Year: 2010

Dining Table Update

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You may recall that we’ve recently built a new dining table.   

After using it for a few weeks, I’m happy to report that it is still as fantastic as I hoped it would be.  Most visitors don’t believe it was a DIY project, either.  Score! 

We were a little hesitant to get a marble top because marble can stain easily, but we haven’t had any problems so far.  We actually poured a little grape juice on the sample and let it sit for a good 20 minutes.  Then we wiped it off and we couldn’t see a stain or any sort of discoloration.  A few coats of a nice quality wax will help prevent stains, too.

Our son also loves his new fort.  He couldn’t play under our old table due to the pedestal design.  Another benefit when dealing with small children: the steel was spray painted, so it will be super cheap and easy to touch up down the road.  Simply remove the top, haul the base outside and give the table a coat or two of plain ol’ spray paint.  Heck, we could change the color if we wanted to.

The World Market chairs we picked up are comfortable, too.  The size is perfect for our table.  I love the color and the slightly rustic finish is a great way to disguise future wear.  The stacking Target chairs are so convenient to carry up and down the stairs and are easy to store. 

When we planned to build a table, we knew we would not have the option to expand the table to add leaves, but most often, our old table was at the smallest size.  Over the weekend, we had several guests and missed the larger table.  Only for a minute, though.  This table looks so much better than our old table and all the options we could find locally.  We plan to buy a card table or two for future large gatherings. 

Overall, we love the table, chairs and usability of the set.  With that said, I’m curious to know what piece of furniture made your lives easier?

It’s the Little Things

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It’s the little things that will kill you… 

We’ve decided to tackle some of the small, daunting, and/or tedious projects that have been on our to do list for some time. 

First, we grouted our master bathtub seam to prevent leaks. 

We had used caulking, but everything peeled when we cleaned it, leaving an open area for water to trickle. 

Follow that up with some much needed cleaning.  Our bathroom fan was seriously gross, so Ben cleaned that.  Then we cleaned some of the hard to reach areas that never get dusted.

We also had some areas to fill in with landscaping rock, so when I was in Minnesota, Ben did some work. 

We decided to add rock along the south side of our backyard. 

What’s on your to do list?

Bird-serk

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I have had a mild bird obsession lately.  It’s fair to say I’ve gone bird-serk.  We have a bird print or two, bird candle holders, figurines, banks, and salt and pepper shakers. 

V loves this little guy from Target:

I’m considering painting this one, but for $1.00, it’s not so bad.

I like how this set of salt and pepper shakers from Target perch on our plate rack, watching over our dining room.

So, technically this isn’t a bird, but it is a bird-cage candle holder.

I saw this felted wool pincushion on Etsy.  I hesitated to buy it, but figured, I save money on other things, so why not splurge on something handmade?  He’s cute and he comes in handy while sewing. 

Ev has a little owl bank hanging out with his pig and turtle friends.

I still haven’t satisfied my bird obsession, either.  I have my eye on two Amy Ruppel prints.  Remember the other from this post?  How adorable/clever is this little pillow?

I may have to do a little DIY version…

Baby Shower Power

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My sisters and I recently planned and threw a fiesta themed baby shower for the fourth sister we never had and her baby boy.  I really love some of the details we added and wanted to share. 

The first details are these cute and convenient napkin and utensil holders.

To make these, I printed two cute logos of a B with a baby bird perched on top per page.  I printed these on plain ol’ white printer paper.  Then I cut the printed pages at 5 1/2 inches.  I folded the sides in to make a 5 1/2 inch tall by 3 inch wide pouch, securing with scotch tape.  Then I folded the bottom up 1/2 inch and added another piece of tape.  I folded our color coördinated  napkins in half to fit the pouch.  Add colorful utensils and pop into colorful metal buckets to make a cute accessory and a user-friendly buffet piece. 

I also made cute, coordinating favor boxes filled with Jolly Rancher and Starburst candies.  I printed simple 1 1/2 inch square stickers.  Then we tied lime green, bright blue and dark blue ribbon to add more color. 

We wanted to use decorations that were also useful, so we made a clothes line filled with adorable baby clothes.  We bought miniature clothespins from Michael’s and they worked perfectly. 

We also hung the handmade bird mobile as a party decoration. 

My sister made a taco bar, including ground beef, spiced chicken, sautéed peppers, olives, lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cheese.  We also had home-made guacamole, salsa and taco dip with chips.  I saw an edible arrangements commercial and decided I would try to make a fruit bouquet.  Two hours later, we had a beautiful arrangement:

We used cantaloupe, honey-dew, grapes, blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, and kiwi.  We weighted down our bucket with rocks covered in aluminum foil (to keep things sanitary) then added a few bags of rice.  We pushed our fruit onto wooden skewers and arranged them just like real flowers.

Do you have any tips to turn a good party into a great one?  Or unique decoration ideas?  Do tell, please!

Basement Progress: Man Cave

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When we posted about our basement living room aka the Man Cave, we were just getting the trim on the walls.  Well, we’re back to show the recent changes we’ve made to Ben’s favorite room in the house. 

After filling and sanding 1 million and 1 holes, taping and masking off areas, we were ready to start priming the walls, ceiling and trim.  We opted to use a paint sprayer to apply the primer because we had so much area and detail to cover.  After about four hours, we had the entire basement primed, looking like this:

This shot shows the small hallway and stairs. 

We waited 24 hours for the primer to dry and began spraying the ceiling with Glidden’s Bird Song.  Pass another 24 hour, then we taped the ceiling off to use the sprayer and painted our trim Behr’s Vermont Cream.  We removed the tape and HATED the ceiling color.  We decided to paint the ceiling Vermont Cream, too.  After three coats of white paint on the ceiling, crown mouldings, and trim, we were ready to add some color to the walls. 

I had planned to paint the basement living room Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage, which is one shade lighter than our guest bedroom color.  We had the swatch color matched at Wal-Mart to order 5 gallons.  We started painting shortly upon returning home, but we had major clumps on in our paint.  It turns out, the bucket had been on the shelf past it’s prime, leaving a semi-dry paint clump in the bottom of our bucket.  We returned the paint and got individual gallons.  The paint assistant converted the 5 gallon formula to 1 gallon formula wrong, so the new paint color is in between Silver Sage and Sea Green. 

We were on a huge time crunch, with one week to finish before my due date, so we unpacked our rug and sectional.  This is what our Man Cave looks like today:

The sectional is so comfortable and it can seat a ton of guests.  We still need artwork, cabinet doors and storage, but it’s usable now.

Our 42 inch Insignia TV, which hails from Best Buy was a great buy-on sale because it is last year’s model.  Ben did some internet searching to find the star of the room, his Onkyo 9100 sound system.  He got a great deal because there is a small chip on the back of the subwoofer.  It still works perfectly, shaking the couch during loud action scenes of movies.  Of course, Ben loves it and shows it off to almost every visitor we have. 

We have some finishing to do, like build, prime and paint our sliding entertainment center doors to hide the ugly toys, add shelving and make some pretty storage for DVDs, but all in good time. 

I’m curious to know if we’re the only ones to tackle a project with a short deadline.  Tell me your project and what your deadline was.   The arrival of a guest?  Selling your home?  Or were you having a baby, like we were?