I hope everyone had a great Independence Day! Both of my kids and their families were in North Dakota for a wonderful visit for seven days. Memories were made!

And now I’m back and working on all of my unfinished projects. Sadly, I did not finish the guest room before guests arrived. No curtains or headboard but I did finish painting and hung some decor. No one complained!

One thing I did get accomplished was getting the refinished dresser into the basement guest bedroom. After much coercion! I don’t have the drawers finished but at least the heavy cumbersome part is in place.

And I want to apologize if you follow me for my sewing projects since I’m not doing any and thank you for still hanging in there. Quilting and sewing are my main jam but I’m in a new home and still don’t have a sewing room. (Although I have occasionally set up my stuff in the dining room!) The new sewing space is progressing but meanwhile, I continue to refinish furniture.

I’m returning to the dresser that I posted about last week–just in case you want some details. I thought I’d share what works and what doesn’t work for me.

A lot of these links are for products on Amazon. I am required to say that if you buy something from one, I might make a small commission. (So far this hasn’t happened but I don’t write this blog to make money so that is okay.)

I am sort of new at the whole refinishing craft. I have painted and stained lots of furniture and I attempted to refinish a few of my kitchen cabinets in Homosassa but that was a total failure. I think now I’m doing a lot better. Here are some of the tools I use, just in case you want to join me:

I have a couple of rotary sanders. One does a better sanding job but even with the included filter attachment, the sand goes everywhere. So I can’t recommend it. The other is a Ryobi Random Orbit Sander. I can use my little wet/dry vac with the sander with a vacuum adapter that attaches the vacuum to the sander. It’s not perfect. I can’t quite figure out how to get that coupler to stay on unless I hold it there the entire time. I purchased a sponge pad for the sander but I’m not really sure if it actually makes a difference. I will eventually upgrade both the sander and vacuum if I stick with this new hobby.

I have some detail sanders but I’m really not happy with them so I am not listing them here! I also use lots of sand paper when sanding by hand.

CitriStrip is one of several strippers I have tried when the sander just can’t get into those crevasses. It’s not perfect. But it doesn’t smell as bad as some of the others! More recently I have been trying a product from Stripwell–QCS Finish Remover. I was disappointed in it at first but I have been working with the product for several weeks and am finally getting it figured out. It’s supposed to be user friendly–don’t even have to wear gloves–but I do! You can’t get it from Amazon and I am not an affiliate with Stripwell. I’m still testing it and will let you know what I think when I get the latest project finished.

For some flair, I bought these handles, which I absolutely love,

Besides being beautiful, these handles can be adapted to different centers. This dresser had two different center sizes for the handles. 2 1/2″ centers and 3″ centers. The holes were already drilled and I didn’t want to fill them and deal with trying to get the filled holes to match the stain. I knew exactly what I wanted for the handles but could not find any place that offered the two different sizes. FINALLY–after so much research–I stumbled across these which are adjustable. Just takes a little L shaped wrench that is included. And I did it all by myself!

I lined the drawers with this beautiful peel & stick wallpaper. I have already ordered it three times and plan to use it for more projects! Flowers. Hummingbirds. And Blue. Perfect!

This was easy-peasy. I had a little tool that I pressed out the air bubbles with. I can’t tell you what it was because Terry found it in his work bench and gave it to me but it looks just like this Cricut scraper. The most difficult thing was to match the seams up. They are not perfect, but good enough!

I am trying to buy used furniture as often as possible and refinishing it. I am looking for a corner hutch for the dining room and a countertop height table for my future sewing space. My problem is that I can’t pick the stuff up unless my son or daughter-in-law can meet me with their truck. Should I buy a truck for this new hobby? Just to pick up furniture? I would still have to get some strong help to put the furniture in and out of the truck. Stuff to think about.

Anyhow. Stick with me. Everyday I’m getting closer to getting a dedicated quilting/sewing room. I’m now painting the walls. I thought I was getting help but he’s working on other projects with my son. So far I’m the only one on the ladder. With a roller. And paintbrush. Scheesch! But everyday I’m working on it, is another day closer to finish!