Just Like it Should Be!

The title of this post has two meanings. First, when I start a project and show it to you here on MFS, I should finish it up and show “after” pics before you forget about it altogether–which, thanks to the miracle of Memorial Day, I actually did!

Second bringing poor, abused pieces of furniture into my house and making them look like they were meant to: after a couple hours’ worth of TLC, this sad coffee table looks much, much, better–more than the $20 (0r was it $10?) we spent for it Sunday at Goodwill!

Before:

After:

Naturally, some things didn’t disappear–like that giant water ring, but look at that wood shine! It’s much, much, much better. This took 4 applications of Watco Teak Oil–look how gorgeous it is! Now for a shot of it in the living room…

It doesn’t go with the couch we currently have in here AT ALL, but I should be getting a MCM style vintage couch from my grandma’s in Illinois soon! This will look KILLER with that.

Alas, for now, we put the black coffee table back into place temporarily so it will be a more dramatic change when the couch and table both debut to the public together.

Comments?

Memorial Day Table

Last Memorial Day was eventful, we helped Doug’s parents buy a new flat screen TV–their living room is in the basement and we had to haul the broken old 5,000,000 pound old one up the stairs… it took four of us, but we did it!

This Memorial Day we’re enjoying the fact that we’re both 100% obligation free for the first time in months. No work, no church, no nothin’. We’re going to tackle a project but take it leisurely–we have all day after all!

We picked up this beauty at Goodwill yesterday and it’s going to be our “training wheels” project for wood restoration. I decided I didn’t want to tackle our reupholstered chairs for my first project because I like them too much and don’t want to mess up. So we got all the stuff we need and today’s the day. I’ll show you how it turns out, for better or for worse!

Here’s the top:

I’m hoping for some dramatic improvements. If not, we could always paint the recessed part a bold color and seal it. (Actually, it would be cool to paint that section and then “dip” the legs in a matching or contrasting color).

Now after a good bout with Murphy’s Oil Soap:

We’re going places already. We have this kind of Murphy’s… we diluted it as per instructions and filled up an old spray bottle–so handy!

Now off to sand, oil, and wax! We’ll see how we do!

25 Reasons to Clean House

image from PuyoDead on Flickr
  1. Cleaning releases endorphins.
  2. Cable went out.
  3. Mother in law’s coming to visit.
  4. Mother’s coming to visit.
  5. Baby-proofing (or puppy-proofing for that matter).
  6. Throwing a party.
  7. Just threw a party.
  8. Trying to sell your house.
  9. Moving.
  10. (In college) a big paper’s due soon.
  11. “Getting anger out” cleaning.
  12. Spring cleaning.
  13. New Year’s Resolution cleaning.
  14. Gotta try out a new cleaning product.
  15. Time to shoot “after” pics for your blog (hehe).
  16. House-guests coming to visit.
  17. Trying to convince your husband to let you buy new decor items.
  18. Realized your house has had the same “look” for 5 years.
  19. Look around and realize you can’t remember last time you vacuumed.
  20. Trying to impress boyfriend/girlfriend (gotta keep the “perfect” facade up as long as possible!).
  21. (In college) dorm inspections.
  22. OCD.
  23. Cleaning reduces allergies.
  24. Starring on an episode of an HGTV show.
  25. Family staged an intervention.
As for me, I’m heading off to start on #5 (we’re babysitting our nephew and niece this evening).
Got any more reasons? I’d love to be able to hit 50!!