Refinished Farm Table

^ Bad lighting!

 The bottom part of the table is more of a creamy color and the wood isn't quite that dark! 

We were in need of a small table for our dining nook and I wanted something with character.  I found a table I really like but it was $700 and it looked like something I could have easily made myself.  I've been pretty brave lately with furniture DIY so I kept an eye on Craig's List.  I saw this table listed in my city for $100.  The hubs and I went to look at it.  It was the perfect size and came with 4 leaves to expand the length. This was nice because if we have a lot of people at the house we can pull the table out for more space. And it was solid wood, which was a requirement. So we loaded her up and took her home!

  It was a little worn, which I actually kinda liked. According to the lady we bought it from it was over 100 years old. At first I thought maybe she was just trying to sell the table, but when we got it home and looked underneath we could tell by the hardware that it is AN OLD TABLE! It needed some reinforcing as well.  It sunk in the middle but nothing that would be difficult to fix.

I needed to strip the top clear coat off of the wood before I could do anything else.  I decided to use this product and it was GREAT! I highly recommend it.  I bought it at Lowes. I recommend doing this project outside, by the way!

 I simply poured it on and smoothed it over the wood in a thin layer.

Leave it on for the directed amount of time and then use one of these flat edged tools to gently scrape it off. 

 

Here's the leaves after the first scraping.  I was a little nervous about doing another layer, although it probably wouldn't of hurt anything.  I had to sand anyway so I decided to see if sanding would get off the last little bit of varnish.

And it worked!

I wiped them off with a damp towel, allowed them to dry and painted them with a wood conditioner.

 

After they dried I was ready for the stain!  

I went with English Chestnut.

***PAINT WITH THE GRAIN OF THE WOOD!***

This is very important!

Obviously by this point it was starting to get late.  I put on a coat and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  I then went in with a lint free cloth and wiped off the excess stain.  After it dried completely, I sanded it with the electric sander, wiped it down with a damp towel, let it dry and did another round.  I ended up staining 5 rounds to get the color I wanted.  It's important to sand each time, even after your last coat of stain.

Then I was ready for the last step, a clear wood finisher.  I put on one coat, let it dry, and sanded ONE LAST TIME! I wiped it down with a damp towel, let it dry and applied the 2nd and last coat of the clear wood finisher.  I DIDN'T SAND AFTER THIS ROUND because I was done! And so happy with the way it turned out!

 I love this deep color and it has survived quite a bit of wear and tear since I stained it!

 

Like I said, this picture doesn't really do the table justice.  The white legs aren't nearly that bright of a white but more of a cream.  Also I haven't done the chairs yet! That's a project for another day! I have big plans for them that I can't wait to share with you!

Blueberry Muffins with a Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

When I think about some of my favorite flavor combinations lemons and blueberries certainly come to mind!

So when I saw my Southern Living in the mail I remembered a recipe I've been wanting to try for quite awhile that I found in SL. I had some blueberries I needed to use, and I had everything else on hand.

 As if lemons and blueberries aren't enough, throw in some cream cheese and I'm there! (Secret: I'm not actually going to be eating these, I'm sending them with the hubs and his friends to Sports Fest 2013)

Anyhow, here's what you need-

Muffins-

3 1/2 cps all purpose flour

1 cp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cps milk

1/2 cp butter, melted

2 cps fresh blueberries (or frozen)

1 Tbsp A.P. Flour

Glaze-

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 tsp lemon zest

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cps sifted powdered sugar

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

 In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and melted butter.

 Carefully mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated.

CAREFULLY coat the blueberries with 1 Tbsp flour to keep the color from bleeding into the batter.

They will look something like this.

Now carefully fold the blueberries into your batter.  

Mmmmm!  Now if you've ever made blueberry muffins from a package you might be concerned that this batter is much thicker.  Don't be! These make for a much better muffin!

This recipe makes approx 24 cupcakes so you'll need two cupcake pans and liners.

A blueberry muffin mix ain't got nothin' on these guys! 

Pop them in the 450 degree oven for 14 minutes. While you are waiting on them to bake, make the glaze!

 Now when I first read the Southern Living recipe it said to use a 3 oz package of cream cheese.  I saw the word "package" and almost dumped the whole thing in the mixer.  Don't do that.

3 oz. is just under half of this package. Come on, Southern Living. I've never seen a 3 oz package of cream cheese!

My mom got me hooked on vanilla bean paste!  I like to be able to see the little specs of vanilla bean and I swear it tastes better! You use the same amount as your would liquid extract.

 Pure Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste, 4 oz. (Google Affiliate Ad)

 

 Yes, that is a little more than 1/4 tsp of vanilla but I REALLY LOVE THE STUFF! Actually I was trying to take a picture of it pouring so you could see the consistency and it came out fast! Ooops! See the specs of vanilla bean? Love it!

I have to confess.  Southern Living says to cream the cream cheese with the mixer, add in this, then add in that...I kinda got ahead of myself and threw it all in and I didn't even sift my powdered sugar...and it still came out great! I did have to scrape the sides of the blender a few times.

 When the muffins are done baking take them out of the muffin pan and let them rest for 5-10 minutes.

While they are still warm spoon the glaze onto each muffin.

And if you're in the mood, sprinkle on some lemon zest.

And enjoy!

DIY Upholstered Headboard for $82

 

Our bedroom needed a facelift!  We had already gone through one bedroom set that we had purchased from Rooms-To-Go.  I loved the furniture.  It was a beautiful dark wood and we had lots of space in the drawers and cabinets.  After a year of getting around in our fairly large master bedroom, I realized the furniture was just too big for that space.  Don't get me wrong. The furniture FIT in the room, but it was just simply too large.  I guess I hadn't put enough thought into that when we bought it. The hubs loved the king sized bed, and I did too, but in combination with the two nightstands, the huge chest of drawers, and the entertainment center....it was just too much.  We had some friends that had been eye-ing the same set of furniture at Rooms-To-Go, and so we cut them a deal and sent it home with them!  At that point I also realized I'm not really into the whole matchy-matchy set thing anyway.  I wish I had realized this the first go round and saved the $$$!

