Some pretty flowers

Today I'm just going to share a few photos that I took around my yard. The flowers have been so pretty but with the hot winds we've been having the past several days they may not last. The lavender has been especially pretty this year.

Here are a few other shots around the backyard.

I've been working on some projects that I'll share soon.

The cursed table...

Have you ever had a furniture flip that seemed to be cursed? What I mean is that it seems that anything you try with the piece goes wrong? That's the way this table seemed to be.

First, I bought this table and chairs in an online auction. I had to drive about 4 hours to get the darn thing. I only did that because the auction house was in the general vicinity where my sister and mom live. It was a great excuse to go visit my relatives. My sister said that I could redo the table in her garage and then she'd help me get it into my booth space. Ok, sounds like a great plan, right?

The pick up went beautifully. My sis couldn't believe that I could get so much furniture piled onto my truck. (The table and chairs were not the only pieces I purchased.) I seem to know the truck's capacity and I bought only what I figured I could haul in one load.

Here's the table and chairs in their "before" state.

The table is a vintage piece but the chairs are newer. I have no idea why they were packaged together, but I decided the table needed chairs, and these were the only chairs that I had so I painted them to match.

Ok, so why was this a "cursed" flip? Well, when I got the table I thought I'd just paint the entire thing. It ended up that I didn't like that, so after putting a primer and two coats of paint on the table top I decided to strip it all off. Then I stained and used polycrylic on the table top. Well, it has been raining in our area for days. The day I was applying the polycrylic was a rainy day. That means HIGH humidity. The polycrylic wasn't drying. I mean, after 16 hours of dry time, it was still tacky. I mentioned this to my dad and he suggested that I set a fan to blow on the table to help with the drying. Now, why didn't I think of that???? That did the trick. The polycrylic FINALLY hardened, I could sand between coats, and I was able to get 4 coats on the top of the table. Oh, another issue while redoing this table was the bugs sticking in the wet paint and the mouse that was terrorizing me by running all over the garage. It did seem like the table was cursed!

Finally, the table is finished, the chairs too and the entire set is in my booth at La Bottega in Parkville MO. I'm back home after my family visit and all is well. I'm breathing a sign of relief after this furniture redo. AHHHH....