Our nest :: And why we call it Narnia

I've been more than a little hesitant to post a photo of our house.  Why, you ask?  Well, because the front looked very much like this:

 

In fact, it did look like this up until a few days ago.  Adam and I went on a date night to Macaroni Grill, where we wrote on the table and prioritized all our many projects we'd like to get accomplished around the house.  He was quite surprised that at the top of my list was the yard!  (Good thing we talked about it, right??) 

We've had quite a few friends come to visit, and the question we often receive is, "How do we get to the front door?"  We call it Narnia because it was like a forest you had to get through in order to find it.  I'd been waiting on a little name for our house, and I think that just fits perfectly.  :-)

After FOURTEEN bags of leaves and a pile of brush like this...

We've ended up with this as our final product--just in time to put Christmas lights out front!  We worked together three hours on Sunday afternoon, and then Adam worked yesterday for a couple more, and I went out to help bag even more leaves for about an hour.  So between the two of us, we worked about 10 hours on the yard!  It was fun to do together, and I think too, it helps to have such a visible change for all of our work.  We can now see our front door and step out on our porch and see up and down the street.  We love it!

Our New Project

When SMoo and I shopped at a consignment store a while back, I saw this piece of furniture and told her all about how I would re-do it if I had the chance.  Well, later I asked Adam if he'd be interested in refinishing it with me, and then we could sell it.  The man likes a project, so we went and bought it and loaded it in AMP's new truck.

Side note:  Adam has recently discovered that I have a thing for guys and pick-up trucks.  Oh my word.  And he has all the pullies and bungee cords and everything to keep stuff in place.  Love it.  Perfect for projects, right??

Here's the "BEFORE" photo.  

It's actually two separate pieces.  My favorite part is the chicken wire on the two top outside doors.  We keep it in Adam's garage and have worked on it two Sunday afternoons.  

Home Depot has quickly become Adam's new hangout.  If you're ever looking for him, that might be your best bet!  :-)  He researched how to strip wood and what was the safest chemical to use.  We bought a spray can  three spray cans of Citristrip, and it has a nice little orange scent to it.  You spray it on there and then let it work its magic for about 30 minutes.   {Insert running break here}

Next we used plastic scrapers to get the wood stain off.  Turns out some of this is actually veneer and with plywood underneath, but a lot of it has real wood, so I'm hopeful that the paint will go on and still look pretty.  

This is the top piece of the cabinet we worked on this past Sunday.  In the past two weeks, Adam has perfected the art of wood-stripping, making several more trips to Home Depot.  One of the most important tools, we've learned, are wire brushes.  They are really good for small crevices and the layers of wood on certain spots, like the doors on the bottom piece.

Adam loooves this so stinkin' much.  Can't you tell??

But in all seriousness, he's really quite good at it!  He gets in all the little nooks and crannies that I sort of gloss over.  He needs projects and I need creativity, so I think we make a good team.  :-)  I'm looking forward to painting it and distressing it next.  I'll keep you posted on our progress!