Beautiful Stenciled Table

Alright everyone.  Here is the post you have been waiting for.  Seriously.  SO great.

We bought this table at a yard sale for $30.  Yes only 30 bucks!   I am a bargain shopper and I was in love.  Not only was it only 30 dollars but it was wood!  And that shape… and those legs! Come to mama!  Drool.  Ok so I love things with funky shapes and weird angles.  So this table for $30 was a no brainer.  Loved it.

I had seen an amazing pinterest post of a table I loved.  So I pinned it thinking not a lot of it since we didn't need a table at the time.  When we moved to CA I immediately remembered it and hoped dearly that I would be able to the project!  So I went back to this website where I originally found it at Domestic Imperfection.  Go check it out!  She did a great job with her table. 

So we brought it home and got started.  There was a pretty thick and chunky layer of black paint on it and our goal was to stain it so we knew that had to come off.  So first we tried stripper.  That actually helped on the top surface a good bit, but the legs because of their shape, it made it really difficult.  Plus the top layer of paint on the top surface didn't come off all the way.  So we went and got our orbital sander.  Let me tell you… this thing is so awesome, I wouldn't recommend doing a job without it.  It really got all the rest of the paint off and smoothed the table out so well!

So then came the stenciling.  Let me tell you, Ashley over at domestic imperfection was sent a stencil that was gorgeous.  They were also one big stencil instead of several little ones.  We looked into those but they were anywhere from 40-60 dollars after shipping!  We didn't want to spend that kind of cash and we also didn't want to wait the time it would take to arrive.  So off to the craft store we went.  We got two different sets of stencils for about 10 bucks total.  But of course it took us much longer than the 10 minutes Ashley's took hers.   So basically it's either you need to have the time or the money.  Haha!

Here's where we started.  The middle!  We loved the big middle pattern but then thought we should start from the outside and work our way in.  So that's just what we did.

Now I know that it seems seamless and perfect without mistakes, but let me assure you that wasn't the case.  Here's a close up to show you.

Here's a close up to show you.  See that to the left of the corner stencil?  That is smudging.  Right before staining time sand it down a little, but overall it won't show a lot, just a little.
Well can you just take a quick guess and tell me out of Brian and me who you think was better at stenciling?

It was BRIAN!  I was so impressed with him.  We both got started, but his stencils turned out so much sharper and straighter so I told him he could finish.  ;)  But seriously,  I think he enjoyed making something and was pleased with the results.

This was the end of day one:

There was two seconds we thought about leaving it like this.  Simple.  But we ended up thinking it looked kind of empty.  So we pressed on.

And glad we did!  This was after the stenciling was finished!  Aren't you in love?  I could almost leave it like this and be happy, but we didn't. 

We had decided on a dark stain.  Like really dark, I believe it is called Ebony by Miniwax.  But first we put a pre-stain conditioner.  Even that added a richness and we liked what we were seeing.

See the difference in the "top" of the table near Brian (has conditioner), the middle of the table (no conditioner), and my end of the table (has conditioner)?

Close up with the conditioner:
I love how you can see the grain of the wood so well!

Here is the whole thing with conditioner:

Then we went and put on one layer of the stain, anticipating we might need several layers of it.  We were wrong.  This is how it turned out after the first round of stain:

Wow, right?!

 We are seriously in love with our table.  We slapped some wipe on polyurethane and the top was done.  As for the bottom we decided we couldn't get all the paint off well enough to stain it.  So we just painted it black and again, ended up really loving it.

Here is the finished product (yes there will be chairs around the outside):

And here is another hint to our next blog:

So the total thing took us about 12 or so hours over several days.  Because of the stain and poly and everything you have to wait hours in between to put on other layers and such.  So because we would mostly do it after the kids were in bed, we just did it several nights in a row.  So we are ready to tackle more!  This was our first encounters with stain and poly but we weren't disappointed.  It was worth the time and effort.

Hope you enjoyed it!

School begins!

Hello everyone!  Robin here.

