So, if you've been following along, welcome back! And if you're just tuning in now, it's nice to have you!
Over the past three weeks I have walked you through planning my own dining room. We’ve covered:
The Mood Board
Renders
The Concept board
Not much that I can show you, has happened over this last week, it’s really been a lot more of some behind the scenes stuff (which is a big part of any project).
So let’s dive into what’s gone on!
This past weekend, the weather was beautiful here in Toronto and the lock downs are still going so my boyfriend (Mack) and I emptied the buffet and carried it down onto a patch of lawn outside our building.
We put some old school classic rock on, brought down a couple of cold bevies, drenched ourselves in SPF, and pulled some tools to help us sand the dark paint off so it could be painted a lighter colour.
Okay, let me rewind a little... A few days before we stopped by a local Rona (Mack had to pick up some lumber for a deck job he was doing) so I took the opportunity to go and select a paint for the buffet. (Not telling you my final decision on colour but I decided against the pink because my floors read orange).
While there, I explained to the gentlemen in the paint department what I was working on and the complication I knew I would face. Basically, the lady I bought the buffet off said she had painted it a couple times and also finished it off with wax every now and then to buff it up.
Now, I’m pretty good with a Orbital Sander from past projects but I knew that the wax would just cost the sand paper and I would have to go through A LOT of it get the piece back to its original wood.
So, he recommended this product to me:
Honestly, I was kind of skeptical because I’ve never used a stripping agent before, but what the heck right?
Okay, so we’re all caught up now! So, we head on out, spray the buffet with a coat of that stripping agent, let it sit, set up our little outdoor workspace space and start scraping.
Boy oh boy, did that stuff help! Scrapping it (in a lot of areas) was as satisfying as when the scissors glide across wrapping paper.
Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all a piece of cake. We worked all day, I can’t even explain how dirty and yes, sweaty we were at the end of it all. BUT, no one got a sunburn and the job was just about finished!
Well, under that beautiful dark navy chalk paint and wax, we found a fluorescent green. I was definitely not expecting that! It’s interesting to find something like this that tells a story of the life a piece has lived.
Even more interesting, I knew the piece was very old because the drawers don’t even have sliders, but I didn’t know the entire piece was made of wood. No particle board, no MDF, no Melamine, just pure solid wood. And, considering we negotiated this piece to $20 CAD...
What a SCORE!
Once we had scrapped off as much as we could, I started in with the rotary sander. As of now, I just need to finish off the corners by hand.
And just for kicks, here’s a picture of me sanding!
(I know, I look like a hypocrite here, but, please keep in mind that you should ALWAYS wear safety glasses and a mask when sanding!!)
Other than sanding the buffet, the other big task I tackled this last week was purchasing.
Purchasing can be very exciting or very daunting or a mix of both.
Exciting because you really get into envisioning how your space is going to look. The excitement builds and you realize your dream is going to be coming life!!
But, it can be daunting sometimes as well because depending on how many places your items have been sourced from it might take a few hours to get everything ordered. Not only that, but sometimes things have sold out or been discontinued by the time you go to purchase.
Honestly, I’m so happy that my purchasing went off without a hitch!! AND, as I write this the bar cart AND my dining chairs have already arrived - which I was a little shocked about because logistics have been an issue since Covid started.
Some rug options I purchased and the floor lamp will be arriving soon too! But, as hard as it is to do, I promised myself that I wouldn’t unbox anything until it’s all here and ready to be set up.
It might sound cheesy but I want to get the full HGTV reveal you see on all the shows!!!
Oh, and I finally selected a stencil for the wall, but I’ll get more into detail on that when it arrives!
Here are the links to the previous posts:
That's all for now!
Subscribe to get updates as we progress through the project and if you would like to see what the other fab designers are doing, click the link below!
Comments