What Ana Does

Here's the best way to spend a weekend morning:  Fill a table with cookbooks, back-issues of magazines you haven't read yet, your grocery list, your weekly menu planner, to-do notebook, plenty of tech so you can check in with social media and listen to music, and a hot cup of coffee (with lots of milk). Don't forget to throw in a soft blanket and send the kids away on a sleepover.  Then, simply bask in the glory of Me time.  

Before: Pine and Unfinished It's amazing what a little stain can do on a cheap Ikea table. But first, the background: Right around Christmas, Mom took matters in her own hands and bought us a coffee table from consignment shop -- mostly because she was tired of us not having one. We'd been stymied by the choices, the height and price. ( See here ) We like the table (really, we do, Mom) but it's too short, the wrong wood grain and not the right size. Finished Table So we found this table at Ikea and I felt pretty confident I could match the color of our entertainment unit. Here's what I learned on this staining project: The two-in-one stain-and-poly is awesome. I was glad not to do have to do the coats of poly.  I tried using the recommended pre-stain again -- I really don't see the point. The wood just feels greasy.   Don't be so conservative with the stain. The first two coats were too thin. By the third, I was slathering the stain on with ...

Coffee Table At Last! In my day job, we do a lot of iterative projects. So, I'm doing the same for my coffee table. It's a pretty huge step that I even have one. I've only been looking for the last 10 months, or so. I got lucky, as this one was sitting in the corner of Mom's condo collecting dust (thus, FREE!). She found it in an antique shop after she moved to Illinois. In her latest move, it didn't even get set up. It's a dining table, but I liked the curves and the legs. And it has a leaf! So it extends, which I thought would be a clever feature for a coffee table. A few days before my company arrived for Christmas, I rescued it from Mom's condo, had Dave cut down the legs and, viola! fabulous (if a little wobbly) coffee table. It's the right size and height (I wanted it a bit higher than traditional tables) and displays all the books and magazines I'm in the middle of reading. Even the giant Louvre book I got for Christmas fits! The...

I've been struggling with the idea of a coffee table for months now. I need two coffee tables. One that is sturdy, medium-sized and can be slightly destroyed for the family room. We can put popcorn and drinks on, jump off of (though, not encouraged) it and can be tipped over when the Giants lose. And one for the living room that has two levels and that I can feature books on and put my feet up on when reading on those comfy sofas. In both cases, I'd prefer something used and made of solid wood -- so I can paint, strip and/or restain it as needed in the future. I've been haunting craigslist and a few thrift and antique stores in my neighborhoods and have continued to come up empty. Lately, I've started to go through catalogs and tried to put my desire to buy used aside just to find the perfect solution. But it's mostly veneers -- unless I want to pay a small fortune. Veneers just don't last. Another concept I'm playing with in home decorating is reu...