This last week, we decided to go look at houses. We are ready to move out of our cramped quarters and to look for some studio space for our work. We don't know how soon we will be able to make it happen, but the wheels are turning!

We found this little gem at our buddy Tony's storage unit. Tony buys storage units that have been abandoned and sells the contents. Occasionally we go for a visit and see what we can pick up.

 Today we went and looked at the perfect house. It was built in the 1840s. And yes, when you imagine a house from 1840s, it really is that cool. Its way beyond what we can really afford though and still keep us in the range where I could be a stay at home mom one day.

 

 So, that means we just need to keep working away at our little items and hope for the best!

We ran outside to take these pictures the other day. Cincinnati has decided to be awesome and SNOW. It is one of those places, where you can never be too sure about the weather at any given season. You will know that there will be four seasons... You will know that the summer will be HOT and HUMID... You will know that tornadoes will come, blizzards will come, flooding will come, and glorious spring will come. 

But we are not yet sure when spring will come. Normally, it is here by now. The fat Robins say it is close. The daffodils are popping up their heads (but not actually coming out in the cold yet.)

I am ready for flowers! I am ready for warm weather! I am ready to be able to get outside to sand, paint and be creative out in the open. 

No. 85

A friend of mine was looking for a different looking entertainment center. She was going back and forth about whether or not to go for a painted piece or not. 

When I found this piece at Goodwill, it needed a lot of TLC. But, it had potential. So I sent her a picture, told her it was $20, and asked if she would be interested in it.

 

 It had character, and was structurally in pretty good shape. The handles and metal pieces were quite neat. The finish was just kinda wanting.

 

When I started to work on it, I decided I had to sand the top. At first, I thought I had probably shot myself in the foot. Being veneer, I wasn't sure if it would sand well or not. But, it was worth a try. I ended up with the two tones you can see above. The top is sanded and re-stained. The bottom has the original finish.

 The grain that showed through was absolutely beautiful!

So I sanded the whole piece and re-stained it. We had talked about how to add a pop of color to the piece, without painting the whole thing. Since she wanted to use it under her tv, the top two drawers were going to be taken out. I added wood to make a flat surface and then painted the inside to make it pop. I can't wait to see it in her house!

There are many things people can do to pieces of furniture. Some of the good, and some of them not so good. I hope that what we do can be considered good.

This is what this dresser looked like to begin with. The top had a lot of problems, and had not been taken care of.

We glazed over the paint and primer, finishing it with a protective coat of wax. I was using polyurethane to finish pieces, but for some reason, it kept having a yellow tint on the white pieces. Therefore, I changed to wax. It does a beautiful job!

This dresser had a lot of work needed to the top of it. There was a huge gash on the top, but we were able to sand it out and finish the top.

It had beautiful detailing to it, and really stood out. It took a coat of primer and then 2-3 coats of paint.

We used a tinted glaze to bring out the details so that everything would stand out! We kept all the original hardware.

 

We ended up selling it within 24 hours of posting it!