Home Depot and a Baby Crib

Keith and I were watching "How I Met Your Mother" (fantastic TV show) a few months ago and the entire episode was based around what one of the characters last said to his father before he passed away. We watched this episode a few weeks before my dad died so it didn't really have an effect on me until after he passed away. The main character couldn't remember what he last said to his dad and the whole episode was spent trying to figure it out. I actually remember the very last conversation and the last thing I said to my dad...I said "I love you!". I was driving home from work on a Friday night and stopped off at Home Depot to buy some paint stripper as Keith and I were in the process of sanding and stripping a baby crib one of my good friends gave us. (Thank you Candice!) Driving home, I was chatting to my dad about his upcoming tennis tournament the next day and we were talking through his strengths and weaknesses on the court and how excited he was to play in the match the next day! Then we talked about the baby crib and how much of an effort it was to strip layers of paint off an ornate piece of furniture - we spent so many hours on that thing, I hate to count them all up. So, off I headed inside Home Depot and told my dad I had to run and that I loved him. That was the last time I got to talk to him. I mentioned in an earlier post that he did leave me a message on Saturday morning so I was able to hear his voice just one more time. The whole next day (Saturday), Keith and I spent from 9 am until 7 pm in the garage sanding and stripping away at the crib. It wasn't until 7 pm that I found out my dad had passed away because my phone was in our bedroom the entire day and I never once thought to check it for messages or missed calls...When I finally checked my phone, I had 18 missed calls and almost a dozen messages. The rest of the day and days to follow are all a blur...

This is the crib dissembled and I had just started to scrape off the paint from one of the pieces.

It truly was a labor of love and thankfully it is all finished. We didn't actually finish the entire process (multiple coats of stain and a lot of patience) until early February BUT it is all done now and looks beautiful. I think it will be a long time before I try a project like this again!

This is a sneak peak at the nursery + the finished crib...the room still has a LONG way to go... :)