Time for a getaway

YES!!! Its that time of year. The ONLY time of year our family gets away. We will be heading to Southern California to visit family and take the kids to DisneyLand. My in-laws live 10 min. from Disney! So jealous!!

After a week there-we all head up to the Central Coast and stay at this amazing beach house. Its is a small town and no, there is not a Starbucks for miles-but I am willing to give that up for 7 days of beautiful scenery, cozy fires (it gets VERY chilly at night) and good wine & food. The picture on the header of my blog is our view from the deck-we wake up to Sea gulls, sea otters and occiasionally dolphins and whales. There is the PERFECT little garden shop I always visit in town. Its called the Garden Shed - if I could dig that place up and plunk it in my backyard I would! I grab a cup of tea from the coffee shop next door and wander through the mingling paths while listening to fountains bubble, smelling all the flowers and soaking up the soothing California sunshine. If you have been to Califonia you know what I mean about the sunshine. I swear their sun is "special"; something about it that makes your body sing! ahhh (can you tell I am so ready to vacay?) And of course there is the shopping! All the cute little shops- no Walmart or Target here!! Then there's tea and treats at The Tea Cozy- yum-o!!


Anyway thought I'd leave you with some fun pics of some of the things we see and do.


PhotoSource: Zimfamilycockers.com

Dining Table Make Over

Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land is having a DIY Day!

Also today go visit Melissia at The Inspired Room for more fun & inspiring things and also Julia from Hooked On Houses.

The long awaited Dining room table makeover! Well its not COMPLETELY done- it still sits in the garage while the Poly-Eur ethane dries-that stuff is S-T-I-N-K-Y. I first tried staining with a dark espresso stain-well honey that DID not work-the wood on this table would not soak it in dark enough-unless I applied like 8 bazillion coats! So I went for option 2- painting! Spray painting that is. I found a nice Espresso Brown from Rusteloeum.

Step 1:
Liquid Sander- also known as Deglosser- this stuff is HIGHLY toxic. Apparently you have to dispose of the rags and gloves in water before you toss or it could automatically combust! and with our Texas temps being in the triple digits lately I knew I could end up on the 5 o'clock news!

Step 2:
I also hand sanded- most furniture you would only need to use the Liquid Sander and move on to painting- but this table had such a thick layer of gloss it took sanding too.

Step 3:
Wipe down with tack cloth and apply spray paint

Step 4:
Apply 2-3 coats of Min-wax Wipe on Poly in gloss finish. Allow it to dry 3 hours or more between coats. I also lightly sanded with steel wool between the coats.

Then there was the lesson learned part of this project. Spray painting a large surface area (i.e. the top of the table) causes huge, ugly, over spray marks-so the I-want-it-now side of me was going to just "live with it" but I decided to take the high road (meaning the long one). I re-sanded the newly painted and Poly'd top and hand painted it with Rusteloum's paint in a can. I didnt realize they carry both paint in spray form and in quart size. I am so glad I did-what a difference!

Before:





After: (unfortunately I dont have it all set up in the house with all the fun summer tablescape yet) I am practicing patience and letting it fully cure before I dress it up.