We've been on vacation. I'm back and ready to share my side table/dresser re-do. Some of you may remember I re-finished our four poster bed frame a few months ago. Since then I've been working on additional pieces of the set. Let me know what you think.

Before

After
Yes, I am aware the left upper single pull is a little off. Kinda looks like she's winking at you ... I think that means she loves the new look.

Are you ready for the big reveal? Here's a quick recap:
The tale of getting the bedroom set apart was just the beginning!


A photo of the stripping fun with citrus smelling goo. It was quite the messy ordeal if you ask me but well worth the effort.






As you can see from my photo of the four poster spindles one coat is not going to cut it with these pieces.





Here's one last peek at the before ~ notice all the sun faded ugliness.






Here she is back in her rightful place. You may notice the bed frame is now much darker than the step stool and side dressers ~ guess what I'll be doing the rest of this summer?!




I do have this piece directly across from the bed I re-finished some time back in the bedroom as another possible inspiration piece. You can read about it's transformation here.



Now the only question is what shall I do with the rest of the bedset? Matchy, matchy is so stodgy and so out lately. Got any suggestions?

A few weeks back I mentioned taking on re-finishing our bedroom set. The tale of getting the bedroom set apart was just the beginning!


So far I've been able to strip what was left of the old finish off of the bed with this wonderfully citrus smelling product of which I will not name because they aren't paying me one cent. Here's a photo of my naked headboard.

After washing the headboard down with mineral spirits and a warm soapy bath I decided to pre-conditioned the wood. I think most people skip this step but once I undressed the bed frame I quickly realized I wasn't sure what wood species I was dealing with or even how many so the best fail safe was to treat everything.

Within two hours of pre-conditioning the wood I placed one coat of stain on a few pieces to get a feel for how many coats I'll need to get the rich dark color I was looking for.

As you can see from my photo of the four poster spindles one coat is not going to cut it with these pieces. I also have to point out staining round pieces of wood with loads of carvings is not a easy or quick task. To be honest it's a pain in the patootie!

I'm on my second and third coats respectively and hope to have some picture to you nest week but until then what projects have you decided to tackle this summer?

Yesterday I had this feeling. I wasn't sure what it was but it was pestering the heck out of me. Today I decided I needed to re-finish our master bedroom set.

Warning: The story below is a true story. The names of those involved have been changed to protect the innocent.

I searched the Internet and sent hubby a picture of the new deep stain color I was proposing and I got a 'go for it' approval reply. Without haste I started to take apart the bed frame. I was doing all fine and dandy until I got to the screws that hold the headboard to the metal frame under the mattress set.

By this time hubby was home so I asked him if he would give me two minutes and take the screws out with the power tool. See I'm so challenged I don't even know what the 'thingy' is called. He was to busy but got the power tool 'thingy' from the basement workshop for me and told me to try it.

On my first try nothing other than the head part falling apart on the 'thingy' so I had to go to hubby's office to have him put it back together. Once it was back together I marched back in all determined and tried the second screw. About five minutes later and some swearing in my mind I finally got one screw out. I rock!

I moved onto the other side of the bed for the second screw. Never mind this is 15 minutes after I asked hubby for two minutes of his time. So I'm trying the second screw and it just keeps turning, turning, turning and turning until I smell something burning and see metal shavings. I'm no expert but I don't think that's good. I can't believe he trusted me with this power tool 'thingy' ~ sucker.

Thinking the screw is stripped, I head down to the work bench to look for a pliers (I know what that one is called ~ yeah me!) and try to hand turn the screw out but five minutes later with sweat on my brow and lots more swearing in my mind ~ nothing. I head back down to the work bench to find a hammer and flat head screw driver (see I'm not completely tool-less ... I know what those are called also) and attempt to hammer the head off the screw. Another five minutes later nothing but more sweat and swearing under my breath.

I decide to have 5 minutes of 'time out.' While in my 'time out' I decide that walking back into hubby's office isn't the best option because "he has to get some work done and can't be bothered" so I send him an email from my office. Yes, we live in the same house and our offices are on opposite sides of the house. What? Are you telling me you haven't sent yours a text on the phone from another room in the house?

Email-
Subject: Told You
Should have given me 2 minutes … one out and the other stripped … hacksaw?

About five minutes later he comes out of his office and says while shaking his head "You can't strip a screw taking it out. Now show me what's going on." as he heads to the bedroom. I head to the bedroom in his wake and show him the one screw I need out. Now mind you it's been about 40 minutes since I originally asked for two minutes of his time and only one screw of two is out ... or so I think.

He leans down and extracts the screw in like 5 seconds and asks in 'that' tone "Are there any others?" I look at the headboard that still isn't detached and find an additional screw on each side below the metal brackets. In ten seconds he has them out and is heading back into his office.

So now that the bed frame is apart and ready for staining I need some help picking out the right type of stain. I'd like to re-stain the bed frame without having to strip it. Here's a picture of the cherry 'wheat' detail bed frame. Is that possible? Does anyone have any advice on what brand of stain or a technique for staining it. If I have to strip the old stain off what product do you think will work best?