... davy doings: successful saturday

It is a well-known fact that I am my father's daughter. My love for alliteration is no exception. My blog today is alliterated and a subtle tribute to my dad's delightful dealings with words. :)

Want to know why today was a successful Saturday? Keep reading!

1. Spending time together

It seems like our schedules are busy and not always in sync so today we got to hang out, just the two of us. We started off shopping for work clothes for Kyle. We cashed in on a birthday gift card and our 20% coupon at Kohl's. Success!

2. Scavenging

Last weekend we went antiquing and had a lot of fun. Today we went scavenging at furniture stores, flea market-type places, and Goodwills. We are keeping our new house in mind (still no official closing date, but sometime on or before March 25) and trying to find cool treasures we can use. Last weekend we found a cool stop sign at an antique mall but decided that sinage for the garage should be lower on our shopping list.

3. Surprise!

We were about ready to head home from Castleton this evening when Kyle suggested we stop at the Goodwill. Traffic was horrible (apparently nice weather and sunshine means everyone comes out of hibernation and goes shopping...) but we sat in the turn lane for a few changes of the light and then finally made it there. We went straight for the furniture and found .... da da da ... a ladder bookshelf! I've/we've been wanting one for awhile. It wasn't exactly the wood we wanted, but we had an idea. We couldn't turn down the $17.99 price.

Here it is at home (after step 4...) before ...

4. Stuffing

Oops! We drive a VW beetle and had just bought a ladder bookshelf. It took some creativity to get that into the car and drive the 30 min home. We opened the sunroof and the back didn't latch but we made it. Our heated seats were on and the heat was blowing full force but it was still a cold ride home!

Look closely to see our stuffing strategy!

The back hatch wouldn't close...

5. Studying

We've never refinished any piece of furniture before, and that was our brilliant idea. Once we got home we got on the internet like any responsible DIY-ers would do to figure out what we needed to refinish this bookshelf.

6. Shopping (again!)

Off to Lowe's we went. That place is confusing but we found all the items on our shopping list INCLUDING a power sander. Kyle used some more birthday money for that and was thrilled to finally own his first power tool.

7. Sanding

With our tools in hand, we laid a tarp on the ground in the garage and got to sanding. Kyle did most of the work but I did get to use the power tool. :) It was loud and I was kind of concerned about the neighbors but it wasn't too late on a Saturday so we got it all sanded.

Let the sanding begin! Kyle at work

Jonni getting in on the power tool action

Sanding, check!

8. Staining

We like dark wood stain and had settled on a Dark Oak Satin stain WITH the polyurethane in it. (Sweet! one less step to complete). We started staining and loved it! We put on one stain and then let it dry for almost an hour before heading out to put the second stain on. Mind you, our garage is COLD because it is still winter but we had fun and wanted to get the job done.

Stain on the bottom 2 shelves, we love the color!

Completed first coat

And second coat on here

9. Satisfied

It looks great! We are super excited to have finished our first furniture project. It will be a great thing for our new house. Not sure of where its new home will be but can't wait to find it.

We did it!