Painting a Dining Table

Originally, we were going to try to sell this dinning room table on craigslist. We have three tables, plus our outdoor table, and the first house we wanted in Alabama only had room for one.  Our new house will have plenty of room for this table, especially now that I love it!  Adam has had this table since before we met.  It was a hand-me-down from his aunt and uncle when he went off to college.

While we were still renting our shitty little college townhouse, we used this table to store items and for our coffee maker.  The coffee maker apparently leaks if you fill it too high and ruined the finish in one spot on the table.

Area ruined by coffee maker

Since I have some time on my hands, I decided I would try to sand down and re-stain this table before selling it.  I bought some sand paper and a stripping tool.  

I used something like this

The white spots in these pictures are from an all purpose cleaner that I was using to clean the table before sanding.

and that's candle wax on the right about half way down

Should have had the window behind me, oops.

I used an exacto knife to get rid of the wax.  After a bunch of elbow grease, I just couldn't get it stripped down enough.  There are a couple of options at this point.  Go out and buy a chemical stripper, paint over the top, or give up.  Since it was about 19 degrees outside, a chemical stripper wouldn't be very pleasant to deal with and I'm not sure I would have even gotten the results I was looking for.  I wasn't going to give up, so I decided to paint it.  The top coat was already removed, so I put a base coat of white on just the top of the table.  I just used a basic matte Valspar white that I had been using to touch up spots in the house. I used a small edging roller that i bought for about $2 to apply each coat.  Since I was following the edge of the table top, I really didn't need to tape anything off.  Any misplaced paint got wiped down right away. Once the first coat dried, I added a second.  I should have added a third coat but was getting anxious to move on to color. 

 A few months back we had purchased a cheap pint of red glossy pre-mixed paint, that we were planning on using on the duck's enclosure (but never did).  I did about 6 coats of that red before I was satisfied.  

All Finished!

In person, you can still see a little bit of the wood coming through but I like the way that looks. 

It's hard to see the imperfections in the pictures

If it was warmer out, I would have used spray paint for the white base.  That would have made for a smoother finish. You can even buy the spray paint that will stick to everything, even plastic.  With that, you wouldn't need to strip the clear coat off of the furniture first.  I used that to paint a desk a while back.

The red is an outdoor paint, so it should hold up but I might add a top coat to it.  I haven't decided yet. I just love the way this table came out and cannot part with it.  Now, I just need to figure out how to design my dining room around this piece.  I also have 4 chairs that I might paint the seat of them to match.  The chairs, however, are not as nice as the table; not as sturdy.  I'm going to need to buy more anyway, since I only have those 4 for the kitchen and dining room.

Any ideas on how to get this dinning room:

to match my bold new table?  I'm hoping I can DIY that light fixture and maybe add a back-splash to the built in cabinet. I can't wait to get started!

Getting Ready to Leave VA

Adam and I graduated from Virginia Tech in '09 and ended up falling into jobs in the area.  We purchased our house here in 2011 with the help of the  USDA Rural Housing Development loan program.  I highly recommend one of these loans.  There are a few stipulations in order to qualify and they differ between the loans.  There are two loans for owner occupancy properties and both require the home to be located in a rural area.  Within the USDA site, you can check if a particular area or property qualifies.  In this area of Virginia, almost every town qualifies except the heart of Blacksburg (where Virginia Tech is located) and the city of Roanoke.

You must also fit certain income requirements.  For the guaranteed loan, your household cannot make more than 115% above the median income level for the area and for the direct loan, no more than 50% above median income level.  They also have loans to help fix up your current home.

The USDA loan is a no down payment loan.  It also does not require mortgage insurance, like the FHA loan.  If we had gone with an FHA loan over the USDA loan, we would have had to come up with a down payment (although, not a large one) and would have ended up paying over $100 a month extra on mortgage insurance.  We went to the closing of that house with less than $300.  Unfortunately for us, we cannot qualify for another USDA loan until we sell our current house.  However, since our new house is a Fanny Mae property, we qualify for their HomePath loan.  We have to put 5% down but there is also no mortgage insurance.

