What I'm Into...

Since I've been MIA for awhile, here are some of the things I've been into lately:

For the house:

I'm not big on things with sayings on them, but the words to You are My Sunshine have special meaning for Adam and I:

Source: Joss and Main

Wouldn't these be adorable on a kitchen table or countertop?

Source: Anthropologie

I had no idea that Ikea sold outdoor furniture, but I love this HUGE umbrella...It's inexpensive and it would provide shade for our entire deck:

Source: Ikea

As I type this, Adam is installing these in our bathroom to replace the super cheap faucets with bought last year.  Word of advice, don't cheap out on faucets, you use them ALOT:

Source: Home Depot

For the Face:

I've been a Clinique girl since my Grammie took me to get my first makeup.  It's been awhile since I checked out their facial washes, but this stuff is great.  I can see a noticeable difference in my skin:

Source: Clinique

For the ears:

Adam and I watch American Idol every season (one of our guilty pleasure shows) and last season I didn't know if I would like Phillip Phillips, but after listening to his album, I love his music:

Source: iTunes

The first concert I ever had tickets to was NSync, so now Justin Timberlake is the next best thing.  I especially love the song Mirrors:

Source: iTunes

For downtime:

This is the most addictive game I've played in a long time, plus it's easy to put down and pick back up again:

Source: iTunes

Jodi Picoult is my favorite author and her new book did not disappoint:

Source: Barnes and Noble

That's it for now!  Time to go enjoy the beautiful day!

Table Makeover

In my last post, I told you about two little tables I bid on and won at an auction last weekend.  One just needed the dust cleaned off of it and it was ready to go, but the other one needed some work. 

 

On Saturday afternoon, we picked up some spray on stripper called Klean Strip at the hardware store, as well as some chemical resistant gloves and some new masks.  Once we got home, we put down a large piece of cardboard on the driveway and donned our safety apparel.  Adam and I came to the conclusion that getting all of the paint off of the legs of the table would be pretty difficult, so we nixed the idea of refinishing the entire thing, and decided to just refinish the top, as well as the small shelf below. 

 

Having never worked with a stripper before (cue inappropriate jokes), we read the directions and sprayed away.  After spraying a pretty thick layer on the top, we waited for about 15 minutes before using a plastic scraper to scrape off the gooey paint.  It worked pretty well and took off most of the layers of paint, but left some residue.  We sprayed on another layer and waited for another 15 minutes.  After that, it was pretty much down to the original stained wood.  Then, we repeated the process on the lower shelf of the table.  The best part about the stripper was that it was really easy to use and there was hardly any smell, although, make sure you don't get it on your skin, or it will burn (Adam found this out the hard way).

 

After most of the paint was off, we broke out the electric sander and went to town.  Before we knew it, the flat parts of the table were down to bare wood.  After a quick hand sanding, I wiped the whole table down with a wet cloth.  The next day, I used some Minwax to stain the flat parts.  It was the first time I have ever stained anything and it was pretty simple and straight forward. 

 

 

 

After the stain was completely dry, I painted the legs of the table black using General Finishes Milk Paint in lamp black, which happened to be one of the colors we had laying around the house.  If you've never used this paint, I would HIGHLY recommend it.  We've used it to paint our kitchen cabinets and the basement bar cabinets, as well as other pieces of furniture and although expensive, it's worth the money.  It will even stick to finished surfaces without sanding them and you can layer different colors and glazes for really cool effects.  A quick coat of high performance semi-gloss top coat and the table was ready to be displayed in the living room. 

We're pretty proud of the way the table turned out, and feel like we restored some of it's original charm and quality.  

Going once....

Last weekend, my mom and I went to an auction not far from our house.   I've been to auctions before, but have always been too young to bid on any of the items.  This time when we went, I was bound and determined to finally place a bid. Saturday morning, we made the 15 minute trek over to Hill's Auction in Landenberg, Pennsylvania.  It consisted of a huge warehouse-type room full of furniture pieces in all shapes and sizes.  After getting a bidding number, we found a seat on a very ugly, green plaid sofa and waited for the auction to get started.

Around 9:00, the auctioneer started the auction.  Multiple employees would hold up the item, and then the bidding would start.  For me, it was mesmerising.  My mom and I had noticed a couple of things that we were interested in bidding on and she picked up two pieces right away.  A few of the pieces I was interested in went above my budget quickly, and I was out of luck, but I still held out hope of losing my bidding virginity. 

After waiting for three hours or so, the two cute little antique side tables that I was interested in were auctioned off together.  My adreneline was pumping as I raised my hand to bid for the first time and before I  knew it, it was over and I had won them.  Following the bidding, Adam (who had shown up by this time), looked over at me and asked if I had even noticed who was bidding against me.  Honestly, I was so pumped up to be bidding that I probably bid against myself, but I was too excited about my purchase to care (it's obvious that I need to become more auction saavy).

I ended up paying $35 each for the tables, which I considered an OK deal considering they would have probably cost me around $50 each at a store, and these have character.  One of the tables just needed a little bit of cleaning up, and after a few coats of Old English, it was ready to go.   I displayed it proudly in our family room next to my favorite chair. 

As for the other table...it was covered in three coats of paint that was flaking off everywhere.  After much deliberation, Adam and I decided to give it a major makeover!  I'm finishing it up today, so look for a post about it soon!

What I've Been Up To...

It's been awhile (again) since I've posted anything.  Lots has happened since my last post on January 10th, so here it is quickly and concisely:

We spent a couple of weekends in January working on finishing the basement (tour to come!).  Over Martin Luther King weekend we had a work crew including my sister and brother-in-law, my parents, Adam's parents and my 2-year-old nephew (he even brought his tool belt).  We got alot knocked out that weekend! 

At the beginning of February, we had another work weekend with Adam's parents before Adam had his gallbladder removed.  The surgery took place the day after the Super Bowl and it was not a fun experience for anyone involved (whoever claims that outpatient, laparoscopic surgery is an easy recovery is lying).  Adam was down and out for about a week, which put a dampener on my 27th birthday, but we still enjoyed a couple of nice celebratory meals and a homemade cake.

The rest of February was spent recovering and trying to keep warm in the frigid temperatures.  President's Day weekend was the last of the basement work weekends and included finishing up all of the plumbing. 

In March, Adam headed down to Austin to attend the South by Southwest tech conference for a week.  It provided a ton of publicity for Taskbox, and he returned exhausted and excited about what the future holds for their little start-up.  Over St. Patrick's Day weekend we put some finishing touches on the bar and called it done, then we pulled up a stool and had a green beer in celebration. 

For Easter, we drove up to Mechanicsburg for the weekend and enjoyed time with my family, which included furniture shopping, picking up my Dad's new car, egg hunts, church and a great Easter dinner before driving back to Newark in the rain. 

April has been pretty uneventful so far.  Last weekend, we helped celebrate my Delta Gamma little sister, Missy on her wedding day.  I was asked to be a bridesmaid and had a great time with the gigantic bridal party (22 of us in total).  It was a beautiful day with a beautiful bride (and groom). 

 

I'm hoping that in future post, you'll get a tour of the finished basement as well as a couple of posts on various projects I've been working on.