Pallet Letter Sign

I recently started seeing these circular letter signs on IG and thought I would give it a try. My dad works in a shop and is able to get pallets pretty easily. I asked him to pick up a pallet for me and I cut it apart with my Ryobi jig saw. Next, I used my Ryobi orbital sander and sanded down the boards a little bit, still leaving them with that rough pallet look. 

My next step was figuring out how to get all the boards into a perfect circle. I am still trying to master this. For this one, I laid out all the boards and then used my tape measure to measure out 10 inches from a dot I made in the center. This turned out to be a 20 inch sign. I marked this around the wood and used this as my guide to cut out the circle with my jig saw. 

After this, I printed out a very large S from Microsoft Word and used that as my stencil for the letter. It significantly helped to have all my boards numbered, I would highly recommend doing this with a light pencil mark. Next, I was trying think of how I should assemble the boards to stay together. My boyfriend introduced me to a dowel jig when he built this Restoration Hardware knockoff media console. Here are some pictures of this amazing piece he did for his living room.

So I decided to use dowels to connect these boards together with this dowel jig. If I were to make more of these signs, next time I would cut a thin piece of plywood and use my nail gun to secure these. It was a lot of work with the dowel jig. I then used a wood file to smooth out some of the edges. Here it is after I got it all assembled.

Next, I used some Minwax dark walnut stain to get a nice dark wood look for the sign. 

 

I actually really liked it with just the stain on it as well. But, I decided to go white with it. White has been my obsession lately! I used Fusion mineral paint in limestone to paint it and then some light sanding to distress it. I love how it turned out and currently have it displayed in my bedroom.

What do you all think?

Thanks for reading!
Shayla

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Table & Chairs Round Two

When I first moved into my condo, I never would have thought about re-doing a dining room set for myself. That changed quickly after I did my first desk for my place and found this love for furniture. I have a small dining room area that has become even smaller due to my buffet/dresser that I am determined to keep even though I do not have a ton of room for it. That buffet/dresser will be another blog post. Here is a little preview of it.

My first goal for this table set was ideally to find an entire set for a good price. I had been looking for about 2-3 months and was not finding anything I liked. Then, one day my furniture friend Kim had texted me that she was at Goodwill and they had a set of four matching chairs. That was a start. I was having a hard time finding a good set of four all matching chairs. Here they are!

I loved all the great character they had and wide seat base. Then my next step was the table. I did a little searching and found one from a friend that she had already painted, but never completed. It was a very cute oak pedestal table that would fit great in my little dining room. I didn't take too many pictures. but I basically sanded off all the paint for the top wood part in anticipation of Java gel stain, my favorite! I used my Ryobi orbital sander a lot. Here it is after one coat. 

I was hoping it would take darker, so I did two coats. It just was not getting as dark as I hoped, but I knew the polyurethane would darken it a bit as well. It all just really depends on the wood itself for exactly how dark it will go with Java gel stain. I did three coats in my favorite polyurethane in gloss to protect the table. I then had this fabric from Jo Ann's for the chairs. I hand painted the base of the table and all the chairs. Still need to get that sprayer, the chairs just take so much time and have so much detail. I used my favorite charcoal grey color I have found, orion grey by Behr. I used the same grey & fabric in this desk here. I absolutely love the combination.

I had used this table once for Easter and then determined it would be nice to have the ability to fit six people. So pretty soon after I finished this table, I was on the hunt for a similar table with the ability to have a leaf. You can see how packed it was with all the chairs in my tight little dining room space here. 

I just finally finished up the final touches on this table and sold it this past weekend. I did find an amazing table with leaf and a set of six matching chairs with two captain chairs that I will be redoing for myself very soon. Stay tuned for that posted!

Thanks so much for reading!

Shayla

Linked up to: House of Hipsters | Huckleberry Love | Sand & Sissal | The Crowned Goat

Thomasville End Table

I recently came across this amazing Thomasville end table at a local Goodwill. Instantly, I fell in love with the great character and detail of the piece. Then I opened up the drawer and was pleasantly surprised when I saw the Thomasville imprint. I then grabbed the entire table and brought it up to the counter with me. To say this was a heavy piece is an understatement, I would have to say at least 40lbs. It's all solid oak.

Above is a picture of it when I got it come. It was in great solid condition, it just had a few wear/water marks on the top and shelf. One of my favorite parts about furniture is preserving the wood tops, as you may notice with my pieces. I took my orbital sander to this one and sanded out most of the scratches and water marks. I then tried using General Finishes gel stain in Antique Walnut on it, but it didn't get the oak as dark as I was hoping. Bummer. Resanding and restaining did not sound all that appealing. I have been in love with my all white cedar chest that I have in my living room, so then I changed my mind and decided to go all one color with this piece. I used Country Chic's paint in vanilla frosting. One of my favorite paints! I get this paint at Harvest Home in Pewaukee, WI. Miss Mustard Seed was there just a few months ago and did a great blog post here about it. I highly recommend visiting this place if you are ever in the area. They have great home decor, clothing, and paints for the DIY'ers out there and it's in this super cute old house.

This paint usually takes about three coats to get true coverage with no streaks. I then like to sand it with 60 or 80 grit paper on the parts where I would like to distress the table. My personal preference it just to distress the details to make them come out more on the piece. This table has such great detail, it took me awhile to distress it. I then like to lightly sand with a sanding block using 220 grit to get that nice smooth feeling after. Next, I did a coat of furniture wax. My preferred method of applying this is to use an old t-shirt or lint free rags.  Here are some final pictures of my piece. I used some dried hydrangeas and this super cute box I found from H&M to stage the piece.

What do you readers think of this piece and staging? I love it and desperately tried to find a place for it in my condo. I just can't seem to find the right place for this. So it is for sale on some local Facebook groups.

Thanks so much for reading!
Shayla

Linked up to: House of Hipsters | Love Grows Wild | My Uncommon Slice of Suburpia