Thursday, May 19, 2011

I am SO excited!!!

I just LOVE it when a project turns out better than I expected! Today I finished piece #2 of the two piece Ethan Allen set. These came with my husband when we 'combined households.' They were being used separately in two different rooms before I decided to refinish and combine them for storage space in our bedroom.


This the the 'before' picture.....


And THIS is the 'after'......
Louis Dean said it no longer looks like it belongs in a funeral home!


I finished the bottom part earlier this month and was so anxious to get back to the top section!
That necessitated moving some furniture around and we had to wait a bit for THAT to happen.
Louis Dean had made a 5 day trip to the hospital where he had a third stent put in for his heart.
I am proud to say that I moved ALL the pieces around by myself except for ONE! Of course that was the biggest and heaviest! We took all the drawers and 'stuff' out and it became less so.


The set started life out as a bar. The middle door opens up and had a mirror on the back. 
The top two doors opened out with ANOTHER mirror.
(Both of these mirrors now live on my 'new' bathroom wall!)
The bottom section has a built in wine rack on the right side.
I did not open this up for pics as I did not refinish the INSIDE.
Perhaps I should have but I am new to this and just learning.
Plus I am using it for storing my clothes and it was already nicely finished......
so I left that part alone.


I am being very thrifty these days and used the supplies I had on hand.
I DID buy a gallon of white paint. To this I added leftover paint from my bathroom redo making it not SO white. (THAT paint had been left over from another project from even earlier!)
Waste not - want not, Love!


I sanded, painted, sanded, stained, and sanded some more.
For the stain I poured all my bits and pieces of cans into a half full can of Minwax Polyshades...
which is stain and polyurethane in one.
I would never be able to duplicate this EXACTLY even if I wanted to!
I like the slight sheen it gave.
Then I used some gray acrylic paint on a sponge to give it a little 'patina.'


Louis Dean drilled me a nice PERFECT little circle to thread my light cord through. 
I DO love those little lights!
This shelf makes a great place to display my heart box collection.


AND I had room for a suitcase and another box on top...
plus a vintage hat!


Close up of the little frame I hung on the suitcase handle.
My two youngest children and me in a photo from over 20 years ago!


I love receiving gifts in these clever boxes.
I keep them all!

SO....THIS is what I have been doing!
I am enjoying the bedroom redo much more than I did the bathroom project!
Most of the work in here I can actually do myself!

Since my computer is on the blink and I have to 'guest' on LD's.....
I have had more time to actually accomplish things!

Now that THAT job is done I think I will take a break before starting to work on the other pieces.
They include three framed mirrors, a large chest of drawers and an end table I will use for a bedside table.

I am not so much an adventurer that I will be going out in a few hours (after midnight!) to catch the very FIRST showing of  the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie!
But we ARE planning on seeing it around lunch time tomorrow!
One of the mermaids is our very own Jessica Jenkins!!
She and my daughter, Amber, were duet partners in synchronized swimming....The Pirouettes of Texas!
We are staying to the very end where they roll the credits so I can SEE her name!
I am taking my camera so I can take a picture of HER name on the BIG screen!!

Hope everyone has as much fun this weekend as I will!






  


9 comments:

Pondside said...

Have a great time, Linda!
The cabinets look wonderful - great job!

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Hooray for your latest accomplishment! What a nice feeling you get, every time you look at it, I'm sure. :-)

Hope you enjoy the film! Hope it's not too full of noisy kids. -grin-

Sorry your computer is "on the fritz," but we do get more things done, when we don't sit too long at our computers, don't we?

Gentle hugs,
~♥~

Carla said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carla said...

Now I definitely know who to call when I want to distress furniture. I like your cabinet and especially as one unit instead of 2.
I like too the way you decorated it with the boxes too. I love that look but have always leaned towards the Texas or southwestern look so I guess I'll just have to enjoy yours. Have fun at the movies.

LV said...

I am always happy to see where you have dropped by. You did a great job on that Ethan Allen piece of furniture. Looks very nice. You should be careful trying to move heavy things by yourself, or you will wind up being like Louis Dean. Late in the evening is always nice, except the mosquitoes are bad here.

Lynne said...

OMGoodness! That Ethan Allen piece is amazing to begin with...but now it is a
show piece with all of your hard work!
What talent you have. How fun it will be to see the home town girl on the silver screen!
To be featured in such a classic is wonderful! Enjoy the movie! When I go... I'll watch for her name. I'll be a little name dropper because of you~ LOL
Best to you and LD!
~Lynne
[w/l]

Marie LeJeune said...

You did a fantastic job! Looks Great!

Deb said...

I love the way it turned out...awesome....that is so cool to know someone in the movie...can't wait to see photos...

Gypsy Heart said...

Great job! Now you can say you have a "one of a kind" finish. You're very creative to just add this and that and make something so beautiful.

Enjoy your Sunday!
xo
Pat