new facet for master bath!

When you don't have a handy man, you have to either {learn} do it on your own or {pay} have someone else do it!  So, when I bought my house and moved in - in March 2007...there were a few things I wanted to do, but some got put on the "Get To Later List".  This facet thing, was one of those.  Okay...in reality, I bought the facet a year ago...and if just now got put together.  :)  I love it!  So old fashioned, matches my hardware and is just a nice touch.  Don't make comments about my enamel chipped sink (I excluded that part in the picture - hahahahahahah)...you know I like vintage things, so that is gonna stay...plus you know, I can't replace everything, you have to pick and choose!


Old:

old gotta go facet

New:

lovely new facet

Old Chair - idea from PB

Pottery Barn Bed & Bath
early Fall 2010

If you are following my project, you know that this has been a long process and I have been seeking your opinion and am still trying to decide on some of the aspects of it. 

I got an email from a friend last Saturday that had just received her Pottery Barn catalogue and she saw several things that looked like me...either things I have recently in the last year done around my house (voile dust ruffle on my bed last spring and two weeks ago pleated smocked voile curtains in my bedroom) or am in the process of doing (my chair).  Well, I got my copy of the Pottery Barn catalogue this week on Tuesday and I brought it to work to review over my lunch break the next day.  This chair inspired me, just as it did my friend, as some of its style is similar to what I am working on in my redo process of my Old Chair. 

What do you think of this compared to my last post in relationship to the wood stain color and the fabric?  Should I change from the stain I was going to use or proceed?  The wood on my chair is a hardwood, so it won't soak up the color as much as a soft wood wood.  I also wanted a bit of a contrast between the fabric and the stain, so that is one reason I picked a darker color.  I may make a trip to go look at fabric again and see if something else jumps out at me...but if I am still drawn to the same things, then I plan to go with my original stain purchase and hopefully will get that this weekend.  Maybe once that is done I will know what color fabric I want of the 4 top choices I have in the running right now. 

As always...give me your thoughts! 

Old Chair - still in process

yes, in process...it is a LONG process, largely since I work so many hours and have little "me" time.  I am still working on my Old Chair that I am in process of doing a complete redo on (check the link above for the original post if you missed it)...

I sanded for hours and hours this last Saturday, working on those hard areas that the stripper didn't get to or do a very good job on...you know, the corners, underside of the arms, the arm posts, etc...yah...lots of hard effort and it was hot!  I must tell you what I did to manage the heat though...I spent some time in the pool and decided to stay in my swimsuit while I worked on my chair in the garage with the garage door up just a portion to create air flow.  I periodically would go cool off in the pool and then come back dripping in my wet swimsuit and work some more.  It felt so good!!!!!!!  It kept me working probably much longer than I otherwise would have in one setting.  Boy was I exhausted after the day was done! 

I am getting much closer to moving to the next phase, so now I need votes and oppinions from you...which of the 4 swatches below to you like???  The colorings are close, not exact, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what I am contemplating right now. 

Clockwise -  #1 linen;  #2 dark tweed;  #3 cream & tan check;  #4 light tweed

I have 2 that I am leaning towards of the above 4...can you guess which 2???  Please tell me which one you are drawn to!  Help me decide...

To help you invision my chair with the fabric, here is what I bought this past Saturday, "Jacobean" Minwax stain...it was on sale 30% off! oh yah, perfect timing!  I think it looks a bit more brown here then the sample in the store, but who knows for sure how accurate it is!

Give me your vote!

Old Chair - in process of complete redo

I got this chair at a flea market sale...probably at least 8years ago (or more) for $5!!!  I think the style is very cute and I knew it couldn't be that hard to fix up.  When I first bought it, I attempted to paint it black, but I didn't do a very good job as it didn't apply well to what was already on it and I wasn't impressed with the black color because it ended up looking more like dark grey.  So it got stuffed in the attic for "another day".  I decided it as time to either do something with this chair or sell it at my next garage sale.  In my quest to use up, clean out and fix up, I decided I would fix it up. 

