Makeovers Before and After

Soooo, I'm sitting in a dark hotel room a couple of hours away from home with hubs and three grand boys asleep. I have two hours or so of quiet!!!! The boys' Aunt Siddy and Uncle Andrew are getting married tomorrow so we are helping out with getting the boys back and forth to all the festivities!

A couple of weeks ago my dear friend, Robin, flew in from Nashville, TN to help me redo a dining table and a dressing table. What a GIFT!!! We worked for three days and got them both done before she had to fly home! What a great friend!!!

Before picture of the table and chairs: (I had started sanding.)

AFTER:

After sanding, we used General Finishes Java Gel Stain on the top of the table. Then we wiped it down with Aniline Powder Stain in a silver grey color. It is a dye-type stain and is an amazing product! We finished the table off with a few coats of Minwax wipe-on Poly. The bottom of the table (and the chairs) is painted with Repurposed Chromo Color, Crisp White Linen (chalk) paint. (No need to sand before painting). This paint is AMAZING! I have used Annie Sloan paint before….and I really like it! BUT, and this is HUGE, the Repurposed Chromo Color paint is a one step paint. You do NOT have to wax after painting. You just wipe it with steel wool and it is as smooth and slick as if you had used wax! This is an AMAZING product! After painting and using steel wool we wiped on Amy Howard's dark wax and then buffed. We distressed the chairs JUST A SMALL AMOUNT. For my Mother's Day gift, Hubs covered the seat cushions with a Buffalo Plaid material in black and cream (from Hobby Lobby). I think the table and chairs turned out GREAT! (There are two table leafs that are not shown in pics)

Next, we did an old dressing table that my mom had when I was a baby.
Before:

We did the same thing on the dressing table but the top was only stained….we didn't use the die! 
I was very pleased with the outcome and forever indebted to Robin for all she did those four quick, but hard, days!!

Side by side comparisons:

The pictures aren't the best but they show a little of the before and after!
I am pleased with the results but cannot IMAGINE doing this for a living…or even for a hobby! It is HARD work people!!! :)

Bench and Chair Redo

As part of my bedroom makeover I decided to cover a bench top and a chair.

Side note: 

My Mamaw won the chair years ago in a ballroom dance competition.

Before:

Hello 1970's.

Give me my material back.

After:

Much better!

Before and After...Nightstand

I decided I would redo a few furniture pieces.

I took this end table to work with me and started sanding by hand.

That quickly ended and my son used his belt sander!

When we were almost done with the sanding I decided I would paint it instead of staining it.

So, I didn't worry about sanding the fine details.

The first coat of paint I used was Benjamin Moore:

*Cape May Cobblestone.*

It's the same paint I used to paint my bedroom walls.

Then, I painted Annie Sloan Chalk Paint over the gray.

I used the color Old White.

I sanded a few of the edges to let the gray show through!

Then, I put the original hardware back on!

Pretty pleased with my FIRST re-do!

What do you think?

Before And After

Long post. Lots of pictures. Be forewarned.

We recently put new siding, windows, front door and porch overhang on our house.

It really changed the looks of things around here.

When we moved here, over twenty years ago, the siding on the home was blue.

Yeh, who does that?

Over the years it had really faded and was in desperate need of being replaced.

A strong, spring storm helped us out a little by tearing siding off one end of the house.

Here are a few pictures of the redo along the way.

We "skinned" the bushes to get ready for the work.

Building the porch roof/overhang. New windows have gone in.

Porch roof built. Old siding torn off. (The wood underneath was blue too!)

Shutters and new front door. (Threshold not painted yet.)

We still have to repair the threshold and paint but we've come a long way!

My very favorite part is the front door. We saw one just like it on another home, but could not find one anywhere. So we had a good friend, who is also a builder, make it for us. He did such a great job and made it EXACTLY like we wanted it!

We love our updates and are so thankful to have been able to make some much needed repairs.

Before and After

Months ago, I painted my fireplace brick.

This is the BEFORE!

This is the AFTER!

I'm going to add to the C's...

(Which is my last name initial.)

And eventually take down the canvas.

But, it's starting to take shape now.

And, I like it.