If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning...

Or in my case, if I had a paintbrush! Spring is the season of home improvement because all those hibernating projects can now come to light. Recently, I re-opened my "workshop" aka my garage to work on a table painting project. It once resided at my mother-in-law's home--but I scooped it up for a little make-over.

Here it is before, just sanded. (with my own power sander, no less! Love that thing.)

One coat of white paint in....

Two more coats of white** and two coats of dark walnut gel stain later.. and voila! 

After

It's hard to tell in the picture but I'm using it in our front hall. Needs a little "vignette" but it turned out great! 

The cute dining room shelf on this blog, The Old Painted Cottage was my inspiration. 

 Bonus project: little chicken-wire frame...

I also did this little frame! I wish I had the before--it was hideous!  This was a Mom find. It had an ugly rope on the top so you could nail it and hang up with that. It also had a wooden square with a plastic rooster attached right in the middle. And it was the color of bad wood paneling in a 70's living room. I removed the ugly rope and rooster and painted it blue. Those are little french flash cards I tucked in there. I think I will find some ribbon to hang it on the wall. Tres bien! 

I have one more re-purposing project I'll post soon. Luckily, I can work on it inside so I won't miss Glee !

**I always liked to use Martha Stewart's paints from Lowe's but weirdly... they are now sold at Home Depot. They can still mix the colors at Lowe's if you ask. I like the white called Flour Sack.