Just a quick update to tell everyone a little bit about what is going on in our lives.  Biggest news is Brian started school!!!  We all hopped in the van and dropped him off on Tuesday as a family.  We took a picture of the civic center in town where they meet:

 I tried to take a picture of him on the first day but he was uncooperative.  So like my mother I took this pic:

My mom always said "That's what you get when you don't pose for a picture," and she would still take the picture to forever remind you next time to smile.  Ok, perhaps it reads a little harsh from my mom, but it was really wasn't harsh and it was all in good fun when she did it.  :)

I also snapped this picture as he walked away:

As you can see from the crowd this is a big group!  That line goes way to the left of the picture and towards the right it goes pretty far and then loops around the back as you see in the back right of the picture.  They told the class there was 1150 students in this 1st year class alone.  It was only at 950 last year so you can see that there has been a big increase in just one year!  He said it has been amazing so far.  He has loved it.  Each day has had about 45 minutes of worship from great worship leaders.  Today was no different as Jeremy Riddle led.  He said they started by going over core values and what to expect out of the year as well as just some sound, Biblical teaching.  He has already been very busy with Bible reading, book reading and group meetings.  He already has a good bit lined up as well as a retreat next week.  I will end there for now because Brian will be writing soon in more detail about his take on things! :)

As far as the house goes, things are coming right along!  We have been so happy with where we are and the kids are loving the back yard.  We are still working on quite a bit around the house and things are still in a state of disarray.  So be looking forward to a blog on in the future of all the furniture and updates we have done!  For now enjoy a quick sneak peek:

Remember this coffee table?

Here's the after!

Don't you love it!?  It really turned out just how I wanted.  I was so pleased!
Here's a picture of it and it's matching TV stand in the living room.

The picture isn't the best as it was taken with my iPhone.  I wish you could see the brightness of the table.  Again, more to do but it gives you a good idea.  Brian and I sanded, painted and antiqued the two pieces to match ourselves and we are really happy with how it came out.  We are now working on an amazing kitchen table, but that will be a whole tutorial blog in and of itself!  :)

As far as jobs go, I had a second interview at the optometry place and it went really well!  They were really great and I got along great with the Dr.  Basically the only downside was they knew that they couldn't pay me exactly what they were hoping.  Although, to me that's not the only deciding factor.  I do however have other options.  There was a home health place in town looking for a LPN with pediatric experience.  Know anyone!?  Me, right?  So I went in and took my resume and they looked really pleased but of course I don't have my CA license yet.  I have been working on getting it and should be sending in all my paperwork by early next week.  So right now, Brian and I will have a big decision to make if I am accepted at the optometry office.  Please keep us in your prayers for wisdom and discernment about what is best for me and our family.

As far as Brian goes, he has a meeting set up tomorrow for a possible job.  He is getting lunch with a guy who owns his own firm and is looking for an engineer to work with who does exactly what Brian does.  He works from home and has flexible hours.  Which is just what Brian would need right now, so it's kind of perfect.  We are really hoping this turns into something great, so prayers are needed again!

Alright prayer warriors, you have your assignments!  Haha.

One more assignment (ok, more like a request) before we go.   We really are missing our east coast family.  As we are getting settled into our place, I have decided I would really love to have pictures of all of you and your family.  To me, it doesn't matter if I have talked to you much recently, or not.  If you are reading this, send us a picture!  Just to see a familiar face and for our kids to be able to look at the people that are supporting us through friendship and prayer will mean the world.
If you get a chance (and we hope you do) please just go to Walmart or anywhere and print out a picture and send it to:

The Walkers
1786 Lazelle Ct
Redding, CA 96002

Seriously! It would make our day.   I know our kids would love this fun activity of checking the mail for pictures and putting it on our wall.


Here's a picture of my sister and me when we were little and the kids love seeing it.  It also reminds us all to be praying for their family!  See how awesome it works? ;)   So go do it now! Hehe.

Hope you are all doing well.  As always, if there is anything we can be praying for you all for, please write us at:   thewalkerfamilyblog@gmail.com

We love you all!

Furniture Shopping and a Trip to a FARM!

