More Thriftyness

After many, many hours of stripping, scraping, sanding, patching, caulking, painting, and drinking wine... my latest furniture project is finally complete!  A while back, I found a photo of a dining room table made from an old door.  I immediately loved the idea, and figured it would be a cool look for an outdoor patio table.  I hadn't made any serious attempts to find such a door, but the last time Josh and I were in Santa Fe, we stopped by the Habitat ReStore to look around and found this great door.

At first I didn't even realize that the side panels were made of glass instead of wood, and I loved the carved decorative panels in the center.  We realized pretty quickly that this thing was coated in probably 6-7 layers of paint, the wood surface was not in the best of shape, and the caulk around the glass panels was practically disintegrating.  I didn't really have a plan for how this door would become a table, but the first step was to strip everything down so that I could figure out how to paint the thing.

The de-painting process took me about three weekends to finish.  We went through a big tub of heavy-duty paint stripper and I destroyed a couple of brushes and scrapers while working on the door, which was set up on sawhorses in the front yard.  FYI:  Paint stripper hurts like hell when it gets splattered on bare feet.  I recommend not wearing sandals when dealing with such substances.

I finally got most of the paint scraped off with a lot of elbow grease and managed to clean all of the paint off of the glass (which, remarkably, is in great shape with the exception on a crack in one panel).  Josh helped me patch up some of the cracks and low spots in the wood, I re-caulked all of the glass, and then we gave it a good sanding to prepare for paint.

I decided on some bright Southwestern colors and got to work painting.  Mostly this went smoothly and quickly, but detailing the carved areas in the middle panels took a lot of time with a small brush.  Not knowing if I'd be able to make it look the way I wanted, my backup plan was to simply keep the middle panels a solid color.  Luckily, it turned out pretty well.

Finally, we picked up some table legs from Lowe's and after I painted them to match the table, Josh got to use his power tools to put things together.  

TA-DA!  Now we just need to find some funky, mismatched old chairs that I can paint and put on the patio with our new table.  Hitting up the garage sales this weekend in hopes of scoring something cool.  Barbecue time is just around the corner.

Back in the saddle again.

No, not that kind of saddle.  Everybody knows that me and horses don't mix.

That's right folks, I'm riding my bike regularly again, and loving it.  And I've registered for a bike race next month!  Yay!

Although I'm in the field four days per week right now, I've been getting in as much riding as possible.  Josh and I have made some new cycling friends too, so once a week we head up to the foothills to train in the hills and hit up coffee shops with the group.  I'm finally adjusted to the higher elevation here, and I feel like I'm getting my bike legs back after seriously slacking for quite some time now.  So, bring on the races!

I was hoping that by this time I'd be ready to ride the entire Santa Fe Century.  I've come to the realization that while I could finish the century, I would definitely be hurting and it would NOT be pretty.  So, I've decided to race the 50-mile option at the same event.  I'll try to get a decent time, enjoy the scenery, and get a glimpse of what I'll be up against next year for the full ride.  And there are still plenty of century races to sign up for in the remainder of 2012.  

We're also signed up to run the Warrior Dash in a couple of weeks.  This will be interesting considering that I've not run more than five steps in months, but there is mud and obstacles involved, so I think I'll manage to enjoy myself either way.  I'll report back with results.

I don't expect my field schedule to lighten any time soon (in fact, it may increase), but hopefully if I can continue to sign up for races then I will continue to be motivated to train as much as possible.  A step in the right direction, at least.  And really, to be honest, it's just all about the sexy bike-shorts and sunglasses tan lines.  Rawr.

Paintin' Pants

My trusty old paintin' pants have acquired a few new colors over the last couple of weeks.

Paintin' pants.

It's a good thing I live in the Southwest, because I sure do love brightly colored furniture.  A full post on our newest thrifty furniture recreation as soon as we're done!  It's going to be a good one, I promise.  (How could it not be, with those colors?!)

And to tide you over, here's a photo of my previous restoration project in it's new home.  

Rock Art and Ruins

We've been spending a bit of time (re)exploring New Mexico over the last couple of months.  Thus far, most of our excursions have been focused on archaeological sites and rock art.  Josh has been a good sport and seems to entertain himself with his camera, although I have promised him that he gets to pick the next few hiking destinations.  Without bogging down in details, here is a photographic recap of a few consecutive weekends of wandering around the lovely Land of Enchantment.

The view from Guadalupe Ruin

Stabilized kiva at Guadalupe Ruin

New boots!

Petroglyphs in Tapia Canyon.

BEAR prints!!

Quarai and Abo Pueblo Missions

Abo pictograph panel

Tenabo petroglyph panels