With all the loan options, you have to first qualify for the loan through a bank or mortgage company.  Not all banks do all loans, so you might have to look around.  For our first loan, we went through a smaller, local bank due to Adam not having enough established credit for the larger bank.  Luckily, the first bank we dealt with had contacts with the local bank and sent us over there.  Our first mortgage was transferred to Chase days after we closed on the house.

Not only do we have our mortgage through Chase, but we also have a credit card through them that is paid off every month.  So when we found out we were moving, we tried to get pre-approved through Chase's website.  A couple days later, on a Saturday, we missed a call from them.  We called back and left a message.  No one ever got back to us.  We then received rejection letters in the mail saying that we could fill out a full application and pay the non-refundable application fee instead.  They stated that our credit was not good enough to be pre-approved.  However, we both have good to excellent credit scores.  We again tried to call them and never received a call back.  I guess one mortgage that is overpaid on time and a credit card that is paid off each month, doesn't give them enough interest.

When we were visiting Alabama, I made two appointments with banks and both pre-approved us easily.  I would suggest not trying to get pre-approved online and actually have a meeting, especially if you are interested in a low or no down payment loan.

We are working with BB&T on this next loan.  There are fewer banks that handle the HomePath loan than the other types of loans (even our Realtor wasn't familiar with the loan).

I figured I would end this wordy post with some pictures of our Virginia house (that is currently for sale):

 The Front Door

  Christmas Lights

Living Room and Kitchen

Living Room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Wall Pockets in Bathroom

First Bedroom

Customized Desk

2nd Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Master Details

Master Bedroom (truer to real life wall color)

Half of the Full Basement

Bar in Basement

Carport and Shed

Back Deck

Deck and Scout

View from Deck

There you go. Just a few pictures of our Virginia house and a little bit of info on different mortgages.  If you would like more details on our process of purchasing our homes, let me know.  If you would like to buy our Virginia house, please offer more than the asking price :)

Replacing a Headlight and Finding Corrosion

Generally, Adam is the one who deals with all vehicle issues (before Adam, my dad always fixed my cars).  Not only has he always loved working on cars, but he also has a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  But since my mechanic is 600 miles away, I was forced to figure out a minor car issue myself.

We just bought a '94 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummings Turbo Diesel.  Actually, Adam hasn't seen it yet.  I noticed that one of the headlights was out.  More specifically, the light that is the turn signal does not turn on when the other lights are on but blinks when the turn signal is on. That most likely meant that one of the filaments was busted.   Here is the side that isn't working:

The light on the right is the one that is not working properly.

 And the side that is:

If you look closely, you can see the faint glow of orange in the left light (that is working properly) in this picture.  

Luckily, the previous owners were very sweet to my new truck and my owners manual was in the glove compartment.  I drove over to the auto parts store in search of 3157NA bulbs.  It always seems like they never have the exact bulb we are looking for.  I got a salesman to help and he said 4157NA should work.  If not, I could bring it back.  By the way, apparently the NA means the bulb is amber in color and not clear, which is good to know.  I also picked up some bulb grease and I'm glad I did.

Removing the light was pretty easy.  Basically there is one screw holding it in place.

Screw located at bottom of light.

Then, you just slide the globe out of place by pulling it forward:

The just twist the globe off of the bulb and then pull the bulb straight out.

  Well, I realized that the bulb's filament wasn't busted; it was corroded. It isn't easy to tell from this picture, but the left connection is covered in nasty.

 The connection in the truck had just a little corrosion.  You can see the rust and blue discolorations on the bottom left.

