Neglected Old Vanity into Twin Nightstands

I'm going through old drafts of posts that I started and never finished. It took a while to finish this particular post because the project stalled out for awhile when I got busy with other things. I finally finished it to make room in the library for our Christmas tree.

nightstand pieces, bed frames, drawer fronts, and boxes for Amazon

- no room for a Christmas tree here

Sunshine's room only has space for a narrow nightstand, and I have been unsuccessful in finding pre-built, narrow nightstands. I could build one, but it wouldn't be quite the style I have in mind. And I really don't have time right now. Then I came across the idea of turning a vanity into a nightstand (can't remember what blog I saw that on, though). The drawer sections of vanities are narrower than your standard night stand or end table and are therefore perfect for a narrow area.

there's room for one twin, a narrow dresser, and a crib

cribs are narrower than twin beds, so there's not much space for a second twin bed

I love the shelves around the window, but they've reduced the floorspace in the room more than I anticipated

I started searching for a vanity, but I couldn't find one anywhere. Then we went to a used furniture store this summer to get this small cabinet that now lives in the library:

(isn't it cute?)

They have a barn out back with more furniture and low and behold, there was a vanity, in all it's dusty glory. Unfortunately, the price tag was out of our budget.

When we went back in, the owner asked if I'd seen anything I was interested in. I said yes, I liked the vanity, but it was too expensive. She said it had been there for awhile and she was sure the consigner would take a much lower price. Score! Just goes to show you never know if you don't ask....

We went back a week later with the trailer and picked up the vanity and brought it home so I could start transforming it.

the mirror's turned around and not attached- there's the tall middle section and two shorter sections that go on either side

it's definitely been out in a barn for awhile

can you picture this as a nightstand?

cleaned up a bit, and the mirror set aside for now

The first order of business was to remove the center box. It was attached more securely than I anticipated, but after some maneuvering I eventually got all the screws undone.

this screw was a bit more difficult since it was half hidden under a piece of trim, but I triumphed eventually

 box off, but trim still on the nightstands

the area I needed to clean up. notice the missing leg in the back corner?

I removed the two pieces of trim and sanded the area where the box had been

I added trim to the bottom edges, but I couldn't find an exact match. It's the side that hides next to the bed, so it's not a big deal. I used some scrap oak wood to make and attach a new leg in the back corner of each nightstand where the box had been.

I used some wood filler in the holes and cracks, but not as much as I should have

I sanded some more, but not as much as I should have

the hardware was looking pretty sad, so I spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze paint

the nightstands sat in the library for a couple months until I finally sat down and painted them

I used Valspar Chalky Finish paint in Woolen Stockings. It was my first time using this brand and it did pretty well. I used the Valspar finishing wax as well, though I'm not sure if I like it. It was a liquid wax and I'm used to a paste wax, which I think has better coverage. 

I need to sand the nightstands down really well and repaint, so I wasn't too concerned about the coverage or lack thereof of the finishing wax. The veneer was in worse shape than I thought and the paint didn't cover it as well as I thought it would, so the cracks in the veneer are fairly obvious.

despite their imperfections, I love how they turned out

it looks awkward with them side-by-side, but has a wider space between the beds

this looks better, but places the beds quite close together

The beds are mis-matched because we bought a second set of twin bed frames and I wanted to check spacing. After I paint both sets of bed frames I'll keep the slightly taller set (the bed on the right) in what will be the girls' room and the slightly shorter set (the bed on the left) will go in the boys' room (currently just River's bed). Call me lazy, but I didn't want to take apart Sunshine's bed until I'm ready to paint it :)

We're not planning on transitioning Ocean out of his crib until the end of summer at the earliest, and while we'll be starting the adoption process in May, it's a months-long process, so we have time to figure out the best arrangement. I think having mattresses on the frames will make it easier to judge spacing as well. 

Oh, and the mirrors and the box that I removed? I have plans for them....

What I Read in 2016

Ocean loves playing with sticks, leaves, and rocks

In recent months my reading time has steadily dwindled. I find myself renewing the same books multiple times as I try to work my way through them. I read some fiction earlier in the year, but I've had to steer away from it lately. If I find a good book that I want to finish I have no problem staying up until 2 or 3 am to finish it. Unfortunately that does not make me a very functional person the next day. I like to read non-fiction if it's a subject I'm interested in, but I have a harder time picking up a nonfiction book to read for just a few minutes, so it takes me longer to get through them. These lists aren't comprehensive since I read other books as well, but I either didn't enjoy/like them or I got bored and never finished.

