Reclaimed Entry Table Madness

Entry Table Madness I tell you.  This project was the brain child of my hubby, we were approached to make something to sell at a friend's store in Door County.  I must say, we were kind of excited to come up with a reclaim wood piece to make for the store, yet mildly nervous at building something for others, not just our home. In our true fashion, we set forth with no plan just a sketch. Famous last words: "We'll figure it out!"

Project started by figuring out the top dimensions, then completed the leg structure and drawers.

Much of the build went on with out a hitch.  It was Mr.'s first adventure in drawer construction and using not so straight, warped wood makes square constructing a treat to say the least.

Now for my PSA on thinning stain, and being aware of what you are using to thin said stain.  Never under any circumstances just wing it and grab whatever thinner chemical is on the shelf in the garage and proceed to stain in your close-confined basement. Now nothing horrible happened, but lucky is an understatement.  I have always just used what we had or grabbed something from the stash we have collected and finished it in a well-ventilated outside area.  This time around it was 9pm and 20˚ outside...that night I believed it was too cold and too late to bring this outside in the garage where I normally finish things. To make matters worse I was out of my normal go to low-order mineral spirits,  I grabbed the naphtha I had, thinned the stain to about a 10:1 ratio and stained away next to the furnace & gas hot water heater.  Approximately 12:30am, probably high on fumes, I start to freak out because the house smells of stain/thinner and then I chose to read the label. 'Cause now is the time to finally read it?! 

I have used naphtha outdoors, prior, knew it was great for drying quickly, what I didn't know is it is highly flammable. The fumes apparently can spontaneously combust with an ignition source as well as the liquid itself. Per label it should never be used indoors in confined spaces i.e. basements or bathrooms. Now I find out, I think I only slept about 2-3 hours that night after. For the next few hours I aired out the house and dragged everything that naphtha had touched outside, while I came down from my high!

Tinted Medium Maple Stain with Water-Based Matte Finish

In the end the finish turned out beautiful, I learned a lot about household chemicals and why I should not be lazy!!!

Upcycled Bathroom Vanity

Our bathroom dresser journey started when we had purchased a farm-style rectangular vessel sink on sale and then built the bathroom wall to fit the large sink.  The problem, a year later we still had not found a vanity that would work to fit the non-standard width wall and said sink.  As our quest progressed to find a suitable cabinet, we decided to look for a furniture piece that might work versus having a custom piece of cabinetry made. 

Hunting high and low for a furniture piece at every thrift store and rummage sale we came across.  We were starting to lose hope.  Our search ended after a full morning of rummaging when my faithful thrifting friend Joy & I screeched her car to a halt at the sight of a garage full of old furniture.... a dresser not the prettiest of things when we found her, but she was the right width & depth = SOLD!! 

My hubby on the other hand was a skeptic when I texted him this picture of it from the sale. He was however sold on the price of $2 and later the magic of what wood stripper can do.

Here is our covered in crayon, scratched and watermarked find.  

And after some coats of Furniture Refinisher (wood stripper) we had removed 95% of the old beaten finish and it was a great color that seemed to match our maple trim perfectly. At that point we stopped stripping the finish and prepped it for poly to seal it for use as a exposed to water bath vanity.  

To seal it we lightly sanded to even the finish and then put on 5 coats of Soft-Touch, Water-Based Matte Polyurethane.  We decided on water-based poly due to the fact that it remains crystal clear and does not yellow tint the finish - keeping it exactly the color it was before poly.

The top of the dresser we removed and flipped it over to give it a flat edge finish, not the rounded bevel the dresser originally had. It also was coated in about 8 layers of poly due to the fact it would have the most water exposure over time.

Love the raw wood look that the matte poly gives, even after multiple coats.

We were also able to keep one of the drawers for storage, always a plus.  The top two drawers were unable to be saved for use due to the plumbing needing space.

This was a roll with it and see what happens kind of project and we love how our $2 upcycled vanity turned out.