Heading into the weekend of July 4, I decided to give my front porch a makeover. The wood was starting to look a bit too weatherworn for my taste and I figured a fresh coat of paint would cheer it up while also offering some weather protection for the aging wood. I actually believed that I could complete this project over the course of the 3 day weekend but I very quickly recognized that this was a crazy impossible goal. In fact, it turns out that this painting project is so big that I need to complete it in phases. Phase 1 was all about getting the paint onto the…

This is a story about a vintage gossip bench, also called a telephone table, that was forcibly given to me against my will. Many years ago, my sister picked up this cute little piece of vintage furniture at a yard sale for $3. It sat in its original form in her shed until last summer when I visited and she insisted that I take the chair home with me. I argued that I did not have space in my car or my home for another piece of old furniture but she still managed to jam the thing into the back of my vehicle anyway. I couldn’t find any markings on…

I have been a painting fool lately, upgrading everything I can with a fresh coat of color, like my front door, my dining room table, a secondhand desk, repurposed dressers, and a bunch of other things I haven’t even shared with you yet, including this antique table. I bought this table at an estate sale back in 2011. It was actually two tables when I found it. It had been cut in half and mounted to the walls as two smaller two-legged end tables. I thought it was such a clever way to repurpose a table that I had to have them. I don’t remember what they cost but it…