Table Makeover for Less Than $80

Old table in all of its 1970s glory

The year is 1999. My wife and I had just gotten married, and we were working with a combined income of $10,000 per year. Because we were just out of college, we needed to find furniture. We just happened to find a circa 1972 table in the garage of the church house we were living in. It was cheap veneer that was somewhat intact, light birch in color, and not at all our style. However, two leaves dropped down, and it had three additional leaves that could be placed in the middle. This meant that the table could go from seating for two to seating for 18 in mere seconds. It was a Transformer!

Same table four days later

Numerous times through the years we have wanted a new table. We have looked for something that was...newer? Nicer? Just plain different? Unfortunately, this table has been so versatile that I cannot count the number of times that we have looked at each other and said that we will be stuck with this table forever. And then we had kids. How many of you know what kids do to an already old, beat up, 40-year-old table? They spill on it (and leave the puddle for you to find hours later). They bang on it with spoons. They get paint on it. It got to the point where the varnish was chipping off of the table. Beyond the Sanford and Sons ambiance it lent to the whole house, I feared my kids were consuming varnish. I thought about rebuilding the table, and then my wife had a genius idea -- what if we just painted it? Then she had an even more genius idea -- what if we resurfaced it?

Day 1 - sanding the old finish

We looked at a couple of kitchen counter resurfacing kits. Rustoleum had one that was quite expensive, and we weren't sure we wanted to invest that much money into our "vintage" table. After a little more research, we found a kitchen counter paint kit from Giani on Amazon. It was $80, came in a variety of colors, and had fairly decent reviews. The kit was for kitchen counters, but said that it would work on laminate, cultured marble, or ceramic tile. We decided to give it a try. So here is the process.

Cost - $80
Time - Less than 2 hours spread out over 4 nights
Difficulty - Fairly easy following the included instructions

Day 1) The surface needs to be as smooth as possible, so I had to sand off the cracking, chipping varnish. I began with 80 grit sandpaper, and finished with 220, making two passes over the entire table and all of the leaves with each. After sanding, we wiped down the table with a damp rag and left it to dry overnight.

Day 2 - first coat of base primer

Day 2) After watching the included DVD with instructions and tips, we painted the black base coat primer on the table and leaves, making sure to get all of the edges. We initially did not paint the inside edges of the table, but realized that the light table color shows through the cracks when the table is pushed together. So we went back and painted all inside edges with the black primer.

Day 3) Now was the time to create the faux granite look. Using the sponge included in the kit (cut in three pieces), we began dabbing on the three other colors, one at a time. The kit also came with a piece of practice cardboard which allowed us to practice our "dabbing" techniques. We started with the first color, dabbing the table and the three leaves. We then layered the next two colors. Finally (not included in the instructions), we wanted the table to be a little darker, so we sponged some more black on the table in some of the lighter areas. We had a lot of fun!

Day 3 - the table after some sponging on of additional colors

Days 4 and 5) After allowing the table to dry completely and going over it with extra fine steel wool to knock down any high spots, it was time to varnish the table. The included varnish was unlike typical varnishes that I use. It was rolled on and dried glossy. I was tempted to use my regular varnish but wanted to see how this product ended up. The end result was a glossy, sealed table. 

Day 5 - Closeup of finished product

After having looked at many options, I believe that the $80 we spent on updating and upgrading this table was a much better decision than purchasing a new one. The table is now sealed so I don't have to worry about my kids eating 40 year old varnish (it probably was made with lead, asbestos, agent orange and deet). It looks like something that was made this century. And we still have a table that can fit almost my entire family. It's a win-win-WIN!

If you are looking to update a counter top, dining table, coffee table, or any other surface, I would highly recommend this process.

Inexpensive Solar Panels: Good for the Environment, Good for the Family

When my wife and I were first married, we heard about the idea of powering a house with solar panels. We immediately used our dial up internet to slowly read about residential solar production. Through our investigation, we discovered that the cost for solar panels was more than you could save in a lifetime of electrical bills. Yikes! We believed at that time that we would probably not be able to ever afford to have solar panels on our house.Against all hope, we still put it on a list of life goals and stuck it next to our dinosaur computer.

Fast forward to 2015.

