Coffee table with trundle

So this weekend we put a coat of polycrilic on the coffee table and I think it is ready to come inside.
I decided to write this post so I can go back to www.ana-white.com and write my brag post.

I am pretty happy with the results and although it is FAR from perfect, it is not too bad for being my second project only (the first one was the ladder shelving unit for the bathroom, I will make a post for it too).

So I got inspired when I first saw the Apothecary coffee table. I wanted one just like it.
Well, it did not turn out the way I wanted, but I am not too sad about my own results. First I did not own a Kreg Jig, so I had to do with what I had. I did buy a Kreg since, but have not used it yet.
Second, I don't know how, but the drawer faces did not fit the way the ones on her picture did:

Mine just did not fit like that and I would have had to redo the math. Honestly, I just did not want to do all that.

Second, I made a mistake on picking the stain for the top. At first I wanted something very rustic, to look almost beach-y. I even thought about using rope as a handle for the trundle. I even bought the rope. In my had it looked AWESOME. Like something you would see in a ship! But after I applied the stain... :( My stain was WAY too dark. And WAY too formal to be beach-y. Next time I test a stain I will make sure I do it right. So the stain I used was Miniwax Mission Oak Polyshade - it comes with the varnish.

So after I put the whole thing together and stained the top, I decided to use Antique White from Glidden for the base and trundle. Then I sanded it to age the paint and show the corners.

Than I used some stain (just stain, with no poly with it) to stain the wood showing from sanding and to distress the paint to. So I put a coat of Miniwax Provincial and wiped it out with a damp paper towel. Then did the same with a Red Mahogany and back with Provincial. It was a lot of work, I ended up hurting my shoulder! Then came back with the sander and sanded some more of that off to show back some of the paint.
And I also stained the inside with the Mission Oak.

Then just a coat of Polycrilic.

I still haven't decided on what handles to use. I need something old and big enough.

So it is not the same, but I like it. And I learned while making it!

Start

I am starting this blog with hope that I will 1) follow through with it; 2) be able to share with myself and other the ups and downs of motherhood and its challenges; 3) keep track of my journey back to myself.

There's a lot to learn, but we have to start somewhere. I am the forever planner and like to always have a plan before starting something and of course that is what it boils down to: I plan, plan, plan and do not execute too much. Or too well.

And goes for a lot of things in my life. Like a diet. I need a plan. So I research, download exercise programs, need to buy the right shoes, find the right equipment, buy the right groceries. Weeks go by and I could have lost quite a few pounds if I had just started it right there and then.

So I am trying to change things around and become more of a doer and less than a planner.

The diet is well on its way: I have lost almost 40 pounds in 9 months, since having baby Marina. Still have more to lose, but 40 pounds is not too shabby.

The house is a mess and with 3 little kids (3 under 3 anyone?) but I am surviving and slowly but surely I am making the house our home, one little project at a time (ok, maybe I do start more than one project at a time, but I have finished a few and that is not too bad either).

So I will try to get this going and learn more about how to make this blog look like what I want it to look like.