Our First [and only!] DIY Project

Hello! Welcome to our first and only DIY. This blog, nor our life, will never be a place to read and be inspired to transform DIY things for your home. Why? Because it's unpredictable and time consuming, potentially expensive and we plain don't like it. Also, doing it all IN your apartment sucks.

But, we bought a table of Craigslist, it was a killer deal and we really liked it, and once we started to refinish it, you can't stop til it's done. So here is about 3 months worth of sawdust, wet paintbrushes, and a cluttered apartment for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy it... it will only happen this once. 

So we wanted to invest in a table. Both Andrew and my families grew up around dining room tables that continue to stand the test of time and hold hundreds of memories of hours of families meal times. We want to replicate that in our own family, and had never really had a real table yet in our marriage. That said, in true fashion, we didn't want to pay full price for ugly urban furniture. Then this gem popped up on Craigslist: table and 6 chairs from Chile. 

COOL. 

We went to see it; the guy had imported them from Chile when he moved to Canada. They're made out of a wood that's native to South America, so will never be found in Canada. 

DOUBLE COOL. 

We knew we would have to refinish the table top, since it was pretty dinged up and had water damage. No bigs, what's a little sanding? 

Done. Cha ching!  

We started using the chairs right away, and the table top was propped up like so in various parts of our 750 square foot apartment for... oh, 2 months. We were hesitant on starting, let's just say. 

Eventually, Andrew got sick of staring at a table top instead of eating off it, and got the party started. Hmmm. Where to sand a table down when you don't have a yard or garage? Oops, never thought of that one. Onto our tiny balcony it went! And thus began 3 hours of sanding...

The owner said the original finish was clear in colour, that there was no added tint in the stain. So, once sanded, I stained that baby! Yeah! Almost done!

Lack of garage = workshop in the living room for a weekend. 

 ...NOT. Lo and behold, the original stain WAS tinted. So we had 6 dark chairs, 2 dark table legs, and a super light table top. DOOM DAY.
"Is that that noticeable?"
"Do we have to sand and refinish the legs and, good lord... the chairs??"
Yep. It was super obvious. We knew it was now or never. So what was originally a 6hr project, was about to multiply.

Twenty five hours later, [read: dozens of pieces of sandpaper, two palm sanders, a handful of curse words and a litres of dust] Andrew established his superhero status and completed sanding the last chair. Count the spindles on those suckers. One, two, a heck-of-a-LOT.

Four coats of stain on these suckers x 1.5hrs each x 6 chairs = 9hrs of staining time

... + drying time in between coats = apartment turned cluttered workshop for another week+.

GONG SHOW.

Also, I ran out of stain and, being the genious I am, threw the empty can out before purchasing a new one. I got to the paint store and was surprised... "Oh... there's different varieties of this stain brand?"

Go home, raid through the dumpster in our alley for the discarded can (illegal disposal, yes), find the can, take it to the store, purchase the same kind.

Finish staining.

Get these outta my living room!

Okay. They dried. We put 2 in storage, and the seats back on them. Ahhh. Functioning home. Have guests over for supper again. Sweep the floor and dust for the trillionth time. 

Mom and Dad came out and also gained superhero status by spearheading the reupholstering. 

Step 1 - pick a fun fabric.

Step 2 - buy a membership to Fabricland so that you can get 50% off the fabric (as if I'll be using it ever again!)

Step 3 - recruit your super detail-oriented, slight perfectionist mom to figure out a system for fitting the fabric on the trickily shaped chair seats.

Step 4 - staple gun your heart out!
[Step 5 - run out of staples.]
[Step 6 - go to the store, buy the wrong staples, go back to the store, buy the right staples.]

Slap those bad boys back on the chairs and finally, finally, FINALLY! Three months later, have a completely restored, totally solid and beautiful, colourful dining set! Praise the Lord, we never have to do this again! (knock on Chilean wood chair leg)

Table set: $200

Palm Sander: $30

Sandpaper: $30

Stain: $50

Staple gun & staples: $20

Fabric: $70

TOTAL: $400

Sanding: 28 hours

Staining: 15 hours

Reupholstering: 3 hours

Random running around the city for supplies: 3 hours

TOTAL LABOUR: 49 hours

Total time to complete project once started: 1 month

Hopeful number of years our family will eat around this table: FOREVER. 

True confession.

"The first rule of writing is, never write what you know!"
- Jo March, of Little Women

I have been absent from writing as of late. I have this tendency... it's called, well, pride. And it translates often to me not journaling or writing because I feel like I've got to have things figured out before I put it on paper, because who know who will read it. There is this other tendency... people pleasing. Gotta make everyone think I have it all together. I remember wrestling with this since I was a teenager, playing the role of Sarah-super-Christian, especially as a summer Bible camp staff member.

Sarah: who has it all together, who has to be a super example.
Sarah: who seems to regularly end up in a leadership/pastoring position of young people. And needs to set a good example and be without reproach.
Sarah: needs to DAILY let go of these expectations! GAH!

I so enjoy writing - be it in a journal, or on a blog. I've learned that I process best introvert style - writing it out, in addition to Andrew being my verbal journal. But maybe I've not let myself share the process of figuring things out lately. This is something I want to overcome and be okay with communicating, humbly, evidently, that not everything has to be figured out all the time before I communicate it. Also, this gives other people permission to not have it together.

So here's to keeping it real. Again.