Finally for us "thick" girls AND a coffee table!

No, I don't mean fat!  I mean thick, as in THICK HAIR.  Those of you who know me, know that I have very thick hair.  Not normal thick, but abnormal thick.  Are you picturing it?  Now triple in your mind what you have pictured and that is my hair.  I go through stylists and elastics faster than anyone.  And, it's curly.  But, not good curly, so usually, my hair is in a pony tail.  Occasionally, I'll muster up the energy to straighten it like I've done the past few weeks, but normally pony tails are my style of choice.  NO gadget, accessory or banana clip has ever fit this head.  Until today.  Me and my sister went to the Maryland Christmas Show at the Frederick Fairgrounds and we stumbled across this guy who swore these pretty clips would fit my hair.  I strutted right up to him determined to prove him wrong, but I was wrong!  So, there was nothing left to do but buy one.  Right?  Just want to show it off:

It's also a plus to support a local husband and wife duo!

But, you don't really care about my hair, I'm sure!  Let's move on...

I bought this table from a lady through Craigslist.  I loved the wood planks that were the top.  But, it wasn't so pretty.  In fact, it was ugly.  And dirty.  And, even though he's been proven wrong time and time again, my husband thought I was crazy.  See:

Do you think I'm crazy?  Here's a closer look at the top:

Peeling paint AND stickers, bonus!  But, it had good bones.  So, I decided I wanted to strip the paint off the top, stain it and paint the body white.  That's just what I did.  In case any of you have forgot, I LOVE this product for stripping:



I don't know if I'm doing it the "right" way, but I just buy a chip brush (super cheap) and spread this on with it.  Let it sit for about an hour and use a scraping tool or wire brush to simply take the paint off.  It really is quite simple BUT super messy.  Through trial and error, I've realized that after you clean the wood off, it really needs to sit and dry for a day or so before sanding it, otherwise you'll just get gooey yucky stuff all over your sanding pad.  After sanding, sanding and sanding, I got this top:  (notice I started staining before I took this pic, but you get the idea!)

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but there were still flecks of black that I just couldn't get out, they were deep in the wood.  I was a bit upset by this, but by the time I finished staining, you couldn't tell these flecks were black, they just look like divets in the wood, which add to the rustic style of it.  Score!  See how beautiful the top finished:

I painted the body in ASCP Old White, then heavily distressed it.  I also broke down and bought the AS Wax.  I'm glad I did, although about $20 more a can than the Johnson's wax, it doesn't smell.  I do most of my work in the basement and the Johnson's wax stinks up the.whole.house.  I've been banned from using it again, so I was super happy to find that AS doesn't have an odor, well, barely an odor.  I put 2 coats of wax on and it is beautious!  See:

And, of course, once again, I've made my husband eat his words!