Phone app showing daily solar production

While solar panels are still relatively expensive, we decided to look into leasing them and ultimately ended up with solar panels on both of our Arizona homes using Solar City. While we generally don't like to lease anything, we realized that leasing solar panels does not cost us any money in the long run. In fact, it actually saves us money when our monthly electrical bill and lease payment are combined. We actually have several months in the year with a $0 electrical bill (only paying the lease amount on the solar panels) which is absolutely fantastic.

In the last year, we have saved an average of $50 per month by generating solar power ($600 over the past year). We have generated 14,781 kWh of power in one year, which seems to be enough to power a small town. Solar City's fantastic app for iPhone (or Android) enables me to monitor my solar usage, see how much I have generated for a day, week, month or year, and check to make sure that the system is working properly. 

The kids LOVE the solar panels

Solar City is a company that was started by two brothers who wanted to make solar affordable for the average homeowner (if only one of MY brothers had talked me into doing something like this). Their engineers work with the homeowner to develop a system that works for the home and lowers the monthly electrical bill by more than the lease payment. They also take care of all permits, installation, inspections, and follow up. And, according to a different company that I spoke with, they are the only solar provider that handles their own financing, which means that they are more affordable. In essence, Solar City is a fantastic company to work with, and they make every aspect of going solar easy. They currently provide solar systems in 15 states.

The full array

Here's what having a solar system means to me as a father. It means that I am reducing my carbon footprint by producing a good portion of the electricity my family uses (so I can feel good about recharging the batteries for countless annoying talking toys). I am much more conscious with the electricity that I use, knowing that what we produce goes that much further if lights are turned off or we open the windows to help cool off the house. And I love talking about electricity with my kids. In fact, my kids, ages six, four, and two, love looking for solar panels as we are driving around. It is kind of the hippy version of "Slug Bug," although I suppose "Slug Bug" was kind of a hippy thing to begin with... Anyway, the logical side of me loves saving money and the environmental/fatherly side of me loves doing something good for the planet.

If you are interested in learning more about Solar City and whether or not they are the right company for you, please use the following link: http://share.solarcity.com/renaissancedad   For every person who signs up for a solar system through this link, Renaissance Dad will donate $100 to a local charity.

Happy First Birthday, Renaissance Dad!

It is very hard to believe, but Renaissance Dad turns one today! It has been a wonderful year of building, gardening, cooking, and blogging. Here are some statistics on the past year.

Average number of monthly visitors: 562

Total number of countries that have read at least one Renaissance Dad article: 87

Most popular article: HOA Approved (Because They Can't See It) Shed

Personal favorite article to write: All of them (yeah, this is probably a cop out, but I have enjoyed every article, especially the ones that my kids helped me write).

My kids favorite article: Renaissance Dad Desserts (after all, they got dessert)

Thank you all of the support over the past year. I have thoroughly enjoyed walking this road with you, and I look forward to seeing what happens with Renaissance Dad in the next year.

Inexpensive Stand Up Desk

When I moved from teaching into educational administration, I had no idea how much time I would end up sitting at my desk. While I try not to be at my desk too often, but rather spend time with the students, there are often times when I am stuck at my desk for the better part of the day. Combine that with using a lousy chair, and my back started screaming at me. I figured it was time for a change.

I have a good friend who is also an administrator, and he talks regularly about his stand up desk. I figured I would look into it, and very quickly realized that I could not afford any quality desk. I did some more searching and found several websites that touted inexpensive, DIY stand up desks. Most of them pointed to the same desk that I created, but I added something that makes it fit like a glove.

The project consists of about $25 worth of IKEA parts (I tried to find the origination of the design, but every website seemed to think that they came up with this. I don't claim to be that savvy, but unfortunately I cannot give credit where credit is due). It is made from a Lack Side table (about $10 depending on the color, available in 12 colors), 2 Ekby Valter 11" shelf brackets ($4 each), and an Ekby Viktor shelf ($6). Since my desk at work is black, I got all of the pieces in black to match. If your math is good, this comes out to about $26 (including tax), which is better than buying a $700 stand up desk. If your math is bad, this comes out to $1000 which is a complete rip off for having to build your own desk.

