Tuesday, September 8, 2015

My Refinished Desk

Last week Louie found an old neglected desk and he knew I was going to want it. You can see that post here.   We loaded up this little beauty and brought it straight home.  She was strong and sturdy and had great lines and look at those legs....



Unfortunately she was badly dried out, very dirty and quite stained....


But I could see potential....


 I was itching to get started on her.  I dragged her out into the driveway and when I went back inside to grab my apron, Louie started sanding down the top.  Apparently he was itching to get his hands on her too.   It sanded up really nicely...


While Louie was doing that I took all the drawers and washed them out with some hot soapy water and set them in the sun to dry.  After all the sanding was finished, I applied a coat of stain to the entire desk, as well as the drawers.  I always stain inside the drawers as well - I just like the way that looks and it covers up a lot of imperfections.




Then I gave everything 2 coats of polyurethane and did 4 coats on the top for extra protection.  Isn't she beautiful?


I just love the color...




Check out the legs - they look like they're ready for dancing....


I had removed and cleaned up the Lion drawer pulls.  They look like brand new...


She is now sitting in my office and I have all my jewelry making supplies close at hand.  It's the perfect desk for that!  I like sitting in front of the window where I get nice natural light while I'm working...


What did you make over this weekend?

Speaking of jewelry - I'm making cuff bracelets if anyone is interested.  They make great gifts for someone or even for yourself.

My cuffs with beachy themes are popular here and here.

 I can do custom bracelets too.  Other favorites are ones with your blog name or ETSY Shop name.  Stop by my shop and take a look.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Geocaching in Wilmington, Illinois

Two weeks ago we made plans to drive to Wilmington, Illinois to geocache with my parents.  The forecast called for scattered showers, so we crossed our fingers and took off.

The first cache was in Braidwood and before the rain began....


Mom hopped out and made the grab at this lamp skirt cache...


I loved this cache - it was well hidden.  Do you see it?



We saw this great wood carving near by....



One of the caches was hidden by a geocacher near their coffee shop. They were opening up just as we pulled up for the cache....


This was a clever cache too.  Have you figured it out yet?


Afterwards we walked inside the shop and ordered some coffee and smoothies....





The whole shop was very cute, decorated with historic Rt. 66 memorabilia, and I got a big kick out of the bathroom....



Here's the owner, and fellow geocacher, making our coffee....


Both drinks were delicious.  If you're ever in Wilmington, be sure to stop by and say hello.


There's a cache hidden here - any ideas??



We always enjoy unusual statues....



It had started raining on and off, so we just dodged the raindrops and did the best we could....



This cache was hidden in a tree....



The last stop of the day was at "Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery."   The cemetery covers 982 acres and is dedicated to war veterans....




It's quite impressive with it's rows upon rows of markers.  It really makes you appreciate the service these men and woman gave their country.


As we were leaving, a funeral procession began to pull into the cemetery.  Literally hundreds of motorcycles, cars and police vehicles rolled past us.  It was really something to see.  We sat there for over 5 minutes waiting for them all to pass.



Afterwards we stopped at one of my favorite restaurants for lunch - White Fence Farm!


You just can't beat a day where geocaching and good food are involved - even if it does rain.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Out with the Old and In with the New

I am insane.  We've spent the past 2 weeks cleaning out my stash piles, unfinished projects and re-purposed furniture.  We spread everything out in the driveway and had a huge garage sale on Thursday and Friday.  We were planning on having it on Saturday too, but it ended up raining us out.  So we did clear out a bunch of stuff, and what was left got donated to Goodwill, the church for a rummage sale, and all the books and dvd's went to the library.  Whew.  It's nice to have the house cleaned out and we made a little extra money in the bargain.

So here's why I am insane.  My husband shook me awake at 6:00 am on Sunday and suggested we go to the Flea Market.  And I said yes.  Hello..... didn't I just say I wasn't going to any more sales and buying any more stuff?   That thought just literally flew right outta my head.

We got dressed and went over to Wolff's Flea Market in Rosemont.



It's a huge Flea Market around here. This weekend they had around 600 vendors.  There were probably thousands of people there milling about and who do we run into walking in?  My dad - how random is that?  One of my sisters and her husband were there someplace too but we never saw them.

I couldn't believe how much junk   treasures were piled up in this truck.  People were just picking through it all....


It was a cloudy, overcast morning and I was glad we got there early because it wasn't crowded yet...



Rosemont is right next to O'Hare airport and the landing planes are so close you can practically touch them.  It's very loud and another plane lands every minute....



That's the Allstate Arena in the background and where we go to see most of the concerts around here.


We walked around for about 2 hours and I really reined myself in.  I didn't buy a single thing, altho Louie bought 2 brand new pairs of shoes for a good price.  Then we left and I roped him into buying me breakfast at IHOP.


We were headed home and Louie suggested I look on my phone and see if there were any geocaches in the area, so we ended up grabbing 4 of them and then I got sidetracked by a sign for a garage sale.  Now I knew I was in big trouble because I just cannot drive past them.  I get reeled in like a big bass.  So we stopped at a couple and I was doing really good - I didn't buy anything.  Until I saw the sign for an Estate Sale and then my heart sank.  Because there isn't much that I like to do more than poke around somebody else's house looking for crap.

Once inside, Louie and I split up,  I always head for the basement first, and then the kitchen.  I picked up a vintage Better Homes cookbook to sell and a cute Coke bottle opener.....


I headed  up to the second floor where Louie was standing and waiting for me at the top of the stairs.  He grabbed me by the arm and steered me into the master bedroom.  "There's something in here you're going to want," he said.  And of course he was right because he knows me so well and because he's the most awesome husband in the world even if he does feed my junk buying habits.

I just fell in love with this desk the second I saw it and even tho I said "Oh, I can't buy that.  I'm not refinishing any more furniture," I knew I was lying thru my teeth because sure as shit that baby was coming home with me.


Look at the lines.....  the cool decorative pieces.....  the awesome Lion drawer pulls - which I will keep because I am a Leo after all....


I didn't care how beat up she was, this desk was coming home with me so I could refinish it and use it as my jewelry making desk.  She is so strong and sturdy - a really solid piece of furniture.  The woman holding the sale told me it was her dad's desk from when he used to work at Kent State University, and he had brought it with him when he moved back here.


I love, love, love it!  She had a price of $ 25.00 on it and I talked her down to $ 15.00.  She asked me if I could move it out of there by Monday and I asked her if she was crazy??  I wasn't leaving there without it.  That's one of the advantages of having a truck!  When I walked outside I literally did a little dance and clapped my hands - I was that excited!


It's already in my garage, as you can see, and I've already pulled out the drawers and cleaned her up.  I hope I have a light work load today because I want to start sanding her.  Stay tuned because I'll have an update soon.

It was a pretty darn good day - Flea market, pancakes at IHOP, geocaching, estate and garage sales and a new refinishing project.  And all before noon!   So what if I fell off the wagon.  We all knew that wasn't going to last anyway, didn't we??

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