The Apple Street Cottage

  As soon as I laid eyes on it I knew what this sad little ashtray stand could become, and I had ALL of the pieces to make it happen.  How often does that happen?  W elcome to the 'Do It Over' Designers blog hop.  We are a group of bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/DIY.  I'm happy to host this hop and I hope you'll visit everyone to see what they have to share with you.  Their links will be listed at the end of this post. This is what I found: Dirty, damaged - you know, the usual things I find! As I started sanding, the burn marks became more apparent: The glass ashtray was either broken or lost and someone decided to put out their smokes on the wood. Ugh!  After the whole thing was sanded, it was sprayed with shellac. I was going to paint it white and no one wants 'bleed marks'. Out came the white chalk paint.  (Just a sidenote, everything was sealed with a clear spray after painting.) The plan?  Make this a side table for my balcony and ...

Behold, my newly refinished table - once again!  Yes, this is the second time this little beauty has been refinished. The table was originally refinished in 2013.  I carefully sanded, stained, and sealed it with polycrylic.  Everyone in blogland was singing the praises of polycrylic, so I thought I'd give it a try.  It went on great, clean-up was easy, and it dried quickly.   Win-Win, right?  WRONG!! After about a year and a half, I started noticing some wear on the edges of the table.  You know, the spot where people rest their arms?  As time went on, these spots actually started to feel a bit sticky and you could see them: It was really difficult to get a picture of them, but, if you look carefully where the arrows are pointing, you'll see dull spots in the finish.  We lived with it for a while, then I told my husband, "As soon as the weather gets nice, this table has a date with my sander!" Time for my full disclosure. ...