The first project I decided to take on was the headboard. This is a very cost efficient way to do a headboard, and you can make it any way you like as far as shape, fabric choice and finishing details! I looked at quite a few blogs and came up with my own ideas about how I wanted to do this. 

Did I mention it only cost me $82!

Here's what you will need to purchase-

sheet of plywood - $8

MDF - $16

tacks - $1.50

screws (already had them)

batting - $10 w/coupon (wish I had bought two packs!)

nail head trim - $14 w/coupon

upholstery fabric - $32 on sale

 Tools-

jigsaw

measuring tape

hammer

drill

staple gun
wrapping paper
pencil

So I started out with a piece of plywood, some wrapping paper, a measuring tape and a Route 44 Diet Dr. Pepper with cherry and vanilla.  All of these are necessary for this project. Here are the measurements of the width of the mattress for each size bed...

Twin - 39"

Full - 54"

Queen - 60"

King - 76"

California King - 72"

We decided to go with a queen, which is 60", and I added 3" to each side for a headboard that will be 66" wide. I measured a piece of wrapping paper that was half of that, 33". Next I had to decide what shape I wanted to create. There are many different design shapes for a headboard.  

I wanted the first one I made to be pretty simple so I drew out this shape.

Whatever you decide to do, only draw half of that shape onto the back of the wrapping paper, cut it out and trace it onto the plywood.  MAKE SURE IT'S STRAIGHT! I used knives to make sure it didn't move. Not sure why I decided knives, but just use whatever you have on hand!

Am I making sense so far? Here's a diagram.  I am only drawing half of it so that I know each side is perfectly symmetrical!

Then I used my handy jigsaw to make the cut.

Then I placed that piece of wood that fell off as my guide for the other side.  See where this is going...

Here's my headboard shape!

Then I traced the top of my headboard shape onto the MDF. This will be nailed on top of the plywood.  I used the MDF for two reasons.  For one, I wanted to give my headboard some depth.  You don't want it to be really thin. Also I wanted nail-head trim, and it would have been difficult to get the tacks in the plywood and to STAY in the plywood without falling out! There may be a better way to do this, but this is what I went with! Cut out the MDF with the jigsaw.

I needed MDF to trim ALL SIDES of the headboard.  I attached it with 1" wood screws and my drill.

It should look something like this.  

I used my scrap plywood to make legs.  I made my legs 6" wide. I had the hubs hold the headboard up against the bedroom wall in the spot I wanted it to be and measured the distance from the bottom of the headboard to the floor.  Then I added 2' to that for the total height of my legs. (Those extra 2 ft will be screwed to the back of the headboard for stability. You could probably use less but since I wasn't sure I decided to do more than not enough. I wanted a sturdy headboard!)

Next I pulled out my tacks and hammer. This is to keep the batting in place.

I wanted my headboard to have a very "fluffy" look. One thing I would do differently is DOUBLE THE BATTING! First I filled in the hole in the middle. 

 After I covered it in batting, I took it to a clean spot on the carpet.  This is where your fabric comes in.  You have to use UPHOLSTERY FABRIC so that it is wide enough to stretch from the top to the bottom. You don't want to have to sew pieces together and have a seam going through your headboard.  I went with a cream canvas-y type material that was $8/yard! It wasn't the exact color I wanted, but it was pretty close to the Pottery Barn headboard I had been wanting (which was $1800!)

I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of this step but lay your IRONED fabric on the floor, facing down.  Lay your headboard, with the batting facing down, over the fabric.  Make sure there is a little bit of extra fabric coming out from the edge on all sides of your headboard.  Staple the fabric to the back of one of the SIDES, still making sure your fabric is around all of your edges.  Once you have stapled one side down (you should be stapling to the back, on the plywood!) go to the other side.  Make sure on this side that you are pulling the fabric very tight as you staple this side.  Then do the top, then the bottom, pulling the fabric tight as you go.  The corners can be a little tricky.  I love wrapping presents and I did the corners the same way I do presents.  Always check the corners and curved edges to make sure the fabric is laying smooth on the front side.

 I decided to do a nail head trim all the way around.  I originally bought individual trim nails. BIG MISTAKE! It's very difficult to nail them in evenly, and it would have taken FOREVER!!! I did five and decided the string of nail-head trim was a MUCH BETTER way to go.  So I went BACK to Jo Ann's and bought one pack, it was $14 with a coupon. Every five nail-heads, there is a hole for you to nail a pin to hold it in place. Genius!  I started on the bottom corner just in case I didn't have enough to go all the way around, which I didn't.  The mattress will cover the bottom of the headboard so you couldn't see the area that didn't have the trim at the bottom.  I also used a ruler to make sure the trim was 2" from the edge all the way around.  Remember this is also why I used that MDF.  It would be much more difficult to nail this trim to the plywood.

I measured the bed frame to see where to attach my legs, and I screwed the legs into the back. MAKE SURE THEY ARE EVEN! You don't want your headboard to be crooked! Then I screwed them into t the frame and I WAS DONE!

 It was a REALLY simple and easy project! Even a beginner, such as myself, could handle this project! I LOVE my headboard and have had a ton of compliments on it.  I'm excited to make another one! 

 

FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ME A COMMENT OR QUESTION IF YOU HAVE ANY! Thanks for reading! ~LG