Finishing what I started, part 1

This side table my mom gave me was kinda rickety, the drawer bottom slid out of place when you tried to open the drawer, and it had scratches and water rings all over the top.

 

 

I used it as a bedside table in my room for a long time, but that faulty drawer bottom with a handsy toddler was a messy combination. I fwas thankful to find that the table legs were attached with bolts rather than nails, so a few turns of a wrench was all it took to make it solid. Then I sanded down the top completely. All the scratches and rings disappeared to reveal a gorgeous walnut top. 

 

The top got two coats of walnut stain and a couple coats of a wiping varnish. The rest of the table got primer and paint. I also ran a thin bead of glue along the back edge of the drawer bottom and clamped it. Now the drawer slides easily and the bottom doesn't fall out. It now resides in Clara's room and holds bedtime essentials - a lamp for reading, her Bobby bear, and a basket of books. I think it turned out pretty well.

While my family was in town

I've been working on a long update post, but there is a problem with Blogger and I can't access my unpublished drafts. Boo. In short, my brother-in-law and sister made short (but dirty) work of the attic floors:

In case you can't tell, they look fan-flipping-tastic. I'm pretty excited.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, they installed the first piece of a 3-part baseboard in Clara's room. I don't have pictures of this, but it is just a 1x6 around the perimeter of the room. I say "just" a 1x6, but moulding installation is never that simple.

For my part, I managed to do not much more than applying Redgard waterproofing membrane to the shower. I was dragging my feet on that project because I was nervous about screwing up, but it was easier to deal with than I had imagined. It goes on bright pink (think Pepto-Bismol) and dries red. The stuff is pretty pricey ($135 for the 3.5 gallon bucket I bought), but it's a small price to pay to guard against rotted studs in a few years. Two coats probably would have been fine, but I did three to the walls and more to corners of the niches and anywhere that needed more. I've heard nothing but good things about the product's performance, so hopefully I'm all set.

Now that my self-imposed completion deadline has come and gone (home to Louisiana), I have been slacking a little. The girls haven't been napping, so my work time has been nil. I'm anxious to get this thing wrapped up so I can start on the next great parenting adventure known as potty-training. Yikes.