Blue Happy Living

I love to take things completely apart and put it back together completely different.  That is kinda the method behind todays redo/reuse project. A while back a friend of mine gave me her dinning set.  It is going to be in my daughters new home.  The set was in perfect condition and could have been moved in and used.  I wish I could do that but it’s not in my soul to just accept things the way they are and not try to see the hidden potential.  I dug deep into my thoughts and this is what I came up with.

The chairs lovely but not the style my daughter was going for at all.  In my head I had a plan and I shared it with my daughter.  Not surprised she gave me an odd look but I went on with my crazy plan anyway.  The plan was to cut the back off the chairs and make them benches.  Yes that’s right benches.  After all that is what my daughter said she wanted in the first place.  She had shown me a table set that had benches on the side and 2 captain chairs on the ends.  I try to please so I took 4 chairs cut the backs off and started the process.

Once the backs were cut off I sanded each base down to ready them for paint.  Always using Valspar paint but this time I used Valspar Reserve and brushed it on each base.  I applied two coats and let it set for a few hours to dry.  Once dry I aged them by sanding off the edges and several other spots.  I finished them with clear coat finish and set them aside to dry.

The top of the benches had to be built and I got Mr. SunShine (my husband Greg) to help with that.  I wanted this project to get done quick because this table set is on a long list of pieces to do by next weekend.  I went to Lowes with measurements to get lumber to make the bench top.  I picked pieces that would make up the seat without lots of cutting.  Greg worked his magic cutting, bracing and finishing the bench tops.  He hands them off to me when it was time to sand and stain. I sanded each top really well so none of my sweet grand babies would get splinters.  After a good sanding I used a dark walnut stain, only one coat was needed.  I applied 3 coats of clear finish so the benches could be wiped down from all the sticky little fingers.

Once it was all dry I called Greg in to attach the seat to the bases.  It’s nice to see your idea in your head come to life and make someone so happy.  When I showed my daughter and son-in-law their faces made my day.  They loved it.  I can’t wait to get their table finished because I think that once they see the set together they’ll love it even more.  There will be so many memories made around this table, so many family times to cherish and most of all so many conversations about life with their kiddo’s.  I love knowing that LolliPops had a hand in making it for them.  These are Blue Happy times making memories with our grandkids.  Life is really Blue Happy for us and we love it. It’s Monday and a chance to get a new start on your week.  Monday is the best day of the week.