stain

Something fun to share

I get emails quite a bit from companies asking me to write articles or to review a product. I even get emails about posting ads on my site. The good thing about that is I get to be picky about which companies I want to work with. And you want to know what??? I say no to most of them. Why would I turn down free stuff or money you ask? Because this blog is not just about that. I want to stay true to what I am about and what this blog is about. So the things you see on here are things I believe in.

Soooooooo,

when I got an email from MINWAX (yay!!!) I was beyond excited because if you have been following this blog for even a little while you know I love me some Minwax! I already write about this stuff all the time so I might as well get something out of it right? :) The lady who emailed me said they had somehow seen my TV segment on Good Things Utah and were impressed with my knowledge about stain and loved that I explained it in a way that made it easy to understand. Awwww, shucks Minwax :) Thank you!

They sent me some of their new products to try out.

Now before we go any further I have to share this:

In the package there was a TON of bubble wrap. It was spring break. The weather was bad. The kids were bored. My almost 7 year old made these bubble wrap slippers (he actually made an entire outfit).

“They are comfortable and they pop when you walk.” he said. “They are for day OR for night.” He went on and on about them. The kid could write infomercials because I kinda wanted a pair by the time he was done. I think they would go great with the faux jean PJ bottoms I want…..

Anyway…….

I am excited to try them all but there was one that I just had to use FIRST. Because I have a problem. . . DIRTY SMUDGY FLOORS.

When we moved into our house I refinsihed the wood floors all by myself and they looked great. Fast forward several years and they didn’t so much. *Insert confession here* I mopped my floors with dish soap and water. I know, I know. They are hardwood floors and that is a no no. It was just easy and conveinent. But I contrubute that to why they looked so bad. So a couple weeks ago I refinsihed them again. And they look Gorgeous!!! But I was still cleaning them with dish soap. I was stressing over it too. I knew I needed to find something better so I wouldn’t have the same problem down the road. There was another downside to the dish soap…. residue. I would mop and let it dry. When we would walk on it you could see smudges of footprints. It wouldn’t look clean very long.

So I was excited to try the Minwax hardwood floor cleaner. Like probably more excited than a normal person should be.

The verdict:

I love it. I mean really love it. There was seriously NO RESIDUE !!!! We walked on it for 3 days before I mopped again (for experiment purposes only, people) and no smudges. YAY!

To be completely honest the smell is not my favorite smell. It is NOT a bad smell at all. To me it smells like a bar of soap. I am just more of a fruity, citrusy person. So that is totally just a personal thing.

Another thing I love is that it is not expensive. It depends on where you live and where you buy it of course, but it won’t break the bank. It works on laminate floors as well.

Really, when you think about it, doesn’t it make sense that Minwax should have a wood floor cleaner??? They are, after all, the ones who make the stuff we stain and seal the wood with. So they should know how to take care of it. If you noticed in the picture of the things they sent me, it also comes in a sprat bottle for furniture and kitchen cabinets. Awesome!

So thank you, thank you, thank you, Minwax! I love my clean floors :)

Furniture I have built or refinished {part one}

Scroll down for the linky party :)

I have be meaning to do this post since I first started my blog but I never have gotten around to it. I want to show you the things I built/refinished before I ever started my blog. I have been painting furniture since I was 15 years old. The first piece of furniture I glazed (antiqued as I call it) was when I was a newly wed almost 11 years ago. I wish I had pictures of the things I have made for other people. I am kicking myself for not thinking to take pictures!!!

This is favorite thing I have ever built! It is also my favorite color :) When we lived in Las Vegas years ago we rented the upstairs of a large beautiful home. It had a one acre backyard with a nice playground, HUGE sandbox, and grassy areas to run and play. What it do NOT have was closets. Weird. I know. So I built a couple of cabinets. The other blue one is later in the post. This is now in our family room and hold DVDs and blankets. I love the finish I was able to get by painting, sanding, and rubbing on water based stain onto the paint.

This side table was a gift when we got married. It was a light oak and while the table itself was well made and beautiful, I was not in love with the lighter color. I am a dark rich stain kinda girl. I painted it a gold color and then sanded it to rough it up. I did not prime it first. I lightly sanded it first, painted it, and sanded it again to let the oak color come through a little. The hardware on this table was shiny brass. I soaked it in straight ammonia for a few days and it gave it this wonderful patina.

This entertainment center started out in life as a Kmart special. Fake laminate wood and all. I did build the doors for it though. I wanted to hide the TV when it wasn’t in use. I used an oil based primer before painting it cream. Then I glazed the heck out of it. It was the first big thing I antiqued. It has survived several moves over the past 8 or 9 years with only a few nicks that needed to be touched up.

This is the very first piece of furniture I ever built. I was newly married and made it with a circular saw and a hammer and nails. I wanted it a little uneven. I wanted it to look like an old shipping crate. I used the big headed nails for added detail. It stores our board games in the family room. My boys also sit on it to look out the window for dad to come home.

I built this bench after we moved into this house. I needed more seating but couldn’t afford the love seat that matched my couch. I am glad I didn’t get the love seat now. I don’t think I would have liked having all my seating match.

I have posted about this bed before. But in case you missed it, I will explain. I used parts of an existing bunk bed and made the other parts. My boys wanted a room like the Bugs Life part of California Adventures Theme Park. The posts are 4×4 fence posts run through a table saw to take off the corners. The metal part of the giant pencils are pumpkin pie filling cans. The erasers are a bunch of cirlces I cut out of wood and glued together. The sides I hand painted to look like a match box and a cracker box. The bottom board lifts up and a twin trundle bed pulls out.

This is the blue cabinet that I made when I built the red one. It holds all my baby’s clothes. Sorry I don’t have a better picture. I am too lazy to go take another one. It now has 3 cute white baskets on top too.

Next week I will post the furniture from my office and kitchen. Thanks for letting me share!