A Projecting Holiday

On July 4, the fourth day of our long weekend, I buckled down and didn't do anything but work on my changing table dresser and crib projects.

First up on the to-do list was to sand the dresser down. My mom brought it out from Iowa when they were here at the end of May, and it's had water damage on it for a while - ever since we lived in the 'South Farmhouse' right after moving back to Iowa from Georgia.

Thanks to a power sander borrowed from Jody, and some excellent sandpaper from Menards, it really didn't take all that long to get it sanded down to the raw wood.

Lucy is my sanding dog, except she needed a dust mask, too, because she kept sneezing.

Lucy is very proud of our handiwork - all done and ready to stain!

I used the same Minwax 'Dark Walnut' stain that I've used on other house projects, including the set of five six-foot shelves we have in our bedroom now for hats, boots and jeans. It's a great color, and I have a whole gallon, so all the wood furniture in the house might gradually turn dark brown. :-)

Although the staining is all done, the dresser is still outside, awaiting a coat of wax to seal it. I'm very pleased with how it looks so far. I plan to stop in at Hobby Lobby and get some new drawer pulls for it - they have a pretty good selection these days.

Once the dresser was done, Foxy and I moved on to the crib-painting project, which has been waiting for three or four weekends now.

When I first started painting the drawer that fits below the crib mattress, the raspberry red color had me a little concerned.

(I didn't worry about taping off the white laminate drawer bottoms, because I plan to line them, anyway, along with the shelves and drawers in the changing table dresser and the armoire.)

However, I felt better after it started drying to more of the barn red that I was after.

It took me a while to get all the slats painted, and to make sure that all angles were covered. Things went a little better after I switched to a finer-bristled brush that didn't leave as big of brush strokes.

I finished it up at 8 o'clock that evening, just in time to leave to watch the fireworks show. It's still sitting in the garage, too, waiting for its coat of wax. I didn't get to work on anything last night because I had my first 'baby school' class to go to - infant feeding. I figured taking those classes that hospitals offer prior to delivery can't hurt.

The chalk paint lived up to its claims to fame - I didn't have any trouble at all with it adhering to the shiny finish on the crib, and it only took one coat to get it covered. And, it does go a long way, because I didn't really skimp, and I still have over two-thirds of a quart left. What else can I paint red? :-)

I probably won't get around to the wax coat this evening, either, because it's the first session of the 'labor prep' class at the hospital. Maybe Thursday? This weekend we're branding out at Trav's so I probably won't have much time for baby or house projects...