Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Almost Finished Highchair Incident

The Almost Finished Highchair is now caput. Thanks to DH. And he's mad at me about it?! So, last Christmas my grandfather built our toddler a wooden highchair from hand (we're talking cypress milled on his old belt-driven sawmill). But, he doesn't do the whole finishing thing, which I understand, so we left it at my mom's house for the time being. My uncle said he would finish it while it was there, but he's really unpredictable, so I never expected it to be finished.

Then, I asked my mom to bring it down last week. She said ok, that she would try to finish it first, but ended up with not enough time and didn't want varnish fumes in a 2-seater Cessna for a 4hr flight, so I wasn't upset.






DH was livid. Sheesh. It's a GIFT, what part of "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" did he not understand. So, I go to finish it. I do the legs in blue stain, the top in red stain with a wax resist of our last name on the back of the seat and the kids' handprints on the tray. It looks supercute. I got some urethane spray and gave it one coat. Now DH is upset because it's not smooth like plastic and I explain that it's going to take a couple of weeks to get that many coats on with sanding in between, but that I don't mind doing it.





And now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story.....

I go to give it another coat. DH says, "No honey, you rest... I'll do it" and proceeds to spray the tray back and forth with the can 2 inches from the wood going over and over and over the same spots, pooling it up (yeah, I know what's going to happen, but there's no sense trying to talk to him when he's in his stubborn mood). And then leaves it outside overnight and it RAINS. Of course in the few areas with the normal coat, it's ok, because it's dried before the early-morning rain.

But, OH MY GOURD, the tray...... wrinkled beyond belief. And gooey. Still gooeey. After 3 days. I think I'm going to go vomit now because I have to strip the gosh-darn thing to the bones again and redo it. And I have a pissed-off husband, a toddler sans highchair, and a 5month old baby.





Why the fahrfegnugen is HE mad at ME about this????? Is it my fault he refused to read directions clearly printed on the can?

2 comments:

Mary, Mary... said...

The cessna pic is great. My condolences on the high chair. DH has been banned from DIY for life.;)

Anonymous said...

Man, that high chair is so very sad looking. Still, will always forgive DH since he is so very accomodating about needed knitting time. Gotta love a man who does that sans complaint!!