I have table woes. One of the only pieces of furniture in this whole entire house that was purchased new, has failed me.
Am I shocked? Not really.
Am I resentful? Absolutely.
Our dining room table was bought on sale at Pottery Barn, and I think I know why the clearance price was so good. The finish has the life span of a fly. It’s called Sandrift Gray and it started chipping only 6 months after we got it. Now, this is what we see all over…little nicks and chips.
I contacted Pottery Barn right away when the first nicks appeared to see if they sold a touch up kit or something that would match the finish…NO. So now I throw a canvas dropcloth over it if I have guests coming because it’s at the point now where it’s just looking…shabby.
I love the lines…I wanted a Parson’s table, and still do, plus it has a leaf, so that we can seat 10-12 for special occasions. I want to fix the table finish, but how? The “finish” is textured, as you might be able to tell in the photos. Because of that, an opaque paint color might highlight the chips in the texture. If I did some kind of overglaze, would that be enough to hide it? I don’t know that I have it in me to sand off the finish completely and start over…but it’s a last ditch option. I tried a silver paint pen on one spot that I promptly wiped off…sigh.
This will be a big project either way and I’m open to suggestions on how to hide these blemishes…I don’t want to have to live with tablecloths forever.
I know….some of you can excuse yourselves to go throw up while I discuss my metamorphosis into a Trendy Mindy. Don’t forget to brush your teeth.
Still here? OK, well last year’s CSA gave us fresh eggs on a weekly basis, and we desperately miss them. We opted against the CSA this year after our 9th week in a row of zucchini exclusive boxes brought the entire family to tears. The Things were begging for it to STOP. “Can’t we just compost them? I can’t eat them anymore!!! I’m even sick of the fritters!!” I digress….
Eggs. We can go to the farmers market and get them, but some weeks I just can’t get there. We’ve got a few friends who have been keeping them and we are fascinated. Replacing our beloved pooch doesn’t seem likely, and a pet with such a tasty habit might be nice?
So many beautifully designed coops out there! If money were no object and we weren’t planning to build it ourselves…then these might dot our landscape.
So why am I talking about chickens anyway?! Don’t I have the interior of a treehouse to paint now that the temps are cooling? Why, yes. But finishing up pesky details isn’t nearly as much fun as planning something new, that may, or may not, ever happen.
August 24 UPDATE: Oh my GAWD..I just saw Karen’s coop over at The Art of Doing Stuff…and that is the mac damn daddy of all coops…..go check it here!
Here’s what I think I want to do with the CC’s new cement mixer. The area known in the past as the ugly poor man’s patio, will be an oasis of concrete circles, like Jenn Ski did here.
The Minors have been very patient. We thought we could get this going last summer, but the siding took so much longer than planned, and then the rains came, and came…..and next thing we knew, that window of opportunity had closed.
No worries though. The delay actually worked out well, because we saved all the good lumber when we rebuilt the front steps and back deck, so now we have a nice cache of salvaged materials to recycle.
We’ve been sketching out ideas for a year now…and we keep changing our minds/design!
My dad built me a treehouse when I was a kid…and spending the night out there with my friends, in our sleeping bags, with popcorn and flashlights was a seriously wonderful thing. I want that for them!
The roof/screening aspect is important for being able to hang out for sleepovers. The bugs here are too plentiful to sleep out in the open. (Remember Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever?!)
We (currently) think the best spot is to the left of the trail we made last year.
The bottom level will be accessible from the bottom of the trail, and the top level will be entered at the top of the trail.
So now, we just need to finish with all that staining, dirt and gravel so we can get started. Phew.
Because you know what I’m like..I’m already planning another project before I’ve finished the ten I’m currently working on. Today may be rainy and cold, but the glorious Saturday that had us all out and lovin’ life, also had mosquitoes. ALREADY. I thought the harsher than usual winter would give us more time….but NOOOOOOOOO.
We needs bats. Last year, the bloodsuckers got so bad I had to take some (technically illegal) action on the adjacent parkland. There is a spillway that fills up in spring and becomes a stagnant mother of all breeding grounds. It’s about 100 yards back in the woods from the mailbox, and last spring, while getting the mail, I was seriously swarmed. I trotted out to the Depot immediately and bought a supersize pack of those floaters that kill the mosquito larvae and hiked back through there and hurled all of them in the “pond”. That seemed to help, and I replenished again before summer dried out the area. We can do better.
If we build it, will they come? I’ve found some good info here and here, and I think we can make a good looking bat house or 2 in a weekend…no? I wonder if it’s better to have many smaller houses or one Batmansion like this?
photo via batroost.com
This pitifully plain looking thing can hold 300 bats and comes in a kit for $95. Ouch!
If we really want to freak out the neighbors…and our own children for that matter….we can make one of these…..
A naval officer built this shrine to bats in Iraq. Impressive.
Now this is what I call a wee bit extreme….
photo via ecotality
In the end…I envision a dark stained simple bat house…like so…
photo via bsdhome
If successful, we can build more. Apparently there are about 15 species of bat living in this state, so which ones actually come will be interesting to see. Their poo/guano can be used as fertilizer, but we’ll see about that. They may be nasty looking things, but anything that can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes an hour will be my new best friend.
The new springlike weather has us trying to grab every dry and warm moment to spiffy up all the outdoor furniture. I still have some more sandblasting to do, and some additional coats of paint on other pieces….but that’s what happens when every single piece you own is scavenged and worn.
I hope I don’t regret this, but I decided to hit my faux Salterini hoop chairs with a splash of orange. All the other pieces are getting painted a dark bronze, and these needed something special.
Speaking of hoop chairs….On the copycat front….The new CB2 Igloo is certainly more affordable than those Acapulco chairs I’ve been wanting. While certainly not as groovy, these could work. Has anyone sat in them yet? What’s the verdict? No CB2 store in Nashvegas, so no test drive available for me. $149 v. $400.
