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At Long Last, A Completed Door/Table

It's with GREAT pleasure that I share these photos with you. Today my husband and I brought the door/table (now just a table!) into the house and shared our first meal on it (leftover pizza - we're high class!).



It turned out better than I'd ever imagined.



It took longer than I'd originally intended, but that was really just due to my weird grad school schedule.

We can easily fit 6 people around it, and probably 8 with no problem, as well.

Here's the breakdown:

$35 Old door from Charlottesville's Habitat ReStore
$25 Safecoat Acrylacq Non-toxic Sealant
$7 Miniwax Gunstock Stain
$20 Sandpaper (you'll remember, I did the whole series.. 60 grit to 400 grit)
$10 Cheap paintbrushes for staining
$10 Staining supplies (plastic drop cloth, gloves, rags, miscellaneous)
$60 Wood for table apron/frame (yeah, wood is expensive)
$32 4 Legs
Awesome friend who helped build the frame and attach the legs - priceless

$199 Total

Could we have bought a dining room table that we love for cheaper? I'm going to say maybe, but doubtful. Real wood tables aren't cheap. You could probably also save money if you had some of the supplies already on hand (like all the brushes, stain, sealant, prep materials). And you could definitely save time if you use an electric sander.

I had hours of fun working on it. I felt like I was making something for my future family, picturing kiddies throwing food at one another and such. All in all, I feel like it was a good investment and a fun project.

Starr Hill Brewery

Yesterday we did a tour and tasting at Starr Hill Brewery in Crozet. People were actually working (brewery, bottling, boxing) during the tour, so we got to see the place in action!









For some reason in the last photo, I was most fascinated by the machine that added a little glue to a metal piece so that labels could be applied. Do you see that machine?

My husband loves their "Northern Lights" India Pale Ale, I prefer the "Festie" - their Amber German-style Lager.

Breweries = good stuff.

Descent into Wild Man

The Royal Wedding

Has infiltrated American life today.

Check out this cake that the School of Nursing purchased to celebrate??

"The dishes are done, man!"

Points for you if you can place the quote above!

In truth, the dishes are not done, and this door/table still needs a final coat of varnish.. BUT.. come on, it's almost done.



Yesterday instead of writing one of many papers due in the next few days, I decided to stain the new legs and frame of my table. It was such a gorgeous day, how could I not take advantage of it?



I only did one coat of stain on the legs instead of the two I used on the table top. I like that the legs are just a hint lighter; I think it gives it some subtle contrast. The legs also have closer grains, so they didn't want to pick up the stain quite as nicely as the top did. Hope you like it! Expect a true FINAL photo in the next few days!

No Easter Portrait for Biscuit

I have new respect for pet and wildlife photographers. Dogs sure don't take portraits..



This is about as close as we ever got.



Then it was time to go wild.



Time to eat grass.



Time to ponder whether or not to continue eating the grass.



Time to romp, and time to put the tripod in peril.



And time to eat sticks, holding on for dear life.



Happy Easter.

Veritas

Made a brief stop at Veritas today, the winery where we got married.



It's been almost three years since our wedding.



Time marches on.

Door/Table: A World of Awesome

Today my wood-working friend and I finally got the opportunity to get together and build a frame for my door/table project.

We went to Home Depot and bought three 9 foot pieces of lumber and an extra set of legs (just to make sure the legs matched the wood for the frame).

Again I forgot my nice camera, so it's camera phone time. But at least I didn't get sawdust all over my Nikon.

Just to remind you what we're working with..


We eyeballed the lumber with the legs to see what kind of fit we wanted to make.


My buddy unloaded a boatload of tools and exciting (and very dangerous!) saws. I made him do all the table saw work; I only touched the miter saw.


We used some scrap wood to make a demo of how we wanted to hold it all together, just to test the sturdiness (and the sturdiness was awesome).


Notice the three diagonal looking holes? We had a very awesome jig set that let us clamp and measure diagonal holes to attractively hold together the legs with the frame. It was just what we needed.


More measuring


One short side down!


Attempting to hold the long pieces straight while taking a picture.. not a good idea.


The frame is almost done!


We decided to add some triangular pieces to make it even sturdier, and also to hide screws on the underside.. in case anyone is ever sitting underneath the table...


Which turned out looking like this


DONE!


I LOVE the way we fit the legs into the frame instead of covering the tops of the legs. I think it looks fantastic. Now I just have to stain (again)!

Geeks who Drink

Last night we explored trivia night (called Geeks who Drink?) at Rapture.

Our team performance was poor, but morale remained high! Next time, trivia night... next time.

Home of the Octagon

In a rare twist, I actually had some free time this weekend to do fun things.

Some friends came down from DC and we aimed to show them the best that Cville has to offer - Monticello, wineries, local restaurants, UVA grounds and streakers. You will find no photos of streakers here, sorry.

Since I forgot my nice camera (d'oh!), these are photos of Barboursville Vineyards taken with my camera phone.





The ruins were pretty cool and the wine was decent. I'm sticking to my opinion that the wineries west of Cville (King Family, Veritas) beat the pants off the wineries to the east (Keswick, Barboursville, Horton).

Possessed Dog

"Come and play with us, Danny. Forever... and ever... and ever."



"Why so serious?"

Feast!

There's a gourmet food shop in Charlottesville called Feast!. I'm not sure exactly how to describe them, but they sell some great local cheeses, vegetables, wines and meats.. if you've got the money.



They also put out some tasty samples. I snapped a photo of a description of one sample; it was too delicious not to try to make. It was served with some kind of gingerbread or graham cracker, and it would make a fantastic appetizer. I'm not sure how to create the "sweet praline mustard glaze" (they sold it in a jar), but I have to figure it out.

Biscuit continues to live it up

Day 3 of Spring Break continues much like the previous days for Biscuit.