Father/daughter projects and so forth...

There's not much I can claim to know, but one thing I do is that I will never get too old to work on do-it-yourself projects with my Dad. Definitely.

Way back several years ago when I was single and living in Denver, I purchased a corner-style entertainment center. A lovely piece that I adored before all of the moving fun ensued...which is a story for another time. By the time I made a more permanent move to Dallas, I didn't have a place to put my lovely piece of furniture. So...I deposited in my parents' living room for them to use and enjoy. Lo and behold they moved a couple months ago and would no longer have a place for it. So I said that I wanted it back but that I wanted to paint it black. Now...because of all the pins I see on Pinterest that boast of how easy it is to paint furniture, I had planned to just throw some primer on it and do a bang up job of spray painting it. But when I told my dad that I wanted to paint it, he said that he would help me. He...by the way...is the handiest knight in shining armor that I know. If he doesn't know how to do something, he will find out how, and make it look better than anything I could go and spend a fortune on. So. I jumped on his offer and made my way up last weekend to his house on Father's Day weekend so I could help him paint the durn thing.

And...oh my stars...we had so much fun.

We sanded.

And...OY!...were my arms sore. FYI...sanding is not for the faint of heart!

We washed it down with TSP. I have no idea what that is except that it is a cleaning agent and it takes scuff marks off doors and walls, etc. -and- that you can wash down something that you just sanded. Oh...and you can buy it a Lowes or Home Depot.

We painted it red. (And then let it dry.)

We painted it black. (And then let it dry.)

And then we got some clean white cloths (old t-shirts cut into strips) and dabbed them with some denatured alcohol...which I had never heard of till I was 43...and ran it across small places such as edges and corners, etc. This step removed the black paint and revealed the red underneath making it looked distressed.

Then. We stopped for the weekend. And enjoyed some fun family time with my nephew, Chad, his wife, Jenn, and their precious angel, Anna Grace.

Then...after I went home...my Dad applied a few coats of lacquer. And...voila!

I love the finished project. But I will treasure it all the more because of the memories we made transforming it.

It was the best Father's Day gift I've ever received!!