Last night, I bought stripper, two types of gloves, a plastic stripping tool and got to work.  This was my 1st time to ever use stripper and after using it, I have mixed feelings about it.  I am allergic to latex, so I was worried about the gloves causing me an allergic reaction.  Secondly, I wasn't sure how "easy" this whole process was going to be.  It seems a lot of these types of things are portrayed as taking very little time and so easy to do, but in reality, it is rarely that way.  I decided to launch into this project full force after getting home from work at 8.30pm.  Well, I wasn't even 2 minutes into it when my fingers and hands were on fire in the thin latex free gloves.  I am not sure if it was the chemical reaction to the product or something else, but after 10minutes of trying to apply the stripper with the gloves on, something had to go.  So I ditched the gloves.  That was a mistake also...I got some flecks of stripper on my hands when I was brushing and it was like I had stuck my hands in an ant pile...they were on major fire and itched like crazy!  I relented to opening the other set of gloves, the heavier latex gloves I was trying to avoid using.  These gloves seemed to do a better job, but  by the end of the project, my hands had the heat issue going on again and the fingers were sticking together because of getting stripper on them.  They went straight into the trash.  In some areas the stripper removed the paint and grim quiet nicely, in others it dried to quickly for me to get off.  I attempted to use a paper towel to get at these areas, mistake.  The paper product just stuck to the goop.  The whole process took like two hours between applying, removing and cleaning up the mess.  These photos are right after the stripper was applied when I was waiting my "15minutes": 

Would I recommend using stripper?  Yes, if you have a think amount of paint you are trying to remove and sanding won't accomplish or will simply take too much time; BUT be aware of the other complications. 
Warning: it is a VERY messy process and the products hurt like mad when in contact with your skin. 
Suggestion: have two or three sets of heavy gloves so that you can complete the project without extra hassle over it.  Also put something (not plastic as the stripper will eat straight through it) on the ground so you don't have mess on the floor in your garage to try to clean up later. 

I meant to take pictures after the stripping process before sanding, but I was in such a hurry to get started when I got home from work today that I didn't so you will just have to imagine it.

I am not done with the sanding, but I am getting close...I need to do the underneath sides of the arms, the bottom of the chair, a few corners and the posts to the arms.

Now I need help...suggestions please???  stain the wood or paint it?  Since I was able to get so much of the paint grim off, I am thinking about doing a dark stain.  Any thoughts?  And no, I have not picked out any fabric yet for the "cushion/seat area".  The chair will either go in my bedroom or the living room...just depends on what I find - maybe I'll even find it in my fabric stash.  I want it to be versatile and interchangeable between rooms.  I am open to your ideas...so send them my way! And THANKS in advance for the comments...

My 1st House

January 5th, 2007, I received an email from Jennifer telling me that her and Brent had gone to look at this really neat house and...

"Would you be interested in a 3 bedroom....open kitchen, dining and living room with a pool and a spa? It is on the market for 85,000, just reduced from 104,000. It is a HUD foreclosure. Cute house, but people did some weird things to it. Nothing a little paint and time couldn't fix. Realtor said that she sold a house in that neighborhood for 92,000 and it did not have a pool, so you should be able to get at least that much out of it. It is right off of Alsbury and Summercrest in the newer homes.....opposite side of Sylvia. Home was built in the 80's. It is such a good deal...."


Well, I love to look at houses, find it fun to see the layout and get ideas...so things took off from there. I called a realtor off the internet on Friday night to set up a time on Saturday to see it. I looked at the house Saturday morning with this really blah realtor that didn't answer a lot of my questions, and found it real cute, but the problem was, I had a place to rent and to live and didn't "need" this house, so now what? I went home and talked to Jeff, he thought it a grand deal and said I should put a bid on it, and no he didn't think he needed to go see it since Brent had. I then had to get in gear fast as bidding closed on this Hud Home Sunday night, January 7th, 2007 at midnight. I contacted a company to get perqualified and then started working with getting a loan, the house inspected, and all that kinda thing. I looked at the house again on Sunday with the realtor that Jennifer has used, this time along with RuthAnn at about 2pm after meeting. RuthAnn was so excited and kept saying "Misty this is just a house for you, it screams, I am Misty's"...it was too funny! We headed to Shelley Green's office and filled out paperwork and I made my bid, a little higher than my original plans but still less than asking price...so I went for it with anticipation that I probably would loose but the learning and experience was fun! The rest of the day, I couldn't help but wonder what my happen next. The next day, Monday, January 8th, 2007 at about 10.30ish, Shelley called me to tell me that I was the top bid of four bids and that the home was mine! WOW!!! My life had changed, I was a home owner in the makings!

*these photos are the ones that were on the website prior to my ownership*