Catching Up on Projects

The decorations are all taken down and put away, except for the greenery tied with red-checked ribbons on the porch and decorating and old sled and the cellar door. The lights are still up on the fence by the driveway and will remain until they burn out because I like that little bit of bright white light in the deep darkness here. There are no other outside lights, no streetlights and we can see no light from the neighbors, so this little bit is nice when we come home late.

So after all the holiday company and fun, we got back to work on our projects. Larry finished up this Cosco stepstool, which needed some sanding, paint and general TLC.

He also put a bottom in this little magazine rack I bought on my trip to Buffalo in September, and I sanded and painted it.

Another project that both of us worked on was this old oak dresser. I wish I had taken a before photo, but try to imagine it with one leg broken, the drawers sagging, the bottom falling out, old, bright yellow chipped paint,a mirror with lots of bad places in it, odd old pulls with one missing, and...well, to be blunt, I guess most people would have scrapped it.

But it had such lovely lines, and the oak was solid. After much work over the past month, we finished it and my daughter-in-law bought it for their daughter's bedroom. It makes me happy to see this piece back to beauty and being cherished. I can't explain the satisfaction it gives Larry and me to do this work.

If we figured up our hours, we'd be making well under minimum wage but that's not the important thing. We like to make money, like anyone, but even more important is restoring old pieces to life and creating heirlooms for future generations.

I've done several small items too--they're great for filling in the time while I'm waiting for paint to dry. This little frame had a cut out calendar photo in it, but when I took it out to paint, I found a small oil painting behind it. Very 40's looking, isn't it? When I finished painting the frame and re-framing the picture, I like it so much I kept it.

Other small projects: a corner shelf that got a new paint job, a wicker mirror that got the same,

a small wood shelf,

picture frames, a cake stand and a teacup rack

that is already on display at our Marietta booth.

There were several other smalls too, and they are really enjoyable because there is almost instant gratification when they're finished, unlike the large items that take days and sometimes weeks to complete.

Next up for me are some smaller pieces--small desks and tables that won't take long to do and that sell pretty well usually because the cost for buyers isn't as high as the dressers and such. We've had good sales in our booths recently, in the past month moving a Sellers cabinet, two table and chairs sets, two dressers, and a set of end tables, along with clocks, lamps, and lots of smaller items. So December was good to us, and if January slows down sales as it usually does, well, we've got plenty to work on for Spring.

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