My Cute MARKET FRESH Sign

This is one of those super easy projects that the most time is spent on it drying...

Go to your local hobby lobby or craft store and buy a blank wooden sign...I bought one that was kind of like a pallet/fence (because I loved the character it had). They always have lots of options at these stores; some of the signs are raw wood, others are already stained or finished. Mine was raw, so I stained it with my left over dark walnut stain from my table. Be sure to let the stain soak in for about 5 minutes and then wipe up any excess stain so there isn't any drippings or stickiness. I wanted my sign to look weathered and worn so I only did one coat of stain..since the wood had different grain patterns on each board, they all took the stain differently and I really liked that effect! Let the stain dry over night or at least for 3-4hours. Cut a stencil in vinyl or buy a stencil from a craft store (I used my Cricuit so I could have the font and size I wanted). I used vinyl so the stencil would stay put for multiple paint applications and so paint wouldn't leak around the edges. When applying paint, use a sponge brush and white acrylic paint. Dapple it on in small random strokes. Be sure you do stroke a little bit and not just go up and down with your brush...you want mini strokes instead of big ones (so they give dimension and are less noticeable, plus it won't matter if they don't match up with the other letters.) Apply a second layer just like the first but don't try to cover every area available. You want it to look worn and imperfect. Let that dry for about an hour. 

Now, grab some 220 grit sand paper and roughen up the edges of your sign..I was able to rough up some of the middle pieces of mine too! Then, take the sand paper and lightly sand around the outside and inside edges of the letters...don't make each letter the same, you want random and imperfect. Like it's been stored, dropped and bumped for a lifetime.

Once you've reached the level of wear and tear you like, you're done! Hang it up and enjoy! I know I love mine!

Refinished Dining Table

When Jaron and I got married, his Mom and Aunt found us a cute little dining table and chairs at a garage sale for next to nothing. My hope for the past three years was to refinish it but we first lived in an apartment complex...no room for big projects. Then we moved into a duplex which was much bigger but had no garage or over hang to protect from all the southern rain and humidity. But now that we've bought a house (YAY) with a nice big garage (YAY) I've finally been able to do my table! 

I don't have a "before" picture of it all assembled due to it coming straight from storage..but to give you an idea of the color, here's a picture of the top.

The grain is gorgeous! I just couldn't cover it up with paint. So I sanded the top in hopes to stain it. I used my mouse sander with 80 grain sand paper and went to town (always sand with the grain of the wood). It took a while since I didn't strip the wood before but it was well worth it!

After sanding, I wiped it down with a damp cloth to make sure all the dust was off before I started to stain. I used Minwax dark walnut stain. I applied the stain first with a brush and then spread it out (with the grain of the wood) with cheese cloth (then you don't have any brush hairs). I gave it about 5 minutes to soak in and then wiped away any excess. Be sure to wipe away excess so you don't end up with a sticky table top! I applied two coats of stain and let it dry while I got to painting the chairs and legs of my table. 

For paint, I used Glidden 2 in 1 paint and primer in the antique white color with the eggshell/satin finish. It took 3 coats to cover my chairs and legs of the table. I noticed that this paint grabs any and all types of dirt it can..fingerprints and all! I figured white would be harder to keep clean but this literally attracted and hung on to dirt. So I cleaned it well, and applied a thin layer of the polycrylic on top of the paint to keep it from grabbing dirt and making it much easier to clean.

 As that dried, I went back to staining! When the stain was all dry, I applied 3 good solid layers of Minwax Polycrylic in Satin. Be sure to apply with the grain of the wood. Let each layer dry for at least two hours between applications. I also sanded briefly with a 220 grain between each layer and brushed off the dust with a clean rag.

Once everything was dry, my husband assembled it all together and we've been happily using it ever since! I absolutely love it! And I'm confident that it will be able to stand up to some good wear and tear!

UPDATE: as seen in the picture above, I just did two chairs out of our set of four. I wanted to try something a little less time consuming for them instead of applying 3 coats of paint and a clear coat. So I went out on a limb and bought some spray paint primer...just white primer. I bought a can of primer per chair. I then sprayed it down, focusing on the difficult to paint parts (legs, dowels, etc.). Each can coated the chair very nicely! I then added my first coat of paint and guess what! I only had to do some minor touch ups after the first coat. I let that dry and applied the polycrylic and was done! I got two chairs done in 3 hours whereas the first two chairs took me days to finish! They look the exact same! So do yourself a favor and do it the easy way...if you're low on funds and don't want to pay the $3 a can for spray paint then the extra time may be your option. However, for me, it was worth the extra money!