Too Late Smart!

 Nothing is going to spoil the fact that today is Fri-YAY again! But, my latest "brainstorm" could do it if anything was going to!

I spent almost all of yesterday out and about and came home with a fair amount of new clothing-which I am starting to stockpile so I will be ready for the two trips I have coming up soon as well as grandson #2's graduation and baccalaureate which will be here before I know it. I really don't like clothing shopping anymore so, if I see something that might work, I grab it when I do and, since I was going to the mall anyway yesterday, I roamed the stores and lucked out. And, with sales and store reward coupons, I actually saved more than I spent!! Lol I love it when that happens!!

The thing that took me back to the mall was actually some coupons the sales clerk in Yankee Candle gave me the last time I was there. She gave me the two you were allowed for $12 large candles but, once I was in there, a different saleswoman took a liking to me and "snuck" me another so, between those coupons and a $5 reward bonus I got three large Yankee Candles for literally less than the price of one these days! I always have to chuckle when these kinds of things happen because I can remember coming home after having a day like this and telling my husband "look how much I saved"...and him always jokingly saying "and look how much you could have saved if you hadn't gone at all". LOL

After those two successes, I hit Target and HL in hopes of finding a few specific things. I found most everything I wanted with a few tweaks to the actual want list.

Everything here is from Target with the exception of the unfinished wood tray-more to come on that in a minute. Here's where some of it ended up-on the bench in my bedroom.

Since I had finished my St. Pat decorating but still needed a few little fill ins, I grabbed that pretty faux plant from Threshold and then the table runner and small dish from their $ Spot. And then I spied that brown vase. It is just the size I need as a fill-in to my many Pottery Barn vessels that I have collected over the years. I don't usually give in to trends but I love urns, olive jars, pots, etc. so much-and actually have since way before they became trendy-that I am really loving all of the decorating reels I see where they are becoming a beautiful focal point in all rooms. I have so many but this one caught my fancy and it was way less expensive than the ones I get at PB!

So now let's address the elephant in the room-at least in my room. I have been wanting another round wood tray-this time wood toned. I have this one in my family room that I painted and it works for many vignettes but I felt I wanted one in wood tones for other areas.

I was hoping to find one locally because I am not a fan of ordering online sight unseen ever since my "Christmas tree" disaster! But, without going way more places than I had the energy for, that wasn't going to happen so I started looking at all of the typical places online and to get the size I wanted I would have to spend more than $100. Some things I would definitely splurge for but this wasn't one of them. I came close with this from Crate and Barrel.

But, it really wasn't as large as I wanted and with shipping and handling, it was a pretty fast "NO".

And so, when I was in HL and not finding one ready to go there either, I headed to their spring unfinished wood section and grabbed another of these. It is the same as the one in the family room but that one I painted with white chalk paint so there were no issues. This one is 18.3" so that is wonderful but, the edge of the tray is not one piece of wood but many pieces of thin ply glued together and I didn't think I would like how that looked.

And so, my genius self decided to go over the sides with wood filler. My filler was a bit dry so I used water to smooth it down and I thought it would leave just enough filler to give the sides a solid wood appearance. And, it did.

I let it dry and then took it outside to sand and then that is when I started to think about how this "new" surface would accept the antique wax I was planning to use. I kind of knew it would be an issue but forged ahead because, after all, it is Fri-YAY-a day for only fun things! Lol

Of course, once I put the first of the wax on I realized that it would be a problem. It went on fine but once I went to wipe off the extra, it kind of wiped everything off. And then I spotted the INSIDE of that tray edge which of course presented the same "multi-layer" look. Not sure why I hadn't thought of that before-but, I guess my "stupidity" worked in my favor this time because I hadn't mucked that up with the wood filler.

And so, I am here:

 I am waiting for this to dry entirely because every time I try to move it I leave fingerprints and have to keep going back. The inside edges are darker than I like but there is no getting the wax off of that very absorbent area. The middle looks OK but the edges-which you can't see here-leave much to be desired. Once it is good and dry I will either go back around the edges and try to jerry-rig them into acceptance or possibly get out my power sander and just try to sand off every bit of the filler. Of course, I'm afraid if I do that, I might jeopardize the rest of it as well.

I'm going to take a break and grab some lunch and come back with fresh eyes in a bit-and I will let you know. Try not to fall off the edge of your seats that I know you're all sitting on right now. LOL

I am back. I ended up dry brushing and fudging a bit on the sides of the tray and I am OK with it. After all, it was about $9 on sale so what was I expecting? Lol I am giving it a number if coats of a clear matte sealer in hopes that the wax doesn't chip off of those sides...fingers crossed. It is far from perfect-in fact, once it has all cured a bit, I might go back and do some more touching up but for now it serves the purpose. I just put it here quickly so you could see but changes are probably soon to come.

And, here is the latest update on this cutie. 

The one bloom is so heavy I needed to prop it and I added the cute little leprechaun and shamrock that granddaughter #5 made all by herself for me many years ago and I still love!

So that is it for today. I am probably going to be outside all day tomorrow-or at least until I fill all of the garbage cans-because the live oak leaves are coming down fast and furious and I can hardly see the pool deck let alone the water in the pool. I'm not sure if this is because of our cold temperatures but it sure seems earlier than usual.

Hopefully then I can start out tour because I will be gone for four days at the end of next week to go see Barry Manilow in concert and then four days the next weekend to visit granddaughter #2 in Charleston and go on the Junior League Garden tour in Summerville. We also have the Southeastern Youth Fair starting today and my brother and sister-in-law are coming for a visit on Tuesday so life will be busy and full and I will enjoy every minute-and, of course, I will share my pictures so you can join in on the fun. Stay safe and stay tuned.