Portfolio, Page 2

And yet again, I have embarked on another home improvement project. I will tell myself it's for the purpose of beautifying our surroundings, but I know its real purpose is to maintain my sanity and break up my days of perpetually staring at the computer wondering why no one wants to call me for an interview.

This bookshelf was originally bare pine. I really didn't grasp the involvement staining requires until I spent two days trying to finish this piece.

My inspiration for the two toned pattern (mahogany and pecan) was from a piece I saw at a very high end furniture store. Yvonne actually designed the pattern...we love it.

We had to sand this puppy down really well (which took sooooo long). It looks much better without the stained tarp underneath. We realized that we were going to need more stain, so we took a second trip to Lowe's. Almost immediately upon opening the new can, Yvonne knocked it over, spilling 3/4 of its contents onto the tarp. Yay. I also got some significant drops on the carpet (yikes) and wondered how that was ever going to come out. "Goof-off" is a miracle cleaner.

We plan on doing the end tables in a similar pattern but have decided to wait for that and let our apartment air out a bit. A small tip: when working with fumes of any kind, make sure to open a lot of windows.

Since we had the tarp out, we also painted our old patio chair and an even older (and nastier) bookshelf.

Now that we have leftover paint, you know I'm thinking about what else needs painting.

To be continued....