Some fiction books I've enjoyed this year:
Ready Player One    (Ernest Cline)
Armada    (Ernest Cline)
Station Eleven    (Emily St. John Mandel)
The Royal We    (Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics    (Chris Grabenstein)
Curious Minds    (Janet Ivanovich)
Etiquette and Espionage series    (Gail Carriger)
The Selection series    (Kiera Cass)

Some nonfiction books I've enjoyed this year:
The Collapse of Parenting    (Leonard Sax)
The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs    (Joel Salatin)
Woman-Powered Farm    (Audrey Levatino)
The $100 Startup    (Chris Guillebeau)
The 4-hour Workweek    (Timothy Ferriss)
Money-Making Mom    (Crystal Paine)
Home is a Roof Over a Pig: An American Family's Journey in China    (Aminta Arrington)

I listened to several audiobooks this summer while building the chicken coop and driving Sunshine to and from two weeks of daycamp (4 hours in the car each day left plenty of time to listen to stories).

At Home    (Bill Bryson)
A Short History of Nearly Everything    (Bill Bryson)
One Summer    (Bill Bryson)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid    (Bill Bryson)
The History of the Medieval World    (Susan Wise Bauer)
The Wind in the Willows    (Kenneth Grahame)
Watership Down    (Richard Adams)
Poppy    (Avi)

I also started listening to podcasts while building the chicken coop this summer. The list has gradually grown since then and now I have a hard time keeping up with them all. I may have to shave one or two off.

What Should I Read Next?      Exactly what it says :)
Read Aloud Revival                  Focuses on encouraging listeners to read aloud to their kids more
Young House Love Has a Podcast        John and Sherry from YHL deliver a fun, upbeat podcast
Southern Joy                             Two adoptive mamas talk about issues surrounding parenting and adoption
The Runner's World Show        Also exactly what it says
Human Race                               The long form stories from Runner's World
Another Mother Runner            Running encouragement for moms by moms
The Amazing Seller Podcast      Focuses on issues surrounding selling on Amazon

I've been super slow on this, but I've finally started watching videos on youtube regularly and now subscribe to several channels.

Justin Rhodes -- Abundant Permaculture- a family that raises chickens and is about to start off on a tour of the US in a converted bus.
Pure Living for Life -- Young couple building an off-grid homestead. I like their blog too.
Studio C -- Clean comedy sketch group
Ana White -- Alaskan woman who builds all the things and inspired me to start building things when I found her blog years ago
Red Poppy Ranch -- I just found this one and this guy totally reminds me of my dad

wish my thighs could handle squats like Ocean's

Weekly Mileage Recap

During the summer these trails were cool and shaded, with sunlight filtering dimly through the leaves.  Now the trails are hidden under the fallen leaves and bright sunshine casts unfamiliar shadows. It's a completely new experience.

We were still sick this past week, so not a lot of exercising went on.

Since we spent the week feeling crummy we didn't do a lot, which was nice. We stayed close to home and relaxed and recuperated.

One place we did go to was the UPS store to drop off my first three boxes of items going to Amazon. Prices on things should be stabilizing in the next week which will make it easier to know if a particular item will be profitable.

Thursday the weather was in the mid-50s and sunny, so even though we were still feeling under the weather we headed out for a short hike. We needed some fresh air!

It felt good to get out, but even just over one mile was enough to wipe us out. River actually took a nap when we got home, and he hasn't done that in awhile. Maybe if we went on hikes every morning he'd take a nap every afternoon.... too bad our schedule can't accommodate that.

Weekly Mileage
Thursday: 1.15 mile hike
        total mileage: 1.15 miles

We're finally on the uptick, so my mileage will be better this week. My last 5k of the year is this Saturday- we're doing a New Year's Eve glow run. When I was a teenager we did a New Year's Eve 5k every year that started at a quarter to midnight so the first finisher would be finishing around midnight. This race starts at 5:30, which will make it a lot easier for the kiddos to get a decent night's sleep :)

I don't usually care for pictures of myself, but I actually like this one. And isn't Ocean a cutie? 

Sunday Funny

We were at the mall and saw this fancy house and tree in the middle of the walkway.

I'm pretty sure River now thinks that Santa (or some old guy with a white beard) lives in a fancy house at the mall.

Christmas Ornaments

Every year the kids and I make ornaments to give to grandparents and great grandparents.

This year I decided to do a variation of the snowman ornament I found here.

Ocean's snowmen

After spray painting the blocks white, I lined them up in groups of three. 

I had River draw a snowman on one side. I let him do his thing, but had my hand near his to make sure he didn't scribble too much. Then I rotated the blocks and Ocean jabbed the markers on the blocks. I switched out the colors and tried to keep the proper colors in the proper spots. I was somewhat successful :)

River's snowmen

One more rotation, and Sunshine drew her snowmen. She wanted to add a lot of details (see the upper right snowman), but it didn't look like a snowman at that point, so she simplified the rest of them.  

