Furniture Facelift

If you remember way back to the summer, I was working on a little DIY project - painting my kitchen table and chairs - which took much longer than I anticipated.  But I guess that's the way DIY projects usually go, right?  I'm finally getting around to sharing my process in case you want to give some of your furniture a facelift, too!  I got most of my information from this Young House Love tutorial, as well as some tips from a guy who works at the Sherwin Williams store and from my dad.

I started with a table and chairs which my best friend generously gave me when I moved into my apartment.  They were originally dark green, and my friend had spray-painted them blue and pink.

My first step was cleaning the table and chairs very well, using this trisodium phosphate, mixed with water according to the directions on the box.  I made sure to wear rubber gloves while using this because it is very strong.

The next step was sanding everything down.  I used this 100 grit sandpaper.  I opted not to use a sanding block because I was going to have to get into a lot of small areas, like the spindles on the backs of the chairs.

Per my dad's suggestion, I cut one sheet into 3 equal lengths.

And then folded each piece into thirds.  This made the sandpaper easy to manage, and when one side was worn down, I could quickly switch it to a fresh side.

After I was finished sanding, I sucked up some of the dust with a shop vac.  Then I used a tack cloth to wipe down the chairs and table really well.  The tack cloth is slightly sticky (so it feels kind of gross to hold it) but it works really well to get the surface as smooth and clean as possible before starting to paint.  You can see that the tack cloth in the plastic is completely white, and the used tack cloth on the right is full of paint that came off from the sanding.

Next:  finally time to get some paint on there!  Well, kind of - primer first.  The Sherwin Williams guy tinted the primer to a gray color.  I used an oil-based primer.

I almost completely forgot to take pictures of the chairs and table after I primed everything - I remembered just before I painted the top of the table black.  The top of the table is what it looked like after a coat of primer, and the table legs have primer and one coat of black paint on them.  

After everything was primed, it was time for the first coat of paint.  I also forgot to take a picture of the black paint I used, but it was a black latex paint with a semi-gloss finish from Sherwin Williams.  I used a paint brush on the chairs and the legs of the table (the one pictured above with the primer), and a foam roller on the top of the table.

After my first coat of black paint, I sanded down some spots which were a little rough and uneven.  It was difficult to paint around the spindles of the chairs, so this area needed extra sanding.  (Which also meant more vacuuming and wiping down with the tack cloth - phew.)  In hindsight, I should have gotten a smaller brush to paint these areas.

Then it was time for the second coat of black paint, and some additional touch-ups after that.

When I was satisfied with the black paint, and after everything dried really well, it was time to put a protective finish on everything.  Per the guy from Sherwin Williams, I put on one thin coat of finish, then I lightly sanded it with very fine grit sandpaper, wiped it down with a tack cloth again, and then put a second (and final!) protective coat on.

FINALLY finished.

It took a lot longer than I was expecting.  Thank goodness for the NPR app on my phone and lots of entertaining podcasts like Weekends on All Things Considered, Car Talk, and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!  I think my dad got a kick out of seeing me spend so much time in the garage listening to Car Talk - I'm finally following in his footsteps :)  Kind of.

My final step was hammering some plastic floor protectors into the bottom of each chair (I drilled pilot holes into the legs first so that they'd go in straight and the wood wouldn't split).  I previously used felt floor protectors, but they didn't look very nice and tended to move and/or fall off.  I'm happy with the plastic floor protectors.

I think the time was worth it, though - I love the results!  And it's satisfying to see my table and chairs every day and know that my hard work paid off.  I have to say, it's made me think about what other DIY projects I can take on to give some other things in my apartment a little facelift.  I've got my eye on a VERY outdated brass lamp at the moment.

Song of the day:

Since it's December, I think I'm going to share some of my favorite Christmas/ holiday songs.  This one is actually not much of a song, but it's a classic.  "Santa Claus and His Old Lady" by the inimitable Cheech and Chong.  Enjoy!  "Once upon a time about, mmm, 5 years ago..."

Ski-wee Herman

Trader Joe's continues to impress me.  Last time I was there I found this "European Style" yogurt and thought I'd give it a try.  I haven't been able to get enough of yogurt lately (for breakfast, for snacks, for dessert) and when I studied abroad, I absolutely loved the yogurt in France, so the European description definitely appealed to me.  And it didn't disappoint - I will definitely be getting this yogurt again.

Sometimes when it's so hot, I just don't have a big appetite.  Or I'm just too lazy to chew.  Either way, smoothies for lunch are great options when that happens.  

This smoothie was SOOO good.  It had 1 cup of milk, 1 T chia seeds, 1 scoop of vanilla Sun Warrior protein powder, 1 T natural peanut butter, rainbow chard, 2 small peaches, strawberries, cherries, and a frozen banana (plus some ice cubes).  I cut the peaches over the blender so that the juice would drip right into my smoothie - they were too good to waste a drop!  The smoothie was super tasty, and I felt good that I was able to sneak some greens in there without it affecting the flavor at all.  

