Over the past week, we've been working on a couple of projects that have been about a month in the making. The first project is a chair that we purchased at a thrift store for $3.99 and wanted to re-finish. The second project is a shoe rack Luke made recently that we were looking to sand and finish. Here's a before picture:
We started the projects last Wednesday. The shoe rack was fairly straightforward and just required sanding and a protective finish.
Even though it was fairly straightforward, it was still time consuming and we learned our first lesson: don't use a normal paintbrush with bristles, especially if it says to use a foam brush on the package of the finish. The bristles tend to fall out and get stuck on the shoe rack. A lot.
This is a picture of the final product. It looks identical to the initial shoe rack, except it's smoother and shinier.
This is a picture of the final product. It looks identical to the initial shoe rack, except it's smoother and shinier.
We also started working on the chair on Wednesday, but that required many more steps and we had to continue work on the weekend. The chair had to be:
1) Stripped (second lesson: buy the right scraping tools for the job)
2) Stripped again (third lesson: don't strip furniture when it gets dark outside because you might miss spots)
3) Sanded
4) Stained twice, and we had to wait between coats
5) Finished. Twice. And at this point we still haven't applied the last layer. We have to wait 72 hours, sand it, and then apply the last layer of finish.
Before we finished the chair, we had to go to the hardware store to buy a different kind of finish (fourth lesson: buy an oil-based finish if you have an oil-based stain). While we were there, we also realized that you can buy a product which is a stain AND a finish, which would have made the entire process quicker (fifth lesson). But we did find a finish for the chair that you spray on, which was a great find.
We learned a lot this past weekend, and were also surprised by all of the waiting that was required between the steps. Here's a picture of the (almost) final product, and a quick slideshow of the process is below that.
1) Stripped (second lesson: buy the right scraping tools for the job)
2) Stripped again (third lesson: don't strip furniture when it gets dark outside because you might miss spots)
3) Sanded
4) Stained twice, and we had to wait between coats
5) Finished. Twice. And at this point we still haven't applied the last layer. We have to wait 72 hours, sand it, and then apply the last layer of finish.
Before we finished the chair, we had to go to the hardware store to buy a different kind of finish (fourth lesson: buy an oil-based finish if you have an oil-based stain). While we were there, we also realized that you can buy a product which is a stain AND a finish, which would have made the entire process quicker (fifth lesson). But we did find a finish for the chair that you spray on, which was a great find.
We learned a lot this past weekend, and were also surprised by all of the waiting that was required between the steps. Here's a picture of the (almost) final product, and a quick slideshow of the process is below that.
Other than our projects, we also went to a family graduation party for Elizabeth on Saturday, and Luke tried tacos for the first time on Sunday. Lots of "somethings" this past weekend!
Graduation cake with Elizabeth's kindergarten picture as the face
