pink dresser

Let me start by saying that I don't like any type of chemical strippers.  I don't use them, unless I absolutely have to.  I always end up burning myself with it, no matter how "safe" the product says it is.  This, of course, meant that I was going to have to use a stripper on this dresser.  I sanded and sanded until I couldn't sand no more. 

I've had this dresser for at least 15 years.  it was white when I got it, and I painted it a really pretty Behr color called Scarlett Red, if I remember correctly.  Of course, I don't have any pictures of it before I started (I never do).

I started with the cabinet.  It seemed like I sanded for days, and I just wasn't making any progress.  On the top, I was at least getting through the red, but I couldn't get past a layer of white.  I finally realized why - there was a piece of laminate covering the entire top of the dresser.

 

So I used my scraper thing and a hammer and managed to get it all off.

Unfortunately, I was still having a horrible time getting the paint off the sides and front of the cabinet, and I was determined to stain this piece.

So, I pulled out the stripper - after putting down plastic and putting the dresser on my sawhorses.

I do like the way the paint looks when it's getting all bubbly, and this time, I only burned myself once - when I dropped a little bit of stripper on my foot.  The stripper did the trick, and all the paint came off very easily.  I sanded the piece down, and started staining.  I think I put four coats of stain on it, all different colors, some I mixed myself, until I got a color I liked.  I started with a coat of light cherry, and it was pretty, but a little too red - I'm really not sure what I used after that, but I know I mixed some natural with pecan and there might have been a bit of walnut in there somewhere.  I put four coats of Minwax polyurethane in satin on it, and the cabinet was good to go.

This isn't a great picture, but it's pretty close to what the color looked like before I poly'd it.

I sanded the drawers down and painted them a really pretty soft pink, but I'll post about that later and post an after picture.

My name is Amy, and I'm an addict.

I buy furniture that we don't need because I'm afraid that someone else will buy it and not see it's potential.  They might not make it as cute as I know I can.

It's a problem, I know.

Right now, there's a china cabinet sitting outside my front door.  I don't have anywhere to put it inside, and I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to "help" it, so there it sits.

Anyway, this post is about a couple chairs I scored on craigslist!  I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them when I saw them, and they turned out better than I could have imagined.

Of course, I didn't take a before picture, but these pictures were taken once the man took them all apart. 

They were in really good shape - one of them had a bit of rust, but nothing that couldn't be handled.  The lady who sold them to us said that they were going to be a project for her, but she never got around to it, so she was glad they were going somewhere they would be loved.

And love them, I do!

First, the man took them apart for me - not something I would have normally done, but he said the screws were rusted, and it would be good to get all new screws and nuts, so we did.  As it turned out, I think having them in separate pieces made this project MUCH easier.

First, I wet sanded everything down with 600 grit sandpaper that I actually got at the automotive store.  It's the first time I'd done any wet sanding, and I gotta say, that I really liked it.  It was a little messy, but what type of sanding isn't?

I spray painted the legs with rustoleum high gloss white paint and then painted the back and seat with green apple. 

The man put them back together for me, and now they live on our back patio. 

I got the rug from Pier 1 (on Mother's Day, while the kid and man slept in), the pillows from Target and the table from Home Goods.

I think they look awesome :)

a seriously terrible blogger

I found a new blog today.  It's just dandy, and once I found it, I had to start at the beginning and read all her posts.  I'm only up to October 2010, but I love her.  She's hysterical and her dog and husband are cute - not necessarily in that order.
 
I also realized something as I've been reading her blog.  My blog doesn't have to be about anything specific.  I think that it is enough that it is about me :)!  My life is awesome enough to blog about, and there's the fact  I am not motivated enough to have a DIY/house blog like John and Sherry or Marian, nor am I as interesting as Natalie, with her cute husband and adorable son.
 
I am, however, dorky enough to share things about my life that people might want to see and know, and I'm okay with that.
 
Tonight, I'm starting with my refridgerator.  It's clean!  Not just oh yeah, your fridge isn't gross - I mean clean!  I took everything out and scrubbed it and put it back.  I do want to go on record as saying my fridge is never gross, but the fact that it's clean, is awesome.  It's rare that everything in my house is clean at the same time, so I celebrate the small things.
 

 
See what I mean?  It looks awesome in there.
 
So, for now, this blog is going to just be me.  There will be posts about furniture I redo, because I do love to do that, and there will be posts about very slowly renovating our house - I'm talking snails pace, people.  Even if no one reads it, I need some sort of outlet, and I'm determined that this will be it.

