find – A Smith of All Trades

Console Table Magic

August 4, 2014August 7, 2014 Jessica Smith

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted on the blog and I’m happy to share that my tomato tally has crossed the 100 tomato threshold! Yes, this weekend we hit a Tomato Tally of 102. I probably have a dozen more needing to get picked, too. Craziness.

Anyway, this isn’t actually a post about tomatoes. Shocker, I know.

Ever since we rearranged our living room to accommodate my slipper chairs, I’ve wanted to get a console table for our living room.

The room is starting to really come together. New chairs, new pillows… and now, new table!

I found this console table on Craigslist for $25 and an office building 4 minutes from my house. I emailed and was super pleased to hear that I was the first person to reach out and the table was mine if I was interested.

I left work in a hurry to make it to the office complex before they closed at 5, bargained them down to $20 and left with a new table!

The table was wobbly and a bit dated with the gray glass, so I took the glass out and tightened all of the bolts with a ratchet set. Then, I whisked myself off to Home Depot to buy some wood to replace the glass.

I roped in this kind gentleman to help me cut the wood down to size since we don’t have a table saw (and 51″ is too long to cut even remotely straight with a circular saw). Twenty minutes later, I walked out with two new shelves and some scraps.

I set up shop on our patio, sanding and staining the wood. I mixed a walnut brown with a light gray stain to lighten the brown color a lot. I ended up with a light brown with hints of gray in the knots of the wood. Two coats of stain, two coats of poly, one light sanding and voila!

Love love loveeee. It fits perfectly against the wall opposite our bay window where the couch used to sit.

It even matches the style of our coffee table (You can see the style better below when we used them as end tables).

I waited a day to let everything dry and cure completely before staging it.

I’m still working on that, but this is stuff I had all around the room just waiting for a home on a nice console table like this one.

I just love having a spot to put out pictures and flowers 🙂

All in all, this project cost a little less than $70 — not too bad for a new console table, especially when it’s twin at Ballard goes for $350!

Next up, a mirror for right above the table, which is centered with our bay window. The mirror will bounce the natural light around the room and really anchor the table with the wall. Now I just gotta find one I like!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Between the console table (I did this whole project in one night after work last week), a BBQ and a river walk, my weekend was a blast.

Rem had a pretty good weekend, too.

Happy Monday!

Craft Projects, Jewelry, Quick and Easy Crafts

Gunmetal and mint necklace

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 Jessica Smith

How was everyone’s Easter? My weekend was filled with three different dinners, a birthday brunch and simply way too much delicious food. Basically, it was awesome. My older sister came into town, and it was the first Easter and birthday we’ve celebrated with her in a decade (or so it seems). My mom, little sister and I took her to brunch in Baltimore at Cafe Hon to celebrate her birthday. It was a ton of fun.

Sunday was dinner at my dad’s house with my stepmom’s family and her brother’s partner’s family. I’ll give you a second to figure out that relationship 🙂 We only get to see them at Easter, which makes the holiday even more enjoyable.

My Easter craft was pretty simple, and I’m only just sharing it now because the weekend was SO busy and yesterday I had a killer headache. I even missed trivia, so you know it was crummy.

Anywho… I needed a new necklace for Easter. Yes, needed.

I had this old chain that I’d been hanging onto. I liked its chunkiness, but the length was awkward. You know what I mean…. long enough to occasionally disappear under your shirt and just the right length to get stuck in cleavage… basically, the worst length for a necklace!

I cut the necklace in half using really strong pliers, then added a new section to the necklace of bright mint beads.

The beads were a gift from my bestie, and were a totally sweet thrift store find. To add them to the chain, I used beading wire and a crimp bead. I looped one end of wire around the end of the chain, then flattened and crimped the crimp bead so no beads would fall off.

Then, I strung the beads with gunmetal spacers in between, closing the wire at the other end with a crimp bead.

In about four minutes, my boring, awkward-lengthed necklace was transformed into the perfect necklace. My sister really liked the whole thing hanging asymmetrically, too.

AND, it is also the perfect length to wrap around my wrist to become a chunky bracelet. #Winning.

I hope you all had a great Easter. The weather is finally getting warmer in Maryland, so hopefully I can start to tackle a few larger projects I’ve been wanting to do.

Oh, and our doors are supposedly in! Joyyyyyyyy 🙂 I’ll make sure to show you when they are all installed and beautiful!

Life

Beer Scavenger Hunt

November 19, 2012November 20, 2012 Jessica Smith

All my hubby wanted for his birthday was cake and beer. Being the birthday lover that I am, I was a little sad that he didn’t want to celebrate turning 27 with our friends and didn’t want any awesome gift. So I decided to make his request a little more exciting by sending him on a scavenger hunt to find his beer.

So, I snuck out one night to do some grocery shopping and to stop by one of the liquor stores in the area that has a nice selection of craft beers — Perfect Pour is the bomb! I picked out 28 unique beers (one for good luck!), and stashed them in my craft room so he wouldn’t find them. Then, I created 18 clues (they all rhymed!!) and strategically hid all 28 beers around the house and the yard. I also hid one at the neighbors. It was a lot of fun to watch him hunt, and it was a fun way to make his birthday a little more special.

Clue #1: Remmy likes to eat these, sometimes more than treats. Sometimes they are stinky, ‘cause they belong on feet.

Clue #2: All you asked for was cake and beer, I guess you’ll want one cold. Better find the rest real fast before you get too old.

Clue #3: Don’t hate me too much, some beers come in pairs. For your first set of two, go check the Harry Potter closet underneath the stairs.

Clue #6: You know who’s quite the loser? That Steeler’s boy – Big Ben. You know what’s so much cooler? Your beer that’s in the den.

Clue #9: I’d rather have a power tool than a brand new, shiny ring. Good thing they’re all so organized, you can find everything!

Clue #13: Modern Family and New Girl are the bomb. So is HGTV. Good thing ours is a 55 incher, with totally awesome HD.

Clue #15: While you’re outside, you should probably check the trees. Just watch out – don’t step in Remmy’s poop or pee.

I hid about half of the beers while he was playing a video game… so sneaky 🙂

Then, he ran out to get tonic water at the grocery store, so I frantically hid the rest. As he pulled into the driveway my neighbor shouted, “HE’S HERE!!!!!” I tossed the last beer into a pile of leaves, which was really hard to find later, and ran inside to meet him.

Also, to throw him off my sneaky scent, I went out and bought a 12-pack earlier in the day to keep good on my “cake and beer promise.” Haha I felt a little ridiculous buying even more beer when we had 28 bottles at home. Oh well!

All in all, he had a great time. If your man is a beer lover, you should totally do this for him. It’s hilarious to watch them hunt and is a manly(ish) way to make them feel special on their birthday.

And don’t forget the cake! Purple — just for the Ravens!

Wipe that scowl off your face, boy. You loved the hunt 🙂

Happy birthday to my favorite husband. I hope it was a low-key and special day, just like you wanted. <;3 You are always such a good sport.

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