transformation tuesday

wait...what?

i'm back after taking a 2 month-ish hiatus.  whoops!  it wasn't planned, but it felt needed.  obviously, i've posted all over instagram, but there's only so much i can share through pictures alone.

i've been incredibly lucky to have such an easy pregnancy thus far, but unfortunately i've also been pretty boring.  i got tired of forcing a narrative that simply wasn't there.  i've also struggled with how much and what i wanted to share on a public blog.  for the most part, at least since becoming pregnant, this has been a way for friends and family who are interested to follow along with my journey; i can also spare those casual FB acquaintances the incessant reminder of my growing uterus. 

so now that the "big wait" has turned into "hurry up and get stuff done" my personal narrative, at least comparatively, is becoming more interesting.

so transformation tuesday - shall we?

my last update i had just found out little baby gummy bear was going to be a girl!  i was right around 19-20 weeks, and i still hadn't felt Lucy kick.  i was also under the impression my belly was ginormous.  and it looks like my bras were still fitting pretty well.

jump ahead to NOW (picture at 26 weeks)

i feel and look like i strapped a beach ball to my front.  and i'm terrified that the real growth is now about to start.

bill and i went to a baseball game last friday night - the louisville bats are a triple A team for the cincinnati reds, and so i wanted to wear my reds t shirt.  it looked obscenely tight when i put it on.  bill kindly offered for me to wear his t shirt. 

which...turned out to be barely long enough itself.  whoops.

so now, in my last week of my 2nd trimester...!!! i am feeling lots of kicks and punches.  i sometimes just sit at my desk and watch my belly move.  i've tried really hard to capture it on camera to show bill since she seems to be most active around lunch, but i think lucy knows i'm filming and promptly stops.

other than my growing belly

there's been a few other transformations happening around the house

bill and his brother worked on putting the crib together

and it has sat in the living room while we get the nursery (bill's former office) together

gong-gong (lucy's grandpa) made sure she had a mattress and i couldn't resist picking up some sheets to see the crib mostly put together (still plan on adding a skirt)

the other side of the living room houses our matching cradle that lucy's great granny got for her - which will soon be moved into our bedroom.

the nursery itself has been a work in progress.

after thinking for weeks i would go with something light and neutral.  i decided i hated all of these colors.

and i just wanted what i liked - a beautiful dark navy. 

it's been a bit hard to photograph because of the time of day i get home, but i think it looks beautiful and relaxing.  i'm a sucker for blues.  ALSO.  the room has since been mostly cleared of all the clutter seen above - and so far, thanks to my aunt, i've made over $200 in selling our excess.

in a mad state of "let's get shit done!" we ripped up the carpet as well.  we knew at some point we would get new floors so there's nothing like impulsively doing so to get things moving.  i hope to share a semi finished room next week - the plan is to put the floors down saturday, however, we are still awaiting a phone call to to come pick up said floors. 

so while waiting on the floors this past weekend, we took on a whole other beast.

she looks harmless enough, doesn't she?  the dresser came from bill's grandmother's estate - which makes me happy to have a little something from her house - she had just found out we were pregnant a month or so before she passed.  i didn't know her very well, but she kept this dresser in her basement to store fabric and sewing projects - a very talented seamstress - she made her own curtains, placemats, could whip up a blazer, and in her younger years could reupholster a sturdy piece of furniture.  so i'm sure she got a big kick out of watching us tackle this dresser, and i hope would be pleased to see that this basement storage piece is going to be used as storage and a changing table in the nursery!

we spent several hours saturday sanding, deglossing, sanding again

chipping off lots of wood veneer and filling in holes with wood putty (also to note - random furniture in the background - my SIL is also pregnant and we've been DIY divas for months now)

we called it a day, and waited until sunday to paint (thanks to my brother and sister in law for letting us use their garage and outdoor space)

i picked up chalk paint - the paint that requires no sanding or priming - only to discover that the veneer was bleeding through in spots (see the drawer with the bleed through?)

after painting everything with 2 coats and still having bleed through - my brother in law came to the rescue with a can of killz primer which THANKFULLY took care of the red ruining my project.

unfortunately that meant i needed to paint ANOTHER coat of chalk paint over this whole dresser again.

pain in my rear.

not to mention, my original plan was to stain the top of the dresser to achieve a butcher block look.  thanks to that tricky veneer - there was zero wood grain and my dreams were out the window.

kind of.

i had picked up dark wax to go over the paint - hoping it would give me my desired look.

 and i'm pretty pleased with the outcome!

the areas we had trouble sanding/puttying which were such an eyesore - ended up being a blessing

the wax took hold in those nooks and crannies - and because chalk paint has a less than smooth texture when painted on with a brush - we were able to get that wood block look 

a project that i was ready to chuck 3 hours into - i'm now quite pleased with.

still not done though- i'm planning on removing the contact paper from the drawers and re-lining with some fun fabric.  

sorry for ramble blog, but i feel like we're caught up now.  i'm crossing my fingers we get a phone call from the flooring place and i can share an almost finished nursery next week!


