With getting baby boy's nursery ready, we ended up settling for a different change table set up. My first thought was, "I can totally repurpose this bad boy!". But, then after thinking about my ginormous projects list, due to the unavoidable nesting urge, I figured it might be a good idea to try and give it away for free, to someone else who might use it, as it is. After a week of having it posted, with no interest, I figured it was totally free game. So, the next morning, I woke up with a ton of crazy pregnant energy and grabbed my measuring tape, drill, and set up the chop saw in the garage. Before I knew it, I had the entire structure converted to accommodate my sudden urge to have a sewing table, for my craft room.
(Listen...everyone who knows me, can stop laughing now.)
Here's the thing. I totally realize, I'm not a huge fan of sewing, since I usually turn into someone I can hardly recognize with loads of swear bombs exploding in my frazzled brain. BUT, there is always room for improvement and I'm willing to work on this life long struggle. Practice makes perfect, right?! And admitting that I have a problem, is definitely the first step. So, I figured this was a brilliant plan! Haha.
I obviously love to decorate our home, love pretty fabric, and I LOVE the satisfied feeling at the END (ok, maybe add a day or two after that, for recovery time) of a finished sewing project. It's just the stressful journey from the cut fabric, to that last stitch, that usually discourages me. You might all think I'm ridiculous, but I had to take a good, hard look at how to harness this sewing beast within me, and try and come up with a plan.
I find that it's hard to muster up the motivation to get it done, when my sewing machine is always sitting in it's case. So I figured, if it was always out, ready to go, that I would be more willing to just 'get 'er done!' by reducing the available excuses. Ha!
(But enough of the crazy rambling...and on to the tutorial...)
I knew that I wanted to use scrap pieces of wood we had left over from other projects, and stain them for the tops. So, I needed to make sure that the bars, coming across, were all flat and even, so I would have something to secure the stained wood to. I had to flip over the top two, since they both originally had a rounded top to them. All I had to do, was to remove the dowels at the top, rotate them under, and place a new screw on the bottom, to secure them in their new spot, along the side of the table. I also made sure to remove the particle board shelving that was on each level of the table.
I then grabbed my chair from my craft room to measure the width of the opening for my legs, so they could comfortably sit under there, while having to use the foot of my sewing machine. After marking, removing, and cutting the boards to the right length, I only ended up needing to use two extra pieces of a 2x3 for the brace for the bottom two shelves. Bam!
Then it was time for the fun part! Measuring the scraps of wood, and staining (for some reason, staining is always a relaxing process for me...unlike sewing). I used General Finishes Gel Stain, in Java, and also used the Gel Top Coat, after only one coat of gel stain was dried. I'm a little obsessed with their Java Gel Stain. A little goes a long way and I love the rich, deep color. As that was all drying, I started to chalk paint the frame of it. I used Annie Sloan's, Henrietta. After two coats of the Henrietta, I lightly distressed it with a fine sand paper, and smoothed out the surfaces with a 400 grit paper (I made sure to do this outside since it can get pretty dusty). After blowing/wiping off all the excess paint dust, I sealed it with Annie Sloan's White Chalk Paint Wax. It lightened it up, just enough for me to achieve the color I was aiming for. And then of course, after that, I buffed the wax into the dried chalk paint, to a shiny finish with a cotton, lint free rag. I've used both buffing brushes and lint free rags, and personally prefer the rag method. I feel like I have more control over the buffing that way. Also, I use a lint free rag to apply the wax in the first place, so I feel like it's just easier since I have my stash of rags already there. Why create one more thing for me to clean afterwards?! And I love that I can just throw away the rags after, and be done with them. I hate cleaning brushes almost as much as sewing. Haha!
After the top coat on the boards were all dry, my husband helped me attach the wood with our trusty brad gun. I highly recommend having someone to help keep everything lined up correctly when you do this. If that's not possible, I suggest having some awesome clamps ready to help secure the opposite sides while you brad away. The reason why I didn't screw them in, is because the original frame of the change table was made with a pressed wood. It wasn't solid wood, like a lot of my other pieces I've redone. I was afraid of the frame splitting with having to put so many in each board to keep them secure...AND...I didn't want any bit of screw sticking up on the top, knowing I would have fabric on the table, as I was sewing. The brads worked beautifully! And just like that...voila it was done ;-)
I absolutely love how this turned out, and love even more that it's from a piece (a very sad and ready to be retired piece) of furniture that we used with our first two children. Every time I see it and sit down to sew, it puts a smile on my face to think of my sweet little babes that once used it. And the fact that I'm smiling as I sew is a pure miracle, I tell you! Hahaha!
(For those interested in the verdict of the master plan to get my sewing act together: Stay tuned for a future post where I talk a little more about some of my smaller SUCCESSFUL sewing projects. Hallelujah! Seriously...the struggle is real, people.)
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