August Makeovers

 

I know it’s been awhile since I posted so I will combine some random things we have had going on that kept me from posting.

So if you are here for the actual makeovers, you may want to scroll down a bit and skip over the following ramblings. :) I will keep some of the pictures smaller so it’s less loading time for you.

As I type, I am 18 floors up on the balcony of an ocean front condo on Myrtle beach. Sound dreamy? Not to rub it in, but it kinda is. :) We’ve had great weather so far and this afternoon we were able to watch a thunderstorm roll in over the ocean, which was awesome. Every now and then, there’s still a rumble of thunder and there’s a light rain falling.

On our way down last week, we spent a few days in Washington DC. I have seriously never in my life seen such a busy place! It was neat to see some of the landmarks and historical places there, but I don’t think I could survive for too long there. We were a little intimidated to use the metro, so we ended up using our vehicle to get from place to place. Probably not the best idea. There is hardly any parking in this place! I will never again look at an empty parking spot the same way.

Ironically, the Cleveland Indians were playing against the Nationals the first day we were there, so hubby got tickets for us to watch the game. I would never reveal how much we had to pay to park :(  I’m not a huge sports fan, so this was a first for me, being at an Indians game.

We kinda stood out with our Indians attire. I was fascinated by the player with the long hair playing left field. He had to be sweltering under those hair since the temperature was in the upper 90s.

The other thing I will always think of when I think of DC is scorching temperatures. I don’t know was it because we were in the middle of a big city that it seemed extra warm, but there wasn’t much of a breeze and it was quite hot.

We walked a lot, or hubby and I did..

The segways were cool until they ran out of battery and had to be carried. :/ Oh, and they weren’t permitted in front of the white house. Our oldest is bragging to people how he had a conversation with one of Obama’s secret service agents. It went like this:

Secret service agent: Sir! You need to get that off the sidewalk.

K: Okay.

End of conversation. :)

I took pictures of landmarks, but I found myself taking pictures of other things that were just as appealing to me. Old buildings..

Cute guys..

Obama’s porch light…

Loved this row of street lamps with the tomb of the unknown in the background…

We walked the streets at night along the beautiful Potomac river…

I felt like a child with a fascination of the jets that came roaring in all the time..

We walked to a remote little island in the middle of the Potomac, called Theodore Roosevelt Island where I was more in my element..

Blue Sky… (capitol building under construction, like most things are in DC)

Arlington Cemetery…

Blooms…

Traffic (a most common sight)…

Now, onward to the beach!…

Balcony View…

So far we saw three weddings from our balcony..

Love beach colors..

Okay.. now for a few makeovers..

I enjoyed restoring this antique Hoosier cabinet a few weeks ago..

Just looking at it, it doesn’t look too bad, but the back needed replacing, along with the bottom and the inside of the lower door. The owners wanted to keep the wood look, but didn’t like the orangish color. Polyshades by Minwax to the rescue!

After sanding and cleaning everything, I applied a coat of polyshades, honey color to it. I’ve mentioned this before, but will again.. Polyshades can be applied over an already stained surface! I’ve never tried going from dark to light and question whether that would work, but it works with a similar shade or darker.

Here is a picture of the inside as I started removing the bottom.

I also gave all the insides two coats of polycrylic. The cabinet had a bad smell and the polycrylic helped with that.

I decided on a naturally finished bead board for the back. It could always be painted to add a little color, but I thought it looked more original to keep the grain showing through.

The finished job..

The other little project I had going on of late was an old, rusty tea cart that had seen its better days..

 

I took it apart and sanded it down. I was able to get all the rust off of the frame, giving it a nice brushed silver finish.

 

I gave the trays two coats of Rustoleum paint. (primer and a satin based topcoat)

The drawback of painting outdoors.. :(

The after..

   

Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for visiting!

-Mary