Pain In The Butt Project (A.K.A Cedar Chest)

So, I bought this cedar chest off of craigslist, thinking it would be a great project to refinish and sell for more, but it ended up being the worst.project.ever. Why, you ask? Because it had a veneer top that was starting to peel and I thought it would be easy enough to take off. WRONG!! It seriously took WEEKS to finish. I even googled how to take off veneer and found that you should iron over a wet towel and peel it off. Don't get me wrong - that did help, but it still was a LOT of work.

This is my best before shot. To be honest, I was feeling way too lazy to move it so I could get a good shot, so this is what you are stuck with =)

I originally wanted to stain it, but there were so many gouges from my lovely handiwork on the top, that I had to paint. I did one coat of off white paint and then sanded the heck out of it.

The top turned out a little funky since it was plywood, but I figure I'll just put a runner on it to cover it up.

I thought it looked alright at this point, but I wanted it to look a tad bit more cohesive, so I did a coat of Dark Walnut stain over the paint.

Here you can see the difference the stain makes. It really adds to the old, worn look.

And here she is all finished. I just threw on the accessories for the photos, but I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it. I'll def be doing something to that pot 'cause the whole terra cotta look is not workin' for me.

I originally wanted to do something with the handles when I was planning on staining it, but after painting it I decided the handles look perfect.

So, I know I said I was planning on selling this thing to make some money off of it, but after all the work I did, I feel the need to keep it. I know that sounds strange, but there's gotta be someone out there who understands!



Painted American Flag

So, I realize I missed the 4th of July boat with this one, but who says ya can't show off the American flag all year round?

To make my flag, I started with a 12" wide pine board (which is actually 11.25" and I really don't understand why they say it's 12". I'm feelin' a little jipped!). I cut the board down to 16" and painted it white. Next came the dreadful task of trying to figure out how wide each stripe should be. Let's just say that 13 does not go into 11.25 evenly! And if that wasn't bad enough, next I had to figure out the spacing of the stars. Bring out the Excedrin 'cause math is always sure to give me a headache!

First, I painted the red stripes.

Then the blue.

And then distressed.

And then stained.

What's that? You think I forgot about the stars? No way, silly head! Not after all that measuring! If you look at the photo before the distressing, you will notice little holes where the stars should be. Those are for the thumbtack stars!

Yes, I seriously used thumbtacks as stars =)

And there ya have it! How to make your own flag. But if you are totally feeling like you don't want to get a headache from all the measuring, leave it up to me and check out my Etsy listing on the sidebar. Shameless plug, I know =)