Sunshine's snowmen

Since there’s four sides, I drew a snowman on the fourth side, with the date at the bottom. I wrote the kids' names and ages at the bottom of their side. Sunshine had fun twisting the blocks around and mixing up the snowmen. This project would work better if the boys were a little older, but I think they still turned out cute.

And here's this year's Christmas card. Aren't they cuties?

Staining all the Wood

While Mr M was on vacation from work he power washed all the wood: the front porch, the back deck, the basement patio, and the treehouse.  It was then my job to stain everything to protect the wood.

We never actually stained the treehouse and basement patio last fall, so it was past time for those to be taken care of.

Last time we stained the decks, about 4 years ago, I did it all with a brush, but I pooped out and never stained the outside surfaces of the deck railings.

This time around I decided to use the paint sprayer on the deck, patio, and treehouse. I had to mask off the house with sheets of plastic, which was a pain, but the staining process was a lot quicker. Maybe not quite as even, but it was quicker and my hand didn’t turn into a claw from gripping the paint brush.

I also couldn’t do any spraying if it was windy, since then the stain would be carried on the wind and get on everything.

Because of the white railings and the roof on the front porch, I opted to use the brush, rather than try to mask everything off. It was the smallest surface, so it wasn’t too bad to do by hand.

Everything looks a lot nicer, but a low-maintenance material that doesn’t need to be stained every few years would be better. Too bad Trex costs so much. When we build our own place we'll budget for Trex decks. Not having to re-stain every couple years is totally worth the extra money upfront.

Before I stained the front porch I repainted the columns, trim, and stair risers white and the door blue. All the trim paint was looking grungy, the door had faded, and it still had an unpainted circle around the doorknob from when Mr M replaced the door knobs several years ago. 

It was a lot of work, but the fresh stain and paint and clean siding (the house finally got power washed too) make everything look so much nicer.

All this reminded me why we never got the patio and treehouse stained last fall. Coordinating free time with no wind and dry conditions is pretty hit or miss. Add in a very small baby, and it's no wonder I didn't get it done last year. At least it only needs to be done every 3-4 years (the can claims 4 years, though 3 is probably more accurate).

Weekly Mileage Recap

this was from a picnic we did two weeks ago, before the weather got colder

We had weather in the 20s this past week, but no snow :( We did have a little ice Saturday morning, but it melted fairly quickly. And then it was in the 50s Sunday. Such weird weather.

I spent lots of time in front of the computer screen, watching training videos. I'm getting closer to being able to jump in with both feet. I'm really looking forward to finishing all the training videos and not spending so much time glued to the computer. Though I did get some good treadmill time in while watching training modules Monday and Wednesday.

We all got sick Wednesday afternoon and have been feeling crummy every since. It's just a head cold, but when everyone's sick at once it seems worse. On the bright side, at least we shouldn't be passing it around endlessly. The downside to feeling crummy was that we missed our hike Thursday morning and another treadmill workout Saturday. I was thinking I'd have really good mileage for the week, but that didn't happen. Guess I shouldn't count my miles before I actually do them.

Today's the day that I can send my first shipment into Amazon for FBA! They restricted all new sellers from sending items in between October and December 19, so while I was waiting I've been collecting things here and there. I've got a bunch of items ready to go, I just need to box it up and ship it out. I'm really curious to see how this goes.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 3.17 mile treadmill walk
Wednesday- 4.02 mile treadmill walk with hills
      total mileage: 7.19 miles

Sunday Funny

It's a snowman graveyard!

I asked River why he took all the snowmen off the tree, and he just responded "cuz".

So I still don't know what they did to him, but apparently he doesn't think they belong on the tree, poor things...

Waiting for Snow

We were at a friend's house a few weeks ago and River found this little sled in their garage. He and Ocean had fun playing with it, but it would have been better if there was actual snow :) 

A good portion of the country seems to have snow right now, but we still don't. We have cold, blustery weather, but no snow to go with it. Sunshine tried to talk me into buying a new sled a few days ago since it's colder now, but I resisted. Why should we buy another when we have a sled and no snow in the forecast....

I've said this since I was a teenager, and I still firmly believe it: cold weather without snow is useless.

First Time in Nursery

Ocean is coming up on 18 months and official nursery age, so we stopped in a couple weeks ago to start getting him used to the idea. He loved it. Hopefully he still loves it in another month...

And this little boy will be moving out of nursery in just a couple more weeks. He's getting so grown up!

December 5k Recap

Saturday I ran a 5k. This was my third year running this race, but the first year on this course, so it was a different race from the last two times. The organizers moved it to a completely new location, so it wasn't even run on part of the old course. Not sure why they changed it, though I suspect it had to do with traffic and closing roads.

Winter is finally here: it was 27* at the start of the race. I almost wore my green fleece, but decided it would be too warm. So I switched it for a lighter jacket and was just right. I left the hat on, and unlike the Halloween race, I didn't regret wearing it. Temps in the 20s = hat wearing weather. 

