A New Kitchen Table Top

As much as I love the quick and transformative effect of painting furniture with chalk paint I have also begun delving into refinishing and staining wood. It seemed daunting before and I was afraid of ruining furniture in the process but after our coffee table frame broke it didn’t seem as risky to try to refinish the table top.

Two hours of scrubbing to finally remove all of stain.After one coat of Sun Bleached by Varathane the colour was exactly what I wanted and all of these beautiful textures and patterns that had been masked by the dark stain were now revealed.

Originally I had planned to have the table frame fixed but the quote from the welder was going to cost as much as buying a new table and it was too big for our new living room anyway.

What I didn’t mention is that this table top is 1 metre square and it ended up being the perfect size and shape for our kitchen table. It was quite simple to remove the round top and screw the base and legs onto the former coffee table.

This is the best photo I can find of what the table looked like before.

Now the table has a more modern feel and is way more functional in this space. 
  

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Potted Christmas Trees

This year we’re starting a new tradition of using potted evergreens as a Christmas tree. Last year our tree was a large branch in a vase but now I’m trying a Dwarf Alberta Spruce that we will plant in the spring and a Norfolk Island Pine that we’ll keep indoors. Our backyard had no trees or plants when we moved in so little by little we can start adding some dwarf evergreens every year. Sunset Magazine has some information on caring for a living tree here.

Another recent project is this coffee table that I made based on the directions from House Updated. Brit’s instructions and the purchase of a Kreg Jig made it a very fast and sturdy table to make. I think that figuring out the dimensions of the wood was one of the hardest parts. I haven’t done any woodworking since grade 7 but after this project I’m keen to try some of the many fabulous plans that Ana White has.