Refinishing A Dining Table

Hi guys! I know it's been ages since I last posted (seriously...like, four years) but I decided it was time to bring the blog back to life. A few years, a move out of my high-rise, and several life changes later, I'm back to DIY-ing and doing the things I love most!

The current project I'm working on is a tough one. My boyfriend, Ryan, received a really beautiful mission-style dining table from his parents when he was in college, but some of the finish was worn off due to a leak in his storage unit. We didn't realize that was the case until we got it moved into our apartment, but c'est la vie! After trying to strategically hide the damage with my sad attempts at styling, I finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and refinish the damn thing.  Little did I know how much work that was going to be...


Here is a photo of the table before I began working on it. The wood and construction of the table are great, but I was never a huge fan of the stain color.

Before! You can see some of the damage on the left side of the table.

And here are a couple of "in progress" photos! I have been using Citristrip to remove the varnish and stain. It says it's safe for indoor use, but I've been working outside because the smell got to me after working so closely with it. I was amazed at how quickly Citristrip worked- I was anticipating having to scrub and scrape the stain off for hours, but I left it on the wood for about an hour and it came off SUPER easily with a paint scraper!

Left side- stripped. Such a huge difference!

After getting (most of) the stain off, I sanded it. Easily the most annoying part. Dust. Everywhere.

After sanding.

While Ryan and I haven't 100% decided what color we I will stain it after everything is prepped, I'm leaning more towards a walnut finish- something about dark wood always looks really sleek and clean to me. I'm also trying to be forward thinking and try to consider what would look best in a house with the rest of our furniture once we purchase one. White walls + dark wood = major heart eyes. 

Another thing we're working on is reupholstering the cushions for the chairs. They're currently a beige chenille fabric (my worst nightmare) but of course, I'm leaning towards a grey. Ryan's been much more opinionated on the fabric type/pattern than I anticipated, but I think I can convince him that I know what I'm doing ;) 

 

More updates coming as I work on this piece! Hoping to get a couple more chairs done over the long weekend, but at the rate I'm currently going, this may end up being a Christmas present to us both. Sorry, babe.


Natalie

A Mid Century Couch / Before & After

Hey y'all! I have some news...


MY COUCH. IS. DONE.

Finally. My parents and I finished reupholstering it and reassembling it at my apartment last weekend and it is beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a better piece for my place.


So, if you all don't remember what it looked like before we ripped it to shreds...here's a terrible Instagram photo...

Ahh, there it is. Obnoxiously colored and terribly, terribly itchy.

And here it is now, after several weeks of very hard work.

Not so accidental sneak peek of what my living room looks like... ;)

Mixing textures.

Cute little bun feet my parents found at Home Depot. Love the natural wood!

Tada! She is PERFECT. I've always wanted a light and airy living space, so my mom and I picked out this light grey herringbone fabric from Joann's. Totally nailed the exact look I was going for!

Considering this was my first time reupholstering anything, I'd say I did a pretty good job, with the help of my mom and dad, of course. Mom's practically a pro now! While I am still on the hunt for another throw pillow for my couch, I'm very happy with how it looks right now. I keep having to remind myself that style is a constant process and not something I can just throw together all at once.

And while I'm at it...here's another new addition to my apartment!

While my parents went on a road trip without me (I'm still a little bitter...), they surprised me and picked this guy up for me on the way home! I knew exactly where I wanted to hang it the second I got it to my place. I'd wanted some type of skull for decor purposes for months now so this was a totally awesome surprise. Thanks, mom and dad!

That's about it for now. I'm working on DIYing and buying a few more decor pieces before I feel comfortable giving a full tour, so hopefully this will tide you guys over for now. I'm stoked on my progress so far as I've only been here for two months now, but I can't wait to see what it looks like in two more months!

Natalie

Apartment Updates & Projects with mom

Hey y'all! It's been a minute since I've last given you guys an update on how my apartment is coming along so...here is what I have been working on!

As most of you have seen on my Facebook, I've been working on reupholstering a midcentury couch with my mom. It actually belonged to my best friend's grandmother, who was also like a grandmother to me. So not only is it the style I love, it also has some history behind it. 

I'll apologize in advance as I only managed to take iPhone photos of the entire process (what kind of photographer am I?!) but here is what it looked like originally. 

Beautiful shape, not so beautiful tweed. Not to mention it was extremely itchy. 

