Meg vs. The Bathroom: A new coat of paint.

I spent my last couple of days in Vallejo doing this, among other things. I wish I would have done this so much earlier! I think we bough the paint for it a year ago... I am so in love with this bathroom now; it makes me want to move back =).

Before: '80's peach. It almost came back in style, but not quite.

After: Cool grey. We used the same Behr Silver Drop that we used in the bedroom, but asked them to make it 50% darker than the original, so it is just a little bit more noticeably grey.

What a difference some paint makes! The only really annoying part of this job was that a little bit of the silicone caulking I did last year stayed on the wall around the shower (way to go, Meg), so of course the paint wouldn't stick and kept beading up. Finally I got desperate, and stood there and smeared the paint back and forth with my finger until it started getting tacky and dry, and what do you know? It mostly covered up the silicone. It was a small miracle, because I didn't have time to go hunt down some other product to remove or cover up the silicone.

Meg vs. the Stairs: Hiring it out!

Our friend took on the job of turning the back doors around (they used to open out over the stairs; not very safe!), framing them, and building new stairs for the sun room. They are amazing! So much better, so much safer. They even have a handrail =).

Meg vs. The Couch: My newest project.

What is under this sheet in our new living room?

John's grandmother's old couch! It is just the right color of gold to clash with the walls. Ideas are in the works...

Meg vs. The Dining Room: Chair Makeover

A while back my mom spotted these two chairs that had been abandoned in the parking lot of my sister's apartment complex. In that corner of the lot, there is a "No Dumping" sign, so of course everyone dumps their old furniture there.

They weren't the most stylish chairs to begin with, plus the seat cushions were fairly beaten up and there were several places where the finish had worn off. So my mom and I pulled off the seats and got to work staining them. We didn't have enough time to do gel stain like I used on the bathroom vanity and the bed, so after seeing this tutorial I decided to try out Minwax Polyshades. This lady uses this stuff on everything, with good results.

Like the General Finishes gel stain, Polyshades only requires minimal sanding, but unlike the gel stain it doesn't require a separate topcoat, so it really is convenient if you have a quick project. I have to say that I like the results of the gel stain a lot better--it is so much easier to apply (wipes on with a sock), while Polyshades is brushed on, and it is thin so it is very drippy if you're not really careful (particulalry on the details of these chairs). It also wouldn't dry in my mom's garage for over a day when it was kind of foggy out, so we had to put a space heater in there to get them to dry. Overall, I would recommend this product if you don't have time to do a gel stain + gel topcoat (which totals nearly 2 weeks of dry time in between coats), or if you are only going to do one piece of furniture and don't want to buy two different products.

I re-covered the chair seats with the same fabric I used for my entryway bench, and clear vinyl over that to make them easy to clean. I didn't take pictures of the process, but there are plenty of tutorials on Pinterest. It basically boils down to pulling the fabric over the seat and using a staple gun to secure it on the back.

Here they are all finished! Hopefully our renters will appreciate how much better they look.

And wanna see something kind of eerie? My mom recently saw this post on Pinterest. At first glance we both thought someone had gotten a hold of a picture of my chairs. 

I suppose great minds think alike!

Meg vs. the Bed: Refinishing done!

Three coats of finish and two layers of topcoat later, here she is. It is nice to have one project checked off. Now I just need to get the room done so I can put the bed together and see the whole thing! Also, you can see the back of the wardrobe I picked up today (a Craigslist purchase) with a great deal of help from my siblings--my sister babysat and my brother did the heavy lifting (and was mostly my bodyguard going to a strange house in Oakland. Turned out it was a small-ish middle-eastern lady, but you never know). The wardrobe will go in that room as well, and my mom is staining my old desk and bookshelf to match all of this so it will all go together. Now I just need to hunt down one more wardrobe for the second bedroom and all the furniture will be ready!

Meg vs. The Garage: New Automatic Door!

Ever since the guy came to put it in, all John and I keep saying is, "Why didn't we get this done sooner?!" I suppose the answer is just that we have too many projects on our list. But it is so nice to have, and nice that it forced us to clean out the garage before the installation =).

The night before--you can actually see the whole garage floor! And we let the contractor keep that awesome car poster.

Our pretty new door! It really highlights how badly the house needs painting.

No more old wooden door falling down. Lovely.

Meg vs. Renters: Staining a new bed.

We found renters! I have been so consumed in finding a place/finding renters/creating leases/getting the house ready that I haven't taken time to post my goings-on, but I will try to catch up a bit, since I really have been chipping away at the projects.

Anyhow, we are going to be renting the house out to three students. We realized that to compete with the rest of the housing market for local students, we need to leave the house furnished. So I have been on a Freecycle kick finding the additional things we will need to turn our little boy/baby rooms into grad student rooms. And once we move, I will be on a new Freecycle kick trying to replace everything we left behind.

I got a full-size bed for the front bedroom that has storage in the headboard and underneath, which is perfect because then I don't have to buy a separate dresser! It was a light honey maple color and pretty worn, but I was planning on leaving it as-is because, well, I didn't really have time or space to do anything about it. Then John reminded me how much better it could look if I stained it the same color as the bathroom vanity, and said that if we put that old bed in the room after re-doing all of the walls and making it look nice, it would "automatically date it ten years." So...I ordered a bigger can of stain from Amazon. Last night I put on the first coat:

And tonight the second coat:

It really does look so much better, and I think it will be a really beautiful piece of furniture, so I'm glad John talked some sense into me, even if it means I won't sleep for a few nights...

I used General Finishes Java Gel Stain (disclaimer: that is an affiliate link), and am following this tutorial from Monica Wants It, just like I did for the bathroom vanity. I love this stuff! Only a very light sanding required before you get to slap that stuff on. Just the way I like a project! Now I just need to get the room done so I can put the bed inside! It is still looking pretty scary in there, and I have less than 3 weeks to moving day. Wish me luck!