It just hit me: The arrival of February means there’s a few carpentry projects that we’ve been chipping away at for over a month now.
Exhibit A: a lovely table that I built from scratch. I won’t tell you where it’s going just yet, but I’m too excited to not to give you a sneak peek at it!
This beautiful piece is simply waiting for a few coats of polyurethane sealant. I’d hoped to do that yesterday after work, seeing as it was a gorgeous 67 degrees and slightly light outside when I arrived home from work. Alas, I went to the basement to grab my supplies, only to find a nearly empty can of Poly. This is why you check your supplies *ahead* of time, people!
Exhibit B, the twin bed frames for the guest room.
After I spent hours applying primer, with a brush, to all the nooks and crannies in the turned posts, I realized that spray paint was the way to go. But spray paint = Jane working outside, and the weather has to cooperate for that.
And here’s a lesson learned: If you apply two coats of Zinsser Oil-Based Primer to furniture that’s in your basement, your house will reek for days. . . and you’ll probably lose some brain cells in the process. That’s a mistake I won’t make again.
Hopefully I can get these two projects wrapped up over the weekend. I’m ready to put them in their places and move on to building our much-needed basement bookshelf!
13 Comments
awesome, Jane! We’ll be using some eco varnishes on cabinets and such. It’s really awesome for preventing that lingering toxic smell. Eco primers, too! It costs more, but if it means we can move into our home sooner…. 🙂
ADORING your little table.
GREAT idea. So I totally wrestled with the idea of using eco varnishes, etc – but I have such a bad track record with staining wood. I mean, nothing has ever turned out before when I stain it. I have since learned that I didn’t know what I was doing. I hope you’ll blog about the products that you use and how you like the results. Because you know me, I definitely would prefer to be eco-friendly, not to mention brain-cell-friendly!
The worst fumes in our house were from the Zinsser Oil-based Primer that I used on the bed frames. I could have gone the eco-route there, too, but again – was really wanting to get dependably good results, and I saw so many people raving about how that primer was the best at blocking things and helping paint adhere. Next time I want to try a less fume-y route with primer, too.
I love the table you build … it’s so sweet! And, yeeeaaaahhh, oil primer indoors = nastiness. But, the beds are looking amazing!
I saw the picture of the table and thought ‘mid-century modern’ before I read that you made it. It’s great!
Dude, that’s seriously awesome and flattering that you guessed MCM! 🙂
Oh, I LIKE the white on the beds. Those beds had reminded me of an old upright piano that my parents had from my mom’s GRANDPARENTS. It was covered in that old black shellac stuff. My parents found someone who stripped it all off and restained and sealed it. It turned out to be just GORGEOUS wood underneath all that black varnish. Most of the time the wood isn’t pretty, and I think your solution, minus the “painting in the basement” thing, is a great solution!
Thank you! I don’t love the white on the beds yet, because I really liked the wood grain that was showing through with the sanding – but I thought paint would be easier than chemically stripping and sanding. Oh, and parts appear to be veneer, so they may not have re-stained well. So I’m glad you’re liking the white! 🙂
Yes, Ryan kindly and non-abusively yelled at me for stinking up the house and killing my/our brain cells. I just couldn’t tolerate the unfinished projects any. longer.
Love that table you built… I definitely thought it was a piece your thrifted or bought. What a great job and I can’t wait to see where it ends up!
OMG OMG OMG I expect building plans in that post!!!!! holy poptarts!
Oh my gosh, Jane! That table is beautiful! (I want it!)
I’m so frustrated with the fact that our house does not have a garage or a basement – we really have no place to store power tools. I’ve been wanting to build my own coffee table, but just can’t figure out how/where to tackle such a project. I’ll have to live vicariously through you! Can’t wait to see the finished product!
Looks good. Where did you get the table legs? I’ve had a similar idea kicking around my head but am not finding legs easily (I know years ago I used to see them, don’t know what happened).
Thanks! Hereare the legs on Amazon. They have all sizes!
wow! Totally loving the simple, mid-century lines of your table!!! So sleek and beautiful! And the beds… still in love with those for sure! Can’t wait to see them in place! 🙂