Farmhouse Table #2!

Does anyone remember Farmhouse table #1??? 

Here is a link to the more detailed tutorial (HERE). The difference between this tutorial and farmhouse table #2 is that we didn't have to go through the challenge of using the massive C clamps and I also used a chalk paint that contained a secret ingredient....oooooooooo!!!!

Originally I had wanted Farmhouse table #1 to have white legs but I let my hubby talk me into lpainting it so it matched the cabinets. Eventually I got really tired of the rustic style and wanted to lighten the house up with more whites so the first place I started was the table. I sold the old table and found this one at a garage sale for $35 dollars.  

Again, what I loved about this table was the thick legs. Before you find a table you like make sure that the table top can be removed! I would hate for you to buy a table without looking to see if the top comes off and later when its too late find out that it doesn't! (Do they all? I'm not sure but just in case, take a peek).

We started by turning the table over and unscrewing the top. At that point it was just the base of the table and the legs. If you need more detailed pictures, head to the tutorial for farmhouse table #1 (HERE)

I also used chalk paint to paint the legs. I had never used chalk paint and wanted to see what everyone was going nuts about. DO NOT GO BUY EXPENSIVE CHALK PAINT!!!! There are reciepes all over the internet that tell you how to make it. Pretty much all chalk paint is is a slightly watered down paint with a few table spoons of plaster or paris, or unsanded grout. On my chairs I tried a plaster of paris and wasn't a huge fan. After reading up more,  I found a blog called Crystelle Boutique that uses cornstarch. CLICK HERE for get reciepe! I love this idea because it's a common house hold item and you don't have to buy a big bag of it. I also LOVED the way it turned out. The paint sticks better, it paints smoother with less brush strokes and its softer to the touch. I also haven't  had any chips in the paint. My chairs are chipping already. BOO! 

After the legs dry you will have to run a FINE grit sanding block over everything. Finally, you will use a wax to finish it off. I used old t-shirts with this process. if you are using it on a project you painted white make sure to use a white t-shirt. I had a little trouble with colored fibers against the white. All you have to do is get a little wax on your rag and rub it on. Wax on type of thing

 After painting and waxing the legs and base of the table we ran to Home Depot to pick out some wood for the top of our table. We used 4 8x2 boards that were 6 feet long and 12 inches wide. We had them cut 4 inches off the end right there at the store. The key to not having to use the enormous sea clamps is laying your wood out on the floor at the store. Make sure the wood lays flat and is not warped in any way. After choosing four good pieces, lay them side by side to make sure they fit snug and that there are no major spaces in between each board. We did not distress this table. In the orignial Farmhouse table post there is a great You Tube tutorial you can check out for distressing. 

After getting the wood home we immidiately sanded and stained the wood and screwed the table top on that day. In the first tutorial I waited a month between buying the wood and actually starting on the project. BAD IDEA! By that time the wood had warped and it was really hard to get the wood to fit snug, hence the large obnoxious sea clamps that I hate so much! To make sure the planks stay snug  C.J. drilled holes in the side for dowels and used wood glue to glue the dowels in to keep the pieces of wood together. Here is a picture that might explain this process a little bit better.

 

 After that is done to every plank and your wood glue is dry you will screw your new table top to the table base using the same method and hardware the old table had. If you really want to you can add a few 2x4's to the underneath of your table top to make sure the boards are secure and don't drift away from each other over time. If you do this just make sure your screws are not longer than your wood! 

Here is my finished table. I am working on the chairs right now.

 Does anyone remember these? My mom bought 8 of these chairs at a garage sale for me for $100 dollars. I paid $12.50 per chair! I sold the two captain chairs to a friend for $25 a piece so I already made half my money back. I cant wait to FINALLY get these chairs done and show you what the look like!

Here is a list of bloggers that I occasionally link my project:

http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/

http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

http://www.simplydesigning.net/

http://www.504main.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.com

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/

Quietly Working

It has been over a year since my last post and almost a year and a half since my Praying for Trials post. This last year and a half has been full of some of the most difficult trials I have ever been through. I have been tried and tested beyond what I ever imagined I could handle. I have learned some very difficult lessons. Ones that I could not have been learned any other way. I don't know if anyone will ever get the entire story but I hope to one day be able to tell my story of everything that has happened in this last year and a half. Until then, know that I am quietly working on myself and crafting just a tiny bit here and there. Here are some of the projects I have worked on in the last year and a half!

I have been trying to incorperate more white in my house to lighten things up. I started with my kitchen table. Instead of a glazed cream that matched my cabinets I wanted the legs to be white. So I sold my first barn house table and started a second! I will do another tutorial because this time I didn't use the enormous sea clamps which made the project much easier.

I also had these two old doors laying around I cleaned them up stained the wood and they are currently being used as somewhat of a headboard. However I have other future plans for these!

Now this was one of my favorite projects. I wish I had a better picture but this will have to do for now until the tutorial. My mom found this mirror at a garage sale for $50. The fireplace I found at a garage sale for $5 dollars!!! It was a bit of a piece but with some tender love and care I gave it a new look. I had my first tuffting experience with the center cushion and loved every second of it! More on that to come also!

Here is another of my favorite transformations. I found 2 of these chairs at D.I for $45 dollars a piece. This project was tedious and time consuming but well worth it in the end!

          Before                     After

My final and largest project was helping my friend Shelbie complete her kitchen. I love the vision we came up with and the sleek look! Amazing before and after!