I've dealt with battery corrosion before, so I tackled this the same way.  I grabbed some distilled white vinegar in a disposable cup, q-tips, and a wire brush:

Use the q-tips to apply the vinegar to the corroded surface.  To remove built up corrosion, you might need to use a wire brush to scrub it away.  After some gentle scrubbing, I added a little more vinegar to a q-tip and removed some more corrosion.  Lastly I used a dry q-tip to dry the area.

After Scrubbing

So, it is not perfect but it worked!  Now just lube up your bulb based on the packaging directions and slide it in.  Remember how I said I was glad I picked up some bulb grease? The bulb grease is suppose to help prevent corrosion (I don't think the previous bulb had any).  At this point, I made sure everything was working: 

Checking the light before re-assembling 

 To re-assemble, twist the bulb back into the globe.  Then you need to slide the globe straight back into the truck.  Mine has a piece that it needs to slide into.  It took me a minute or two to figure out exactly how to puzzle it back in.  Then all you do is replace the screw.

Oh yeah! Look at that orange glow.

This quick project took under 10 minutes and cost under $10.  $5.99 for 2 bulbs and about $1 for the bulb grease (which I still have a bunch left since I only did one bulb).  I used 4 q-tips and about an ounce of vinegar.  I think that adds only a couple of pennies to the cost.  I always have a gallon of vinegar on hand.

 When dealing with battery corrosion on a previous excursion, the interwebs had differing opinions on how to deal with corrosion.  Basically, the argument comes down to whether you need an acid (the vinegar, or cola) or a base (a paste made of baking soda and water) to counter act the acid corrosion.  I've tried both and the vinegar seems to work much better.  The science here is driving me craazy.  Logically, it would make sense for the base to neutralize the acid but it just didn't work.  It must have to do with the pH differences between the vinegar and the corrosion.  Do I have this completely wrong?  But, the wire brush does a good amount of the work, anyway.

There are also some products on the market to help get rid of corrosion, like this: CRC QD Contact Cleaner
But $16 for 11 oz seems pretty steep to me.

I'll let you know if the light craps out on me.  So far, so good.

DIY: Painting Cheap Sneakers

Since I was in charge of packing everything up to head down for storage in Alabama, I had to figure out what needed to stay behind in Virginia.  I did, well not horrible, but I could have done better.  I forgot to leave myself a pair of freakin' sneakers.  This time of year, I basically live in my boots.  Although, they really aren't conducive to walking in for any long amount of time.  I must walk weird.  I am always destroying the the part of the shoe that hits my ankle. And it rubs, and causes blisters.  Along with the boots, I left myself slipper-like shoes and my pair of high-tops with the wedge heal in them.

Since we live in a small town my options are limited, unless I want to drive 30 minutes. I picked up a cheap pair of Ked rip-offs from Wal-Mart that I could use to walk the dog for about a month.  For less than $6 I bought this pair made of canvas:

Not horrible.  They worked, but I'm not one for wearing white.  My whole walk all I could notice was the bright white and I knew what they would look like in about a week.

So, I decided I would paint them.  Most of my craft supplies are, surprisingly, in storage in Alabama.  So I said to myself "fuck it, I'll just use what I have".  Some acrylics were still inside the drawers of my antique Singer and I have a bunch of random paint in the shed from various household painting projects.  I thought about doing a peacock inspired something and pulled up Google images.  I then quickly decided that I lacked the skill for the peacock inspired $6 sneakers of my dreams.  So I looked up "leopard print".  Most of the pics had tutorials for nail art and that seemed simple enough. 

 The idea is you draw an imperfect circle (I did mine in orange) and repeat, with varying imperfections but roughly the same size all over the surface.  Make sure you have a few sporadic half circles at edges.  Then you go back and outline these circles in another color (I chose black), with two half circles that do not touch.  I also threw in some smaller black, irregular circles sporadically.  I tested it first on a piece of junk mail, just to make sure I liked the outcome and color combo. 

Test Paper

 Let each layer dry before going on to the next.