Hello everyone! :D  I've missed you.  ;)   Haha.  But seriously, sorry we haven't written as often.  We have been incredibly busy trying to get settled in, figure out town, furniture shop, go to church and have a fun adventure for the kids here and there.  Hopefully we will get you up to date on our lives and a little what we have been doing with this post.  

One of the big things keeping us busy is looking for jobs.  I (Robin) had an interview Thursday that went really well but at this point we are still waiting to hear back.  Brian is meeting with someone this week for a potential position.  We are hopeful that Brian's job will be just what he needs.  Please join with us in praying for both of us to find the right jobs that God has for us.  Thanks guys!  Now onto the rest (and more laid back part) of the blog:

One of our fun things we did for the kids (and us) was go to the mall and buy them some sunglasses.  They both needed a pair and so did Mommy.  The kids kept complaining on the trip out about the sun (even with sun shades) so we decided since they kept "borrowing" ours (asking for ours and then never giving them back OR dropping them on the floor) we would get them their own.  So we all went to the mall and picked out some shades. 

Hailee picked out a few she liked and Mommy made the final decision.  This pair was ADORABLE (right?!) and also I knew she could grow into them some.  :)  

My MAN!  :)  He loves his shades.  He posed for me quite a bit with them on.

Just give me a spoon because I could just eat him up right now.  *sigh*  So precious.

So when looking for furniture, we checked out Craigslist and some furniture places and couldn't find bunk beds.  So we were going to buy the lumber, stain or paint, etc, and make one.  However we went by a consignment shop and we found this one for a really great price!  We figured the lumber cost, labor and time saved made it worth the buy.  The kids LOVE it and Hailee is enjoying sleeping in her "princess tower".  (Pictures of their room to come when it's a little more **ahem** settled (read: clean). Nathaniel is still sleeping in his Pack N Play for now.  I went to the store the first night he was put to bed in it and Brian said he just came prancing down the hall just about 1 minute after being laid down.  Haha.  Maybe a few more months will do the trick.

The kids bunkbed:

So we have been looking around at furniture places and at the consignment store I found this gem below.  An antique sewing table!  It was SO beautiful.  The pictures don't even do it justice.  I really wanted a reason to have this in my house…  I just couldn't for the price.  And really, the $100 is probably a steal for one is such great shape, but on our budget, I had to pass.  :(

Here's a picture to drool at though:

So we have already met some great people we get along with really well.  One of the ladies gave our family all these awesome tips and info on Redding.  One of the things she gave us info about was some "U-pick it" farms they have up here!  There are all kids but she told me of some with peaches and another with grapes and pears right now.  I know right, grapes?!  I was sold right there- but then I thought it would be the coolest trip for the kids (especially H) to see where grapes come from and get to experience it like that.  So here is our trip:


Getting ready to go out.  Hailee didn't know where we were going yet.  We kept it a surprise!

So the woman who's house it was at was also named Robin!  Cool, right?   Spelled the same and everything.  She told us she hadn't been in the house but 4 months so she wasn't 100% on everything yet.  She just knew she had WAY too much food than she knew what to do with, so she let people she knew come on to her property to pick for a cheaper amount.  Awesome.  To boot, her and her family go to Bethel.  She told us pretty much to eat as we go and if something tastes good, just put however much in the basket as we want.  If we don't like it, throw it on the ground and move onto another tree.  Now before you think it's too wasteful, she has someone come and get the ones that fall or people throw down and they take them and give them to their chickens!  Resourceful.  I love it.  :)


Here's Brian tasting an Asian Pear.  Hailee doing her own thing in the back.  They are small.  Like plum size and they are sweet!  I am going to try and make some pearsauce in the next few days.  Hooray!

Nathaniel was grabbing them left and right and taking bites out of EVERY one he got.  We had to stop him at first.  Even now he will grab one right out of the bowl, hold the stem like a lollipop and start taking bites out of it.  He will usually finish most of it and then go back for more.

Hailee running towards me with one that she had picked.

Hailee reaching some of the tall ones with Daddy's help!

Next we moved onto the grapes.  Mommy and Daddy did all of the picking and cutting of the grapes.  We did let Hailee and Nathaniel help us choose which ones but we didn't want them using the scissors (for very, very obvious reasons).  