After a very brief search for new fabric, I decided on a light grey herringbone, trying to stay true to the time period but with a modern twist to it. 

I had never reupholstered anything before but my mom had done a few of our couches in the past. It's something I've always wanted to learn how to do as I love working with my hands and making things, and it's also just a good idea to continue learning new skills to exercise your brain! 

It took us several weeks to actually get the damn thing stripped. My mom and I are both busy bees, she definitely more than I, so it took a lot longer than it would have if we just sat down for a weekend and worked straight through it. 

I severely underestimated how long it would take and how much work it would be to remove the existing fabric. Not to mention you can't just rip the fabric apart; you have to keep the pieces intact so you can use them as a pattern for the new fabric. Otherwise your new upholstery is going to look lumpy and terrible and all of your hard work would go straight to shit. 

I thought we would never finish it. But alas...

We did it! Totally stripped to the bare bones. After seeing how simply couches are framed and put together, it almost pissed me off knowing how much people spend on them. 

So, after getting this babe ripped apart, my mom and I immediately started to cut the new fabric and lining out. Once that's done, the fun begins! 

My mom did all of the sewing and I helped with the manpower in the stapling. It's surprisingly fun! 

This is the progress my mom and I have made as of this week. She has been a tremendous help as I would likely never be able to do this on my own. All we have left now is the back panel and the cushions, and I'll finally have my first custom piece done! 

Natalie 

Moving: A fresh start

In my last post, I broke the news to you guys that I was moving...and I finally did! I've been in my new place for a few weeks now and I love it. Living in a downtown area is possibly the greatest thing you could experience because almost everything you need is within walking distance; i.e. I was able to walk to the movie theater last night to go see 22 Jump Street with a couple girl friends. I've wanted to live in this area my entire life and now I'm finally able to. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting to this point in my life.

Though I've been in my apartment for awhile, I don't exactly have it the way I want it (aka perfect) so I've been hesitant to do a post on it. My couch is still in the process of being reupholstered and I have next to nothing as far as decor goes, but I almost prefer that, I think. I like super light spaces with minimal decor and minimal furniture. After living in Denton and realizing how much stuff I had accumulated over the 4 years I was in that apartment, I've made a conscious effort to clean out my clutter and bring as little as possible to my new place. I'm very much preferring how I am living now.

All that said, I've had several friends ask me how my apartment is coming and how I'm liking it, so here are a few photos to tide you over until I've got it exactly how I want it.

 Enjoy!

Natalie

Fresh flowers from a neighbor.

One of my future projects...it'll be blue velvet. Eventually. 

Still one of my favorite estate sale finds.

Early birthday celebrations...

I'm officially 23, you guys! I am overwhelmed with the amount of birthday love I've received so far, so thank you all.

This past weekend, I spent most of my time with my parents. My dad and I both had work at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, along with several of my photography friends in Parallax, so it was great catching up with everyone at the reception on Friday night. I spent my Saturday in the Bishop Arts District and I'm taking a second to kick myself for not going there sooner...it's adorable! I had an early birthday lunch at Eno's Pizza with my parents and pie from Emporium Pies for dessert. I decided to ditch the birthday cake idea this year and go with something less traditional, so I picked up a whole pie from Emporium, too...

Take-home boxes for leftover pie. How precious is that?!

I ordered the Smooth Operator, which is a French silk pie with a pretzel crust. It was more of like a fudge consistency rather than traditional French silk, but I happily ate it anyway. And yes, it was as tasty as it was beautiful.

Sunday afternoon, I made another dessert (hey, your birthday only comes once a year!) for coworkers and some friends. Whoever decided to invent Angry Orchard cupcakes, can we get married? I've never been much of a beer fan, but cider is my absolute favorite, especially when it's mixed with baked goods. I think my favorite part was the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Yum!

Obsessed with my mom's sugar & flour canisters.

These two usually try to "help" me bake, but they behaved...for once ;)

Okay, so they don't look fabulous (this isn't Cake Boss...), but they tasted SO good. I'd definitely make them again. I got the recipe from here, if you are interested!

Easy to say, I had a pretty great start to my birthday week, and more great things will be coming later as I have a few more things happening with some of my favorite people. Next week, I'll be doing a focus on some of my favorite vintage finds, some of which are in this post already ;)

Thank you all again for the lovely birthday wishes! 

Natalie