my new hobby...

Last week my mother-in-law brought me this:

I had been wanting an inside rocking chair for awhile and she so graciously gave me this one.  And what is really neat about it is that she used it to rock her babies in it.  So now I get to rock my babies in the same chair that their daddy was rocked in...sweet, huh?

But first, it needed a little TLC.  For awhile now, I have wanted to learn how to restore furniture and this sturdy little piece gave me the motivation that I needed...pinterest might have played a small part in this makeover too. ; ) I am very happy to say that I love the way it turned out...plus, there was much satisfaction to be had in knowing that I transfomed something that was "okay" into something that is "beautiful".  It's the same feeling I get when I put on makeup. (just kidding)

Anyway, scroll away to see the transformation process and the finished product:

First, I used this cool little gadget to rough it up:

and then "the help" showed up:

it didn't take long to realize that I should have waited until his nap time to work on this project...

after the sanding was done, I cleaned the chair up...

the ends of the rockers where in bad shape so I filled them in with wood filler:

after the rockers dried, I lightly sanded them again:

and then the real fun began...priming...before I started this project, I really didn't know what primer was.  In most cases, it's necessary to use a primer before painting, especially if you are painting over something that was previously painted and/or stained.  It helps your paint stick...

after the primer dried, I started painting...

after my first coat dried according to the directions, I applied the second coat...I have found that the best way to apply a second coat is with spray paint...it really gives the best even coat.  Of course, this only works well if you can find spray paint in the exact same color of the paint that you used for the first coat.  (oh, and I would not recommend using spray paint for your first coat.  It tends to be really runny...use regular paint for the first coat, spray paint for the second coat)

this is the best part....

...check back soon for more of my recent projects!