December 2013 – Page 3

Something monumental happened on Monday night. We bought a dining set!

Now, I realize this might not seem like a big deal. But for us, it really is. Because this is the first time we’ve had an actual table in our formal dining room. For Thanksgiving, we used folding tables and cheap Target chairs.

Before that, we had a small, round thrifted table with a glass top.

And hey, we bought furniture! That rarely happens.

Ben found this set on Craigslist for less than half of the retail price.

We talked about building a table, but it was never a priority. And we can’t agree on chairs to save our lives. This West Elm table was my front-runner.

If you like that table, too, check out Yellow Brick Home’s similar DIY table. While the Mission style isn’t what I had in mind, I’m surprised at how much I like it in our house.

And the size is perfect. Plenty or room to walk around, even with a tree in the corner. With the two extra leaves in, we could seat 8 people very comfortable. The warm wood is a really nice finish and is easy to clean. Unlike the glass top that always had fingerprints.

There are four normal chairs and two leather upholstered captain’s chairs.

My first impression was to reupholster the seats. But when the chairs are tucked in, the seats read more neutral than green. This is the most accurate picture of the color:

One chair even has a slightly noticeable leather brand. Which Ben loves because you can easily tell they’re real leather.

While these rooms are far from finished, every step is progress.

Craig, can you get me the prefect couch? Do you have a hard time pulling the trigger on furniture, too?

This Christmas, our theme is school, per V’s request. He started kindergarten this fall and absolutely loves it, so it made sense when he wanted to carry it to Christmas. Hobby Lobby had everything we needed to deck our tree. Wooden letters and colorful felt. I bought 8 different colored sheets of felt. Then, cut them in thirds, lengthwise and then into 1/2 inch ish strips.

With my sewing machine, I stitched on long chain, keeping the pieces close to centered.

When I ran out of pieces, the garland was roughly 30 feet long. Not bad for two bucks worth of felt!

We wrapped it around the tree, then hung our painted letters. A few silver ball ornaments, last year’s cubes, and all the silhouette ornaments I’ve made of the boys.