Crate Coffee Table

I have so many little projects that I want to do once I move into our new home. I also have so many things that I want to try before we move. This is one of the projects that I was able to get finished (with a lot of help from my handy dad). Giving him little projects has been a win-win situation for all of us!

I had found this great little coffee table on Pinterest a while back and was waiting for the opportunity to work on it. Michaels had a great 40% off your entire purchase sale a couple weeks ago that I jumped on. Buying all the crates at one time was so much easier than buying them one at a time, making multiple stops here and there. Again, I'm not great about taking step-by-step pictures because my dad moves so fast. here are the ones I was able to capture. It was really pretty simple to put together.

I was just going to stain the crates as-is, but at the last minute I decided to add our last name and the year we were married  on the end of each crate to add a little interest. Using my trusty Silhouette, I made a stencil and used black craft paint that I had on hand.

I originally bought only four crates to make the square table that I had seen in the Pinterest posting. My husband thought a longer table would look better in our living room along our couch. I went out and bought two more to see how it would look all put together. This was what we came up with. We both decided it would be good and we could proceed from here. 

The next step was to stain all the crates. We had an electric paint sprayer on hand so dad sprayed each crate and it was my job to make sure everything got wiped down and fully covered.

After staining, we put them in an "assembly line" and put two coats of polyurethane on each crate. This was probably the most time consuming part of the project due to the dry time between coats.

Once everything was dry, we put everything together. First, we used a pin-nailer and later for stability, we used the screw gun and put it all together for the long haul.

My sons are inspecting what will become the middle of the table (filling the massive hole where I know remote controls and a myriad of toys would end up eventually).

 I even took a turn with the nail gun.

Our finished coffee table. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. We put five casters on the bottom of the table as well so we will be able to move it around easier.

Phone Restoration

My grandmother had this old phone hanging in her dining room as decoration since I was a little girl. Several years ago, when my husband and I were first married I asked her on a whim if I could have it for our house. She said yes. It never got hung in our house and just sat in a box waiting and waiting. When we sold said house, I brought the phone with me in hopes of restoring it so I would DEFINITELY hang it in our new house when it is finished being built.

I need to learn to take more before pictures of my projects. Once we decide to do something, the project takes off quickly and normally finishes  quick too.

My dad and I decided to see if the black paint would come off the phone and we longed to see what was underneath. Therefore, my one "before picture" has the nice wood "stripe" down the side. 

Dad took apart the phone for me. I was in charge of putting all the parts and screws in a safe place for later.

This was still inside the phone. I took tons of pictures of this because I was pretty certain that this part was not going to be able to be salvaged in the restoration process.

First step was lacquer thinner to get the black paint off. It started off well. Later, I decided to go with an actual paint stripper and that worked much better.

After all the paint was stripped, dad took the sander to the wood for me.

After the black paint had been stripped.

We decided it would be nice to stain the piece. I used the Gunstock stain for this project. I think it will go very nicely in our new home eventually.

I did about 3-4 coats of polyurethane all over the phone after all the staining was complete. 

Here is the finished result. I am in love with it.

Dad shined up the bells the best he could for me.

I know EXACTLY where it will hang when we move to our house.
Now, I just have to store it once again till then.