My first "Knock-Off Wood" project

For those of you who know, I have been on a dining room search for quite some time . I sold our counter height dining table on craigslist (see below) and decided that I wanted a long rectangular table that would seat at least 8 and would be, of course, stylish.

I searched and searched....and searched.....and couldn't find what I wanted. I ended up buying an antique dining set (see below) that I spruced up, but after a month with that, decided that I STILL wasn't happy with it. As you can see, I also decided to paint the walls a more neutral color instead of the orange (which was a HUGE project....and now I miss the orange....see, I'm just never happy!)

Sooo, a friend told me about http://www.knock-offwood.com/ and, I was hooked!!! I made a list of projects that I would tackle, starting with the "rustic table".

The plans were REALLY easy to follow and the supplies for the table were around $150 (and that's only because I went wood shopping with my husband and he had to get the "best" wood....so, we did).

Assembly went quickly, but it was the staining that stretched out the project. True, it only takes a couple of minutes to stain, but then to wait 6-8 hours inbetween stains, when you put about 8 coats on....and then a couple coats of varnish....well, you get the point.

And the results:

Here are the details:

Wood- Pine

Stain- Dark Walnut

Varnish: Clear Satin

Chairs: purchased on craigslist (all 8 for $50!!) and stripped them down, painted, then reupholstered.

Paint- off white.

Fabric: Purchased at Joann Fabrics with my 50% off coupon (paid about $20 total, and then purchased some scotch guard for it with y 40% off coupon)

TOTAL COST (for the entire dining set).....drum roll please..........

$250!!!!

Now.....go out and start your knock-off wood project. If we can do it, YOU CAN TOO!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

18 month update

Top 10 things about my 18 month old...

#10. He surprises us every day with another new word.
#9. He likes to pick lint out of his toes...he calls them "ishies"
#8. Multiple times I have caught Caleb eating those ishies.
#7. He doesn't like his hands to be dirty..."Eeewe"
#6. He likes noise, banging, throwing, and hitting.
#5. He will not say "love you" unless he is trying to get our attention.
#4. He has formed an alliance with Frodo at mealtime...and now that we know and have put an end to his "sharing", he has found various hiding places to store food.
#3. He's a ham (as you can see from the picture above)
#2. He likes to shout "AMEM" at the end of prayer....and after the songs during worship at church.
#1. He thinks he's the boss. He's not.


Now for the boring stuff that moms want to know...

He's about 75th percentile all around. He's a good eater. He still sleeps about 12-13 hours a night and takes 2 naps a day.

Busy times

So, ya....I pretty much stink at keeping up on this and I am not really sure who really looks at our blog anymore....but oh well.

I have been a busy bee lately changing things up a bit. As you may or may not recall, this USED to be our dining room...

Welllllll, one wintery day, I got cabin fever and decided that I needed a change, so I sold our table on craigslist. I had been wanting to do so for a while since it was counter height and our shorter guest *ahem, Mitch* couldn't scooch themselves in when they sat down. Anyway, the table sold quickly and before I purchased a new one, I decided that I would also change the orange paint to something more neutral, so that I could bring in a different accent color.

Using the money from the table, I purchased a hutch, a table, some cute wall decals, paint, fabric for reupholstering the chairs, and even more! What a bargain shopper, I know.

A couple of weeks later, and a few tears and cuss words later, this is what the end product turned out to be:

It's dark and kinda difficult to see, and for some reason the OFF-white table looks bright white in the picture, sooooo, I guess you are going to have to just come over and see the changes for yourself.

As for my cabin fever....well, it's raining outside right now.... so.... time to redo the bedroom???

Nah.

Or maybe....