Only one coat of the base color

I need to work on remembering to do "in progress" pics, but here is the final outcome:

Like I said, I just used whatever I had on hand.  You could purchase fabric paint, but honestly the paint I used really did not change the feel of these shoes.  They might be a tiny bit stiffer and if your shoes are anything other than canvas, it would probably make a bigger difference.  The base blue is leftover from painting our front door that I applied using a foam brush (I had just bought a whole set of, I think 8, for under $2).  I believe it is Glidden in Peacock.  The orange is a sample of another front door contender that did not make the cut (Pumpkin or something like that).  I just used the brush that is attached to the lid to make the not-quite-circular circles.  The black is basic black acrylic that I applied with a small craft brush.  If these were not meant to be temporary replacements, I would have masked off the soles to keep them white and would have let the orange completely dry before applying the black.  Since their sole (ha!) purpose in life is to help me walk the dog, I figured that white wouldn't stay white for very long anyway.  Also, If I hadn't packed up my Scotch Guard, I would have given them a spray. 

My not perfect lines

Here is a picture of them after a few weeks of walking:

Leopard Shoes and leggings

They are definitely dirty, but so far the paint has held up.  I might try washing them but the acrylic probably won't last.

 Have you ever DIYed a pair of shoes?  What would you have done differently?  Did I leave anything out?  Let me know!

Like a virgin

Oh, first post you are so intimidating.  I'm currently sitting in a mostly empty house in south western Virginia.  Most of my belongings and my boyfriend of 6 years are down in Alabama and have been since the beginning of January.  While we wait to close on a house, that I have yet to see in person, I am staying in the house we are trying to sell with our dog, rabbit, and two ducks.  I am also taking care of my two horses and 7 chickens that live a couple of miles away.

My boyfriend, Adam, was transferred down to Alabama through work.  With a very short amount of time to find a place to live and all of our pets, we needed to find a house quickly.  In the beginning of December, we flew down to look at houses for sale with enough acres for my two horses, Tia and Nikko.  There were only a few options and we looked at all of them.  Adam fell in love with a 3 bedroom, 2 bath renovated house on 4 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac.  Even though we asked about having horses on the property before we even looked at it, we found out that an ordinance did not allow my horses (or chickens, or ducks).  The seller was going to try to get the ordinance lifted and allow us to rent the property until we closed.  That is, until December 23, when she changed her mind.

Fast forward about a week or two, while in New Jersey, our Realtor sent me a link to a newly listed house.   This tri-level house features 3 (with a possible 4th) bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 screen porches, 2 car detached garage, a 4 stall barn, and 6 acres.  This foreclosure was listed by Fanny Mae and our Realtor did not think it would last long.  We sent her to check it out in person and while driving back from NJ to VA (in the snow, of course) we put an offer in on a house we hadn't seen.  Less than a week later, they had accepted our offer.  Unfortunately, Adam need to be in Alabama on January 13th and we weren't scheduled to close until February 4th.  Since then, he has been staying with coworkers. And our closing date has been pushed back.  I'll leave the loan officer drama for a different post.

Adam has seen our new house, but I still haven't.  I figured I would share the pictures I have of our new house.  You have now seen as much of it as I have!

Front Door

Back of house, screened porch off master

Barn

Downstairs Den

Dinning Roon

Downstairs (kitchenette off to left)

Detached Garage

Stall with Ladder to Hay Loft

One of the Stalls

Kitchen (with odd layout)

Screened Porch and Kitchen

Living Room

Screened Porch Off Master

Oven

Screened Porch off Living Room

Screened Porch off Living Room

Storm Shelter

So, this was a pretty boring post.  But I just need to get some info out into the bloggasphere.  The pets and I will be moving down on the 16th of February.  I will post more pictures or a video once we get down there. Our current house was completely remodeled when we bought it, so I am looking forward to putting my touches on this house.  Keep an eye out for lots of DIY, crafts, and pet pictures to come.  I will get better at this, I swear!  

Jersey Girl out.