Slow and steady wins the race?

Like many people, I do image searches and Pinterest searches and blog searches to find ideas or just see what else is being done out there in the world. I thought I was being smart when I started saving bookmarks for all the blogs and projects that I like. Little did I know that I would end up with WAY too many to keep straight. This sort of hoarding leads to incidents like the other day, when I wanted to find the blogger who talked about putting new fabric on her old lamp shades. I hunted through saved links, Googled "fabric for lamp shades blog" to see what would turn up, and even briefly considered just going back through my history... surely it wasn't THAT long ago that I read the entry, right? haha

I DID finally find the blog I was thinking of (over here at Thrifty Inspirations) and then got lost for another hour or so, finding new things to swoon over and hope to recreate some day. 

After that fiasco, I thought maybe I should just write down a list of future project ideas with quick reference notes. Surely having it all on paper somewhere would help... And then I told my husband about it and he was all "Isn't that what Pinterest is for?" *sigh* Yes. Yes, it is. And if I were smart, I would have been making boards for each type of project/technique that I want to someday try. 

Anywhoo... that's what I've been boggled by lately. In case you wondered. 

And here's what I've worked on:

Ok, this cute little tea set isn't really a 'worked on' kind of thing. It's more of a 'Yippee! Look what I found!' thing. Home Goods, you came through. :) 

Thankfully, the finish on this little table was almost completely worn through already. I think someone tried sanding it before donating it, too. Anyway. 10 minutes of hand sanding got a lot of nasty off and made it super smooth to the touch.

I cleaned it off and decided the ink stain or whatever is in the upper middle area is just too deep to try to sand through. It adds a little character, anyway, right? (Like this table needs it!) So after wiping it down again, I busted out the Red Mahogany stain and gave it a nice thick coat. It wiped down really nice but I'm considering adding another coat to see if I can get the color any deeper. The legs will probably get an old white finish, since they're missing some veneer and just aren't as pretty.

Vanity time! I LOVE this little vanity. It was a little plain, though, so I added the accent moulding on the front lip to dress her up a little. I haven't named the last few things I've purchased... what a shame, right? How about Claire? 

Claire

                                    A little close-up of the accent. I love this one and you might recognize it from another  piece, too. Yup. I used it on "Chester". Which just goes to show... even boys can use a little embellishment from time to time!

I found this at the local Goodwill store. It has three glass doors that swing up and slide back to allow access to whatever you decide to store here. I'm guessing it's a curio cabinet of some sort. There are 3 more adjustable shelves, I just have them out for the painting process. I think the doors are going to get a coat of Heirloom White so they stand out a little. 

Charles