Dumpster Diving

Hubby was busy doing other tasks around the
house when it was garbage day

around here so I took our garbage

to our local drop off site.
It's never a good idea for me to take the garbage
because once in a while I come home with someone else's trash.

I can explain, really.
I had been looking for a while for another
nightstand to go in our guest bedroom.

Well lo and behold wouldn't you know.

As I was leaving the drop off site I noticed

this nightstand sitting off to the side.
I know what you're thinking.
It's trash girl, you should have left it.

I asked if anyone had dibs on it.

Nope.

It was mine for the taking.

I'm sure that most people wouldn't even give it

a second glance being that it was left to be thrown out.
 I can totally understand that.

It was looking a little neglected.

Before carting it off I made sure I thoroughly

checked it over. Sure it was a little rough

looking but it was a solidly built piece.

I knew that my paint brush and I

 could do wonders with this nightstand.

Once I got it home I vacuumed off the dust

and cobwebs. Upon further inspection I noticed

that someone had tried to spray paint this stand black

and did a poor attempt at it. They left the handle on

while they spray painted it. What!

I'm assuming that it wasn't sealed in any way either.

This is what the top looked like. The paint was worn

off in various places and there were a few small dings in places

which didn't concern me. Those were an easy fix.

I found this marking inside the drawer.

Time to make this nightstand new again.

The first thing I did was remove the handle

and lightly sanded down the entire piece.

Next, I filled in the dings with wood filler.

Once the wood filler was dry I sanded the

areas until I had a smooth finish.

Using a foam brush I roughly applied the primer

covering the entire nightstand.

Time to paint.

I gave it 2 coats of my DIY Farmhouse White

chalk paint, lightly sanding between coats. 

Here is a look at the sides of the stand.

I love all the curves this stand has.

The Farmhouse white paint really shows off those curves.

I let the paint dry overnight and then

applied a layer of Annie Sloan Clear wax

to seal it.

I added a new handle that was in my

stash of handles to the drawer

and this nightstand was done.

It fits perfectly in it's new spot.

A beautiful new nightstand that costs me $0.

I guess it pays to take out the garbage.

It's true what they say,

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Or should I say woman's?

That's it for this week.
Until Next Time,
Veronica

Why we left after 30 years

Well, it's official.

We're RETIRED!

Hubby and I decided to retire at the same time.

Although we are considered young for retirement,

I'm 56 and Hubby is 58, it was time.

We have been preparing for this moment for 30 years.

We have made a lot of sacrifices over the years with the

intent that we would be able to retire at an early age.

For 25 years I worked 3rd shift and I'm not even 

a nighttime person, but I persevered because it was

the best shift for our family.

I remember many nights going to work with just 2 hours

of sleep just so I could spend time with my family.

There was also a lot of overtime worked to help put our

Son through college without dipping into our retirement fund.

So here we are 30 years later just like we planned.

Our timing couldn't have worked out any better.

I don't have any regrets about the sacrifices we made

because it brought us to this point in life.

Spending precious time with our Grandson

and future grand children on the way,

twins,

a boy and girl.

(No, we did not coordinate our shirts for this picture.)

It's nice that we are young enough to get down on the floor and play.

Not only do we get to enjoy our Grandson,

Great Grandpa can come and visit and be entertained too.

We are very fortunate to have 4 generations together and

will cherish these moments for as long as we can.

This was the #1 reason why we left after 30 years.

How can you not want to spend time with this?

Another reason why we left after 30 years.

Knowing that we don't have to drive to work in this!

Apparently, Mother Nature didn't get the memo that it's Spring.

Here we are April 15th with a blizzard and ice storm going on.

It's SO GOOD to be RETIRED!

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Painting Queen Anne

We've had this Queen Anne sofa table for

close to 20 years.

About 3 years ago our Son was using it at his house.

They no longer needed or wanted it so back it came

home to us. I was going to donate it to our local

Goodwill but decided to keep it instead.

It sat in our basement for over a year before I

finally got around to doing something with it.

Somehow along the way 2 of the handles went MIA.

All four corners had to be repaired due to cats chewing on them.

Other than that this sofa table was in great shape.

Here she is all ready to make her grand entrance.

I removed the remaining handle and filled in the holes with wood putty.

Hubby drilled new holes for the beautiful new knobs that I bought

from Hobby Lobby.

I sanded down the top and stained it Dark Walnut by Minwax.

The body got painted with my DIY Farmhouse White chalk paint.

I intended for this sofa table to go in our family room downstairs,

but after placing it by our front door and styling

the top to take pictures of it, I decided I wanted to keep it here.

This area in front of our stairs always looked bare to me.

It was like something was missing.

We can't say that anymore.

Our newly painted Queen Anne sofa table fills in

the area and blends in so well with my mirror wall.

She is here to stay...for now.

Here is the side by side comparison shot.

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Creating A One of A Kind Masterpiece

I needed a piece of artwork to go above the

newly painted dresser that sits in our

dining room. I knew that I wanted to

have the color blue in it but wasn't quite

sure just what I was looking for. So I

typed in blue artwork in Google search

and a ton of blue abstract artwork pieces

popped up. I have never been a big fan of abstract

art but the more I looked and studied this interesting

art form the more I loved its simplicity.

Instead of buying a piece of abstract art,

which by the way is very expensive, I thought

I'd try and create my own masterpiece.

Here is my version of an abstract artwork masterpiece.

I call it My Serene Place.

This painting took me all of 30 minutes to create.

Believe me when I say, I am not an artist.

The great thing about abstract art is that it

is so simple to create. There is no right way

or wrong way to create a great looking piece of art.

Cost to create this masterpiece, $0.

I dug through my craft supplies and had everything I needed.

Here's how I created my own work of art.

Supplies:

drop cloth

Canvas print, any size

Acrylic paint, colors of choice

inexpensive paint brush (I buy the $1.00 chip brushes from Michaels)

jar of water

paper plates

paper towels

I start with these 18 x 24 canvases that I buy from Michaels

when they are on sale. I usually have a few hanging out in my craft room.

First you want to dip your paint brush in the water

so your paint brush is a little wet. Dab your wet brush

on a paper towel to remove any excess water.

Squeeze a little dab of your darkest paint onto the paper plate,

you will only need a small amount of each color.

Next, dip the very ends of your brush in your darkest color first

and apply it in various areas on the canvas.

Rinse your brush in the jar of water

and continue this method with each

color making sure that your brush stays wet.

These are the first 3 colors I used

and how it turned out.

I continued using the darkest to the lightest color until I reached the top.

This is how it looked.

 After I had the initial canvas painted, I added colors

here and there until I was satisfied with the look.

Once my masterpiece was created, Hubby and I

created a floating frame to place it in.

 I'll do a post on how we created a floating frame in the near future

and how I created my favorite stain color of all time.

Hubby was quite impressed by my masterpiece.

Here is my masterpiece hanging above the dresser.

A side view.

 Artist or not, you CAN do this.

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica