A blog post a week 4/52 - School holidays are nearly over

Another week has flown by.

The boys had a dentist appointment on Monday.  They were very good and their teeth are pretty good.  Unfortunately, it looks like we are going to be up for braces for Michael and Rhys.  Ben hopefully will be ok **fingers crossed**.  Time will tell.  Anyway, we have a couple of years before anything needs to be seriously looked at/done.  I'm blaming Greg for that one - none of us kids in my family needed braces but Greg had them as a teen.  I forgot to take a photo while they were there!

I went up to Gympie for a very brief visit on Tuesday.  There was a shop up there that I wanted to buy some paint from.  Yes, it's a long way to go for a small container of paint, but I had never been to Gympie before - so I thought why not?

Again, I forgot to take any photos!!!!  But it was a fleeting trip to the shop and back.  It was hot and I  wanted to get back.  Anyway, here is the paint I got.

Of course, they didn't have the stain that I wanted........ why does this always happen to me? (one day I might learn to call first hmmm).  Anyway, Mum and I went for a drive on Saturday to Marcoola and picked up the stain and a brush.  All up it cost me about $100.

The reason for the paint?

This is our bedroom setting

I got this off my sister years ago, but it needs an update

Basically, it's mostly honey stained pine and is really looking dated.  I got it about 15 years ago and I didn't have much $$ so this was all I could afford.  The bed is not honey pine and I'm still undecided about that actually - I think I may leave it the way it is but polish it up with my wood restoring polish.

I suppose I could go and buy us a new bedroom set, but I thought I'd have a go at painting it for a little more modern look.  Revamp and recycle etc - we need to be doing more of this I think, we have such a throw away society.

Anyway,  I have joined some sites and found this American Fusion Mineral Paint that is specifically created for furniture restoration/revamping so thought I would try it.  I did consider the latest chalk paint craze BUT with chalk paint you have to seal it with a wax.  I just kept thinking "what a freaking nightmare - you finish painting the darn thing and then you have to go over it AGAIN to seal it!!"  NUP.  (plus if you want to paint it a different colour later OMG you have to remove all that wax - no, no, no).

So this stuff is, as I said before, specifically make for furniture restoration and you don't have to wax or seal it.

Downside - it's bloody expensive.  But apparently a little goes a long way and it's wayyyyyy cheaper than a new bedroom suite.  I actually found it very easy to apply and coverage was very good.  A little does go a long way.  It has a matt finish which I quite like.

Here are some progress shots:

My bedside table top was in pretty bad condition

Fully sanded back (forgot to take a pic) and stain stuff painted on

Stain on top finished and 1st coat of paint - it is a dark grey colour and matt finish

I was going to stain the drawer fronts, but I have now decided that it doesn't look as good as I thought it would and as it is a massive amount of work to do it (heaps of sanding and finishing work required) I can't be fagged with all that, for IMO, a look that is fairly average.  Plus, it's not "good" wood or anything - cheap pine.  Better to paint I think.

Wasn't 100% fussed on this look so decided to paint the drawer fronts instead

Here it is with the second coat and drawer fronts painted.

Now to get some new handles and it is done.  

I'm very happy with the look and I think it will be a great transformation for the room.  It looks 100% better than before, so I will do it all in this scheme.

I think even Greg thought it looked ok too (he was a bit skeptical I think)

I'm getting into the rest of it and will put up progress shots.

I'm still drinking my smoothies for breakfast.  They are yummy.

My favourite is 

Ice, little bit lite soy milk, cold water, chia seeds, frozen banana, blueberries, pineapple slice, rolled oats, vanilla yoghurt and some vanilla smoothie mix.

Really nice and because of the oats (keep cholesterol down) and chia, it makes you feel quite full for a long time.

It's been very HOT here and we desperately need some rain.

We're swimming in the pool every day.

Little Ben who is Daddy's clone

The plants I replanted unfortunately didn't make it.  They absolutely died and went crunchy and started dropping said crunchy leaves.  We threw them out 😭

The kids start back at school this week so we are getting organised for that right now!


Thoughts for the week:

True for me (& my Mum apparently!)

Have a happy week 💗

Love Rach xxx