It didn't even all fit in that huge cup!  I had some leftover which I put in the fridge - I'd never done that before because I was afraid the texture would be ruined, but that wasn't the case at all.  It still tasted good the next day!

I put my ice cream maker to use again - this time making classic vanilla bean ice cream.  My dad said it was probably the best ice cream he's ever had - I'll take it!  

With some fresh cherries on top... swoon.  Perfection.

Another delicious way to enjoy vanilla ice cream: in float form!  I used Zevia root beer, which is sweetened with stevia and doesn't have any calories.  I also love the black cherry soda and ginger ale - they're all yummy, and I think they're much better than diet soda or regular soda.  My grandma used to make me root beer floats pretty much every time I went over to her house, so this took me back.

You know what's great?  Getting a freshly baked cookie at work!  :)

You know what else is great?  Fun summer activities with family.  My family and I didn't get to go on our usual summer vacation this year, so we did a few local things together as a family.  We went to an Indians game, and had awesome seats.

And I didn't get to see any fireworks on the 4th of July, so I was excited for the fireworks show after the game!

We also went to a water ski show.  I am completely in awe of these skiers - how amazing are they??  This was a father-daughter team.  Unfortunately I couldn't convince my dad to try this with me.  Ha!  I would never be able to do that.  

One of the fearless, daredevil skiers was called "Ski-wee Herman," like Pee-wee Herman - it only took me about halfway through the show to put that together, haha.

Check out this FOUR tier pyramid.  What?!  Insane.  I can barely stand up on a pair of water skis and make it around the lake once.  I am totally blown away by these talented skiers.

Now for a critter update - check out this hummingbird!  It got trapped in our screened-in porch so my dad and I propped the doors open and it flew out, but it must have been really tired because it just sat on the top of this door for quite awhile.  

Can you see me in that reflection?  I had to stand on my tip toes and reach way up to try to get a better view.

And check this out - my dad actually got to hold the hummingbird.  Crazy!!!  The hummingbird eventually flew away and seemed okay.  We've seen quite a few buzzing by and eating at the feeder since then, and I think he's one of them.

Oh hey little buddy!  I looked out of my bedroom window to find this deer walking up the creek.  Look at his cute little antlers!

In other news, I'm still working on painting my table and chairs.  It's a long process, but I'm making progress.  

Are you still reading?  Sorry, I know this is a long post.  If you are, you should go here and enter Gena's juicer giveaway!

Song of the day:

"Heartbeat" by JJAMZ.  I posted another JJAMZ song before ("Never Enough" - also my inspiration for the title of my last post) and now that their full album is out, I can officially declare Suicide Pact as my favorite album of the summer, and possibly the year.  I'd definitely encourage you to check it out!

Shake Your Cocoa-nuts

Hey guys, how's it going?  Once again, it's been awhile since I've blogged, so I've got a few things to catch up on here.  First a delicious new discovery:

My mom picked up this huge container of cocoa-roasted almonds at Sam's Club this past week, and they're SO delicious.  Except...

...we realized there's sucralose in them, which is basically Splenda.  Boo.  I've really tried to eliminate fake sweeteners from my diet.  But that doesn't mean I haven't still enjoyed a small handful of these here and there.  

When I've got the time, I really enjoy putting some extra effort into brunch for myself on the weekend.  This past weekend was no exception.

Scrambled eggs with spinach and topped with Trader Joe's salsa, an amazing bowl of berries, and a frothy cup of coffee.  Perfection.  Do you like my Peter Rabbit bowl?  Haha.  

I've been able to start working out again since my feet have pretty much healed (thank goodness), so after a workout this past week I brought back the long-lost protein smoothie.

It had 1 cup skim milk, 1 T ground flax seed, 1 T natural peanut butter, 1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior protein powder, organic spinach from the farmers' market, and 1 frozen banana.  Yum!

Along with my summer-y drink, I've been able to enjoy some summer-y activities lately, too.  I love having a break from school!

I went to a wine festival at a local winery with some friends last week, and it was so fun to spend time and catch up with them, and to taste some local wines.

And I got to go to a concert at my favorite concert venue!

Even though it wasn't a very sunny day, we spent some time boating this past weekend, too.

This is the crib, which is the main intake for the Cleveland water supply.  

Other than that, I've started on a little project.  Well, a not-so-little project, actually.  I'm going to paint my kitchen table and chairs black, but it's quite a long process!  I'm documenting it and will share the steps after I'm finished, assuming it all turns out okay.  Here's the before shot!

So that's what I've been up to.  What about you guys?

Oh, and I refuse to accept that I don't live in a tropical area - I'm trying to grow some avocado trees.  I actually grew an avocado tree for a few years but it recently withered away, so I'm determined to try again.

Song of the day:

"Free Energy" by Free Energy.  This is the band I saw last week - so much fun live!