last week.  I forgot how much fun it was to just play around with all the paper and embellishments I have laying around.

I am also working on my first furniture project.  I found a dining table on Craigslist a few weeks after we moved into  our house and it’s been sitting in the garage.  It’s really not a hard project, but just the fear of screwing it up makes me put it off.  Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer.  I had to keep telling myself that the worst that could happen is I mess it up and have to find another one.  Here is a before and after of the chairs:

The chairs are done now and I only have the table to do.  I’m hoping by next weekend everything will be finished.