Note: for those of you who do not live close to an IKEA, you can either have the parts shipped from IKEA, or you can order from Amazon. While Amazon carries all of these parts at the time of this post, they are more expensive than purchasing directly from IKEA.

Zip ties hold the brackets; CDs adjust the height

The table top holds the monitor, and in my case, the laptop, with plenty of room for both. The brackets attach to the table legs and hold the shelf for the keyboard and mouse. The Lack table is 21" wide and the shelf is 29" wide. If that extra 8" bothers you, you could cut the shelf down to size. However, I have found that the extra width makes the shelf wide enough for a keyboard, a mouse, and a cup of coffee, with maybe just enough room for a doughnut (after all, you're burning more calories by standing, so you can justify eating a doughnut while standing at your desk). 

Now comes the individuality of this design. While many people have this desk and describe the ideal height of the keyboard based on one's height, everybody is a different fit and I wanted to find what worked best for me. For the first three months that I had the desk, I used zip ties to hold the shelf brackets onto the table legs. I then used CDs to adjust the height of the shelf brackets, adjusting the keyboard shelf up and down one quarter of an inch at a time. I would keep the keyboard shelf in one position for a day or two, and then add or remove a CD to see if it felt better by the end of the day. Once I was convinced that I had the right height, I screwed the brackets into the table legs and screwed the shelf into the brackets.

Complete stand up desk

Do you know what the best part of this is? No, it wasn't the strange looks that all of my coworkers gave me the first month that I stood at my desk (although I think that they all now realize I am bizarre. The salt lamp by the desk enhances this bizarreness). The best part was that my lower back immediately loosened up. I have had very little lower back pain since I started using my stand up desk. Please know that I am not a doctor and I make no claims that this stand up desk will cure any back problems that you may currently experience. But for me, this is pretty close to the best $25 that I have ever spent.

If you end up making a stand up desk for yourself, I would love for you to leave a comment letting me know how it works for you.

Keep Your Family Safe: Sweep Your Chimney

One of the things that I love about winter is having a fire in the fireplace. Yes, I do live in Arizona. Yes, Arizona is a desert, and the winter we have here is not like the winter that I used to deal with in Illinois. Yes, we complain about temperatures in the 40's. But you know, having a fireplace makes 40 degrees that much easier to deal with.

Nothing says "cozy" like a nice warm fire in a safe fireplace

There is something magical about a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Day. On New Year's Day. On Boxing Day (I'm not sure what Boxing Day is, but this is a shout out to my Canadian readers). Huddling around the fireplace while reading books or watching a movie has become a favorite winter pastime in my house.

Last week, after the kids were in bed, I started a fire in the fireplace. I always check to make sure the flue is open, which it was, and I lit the fire. Within seconds, smoke began to fill our house, eventually setting off the smoke detectors. Remember the part where I said that the kids were in bed? This eliminated that. Little E began shrieking in fear. Big A came barreling out of her room to see what the crazy noise was. Meanwhile, Big E was sound asleep, probably dreaming of being a firetruck driver. Our smoke detectors are hardwired, so to override them I actually had to dismantle and un-wire them. When the commotion finally died down, the kids were back in bed, and the smoke had cleared, I was left wondering what had caused the smoke to back up into the house.

I then realized that we had never had our chimney cleaned in the two years that we have lived in this house, and I have no way of knowing if or when it was cleaned before we moved in. I had no idea what caused the backup, but I didn't want neglect of the chimney to cause a fire in our house.

I contacted a local company, Arizona Chimney Sweep, who came out and did a thorough clean and inspection of the chimney. When the technician arrived, I made sure to shake his hand, because, after all, I learned from Burt the Chimney Sweep that "good luck will rub off when I shake hands with you." I would have been content with just the handshake, but I decided to let him take a look at the chimney. After the cleaning and inspection, he gave me some great advice as to what I could do to prevent further backups of smoke into our house.

So my two takeaways from this experience were to first of all have working smoke detectors located throughout the house. This seems like a given, but I want to make sure that all of my readers are checking to ensure that they are safe. The second take away is to check the chimney and have it inspected and cleaned. It is relatively inexpensive and can help keep your family safe. And finally, enjoy a wonderful fire in the fireplace after all is said and done.