Wordless Wednesday

Thanks for reading,

Save My Sofa

At my house someone is almost always on the couch.   Frequently it is the four legged members of the family.  That’s the main reason we purchased these two leather sofas when we moved to this house almost 7 years ago.

Sometimes it is both the two legged and four legged members at the same time.  Sometimes it is all three dogs at once.

Add all that use to a super dry climate and this is what you end up with.

We had never owned leather furniture before so when the instructions that came with the sofas said to use the conditioner once a week I figured they were just trying to sell their products.  I used it twice in the first year.  And the leather looked fine.

But after six years the couches started looking really worn.  And very dry.  Uh oh!  I should have followed the instructions. 

But I didn’t and now what was I to do.  I tried a handful of '”leather” conditioners but none of them made a big difference in the way the leather looked even after a ton of rubbing and buffing.  And the scratches were still really visible.

So I decided to try shoe polish.  Leather is leather right.

So I picked up this shoe polish from Kiwi at the grocery store.  And that covered the scratches and didn’t come off on  clothes when we sat on it.  But the leather still looked dry and weathered. After rummaging around in my cleaning supply closet I found a spray leather conditioner that is meant for car interiors.  It was sooooo much easier to use than the paste products I had tried before.

And this combo works great!  We try to use the spray leather care once a week to keep it looking good.

Now the sofas have that soft worn look that I love and everyone is happy.

Thanks for reading,

Traci

I will be partying at these great sites:

My New Header Is Finally Done

Thank goodness I have finally finished my new logo and blog header.  If it had taken any more time I would be bald because this project has had me pulling my hair out.

It went through a few versions.  Some better than others.

This little header was just too juvinal.

This little header was just too plain.

This little header just didn't look very balanced.

And this little header cried wee wee all the way to the top of the blog.





Making your own logo and header is not for the faint of heart.  It took me hours,  a lot of research, tons of patience.  But what it didn't cost me was a single cent.

And not only did a get a new personalized logo and header but I gained a lot of confidence and a few new hot skills.
Thanks for reading,

A Whole Lota Changes Going On

If you are a frequent visitor to the “dog house” you may have noticed that I have been changing a few things.  In fact probably too many changes but I will write about that later.  For now I just want to share what I have been working on behind the scenes.

First and foremost I have been creating a new logo.

After researching the options I decided to create my own logo from scratch.  Not an easy task as I soon found out.  But since my budget was practically nonexistent and I wanted to own all the rights to the logo it was worth the effort. 

I started the process by taking a few pictures.

Getting my dogs to “pose” for a single picture is like herding cats so my handsome hubby helped out by offering treats to my “models”.

Then I used PhotoShop Elements to cut out the image and turn it into a silhouette.   This was a ton harder than that it sounds.  I am not sure I am a fan of PhotoShop.

Then I arranged my three dogs, gave them red collars and red heart tags and voila I have a new logo.  I am still working on the final design of my blog header but it should make its debut soon.

Thanks for reading,

Traci

Would I Make A Good Stripper?

No not that kind of stripper, but I still better keep my day job.
This Fall my daughter announced that she didn’t want any more painted furniture, it just chips way too easily went she moves. I suggested that she wrap her furniture more carefully during her next move. Nope, she wants only stained furniture from now on.

She needs a new end table so I picked up this beauty at my favorite GW for $8.95.  She was in great shape except for the finish on the top.  Of course daughter wants a darker stain.  So what is a mom to do.  Strip.
The last time I stripped a piece of furniture was 30 years ago.  I absolutely hated the chemicals needed to cut through the finish and I was positive I was killing brain cells with inch I scraped off.  The chemicals made my hands tingle even through the chemical gloves. 
But since I needed to strip once again I wanted a less toxic stripper.  I chose Lift Off Paint & Varnish Remover.

Why both the glasses and safety glasses?

Because the directions were in such tiny print.

So I poured on the Lift Off and let it sit.  The gel had no smell of its own but as it started working it seemed to let off a slight odor that I thought might be from the old finish.

And the scraping began!  I did wear gloves as directed, no tingling this time.  I did get a bit on my arm a few times but it was not a problem, no irritation at all.  My only problem was that it is so dry here that the gel was drying before it could work on the finish.

It only removed a small amount of the finish with each coat.  At this rate I was afraid I would still be scraping away at this in June.