Hoover Dam

Usually when we go to Las Vegas, it's just the man and I, and we're usually there for a baseball tournament, or a grown up weekend away, so it's rare that we do any real touristy things.  On this trip though, we were meeting my mom and aunt who were on their way home from a trip to Idaho.  My mom was lucky enough to get a condo for the weekend, so she invited us up to meet them.  Since we had the whole crew, we decided this was the perfect time to visit the Hoover Dam.

The man, kid and I had never been there, and I was excited to see it.  Unfortunately, on the day we decided to go, they weren't giving tours, so all we could do was wander around and take pictures. 

Jackelope!  These cute? weird? things were for sale in the gift shop.  I'm pretty sure I checked the price, but I can't remember what they were.  They were really soft, but those antlers just make them look mean to me.

The whole place has a very art deco feel, which is fitting because it was completed in the 1930s.  It's always amazing to me that something like this that is so huge and complex could be created without all of our modern conveniences.  It was awe inspiring.

I don't remember what these winged men represent, but there are two of them - one on either side of the flag that flies at the monument to the dam.

This is a close up of one of the men.

All in all, we were there for about an hour, and it cost us less then 10 dollars to park.  I know I didn't get as much out of the visit as I would have if we had been able to take the tour, but I think I'll go back.  It was definately worth it.

Viva Las Vegas!

We went to Las Vegas for the weekend a couple weeks ago and one thing I love to do is visit the atrium at the Bellagio.  They change out the display for the seasons, and in March, they were all ready for spring.  The room was covered with all types of flowers. 

These two bicycles were leaning against the fence like someone just left them there while they went to have a picnic.

There were umbrellas painted like flowers hanging from the glass cceiling and bumble bees were flying among them.

They almost always have at least one water feature of some sort and this season they had this mama swan and her two babies floating through a river . . .

 and this boat full of flowers.

If we didn't like to gamble so much, I would love to live in Vegas.  Unfortunately, I think that the man and I would never see each other, and we would end up living in our cars :(.

On this trip, we also went to the Hoover Dam. The man, kid and I had never been there and two of us really appreciated it.  One of us liked it, but didn't appreciate it as much as the other two.  She was more interested in getting to the gift shop and back to the car with her grandma.

Seriously, this stuff just happens to us!

My mom's best friend from high school had heard about the tours we take our out of town guests on, and she made it known that she wanted to go on one the next time she was in town. For some reason that day, we started in Long Beach. We never go there on our tours, but I think we decided to go to Cisco Burger, the hamburger joint owned by Jesse James. We'd been wanting to try it, and even though we were definately on Team Sandy, enough time had passed that we felt we could try it out. I hear it's a good thing we did, because their page on Yelp says that they've since closed down.

As luck would have it, as we were standing in line to order, who should walk in behind my aunt Jill, but the man himself! After we ordered, and he'd eaten, Jill asked him if he would take a picture with her sister (my mom), and he very nicely did. It seemed that he was definately a familiar face in the restaurant, not only with the staff, but the patrons in the restaurant must have been regulars, because i think we're the only ones who even batted an eye when he came in.

Here he is with my mom

And because she'd kill me if she knew I posted that picture, here's me with him.

Jill asked for one picture, and he took two. She would have had him take more, but he pointed out that she'd only asked for one picture, and he'd already taken two. Others were starting to notice what was going on, so we decided not to grab him and make him take more.

The rest of our tour was our normal trip through LA and Beverly Hills, which I'll talk more about some other time.

Grocery shopping

Last night after work, the man and I went to H-Mart, a Korean market near our house. They have so many interesting foods. We love to try new things, and often see foods in restaurants or on TV and then try to create them ourselves. Sometimes we're lucky, and sometimes we're not. Anyway, while we were at H-Mart last night, I decided to snap some pictures. I could only upload a few, so I'll probably post more of other departments another time.

This is just some of the different squash they have.

An Indian bitter melon anyone? We've never tried it, but I'm sure we will at some point. When I see things that I don't know what to do with, I either make a note of it, or take a picture of it with my phone and do some research to find out what we can do with it.

This furry squash is actually furry!

In their meat section, you can buy lots of different types of meat, already marinated.

and there are many different sides and spices to go with them, as well as different types of kimchi.

We go every couple weeks and stock up on fruits and vegetables. They also have good deals on fish and meat, but I don't know how to load more pictures yet, so those pictures will have to come later.

Amy