Hailee would walk with us and taste the ones we were tasting but Nathaniel found one cluster he evidently thought was good and stayed there a good 5 minutes just picking off grapes and eating them off the same cluster.  Haha, I wish I had gotten a picture but by the time I had gotten out my camera he had moved.  Of course!


Here's Hailee with our finds:

 Hailee and Daddy walking together out of the grapes.

Us weighing our finds.  We only had 3 lbs.  She was only charging .50/lb.  Yes that's right guys… fresh produce for so cheap.  You better believe we will be back here.   We only had a $5 so we got $2 worth of zucchini and called it a day.  

An overall picture of the farm.  The grapes are closest to us and the pear trees are in the far back of the picture.

Nathaniel loved getting on the mower!

We also saw cows in a beautiful meadow as we left the farms.  We pulled over for this picture.  It almost looks like a postcard, but funny enough there was no photo editing or anything done to the picture.  Just God's beauty.  Ahhh.

Another thing we have done a lot has been going to yard sales.  As you might remember we came with only a van load of things and no furniture.  That notion was a fun idea, until we got here and the reality that we had to find everything was a little overwhelming.  I can say now we have almost all our furniture.  We are doing a lot of face lifts to what we have, however, and I can't wait to show you.  In time, my precious people, in time.  Hehe.

I will share with you some of my finds though.

 I found these older kitchen set that was hand made for this woman who looked my age.  It was so awesome and I assured her that they would be loved.  I got these for $20 and I can assure you that you can't find any that inexpensive or well made in a Wal-Mart.  Psshhh.  Great find!

 We are going to be giving these (above toys) to the kids on their birthday.  Nathaniel's birthday is less than a month away!  Can you believe it?!  Hailee's just over a month away.  Wow.  Just wow.


We found this table and set of 8 chairs for $35!  I was very happy with that as we plan to have a lot of people over! :D  You know, when we have friends. Haha!

When we haven't been going to yard sales or farms, we have been giving all our furniture a face lift.  We bought a lot of wonderful pieces that are tongue and groove (look it up if you don't know) vintage wood.  And while they were sturdy and in great shape, they weren't very modern.  So we pumped them up a bit.  We are really happy with what is finished so far turning out awesome!  That blog post will be next!!!

One cool thing is while we were getting one of our pieces ready (what we are going to use as a TV stand) we found the receipt still in it from 1963.  How awesome is that!?  Look on the left where it says from "SEARS, ROBUCK and CO."  What a cool story.  Looks like the whole set that was bough was a whopping $28.87.  That was a lot back then, which is weird to think about, but still so fascinating.  I love the history already.

God has been showing us a lot of neat things since we have been out here to show us just how much he is watching over us, caring for us, loving us and providing for us.  We have no doubt that God is on our side.  One thing that is cool is pretty much from anyplace you are in town you see a gorgeous mountain sunset.  I hope I don't grow used to this and start to take it for granted.  It is just beautiful.  

I had to take this picture.  It wasn't that it was so amazingly beautiful (although it really is), but that I was just leaving Wal-Mart (YES, Wal-Mart) when I saw this view.  Note:  Just in case you aren't sure- this isn't usually ever what people see coming from Wal-Mart's where we are from.  Again, just a quick reminder that the Walkers aren't in GA anymore.  

This one was taking while we were driving down the street in town.  Again, just driving and suddenly there is a gorgeous mountain sunset in the background.  How awesome.

Back in Augusta when we would see a beautiful sunset, which wasn't often, we would tell Hailee that Jesus had painted with beautiful colors in the sky.  Cheesy I know, but we are just trying to get the point across that Jesus makes things beautiful because of who He is and His great love for us.  We are seeing them often here so now she says so nonchalantly, "Look Mommy, it's another beautiful sunset Jesus painted."  She says it just like that too, so adult sounding.  My almost 4 year old going on 15.


Well guys- I have written probably too much and somehow it doesn't seem like enough.  We miss all you Augusta people all so very much.  If you ever want to skype or call, just let us know and we can make it happen.  We love you and are praying for God's blessings for you all!

Love,
The Walkers