Well it finally happened. All the credit you've all given me for holding it all together during this ridiculously stressful process is no longer merited. The only solace is that I really threw my builder for a loop when he realized I was sobbing on the other end of the phone. I'll spare you the details of how he made me cry because I'm still really angry and I'm sure I would regret seeing this anger in writing months from now in this blog.
What I will say is that April 11th, was the "drop dead" latest possible date my builder has been sticking to for the final walk through, and that is no longer in the realm of possibility. Maybe, since the new painters actually showed up on Friday (the last crew quit), just MAYBE we can do our walk-through on the 14th or 15th. Just 3 more days you say? Yes, but...our phone, internet, and cable service appointments for hookups start on the 14th, and we aren't allowed to do those hookups until the builders are done and bank has funded them for the last time. So we either need to go against contract and let them install before we get keys, or we have to re-book all 3 appointments. Mom and dad need to be out on the 15th!!!!!! We also have to be completely out of our rental home on the morning of the 18th and it has to have been cleaned professionally by then. When giving notice on our rental, we decided to pay for more time than we needed just to be safe, and we padded our original walk-through date by 2 whole weeks. That pad is now gone, and to say I'm stressed about all this would be the understatement of the century.
So what do I do when our builder is not making progress and I'm stressed out? I indulge in my own personal progress therapy.
What I will say is that April 11th, was the "drop dead" latest possible date my builder has been sticking to for the final walk through, and that is no longer in the realm of possibility. Maybe, since the new painters actually showed up on Friday (the last crew quit), just MAYBE we can do our walk-through on the 14th or 15th. Just 3 more days you say? Yes, but...our phone, internet, and cable service appointments for hookups start on the 14th, and we aren't allowed to do those hookups until the builders are done and bank has funded them for the last time. So we either need to go against contract and let them install before we get keys, or we have to re-book all 3 appointments. Mom and dad need to be out on the 15th!!!!!! We also have to be completely out of our rental home on the morning of the 18th and it has to have been cleaned professionally by then. When giving notice on our rental, we decided to pay for more time than we needed just to be safe, and we padded our original walk-through date by 2 whole weeks. That pad is now gone, and to say I'm stressed about all this would be the understatement of the century.
So what do I do when our builder is not making progress and I'm stressed out? I indulge in my own personal progress therapy.
I decided to refinish our master bedroom set nightstands for the guest room. We sold the sleigh bed before our move, and as with all the selections we made when we furnished our last house, we made decisions on what we thought were the "grown up" choices. Yeah, I ended up painting and redecorating just a month or two after moving in. Grown up isn't really our forte. The set is solid wood and really really nice quality but it's painfully traditional and the rich red mahogany finish is very difficult to work with in the color palette we like. So the nightstands are going to be refinished for the guest bedroom. The triple dresser will be refinished as our tv stand in the living room. I haven't decided on the fate of the tall chest.
So after photoshopping the heck out of it, I decided I really wanted to try to strip the tops and re-stain to that weathered greige tone we love so much and then paint the base a distressed creamy white. I was really nervous because mahogany is a [insert ugly expletive here] to refinish. Remember when I refinished doodle's armoire for her nursery? That took about 12 coats when all was said and done because the wood kept bleeding through coat after coat of primer and paint. Eventually you reach a point where it covers, but I'd never tried to strip and re-stain it so it was uncharted territory.
As it turns out, it was easy! I used one application of citristrip, my favorite gel stripper, and walked away for about an hour (I think that was bath time for the kids!) Then I came back and scraped it off with a paint scraper. To get the leftover spots, I dipped some fine steel wool into more citristrip and just rubbed. Aside from the time to let it sit, the actual work to strip it couldn't have been more than 30 minutes. Mineral spirits to clean all the residue, then a very light sanding with 150 grit.
Here is the before:
and here it is all stripped down to bare wood!
Once it was clean and dry, I stained the top with Minwax "weathered oak" which didn't turn out to be enough pigment. So I tried a 50/50 blend of Special Walnut and Classic Gray on the second nightstand and it was perfect so I went back and sanded the weathered oak down on the first one and started over. I must say, after all the experimenting to get the perfect color for our hardwood floors I really feel like in my head there's a lot of intellectual property on stain color recipes! Two coats of water based poly, and the tops look gorgeous!!! I know there were probably a lot of people just horrified to see a solid wood piece of furniture in perfect condition brutalized with chemical strippers, but when I got the red stain off and exposed the wood grain, I felt bad for this poor nightstand who has had that gorgeous grain suffocating under all that red stain for the past 5 years.