 

furniture repair-man-man-man

if you've been following along on instagram

then you would know i found this sexy piece of 90's furniture

90's? you ask

all i can remember about 90's decor is honey oak...and wallpaper

but this is a solid oak HEAVY coffee table

and made by lane - which from my limited knowledge of furniture - i knew LANE was a big name

and after a quick google search, most of their coffee tables are in the $370 on up range

but i definitely paid nowhere near that amount.

let's back up real quick

we have a couch, a chair and an ottoman + two end tables

i really wanted to ditch the end tables and invest in a largeish coffee table so there would be more table space in front of the couch - and not all lined up against the wall

so i had been casually looking online - target and ikea - and most were in the $180-240 range

and i knew these were part wood/part particle board = no bueno

i'm all for ikea - but not for pieces that you could be propping feet up on or placing drinks

they just don't have the longevity!

so anyways

bills and i were out looking at clearance halloween candy and fall decor - because it's basically christmas, right?

so i had an itch to look at a couple of consignment stores to see what kinds of coffee tables they had

bill was on board - and after striking out at our first stop

and almost walking out the door at our next

i was ready to call it a day, when i spotted a cluttered corner on the way out of Annie's Attic (in middletown)

it looked like they had a couple of coffee tables piled with christmas decor

a quick inspection later - i was in love.

i'm standing about it - thinking how perfect this probably is

when i ask bill to check the price

i was pretty sure he was about to say $200

at the very least $150

to my astonishment

he said "$90"

whaaaaaa?  90 dollars??

upon further inspection, it was actually $85 because they mark them down the longer they sit on the floor

so like a hyper chihuahua

i dash to the very busy checkout and ask for assistance

bill starts removing the decor cluttering the coffee table

i give them my money and we load up the coffee table

i honestly couldn't believe this huge, heavy, solid oak coffee table had been on the floor long enough to be marked down

it's a bit dated in stain, and there was some definite wear and tear

but nothing that couldn't be fixed

and fix we did!

i took to pinterest right away

paint the whole thing?

what color?

stain the whole thing?

what color?

i decided on a hybrid approach - paint the legs and stain the top

the color would have to come to me once the paint selections were in front of me.

but first thing was first

the beast would need to be sanded

we contacted bill's brother who had an electric sander - but before we ran over there to borrow it, i tried my hand at...uhm...hand sanding

annnnnnd that was sooo not happening.

i barely scratched the thing.

not wanting to disturb our neighbors, we tried sanding indoors....where we spent hours on sunday cleaning.  i do not recommend.

and for your information - a fashion scarf makes a quick respirator mask

or you can spend a couple of dollars at lowes (on your second trip out for the evening trying to gather supplies)

and annoy your husband by looking and talking like bane from batman

i don't know why woodford decided to sleep in the middle of all this? 

but we called it quits for the night once the top and most of the sides were done

the next day bill tried his best to sand the legs - which were pretty difficult since they're rounded

i told him to do his best, but since we were painting those, it didn't matter as much

and then i got to PAINT!

bill and i decided on "needlepoint navy" by sherwin williams for the legs

i decided on the "gloss" so it would be wipeable and have a nice sheen.  i'm absolutely in love with this color.  it's rich and bold without being bright and crazy

next - staining!  i've never stained anything before, so was a little unsure of how to pick a color or how to go about it

we decided on two coats of "driftwood" by minwax - hoping to achieve a reclaimed wood appearance

the guy at our local store let us know, that if the stain didn't do what we hoped to bring it back and he could doctor it

i loved how the wood does it's own thing with the stain - the variations in color and how it absorbs it - makes the finished product look so cool

i tried to take a good picture this morning - but kept getting pictures that looked like this

for whatever reason, the table photographs really orange?

but doesn't look like that at all!

the best i could do:

it's definitely greyish in person and achieves that reclaimed wood look i was hoping for

the last step we have is to seal the top - which bill is planning on doing on lunch

SO

Brand new lane coffee table?  $350 ish
Brand new target/ikea coffee table?  $ 180ish

Rehabbed solid oak Lane coffee table?

table $90 (with tax)
paint (with leftovers) $15
stain (with leftovers) $15
Sandpaper and masks $15


grand total

$135

dang it feels good to be a gangster.

ps, did anyone get the title reference?