French Provencial Table Rennovation

My close friend had recently bought a new home and we had been talking about all of the furniture she needed to buy since they were upgrading from a two bedroom apartment in the city to a four bedroom house in the suburbs. 

Luckily, our local Boys and Girls Club was having a rummage sale and had a lot of great furniture that I would have loved to refinish. These are the moments where I really wish we had a pick up truck. They were selling a beautiful french provincial table that I thought would be perfect for her kitchen table. So, I brought it home without consulting her and hoping that she would trust my judgement. 

Since I decided to use Annie Sloan chalk paint, it took me two nights to paint the legs - one coat per night. Before I moved onto painting the table skirt I sanded the top of the table. This was quite a labor of love, let me tell you! There was a thick and stubborn coat of poly protecting this ugly stain and beautiful wood, that just didn't want to come off. 

Once the top was completely sanded I moved onto the table skirt, which again, took another two days and another two coats. You can see from the picture below the difference one extra coat of paint makes. 

 

The top required a lot of sanding to remove the varnish and stain but the wood underneath was beautiful. We applied a wood conditioner before using Minwax Provincial stain. Make sure to have a tack cloth to clean away all of the fine dust and a staining pad to apply the conditioner and stain evenly. The last step in the process was to polyurethane the top to create a hard shell for protection and to antique the bottom (we used Annie Sloan Soft Dark Wax). Below are the progression pictures. It was a tedious and lengthy process but the end result was well worth it! 

Original finish

Conditioned

Finished Table Top

Sorry for our absence but...

We're expecting! To say it has been a tough ride is quite an understatement. But this isn't new to me.

Back when I had Avery I started having severe morning sickness around the sixth week. The doctors had me try everything under the sun to help control my symptoms. From the natural remedies - ate ginger candies, sucked on ice pops, drank morning sickness tea, sucked on citrus and drank so much ginger ale I can't even look at the can without all of those feeling rushing back. To the medically prescribed - I wore acupressure bracelets and took various prenatal vitamins with B6 meant to help with this symptom.

After all of that and about three weeks later, with no progress and visits to the ER because I was so dehydrated, they prescribed me Zofran and diagnosed me with hyperemesis gravidarum. This was a pivotal point in my pregnancy.

I was so malnourished and continuously dehydrated that I was sent to the labor and delivery floor at the hospital for fluids. I also lost over 10 lbs in my first trimester. It was not fun.

Well, I was hoping this time around would be much different. I mean, the doctor said "every pregnancy is different," so there was hope. False hope that is.

This pregnancy has been much more of a roller coaster ride than the damage Avery did. Believe it or not. And again, it all started at about six weeks and is still ongoing. Like the first time I made a visit to the ER and my doctor provided me with weekly hydration treatments to keep my fluids at a more normal state.

I still take Zofran and I still do the home remedies, but the feeling has definitely lessened now that I am in my second trimester. 

Keith and I are thrilled to be welcoming a little girl in October and so is our resident super hero. We had the most special day with our families celebrating Mother's Day, the gender reveal and my 30th birthday two days later. It feels so great not to keep it a secret and to be able to start planning and decorating our little lady's nursery. Stay tuned for developments.