Here is the before:
Once it was clean and dry, I stained the top with Minwax "weathered oak" which didn't turn out to be enough pigment. So I tried a 50/50 blend of Special Walnut and Classic Gray on the second nightstand and it was perfect so I went back and sanded the weathered oak down on the first one and started over. I must say, after all the experimenting to get the perfect color for our hardwood floors I really feel like in my head there's a lot of intellectual property on stain color recipes! Two coats of water based poly, and the tops look gorgeous!!! I know there were probably a lot of people just horrified to see a solid wood piece of furniture in perfect condition brutalized with chemical strippers, but when I got the red stain off and exposed the wood grain, I felt bad for this poor nightstand who has had that gorgeous grain suffocating under all that red stain for the past 5 years.
As for the base, the hardest part was removing the drawers. How crazy is that?! See those little white tabs that sort of angle up - in one of the nightstands it just wouldn't budget. I actually cracked a wooden spoon trying to use it as leverage to push it down as I pulled the drawer out. As a sidenote, I later came out to find the spoon chewed to pieces by my four legged helper. I swear I live in a circus.
Anyway, I used a white tinted shellac as a base to seal that mahogany and prevent bleeding. See? I've learned a LOT since refinishing doodle's armoire. The shellac worked great and there was no bleed-through! Then I made some DIY chalk paint by mixing a bright white (Martha Stewart picket fence) and the leftover sample I had mixed for the exterior trim paint on our new house. It's called paraffin and it's a rich cream color. So the outcome was a perfect, dull creamy white.
Then I used minwax weathered oak stain to sort of age/dirty it up a little. It was very subtle. Then I distressed, and sealed with water based poly.
A couple quick coats of textured black spray paint on the hardware, and these little beauties are feeling new and revitalized, and now they suit the style of our new house. Voila!
Anyway, I used a white tinted shellac as a base to seal that mahogany and prevent bleeding. See? I've learned a LOT since refinishing doodle's armoire. The shellac worked great and there was no bleed-through! Then I made some DIY chalk paint by mixing a bright white (Martha Stewart picket fence) and the leftover sample I had mixed for the exterior trim paint on our new house. It's called paraffin and it's a rich cream color. So the outcome was a perfect, dull creamy white.
Then I used minwax weathered oak stain to sort of age/dirty it up a little. It was very subtle. Then I distressed, and sealed with water based poly.
A couple quick coats of textured black spray paint on the hardware, and these little beauties are feeling new and revitalized, and now they suit the style of our new house. Voila!
The camera tends to ignore the grey undertones of the stain, especially in this afternoon light. Anyway, I'm so pleased with how they turned out, and so much less scared to tackle the triple dresser now since these were pretty easy.
I'll have you know, the living room curtains are also done, we ordered a bunch of hollies for along our property line that might give us privacy in 10 years, and have taken care of some administrative crap that goes along with building and moving like getting our home insurance policy lined up, preparing our financials for the loan modification in case this process ever ends. Tomorrow I have a sewing date with mom! Finally bit the bullet and bought the fabric I've been admiring for months - it will become drapes for the guest bedroom. I'd post a picture of the fabric swatch but it doesn't do it justice.
Between starting this blog post and getting ready to post it, they finally finished the gutters and collector boxes on the front of the house, and they're beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!! You'll have to stay tuned to see in the next update.
I'll have you know, the living room curtains are also done, we ordered a bunch of hollies for along our property line that might give us privacy in 10 years, and have taken care of some administrative crap that goes along with building and moving like getting our home insurance policy lined up, preparing our financials for the loan modification in case this process ever ends. Tomorrow I have a sewing date with mom! Finally bit the bullet and bought the fabric I've been admiring for months - it will become drapes for the guest bedroom. I'd post a picture of the fabric swatch but it doesn't do it justice.
Between starting this blog post and getting ready to post it, they finally finished the gutters and collector boxes on the front of the house, and they're beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!! You'll have to stay tuned to see in the next update.
Comments
Post a Comment