 I hope to be continuing on with the blog at a slower but steady pace. I have to learn to balance. Being a Mommy Blogger can be incredibly time consuming. I can get obsessive over it at times but what I want to remember most as I start to pick up the blogging pieces is that my family comes first. My motto for right now is, No one on their death bed ever said I wish I had blogged more! My kids and my husband deserve me. I want to give them that but I also what to be able to create a balance between them and continuing to live my dreams.

Praying for Trials

I am not sure if any of you remember this post but it was deleted a little while back. Here it is one more time because I will be talking about it in the upcoming post

Praying for Trials

I seriously doubt anyone reads this blog anymore because of my neglectful nature towards it but lately I have been trying to take it easy and I feel like writing. This has been a weird 2 months for me. I must admit I am just like my father and I like to fill my schedule so full that it's bursting at the seams. Several

weeks ago that overfilled schedule exploded and I refuse to pick up the busy pieces that are left behind. For the entire month of September I have done nothing but sit on my couch and sulk. We all have times that we sit back and reflect upon our lives and wonder where we are going. For most people it only lasts a day but for some reason my sulky attitude has lasted this entire month! I have dropped everything that was not a necessity. Everything but my husband and kids and believe me there were days where I wanted to drop those responsibilities too. Trying to fix myself and my poor attitude I have been doing alot of scripture reading and sitting by myself thinking about how I want this life of mine to turn out. I have had a pretty easy life thus far and I know that no one gets off that easy. Deep down I feel that there will be mountains to climb and very difficult lesson to learn ahead of me. Maybe I have an idea of what those trials may be but maybe I am dead wrong. Whatever they are they have been giving me the most uneasy feeling. While I was reading past confrence talks I ran across a talk that struck me. It was given by Elder Henery B. Eyring and it was called Mountains to Climb. He talked about praying for trials. At first I thought "what a strange concept, praying for bad things to happen to me? Who would want to do that?" but then I remembered the uneasy feeling that I keep in the back of my mind. The thought of getting down on my knees came to me but I quickly pushed it out of my mind. I knew that if I prayed for trials that life would only get harder and thats not what I needed. I needed my life to get easier. Ignoring my instincts I went about my day, my week, the rest of the month all the while that little talk kept popping in my mind and I kept pushing it out. What if the trails that come are not ones I am expecting or want?  What if they are the trials I know I can't overcome. Tired of worrying about it I finally gave into the ever nagging prompting and got on my knees. I wanted to get it over with I wanted to start my hike up whatever mountain was coming so that I could hurry and be done with it.

The next day I got a call from the Bishopric asking that my husband and I come into meet with one of them. Knowing that this meant a new calling I was a little frustrated. C.J. and I both held major callings in the church. He was the Sunday School President and I was the Compassionate Service Leader and now they were going to give us ANOTHER calling. I was already struggling to keep up with the one I had! Once we got in the second counselors office I was ecstatic to find out that they were releasing me as the Compassionate Service Leader. My excitement was short lived though. When he told me what my calling was, I remember it like he was that chubby little red headed kid on the movie Sand Lot. G-O-S-P-E-L   D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E   T-E-A-C-H-E-R............... what?! I heard it but it didn't make any sense in my mind. I heard my husband gasp. After all he was the Sunday School President and he would never suggest such a thing. Surely the Bishopric would know better than to call ME as the Gospel Doctrine Teacher! The only reason I know the stories in the scriptures is because I had a diligent Mother that read them to me and I loved watching the animated scripture movies when I was a kid. I sat there in shock thinking this is a joke. They wouldn't call me. I am a mom with two kids. The ward was full of teachers and scholars why would they call me. When it finally sank in that he was serious the tears started to well up in my eyes. How could they do this to me! I hate talking in front of people. I am probably the youngest married adult in the ward. What did I know that they didn't! As the second counselor asked if I would accept the calling I put my face into my hands and the tears started rolling. Through my sobs I told him My Father taught me never to say no to a calling and that I would give it a try. After leaving the office I attempted to control my emotions as we walked into the chapel but couldn't. I handed over the baby to my husband and left him to fend for himself during the sacrament meeting where I was sustained without being present. I ran out the building doors and thought "What in the world are you thinking Heavenly Father" This was definitely not the trial I had anticipated. I ran down the street in high heels and a skirt and found a shady spot under a tree where I could sit and stew over what I felt was an impossible task. After sitting there for a while the words of my Sister-in-Law, who had just watched her 5 year old daughter suffer through multiple chemo and radiation treatments for a brain tumor, came to my mind.

You can do hard things.

After a lot of crying and fears whirling through my mind I am happy to say that I found peace of mind and I was ready to fulfill my calling. There are callings that are given to people that are solely to benefit that individual. I believe that this is one of those callings. Maybe it is preparatory to the trails that are to come. Maybe it is the hill before the mountain. But I believe it will benefit me and will prepare me for what is to come. Whatever it may be I try to remember that without difficult tasks we cannot grow as an individual. Challenges are what make us better people. I am ready to be made into a better person. I am ready to let the Lord mold and shape me into the person I am supposed to be. I know that this will be a difficult calling especially for me but I believe that I was called for a reason and that I need to do this for myself. Not because the Bishopric asked me and I felt obligated but because I knew I needed to learn and grow to be able to get through the mountain I knew I would have to climb. I give my first lesson in about 3 weeks and I hope that there is someone out there that will get something out of my lesson besides me.