“New” Furniture

Back when we were anticipating our move from Hong Kong to the U.S., Cody and I went shopping for Chinese furniture to take back with us.  We ended up having a big fight discussion about the differences in our design/decorating styles.  This picture kind of depicts my style: 

Bright and bold with lots of pattern, color, and white.  This photo illustrates Cody’s preferences:

Dark and masculine with lots of leather and wood.  Could you get any more opposite?

After talking it through for some time, Cody relinquished all decorating responsibilities to me.  In short, he told me he really doesn’t care as much (as I do) and it’s going to be me taking care of the decorating anyway, plus I thoroughly enjoy it.  Therefore, he is not making me take his style into consideration at all and is completely supportive of whatever I want to do.  I really can’t think of a better gift he could have given me.  I think he is the absolute best! 

Cody’s parents have been so good to store several boxes of crap stuff in their garage for us while we were living in Asia. I think it’s mostly mission memorabilia, photo albums, and extra quilts, but who knows what else we are going to find when we open those boxes up after all these years!  I really can’t remember what all we have in there.  I think it ended up being 49 boxes/items when the movers came.  I have no idea why we had so much stuff!!  We obviously haven’t missed it.

In June when Cody was organizing our boxes into one corner of the garage, we spotted an old dining table and chairs.  I had seen this photo of a chair makeover on a blog. 

I figured that was probably going to be the best route for us: finding cheap, old chairs and refinishing them.  All our furniture in HK was the landlord’s, so we are starting with nothing and it is going to get expensive real quick! 

After some inquiring, we quickly found out the dining set had belonged to Cody’s great grandma.  I think we determined it was approximately 70 years old and still in great condition!  Cody’s mom was incredibly generous to let us have them!

  

I was so thrilled; I absolutely love all the gorgeous detailed wood work.  These chairs are incredibly beautiful and I knew they would be exactly what I want after being redone. 

  

The only problem?  I’d never done anything like this before!  After talking to our dads and perusing blogs, I headed to Home Depot. 

 

I couldn’t help but be in awe of the giant hardware store and smile at what we were use to in HK.  Below, right is a picture of the hardware store by our apartment in Hong Kong.  Somehow they always had what we needed though! 

 

I only had a week to get the chairs done before the movers came to pack up our stuff.  The table is going to have to wait, because there was not enough time to refinish it too.  I owe a big thank you to Paul and Christy for not only giving us the set, but also helping me sand and paint and watch the kids so I could get the chairs done in time!  We spent many, many hours in the garage priming and painting over the course of four or five days. 

 

Now I just needed to reupholster the seats, and paint a twin bed my sister gave me for Jade.  All within a week for the movers to take them in the shipment.

 

Luckily, my mom was able to get off work early a few days in a row to help me with the kids.  They had fun playing in the garage while we sanded, primed, and painted the beds in about two or three days. 

 

  

  

 

Thanks to my mom, I was able to get the bed done quickly!  Here is a before and after:

 

Then my fabric was delivered and we spent a day and into the evening reupholstering the seats.  My superwoman mother stayed up until midnight to help me get the project completely finished! 

 

Here is the before and after of our “new” dining chairs. 

 

Thanks again, Christy, for giving them to us!! I must say, between her and Charise's generous gifts, our prayers to find good deals and stay within budget have already been answered.

A few days later, the movers showed up to pack up our items.  I sure hope they are gentle with all my hard work! 

Ridge liked helping out. 

  

I think giddy might be the word to accurately describe Christy’s excitement to have her garage back.  We really have the best parents to help us out so much with everything!

 

Now I can’t wait to put our new furniture to use in less than two weeks!