Sunday, May 05, 2013

New End Tables





2-3 years ago, I found 2 teak end tables at a yard sale for $5 each and brought them home planning to refinish them.  The old owners had put some kind of unnecessary finish on them which had been watermarked.  Late last summer I brought them up from the basement and bought all the refinishing equipment...stripper, paint cleaner, sandpaper, and stain for a total of $26.  Unfortunately, I broke my wrist before getting around to the job and they sat in the computer room until today.  

I hauled them out to the driveway and put the first coat of stripper on them.  Steve was out washing his driveway so I asked him how long I should leave the stripper on and he told me not to let it dry before scraping it off.  A lot of muck came off with the first layer of stripper so I did it 2 more times before I was satisfied.  After cleaning with paint cleaner, the tables looked pretty darned good so I decided not to stain them.  I had no teak oil in the house so I went to Canadian Tire and spent $20 on that.  I now have enough teak oil to last me 2 lifetimes but it was the smallest bottle they had.

Once the teak oil was applied, the tables really perked up and I set them in place on either end of the sofa where they fit like a glove.  All in all, my 2 tables cost me $56 and just a tiny bit of labor.  I am very pleased!  I've always loved teak furniture and will be considering that when I buy anything new.

Cindy and Don brought me the mulch I needed so tomorrow I'll call Don, the handyman, and ask him to come here to do a few jobs for me.  A senior woman living alone in a house is forced to pay to have things done and that's the long and short of it.  

Linda comes back tomorrow to clean the basement and then my house will be in the best order it's ever been.  I've made 3-4 visits to the Salvation Army already with donations and I'll probably make 100 more before I'm finished this summer.  Things are getting done, slow but sure.

I was too tired to go to Nolan's swimming class (had a nap instead) but Kim said he was wonderful.  He's going to be a great source of enjoyment for me just watching him learn.  It's amazing to watch the process of children learning to live their lives and becoming socialized little critters.  I'll go back to babysitting him or Nash once every 2 weeks starting next Monday and that will be interesting.  Nash cried all day the last time I looked after him and I'm so hoping that won't be the case next Monday.  Nick will be working from home so, if worse comes to worse, I can give him back to his father.  I don't have any worries about looking after Nolan...he just moves in and makes himself at home.  I love it!

Well, that was my Sunday and it was fairly productive.

Note:  The reason the background is green is because I typed the whole darned thing on the wrong blog and then had to copy and paste it here.

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