I'm ready for a heat wave

We have had some really cold days here and now the weatherman is forecasting more snow tonight through Friday morning.  I know we don't have the snow that people to the east of us have, but for me personally, I'm tired of the snow and being so cold.  On a more positive note, I think this has been one of the warmest mornings lately - a high of 13 degrees.  Well, tonight we'll be having 16 bean soup and rolls for dinner and that should warm us up even more.  Carl and Kyle even put a heat lamp out in the dog house for Snickers and Harley.  I can tell it's a cold day when Harley doesn't come out of the dog house when the sun comes up. 

The boys went back to school yesterday and somehow they managed to make the bus.  I was a happy mom!!  Now we are back in the regular schedule of homework, basketball practices and games and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to it. 

I've been working on painting furniture this week and I'm really happy with the sewing machine drawer, but I'm not so sure about the old window that I painted.  To see the before picture of the sewing machine drawer, click here.  I started by painting the drawer black - 2 coats inside and out.

Then I painted it a golden yellow - 2 coats inside and out.  After the paint was completely dry, I took a palm sander and lightly sanded the outside and as much of the inside that I could get to.

Then I put some Minwax Golden Oak stain on and  let it dry for a couple of hours.

Here it is on my counter complete with some old canning jars.

Instead of working on the red cabinet that I talked about last week, I decided to work on this old window that I've had hanging in my house for a couple of years.  I love how big it is, but it needs something.....

My plan was to do something to this that would be similar to the sewing machine drawer.  I'm kind of a matchy-matchy person when it comes to decorating, and in my front hall I have a black bench thingy and the red cabinet.  That goes right into my kitchen which is decorated in black, golden yellow, and red (preferrably barn red).  I was going to leave it black, sand it and then put stain over it - not sure I like it.  What do you think - stain is on the top and partially down the right side.

Since I didn't put stain over the entire window, I put some red and brown paint on one side to see how it would look.  Not sure I like that either.

Any ideas?  I really don't want to do the golden yellow and was hoping that the black by iteself would look right.   Maybe I need darker stain. 

Here are the products that I used.

 

I'm also painting the frame to a picture that hangs in our  bathroom.  I started this and forgot to take the shiny off the frame and had to start all over - my goal is to have it finished this weekend and get the bathroom back in order.

For inspiration and instructions on how to start your own refinishing projects, check out A Primitive Place blog.  So many ideas, so little time...  I'm going to Leslie's blog to check out what everyone else is working on for Watcha Working on Wednesday.

Stay warm, be productive, and have a great week!