I've been busy

Most of our furniture has been handed down to us over the years. I suppose we have bought a few bookcases (Right about now anyone who knows us is saying "Just a few Vicki!?" Ok, maybe more than a few bookcases {read as 9}. . . we have a lot of books.). We also bought a side table and desks for school purposes. The point is that the majority of furniture, the couch, chairs, dining table, coffee table, end table, beds, and dressers in the house are all "antiques".

This is cool with me because I love antiques. Some of them are well over a hundred years old. Some were made by craftsmen in my family. Our coffee table was made of cherry from a family orchard, and granite from a family granite quarry. It is in beautiful condition and has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. I was thrilled when my grandmother gave it to me.

Not all of the furniture has been in as good of shape though. When Daniel and I were first married we had nothing (we quickly went out and bought 3 bookcases) and were given the core of our furniture after one of Daniels aunts passed away. My dear mother-in-law went to a huge amount of work reupholstering the couch and chair before she would let us put them in the house. She did a very professional, beautiful job, and it is very sad that our cats have seen fit to tear them apart over the last 16 years.

We lived with the scratches and dents on the dining room table until two summers ago, when I finally got brave refinished it. That was my first attempt at such things, and I was excited with the results. The table was far from perfect, but it was so much nicer than it had been. My second attempt with such things was a bedside table that was in terrible condition. I labored over that little table. It was much more intricate than the dining room table, but was in much better structural condition. I loved the way it turned out.

Last summer I was too busy with other things to do any Robinson, but in the last few weeks I finally tackled our bed, and the top of a little drum table. I need to put the rest of the table on hold because I don't know where to find quarter inch, half round (anyone know where such things are available?). But, the top of the table was so bad. It had multiple deep scratches in the amazingly thick varnish, and it had numerous cup and water marks. This is what it looks like now that I have refinished the top.


I don't have a picture of the improvement of the bed yet, but this is an example of some of the scratches, and places where the varnish has been worn off over the years. Oh, and that is Grace, the main reason our lovely couch and chair are not so lovely anymore.


Interspersed with all of this I have been sewing guidon flags for our Pathfinder Club. I had no pattern, only the information that they were 22" x 14" and a small thumbnail picture from the internet. This project had a couple firsts for me. I had never bought or sewed with nylon and I had never put in grommets. I guess I can say I have done both of those things now. :)