The course was pretty good, though that's all relative. Like 99% of the races around here it was hilly. I handled the hills in the first mile, but had to walk during the second mile. The third mile was flatter, so I did more running. I thought I was faster in the third mile, but looking at the stats on my watch, I was a smidge slower in the third mile than in the second.

I ran 3.03 miles in 34:16, which is the exact same time I ran this race last year on the other course. Interesting...

1^st mile: 10:18

2^nd mile: 11:50

3^rd mile: 11:53

I wanted to go on a hike this week, but I was just too busy. I’m still trying to find a good balance of getting work done and getting my exercise (and getting out of the house).

Last week’s mileage

Monday- 3.34 walk and run on the treadmill

Thursday- 3.12 walk on the treadmill

Saturday- 3.03 mile race

            Total: 9.49 miles

30th race in 2016

	Month	Event	Time
1.	January	New Year’s Day 5k	33:01
2.	February	Frostbite 5k	37:37
3.	February	Mud Run	1:35:37
4.	March	4k Walk	33:19
5.	March	March 5k	33:49
6.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	1:01:30
7.	March	Obstacle Race	44:06
8.	April	Glow Run	35:16
9.	April	April 5k	41:15
10.	April	Evening Run	34:59
11.	May	May 5k	35:18
12.	May	Evening Cross Country Race	43:17
13.	June	June 5k	39:21
14.	June	1 Mile Glow Run	11:38
15.	June	Vineyard 5k	39:10
16.	July	July 5k	35:53
17.	August	Predict Your Time 5k	37:41
18.	August	August 5k	35:45
19.	August	NPS 100th Virtual 10k	1:49:17
20.	August	4 Mile Run	45:20
21.	September	Labor Day 5k	46:54
22.	September	1 Mile Color Run	18:25
23.	September	3.5 Mile Trail Run	41:07
24.	October	Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k	49:55
25.	October	Flat Trail 5k	33:47
26.	October	Halloween Trail 5k	37:06
27.	November	Two Mile Road Race	20:55
28.	November	Two Mile Cross Country Race	22:24
29.	November	5k Turkey Trot	41:59
30.	December	December 5k	34:16

42nd race towards my 40 by 40 goal

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July 2015	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race
3.	September	All Terrain	5k	Mixed surface
4.	October	Hill Valley Half	13.1 miles	Virtual half marathon
5.	October	Corn Maze 5k	5k	Corn Maze, 1st in age group
6.	October	Kilted Trail 5k	5k	Kilted race
7.	November	Trail Half	13.6 miles	Trail Half, last finisher
8.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	Road Race
9.	December	Veteran’s 5k	5k	Mixed surface
10.	December	Army Virtual Marathon	26.23 miles	Virtual marathon
11.	January 2016	New Year’s Day 5k	5k	Road race
12.	February	Frostbite 5k	5k	Cross country race
13.	February	Mud Run	4.8 miles	Mud run
14.	March	4k Walk	4k	Walk
15.	March	March 5k	5k	Road race
16.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k Walk
17.	March	10 mile race	Not applicable	Water stop volunteer
18.	March	Obstacle Race	5k	Obstacle run
19.	April	Glow Run	5k	Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.	April	April 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.	April	Evening Run	5k	Evening run
22.	May	10k Kayak Race	10k	Kayak race
23.	May	May 5k	5k	1st of 2 races in same day
24.	May	Evening CC Race	5k	Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day
25.	June	June 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 1st of 2 races in same day
26.	June	1 Mile Glow Run	1 mile	Pushing jogger with both boys, 2nd of 2 races in same day, glow run
27.	June	Vineyard 5k	5k	Vineyard run
28.	July	July 5k	5k	Road race
29.	August	Predict Your Time 5k	5k	Predict your time
30.	August	August 5k	5k	Road race
31.	August	NPS 100th Virtual 10k	10k	Virtual 10k run
32.	August	4 Mile Run	4 miles	Road race
33.	September	Labor Day 5k	5k	With all 3 kiddos
34.	September	1 Mile Color Run	1 mile	Color run, Sunshine’s first solo race, River’s first race
35.	September	3.5 Mile Trail Run	3.5 miles	Trail run
36.	October	Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k run
37.	October	Flat Trail 5k	5k	Travel to race, trail run, ran w/o stopping, 2nd in age group
38.	October	Halloween Trail 5k	5k	Trail run, in costume, in a vineyard
39.	November	Two Mile Road Race	2 miles	2 miles, road race
40.	November	Two Mile Cross Country Race	2 miles	2 miles, cross country race, paper entry form
41.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	All 3 kiddos, 7th year in a row running this race
42.	December	December 5k	5k	5k road race, new course, temps in the 20s