I get a lot of questions about wax and other topcoats. A furniture makeover happens peacefully until the polycrylic looks streaky or the wax is blotchy and won’t dry or the poly is yellowing. If you’ve been there, you know that agony of spending hours on a piece only to have to sand it and start over after a topcoat gone wrong. After a few years of painting professionally, I’ve learned that topcoats are often not required. The best example I have is my $35 Craig’s List dresser that I bought a couple of years ago.  It had a glossy, factory finish on it when I purchased it.  I stripped and refinished the top with Minwax dark walnut stain and two coats of wipe on poly.  I used a deglossing agent on the base to knock down the shine and then applied one coat of Sherwin Williams water based bonding

I’m often asked how I grew my blog to where it is today and, while I can throw out some tips and ideas and things I *think* contributed to the growth, I haven’t been able to come up with one concise answer.  Well, I was inspired last night and now I have that answer. We have a weekly movie night with our boys.  My husband and I pick a movie they haven’t seen and we snuggle on the couch, eating popcorn.  The movie last night was Kung Fu Panda.  The premise of the movie is that an overweight, clumsy panda named Po is selected as the chosen one to fight and be victorious over the antagonist.  He must reach the highest level of kung fu in order to be worthy to receive the dragon scroll that holds the secret to victory. (Spoiler alert!)  Everyone’s guessing it will give the recipient magical