What I'm currently working on 6-30

Today I came to work with Jose because he's getting off early and we're going to the lake. It also means I don't get to work on my side table today, or probably the next few days because of Fourth of July and wedding planning activities.

I bought this side table for $10 at Goodwill two summers ago when I was moving in with my roommate at the time. I liked the shape, but it was pretty beat up and not solid wood, but instead laminate. For $10 though, I couldn't pass it up.

It sat in our apartment for a year before I moved into my own apartment, and then it sat there for a while until I decided last week that something had to be done about it. I've never really cared to decorate my current living space, as I don't feel like it's a home, but more just where I'm staying until graduation. Lately though, I've gotten excited about the idea of decorating a home with Jose when we move in together in January.

I painted a piece of furniture once before without any knowledge of how to go about it, and it turned out pretty bad. This time, I read blogs and looked for tutorials, and I was much better prepared. I sanded and sanded to get it as smooth as I could before I primed it (both of which were steps I skipped on my failed painting attempt). After asking for some opinions, I decided I wanted to do a dark purple. Here's the door on one side of the table after I painted it:

I like the color a lot actually, but I'm not sure what I want to do next. I've seen some pieces of furniture on blogs that were made to look distressed or aged with sanding and/or staining, and I think it might be cool to blot on some gel stain unevenly to give it some more texture. I'm still undecided though.

In the knitting world, I'm working on the Make Up Your Mind Tank currently. I'm actually not using recycled yarn this time, but some cotton yarn I got a few years ago at a closing yarn store in Fort Worth. I'll try to take some progress pictures soon to post them.

-- Laura