She has been working on some furniture refinishing, too.
(Before)
The table doing the dead turtle impression is one she found at the landfill site many years ago. She took it home and slapped a coat of white paint on it, but it sat in the porch for a time, and the porch roof leaked. When the Bag Lady and the Rancher built their new house
The smaller table is one that the Bag Lady "inherited" from a friend when she was a teenager. Her friend was redecorating her bedroom and decided she no longer wanted that little drop-leaf table, so she gave it the Bag Lady. The Bag Lady took it home and slapped a coat of white paint on it (do you see a recurring pattern here?), and has used it as her bedside table ever since. Her friend has tried many a time to cajole the Bag Lady into giving it back (there's a name for people like that, isn't there?) but the Bag Lady loves that table, and she's had it far longer than her friend did. (Do the math. The Bag Lady and her friend were 16 when she received the table.....
(During)
The Bag Lady, silly thing that she is, thought she could strip the white paint off and restore the table to a glorious wood finish. That has turned out to be not as easy as she thought it would be. The white paint has permeated the wood in places to such an extent that there is no way to get it out and still have any wood left! The Bag Lady also discovered that whoever built the table originally didn't do a very good job of hiding the nail heads. Plus, notice the little "V"-shaped corners in the supports at the bottom of the table legs? Really, really hard to get the sander all the way into the corners. So the Bag Lady is re-thinking her position on restoring the glorious wood finish. She might just slap a coat of white paint on it.
21 comments:
and that table is reason number 18734192873 why I tend to keep things and get cluttered in the first place. HOW COOL the story behind it. HOW COOL you motivated to sand etc as I never would have. HOW COOL (if by cool you mean ironic and you have to post pics if you do) you may end up back where you started :)
HOW COOL would it be to get an entire video post of your house.
(did you and the rancher actually build it?!)
if by COOL you mean Im way too nosey----which I do.
I would have just reslapped.. you're far too ambitious. No wonder you never stop.. except for that beer in the last post. ;)
You are far more ambitious that I'd ever be. I might be tempted to thow caution to the winds and paint it a different color, but I see you've got a theme going.
White paint--my favorite. It's past time that I repainted the gate-leg table that I've been using for a kitchen table since, um, 1973. It's been more than twelve years since I last painted it, and in the meantime many not-too-clean dogs have rubbed against its legs.
Stop inspiring me! I have a whole basement full of stuff I need to do already!
Mary Anne in Kentucky
You are WAY more ambitious then I am! I probably would have talked someone else into painting it! :-)
Keep us all updated on the wine!!
Miz - the Rancher and I built the living room. It was an addition onto the mobile home he had when I moved out here. Then the roof on the mobile home went to hell, so we pulled it out and had a contractor build the house (that I designed) onto the addition.
Hilary - I'm tempted to re-slap. Or give it a "distressed" look. Which really distresses me.
dfLeah - I've thought of painting it a different colour, but then I'd have to paint the dresser a different colour..... I don't know what I'll do. Sigh.
Mary Anne in Kentucky - I find that white paint on old furniture tends to tie everything all together. I have a lot of mismatched "stuff". And I'm sorry - I'll stop inspiring you now. :)
Missicat - we cross-posted. I can smell the yeasty wine right now, so I know something is happening! Just hope I don't screw it up somehow! :)
I'd probably re-do the white and then add some sort of colorful design somewhere. I wish I had time for fun projects like that!
Good luck with the wine.
BG - that may be what I'll do. I'm a little disappointed that I can't get all the white paint off.
LOL, I love your solution to every furniture problem! My issue with restoring furniture is all about the follow through. I have bought tons of items with the goal of restoring them- a baby crib, 2 coffee tables, a floor TV (hey it still works!)but sadly all items are still in my basement, some have been stripped some are just waiting for me to get around to it starting on them.
So...I applaud you for the wonderful restoration work that you do! (Emphasis on finishing and not just starting the projects)
Excuse the sentence that makes no sense, I need to re-read BEFORE I post!
Emily - I have the odd piece of furniture sitting around, waiting for me to do something with it, too! I have lots of half-finished projects, but no basement to hide them in - just ask the Rancher!
Hehe I love your projects. I'd probably go so far as to bring out the table, look at it, and then call someone and wheedle them to do the work for me while I ply them with booze or baking.
...I mean, I've never done that before or anything. This is all just theoretical, of course...
I'm all for painting that table some brilliant bold color (colour).
I got my dead screw out of a landfill too. Amazing what a person can find there.
I only know to well how (holy crap) the time flies! It's too bad that table wouldn't show the wood for you. You do such a great job of refinishing things. Your talents amaze me, as I've said before! We have to clean off that willow stump to pour the turpentine and linseed oil on it so it will cure properly. We cut it down in early April and still haven't got it pealed. Holy crap, it's been that long?!!
OK, 'fess up. I want to know exactly how many talents you are hiding over there! Every time I read this blog, you casually mention yet another "little" thing that you happen to be amazing at. Photography, baby-calf saving, furniture refinishing... Do you sew too? I want to be you when I grow up.
It seems to me that table was in my possession once upon a time, before someone decided she wanted it back.
I hate to mention it, but how about a chemical stripper, or a heat stripper to get the rest of the paint off? I would really like to see it just as wood, but it is very pretty in white.
Sagan - I would do that too, if I thought it would work! Somehow, it's just easier to do it myself.
POD - I have given the bold colour some thought, but I'm kind of a coward when it comes to that...
Redbush - all good things take time - your stump will be easier to peel when it's dry, won't it? :)
Charlotte - of course I sew! And embroider, and knit (really badly!) and braid rope, cook gourmet meals every night, build things out of wood, and leap tall buildings in a single bound! :) I also have these really nifty shiny bracelets that can stop bullets..... hahahahahaha
Reb - y'know, I had forgotten about that - are you sure? :)
I did actually use a chemical stripper, but even that wouldn't get all the paint out of the wood. Sigh.
You make slapping paint sound like a simple thing. I happen to know it is never as simple as that!
SuperDad & I started a project to refinish his grandmother's old hutch (which had belonged to her father before her). I then backed off the project because I was pregnant and we had to resort to chemical strippers. (HA! You'll get good spam from that phrase, chemical strippers. *snort*)
So my hubby had to finish the project. And that is the ONLY reason it is finished, because if it was up to me, the project would still be awaiting completion.
This is where I might trump you BL, rather than go through the hassle of slapping the white paint on, I might just throw a table cloth over it! That's what I call a quicker fixer upper! :)
kcinnova - that's true - slapping paint isn't as easy as it sounds, if you want to do it properly. There's all the prep. work, then the actual painting (the easy part!) then the clean-up afterwards. Which is why this project has now taken me...ummm... 3 weeks(?) and I'm not done. Sigh.
Lucas - now why didn't I think of that?! Might have to resort to that solution yet, if my newest idea doesn't pan out!
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