661 - "perfect"

Day 661 was the antonym for "perfect" when it came to my creative outlet of furniture refinishing. Although it was Saturday neither of  us slept in. I was awake at 8 and read some more of the book "Happier At Home".  It started out perfect with a tassimo chai latte for me and crema coffee for Sheldon. 

Britt spent the day you guessed it, in front of the TV but only after she cleaned her room, she is however feeling better with the medication. The morning breezed by updating the blog and snapping a few photos and tidying. Sheldon returned the filler and took Diego for a truck ride to grab a saw from Stouts. His goal was to reclaim some old lumber to make a sofa table to entry way possibly if not a table.  My table project seemed to have many issues so far ;-/

We unloaded the free dresser I was given which I planned to paint and found it far from perfect. It did have dove tail joints and some real wood but most was press board. Totally not worth investing time and money into so I gave it to a young girl who used to be in our 4-H club and starting out on her own.

I have emailed about 5 online gals for help on the aging look of chalk paint but no replies. I tried my idea of stain over the wax but it looked muddy, defiantly not the look I wanted. I put a post on garden web and suggestions are coming in. One suggested shoe polish, another how to tint my wax and another saying acrylic craft paint but whatever you do don't put oil based over the wax... this came in a bit late..but I could add or top coat as you will soon learn

I worked on sanding down the vanity top with extreme caution. It seemed to go ok. I tested a spot to see if the dark stain bleeds thru the white paint as many horror stories I read had me nervous. It seems to be ok but will check tomorrow. Alternatively I am considering latex but the research says strip or prime first, ah no thanks.

I repainted and waxed the step stool successfully and sadly it was the only successful part of my day :-( OK the vanity sanding was good so far too.

 sanded wood filler and touched up paint

Sheldon who returned with lumber but covered in crud showered then sat in the garage playing candy crush on his tab while I worked.

The farm table seemed to be growing on me, that or the nagging fact that I still have not finished it, either way I decided not to haul it in the house to see if I liked it then return to garage to seal it but rather just seal it. On went the first coat of water based polycrylic finish. I threw a coat on the step stool stairs for a more durable finish too. As I did that it slipped off the quad causing me to splash poly on the quad blade..UGH, yet another clean up!

After our favorite taco supper, I headed back out itching to apply the 2nd coat. The instructions said sand between coats so I began the task. Did I mention that so many people complained of the orbital sander marks on the first run? Well sure as heck, the first swipe not only left the tell tale marks but rather lifted the finish in that area!!! NO WAY!!! what now?? well i finished the quick once over sand and returned to the spot to sand it out and restain that area... again the idea seemed to be good in my head. It started out looking fine but soon the stain was seeping into the areas around the spot and as I wiped it the finish began to roll off unevenly and the stained area was lighter and the whole thing was a disaster.

The intention I had been sending out after the first few disasters had me considering stripping it totally. Sheldon suggested taking it in the house for awhile to see if it really bothered me but as I said earlier I decided to finish it. Guess the intention proved right as I dumped stripper over the top.

As it began to lift I started to scrape, usually it was into plastic bag but the table tilted a wee bit and it started to run over the edge, yikes! I ran to grab a box and gathered most of the liquid in it only to find it running out the edge so I scrambled to the garbage can dripping the whole way. This had to be cleaned quickly and still continue with the stripper on the table and running onto the floor by the bag. It was shear chaos. I thought of calling Sheldon for help but he was in front of the fire watching hockey and playing candy crush. So I pushed on. As it was dripping I saw the white drawer I had stuck back in the bottom was close to the dripping edge so I pulled it out so not to get stripper dripped on it. In my haste and wide arc I knocked the step stool off the quad and began to juggle them both and the putty knife. When I looked at the apron edge around the table I did see one drip took off my paint too. My goodness the events continued. I grabbed the sander and used my frustration to take it all down once again. A quick wipe and it was time for a paralyzer and candy crush game! This table will be the death of me!

Too funny, as I washed my face I thought I never put foundation on.. nope it was all the saw dust from my day, hahahaha. 

As I was writing today's adventure Kaylin called at midnight to say Shaina needed me, apparently there was a mix up and the week of volunteering. She had signed up for community volunteering with children and they say she is on the building project, what? She need proof in the next 4 hours they were confirmed in children portion. Her and I messaged for the next hour trying to find a solution but being late and a long w/e both here and USA, there is not much hope getting a hold of the booking gal. All I could do was write an email and send to the contacts I had. She had one girl offer to trade her but she declined because Emily could not find anyone to trade and was miffed if she did. Fingers crossed she will get in. Today is just not the best day, tomorrow has to be better! Wait it is tomorrow right now, it is 1:30 am :-) best go read and get some sleep.