So I began brushing on the gel and covering it with plastic kitchen wrap.  This was much better and I started making progress but it did take several coats to remove all the finish.

And here she is stripped of all her finish.  Hopefully I can start sanding her this week.
Would I use this project again?  Maybe.  I have one more project coming up that requires removing the finish so I may try another stripper.  After all this is my only experience with non-brain cell killing strippers but this definitely a better than the chemical strippers from 30 years ago.
Do you have a favorite finish remover? 
I have big plans for this beauty so if you are not a follower already wander over to the sidebar and start following.
Thanks for reading ,
Traci

I will be linking up to these parties:

Furniture Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

My First Finished Project of the Year

I am rarely the first one to try something, I spend too much time researching products and techniques to be one of the first few on the bandwagon but even I am surprised by how long it took me to give ASCP a try especially at $38 a quart.
But after much contemplation I ordered a quart and went to work on this table for my dining room.  

And I love how it turned out.  However the jury is still out on whether this paint is worth the $38 plus shipping.  I liked the way it went on with out a primer but it needed 3 or 4 coats.  Since there were no paint odors I was able to paint the base of the table indoors which was a real bonus.  But I do like the finish and I really enjoyed the waxing process.   My husband kept repeating “The Karate Kid” line “wax on, wax off” which always makes me laugh.

I think that this is probably a sofa table but I knew it would fit in this little nook in the dining room when I spied it at my local Salvation Army Store.  Even though it was oak it has the same lines and legs as my Queen Anne style dining room table.   I was going to paint the entire table until I saw all of the beautiful furniture that Christa at Stories of a Home has redone with dark stained tops.

I was hoping that I could use gel stain to go right over the original finish but I couldn’t get it as dark as I wanted so I removed the top and took it outside and sanded, and sanded and sanded the top until I got to bare wood.  Then I used 3 coats of the gel stain until it was dark enough.  I’m glad I took the time to do it right because it turned out beautifully.



I love the graceful legs painted white and aged with the dark glaze against the new wood floors.
Thanks for reading,


I will be linking up to these great parties:
Domestically Speaking - Power of Paint
Primitive and Proper - Piece of Work Wednesday
Coastal Charm - Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/2012/02/frugalicious-friday-giveawayshabby.html

The Pants Project - Week 3

Hopefully you all have been waiting for the second installment of the Pants Project. And no you did not miss Week 2, I did.

My husband/personal photographer was out of town and I just did not want to ask my 21 year old son to take a photo of me trying to squeeze into these pants. No telling what emotional damage that might do.

But the husband is home and here I am squeezing into my Liz Claiborne jeans.


Look at that shocked expression on my face!

I was actually able to pull the pants up onto my hips.

Look, my butt is no longer hanging out the back like it was in week 1.

And the waist is only about an inch and half from buttoning.

But the real question is, did this post help me avoid downing the contents of the open bag of M&M’s in my pantry?






You bet it helped. Big time. As of last Monday I have lost 13 lbs. plus what ever I lost this week.

Week 1

     

Week 3

I hope I have inspired some of you because you ladies are always inspiring me. We will see what week 4 brings.

Just trying to keep things real,

What is going on at the Dog House?

Hello everyone.  Since my posts have been far and few between this month I thought I would let you in on what is keeping me off of the internet.

I am stripping this cute little table for my daughter.  I am trying out a new stripper and hopefully I will be posting about that next week.

Since I am working on improving my photography skills I am taking lots of pictures of the cat.  She is a much better model that the dogs.  They just want to like the camera which makes taking even bad pictures difficult.

My house turning into a toxic waste site and the EPA demanded that I started a clean up so I am doing some deep cleaning.

While I was at it I cleaned out my spice cabinet.

I have been trying to take pictures of myself a few times a week so that I can link up to The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday.  So far I have been unsuccessful at this.  All my pics come out blurry and even I can’t tell what I was wearing.  Any and all hints on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

And my most time consuming project is upgrading this site.  Joining Pinterest, starting a Facebook page, creating a new banner and graphics for this blog.  Between technical problems and not really knowing what I want it to look like.

So there it is in a nut shell.  I am hoping to get back to a regular posting schedule next week.

But today I want to leave you with one last picture.

While cleaning out the frig I dropped a whole carton of blue berries.  But never fear Zoey rushed into help.  What would I do without my three dogs.

 

Thanks for reading,

Traci