Dining Table is Done!

After another attempt at the dining table

it is finally done

If this table wasn't sturdy before

I think the bazillion layers of paint

on it now have made it solid

or at least 3 inches taller :)

It was so nice here on Saturday & Sunday

Like get out your shorts

because it's over 60 in MI in April

and we are crazy like that nice

So Scott helped me take the table out onto the front lawn

and I went to work

I wasn't sure what color I wanted on the top

the brown that I had originally done

got wrecked by the spray polyurethane

It bubbled and smudged and looked nasty

It may have something to do with me not waiting

the appropriate amount of time between coats...

I'm impatient - what can I say

This is what it looked like before I started

And here it is with the smudged brown top

So I decided to give it a second shot

this time around I was thinking lighter

to go with our new lighter dining room color

so I started with a layer of primer

and topped that with a layer of cream

Well the cream seemed too light

so I put a layer of gray on top of that

Then Scott suggested that it needed some

brown in it - just a little

So I attempted to dry brush on some brown

which went okay...but wasn't quite an even coat

so then I put on another layer of gray

(see what I mean about 3 inches of paint!)

in a dry brush technique as well

and finally glazed the top

and added 3 coats of brush on polyurethane

The legs are cream

heavily distressed and glazed

I love how old and rugged they look

To solve the problem of peeling veneer on the sides

Scott added some new trim to the bottom

I don't know why

but the color reminds me of driftwood

It's so not perfect

and I really love that it about it

I lightly distressed it

to give it a somewhat aged look

and to ensure that if my kids knick it

(or just bang their silverware on it repeatedly through dinner)

I don't have to worry about it

they are just adding character

I love how the lighter top

lightens up this space even more

And I almost have the chair situation figured out :).

Linking up to:

http://restoreinteriors.blogspot.com/2011/04/restored-it-wednesday-and-emealz-winner.html

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2011/04/wall-in-master-change-and-wow-us.html

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2011/04/13/hookin-up-with-hoh-44/

Tool Time & Some Puppy Love

Poor Charlie - thank goodness

he just sits there and endures their "loving"

Weather

So I was driving the girls home from Daycare yesterday

and we started to talk about the weather

First let me tell you that Lilly

is extremely excited for summer this year

We have a family wedding

which she is in

and her birthday falls in the summer

and she will be 4

which is the magic number

because that means she can go to school

in the fall

so needless to say she is quite anxious

for this summer

And she also has made it a habit

to crawl into our bed in the morning

and watch the weather with Daddy

So I asked the girls what they did at daycare

and Lilly informed me that they only

played outside in the morning

because it was too windy in the afternoon

We talked about how nice it was this Sunday

it was 86 and we were all wearing shorts

and played outside ALL DAY LONG

and how we can't wait for more days like that

Then Lilly asks

"Mommy, how come the weather man never says it's summer?"

Because we live in Michigan baby

and this is the state where

we can get 4 inches of snow one weekend

have it be 86 and beautiful the next weekend

and then have a forecast for more snow this weekend

Ugh

Come on weather man

please hurry up and say it is summer!

Trash

So on the way home Thursday night

I saw this on the side of the road

about a 1/4 mile from our house

I did a quick turn around

and went back to check it out

There were a few rough spots

but all it all it looked like it was great shape

Of course I figured it didn't actually work

but I have had an idea in the back of my head

on what I could do with just a shell of a fireplace

So I called my brother

who lives right around the corner from us

and asked him if he would pretty please

help me load this into the back of his truck

While we waited for him

Lilly asked me many questions

on why we would pick up trash

which lead to an explanation of the

someone else's trash is our treasure theory

She bought right into it and was very excited

Nolee just nodded her head as if in agreement

So we loaded it up

and took our treasure home

Just being curious we plugged it in

when Scott got home

and guess what - it works!

I'm not sure if the heat component works

but it lights up

and looks cozy

Now to figure out which room it will go in

and what color to paint it :).

Happy Monday

There is a wet dog in that towel

and a cutie pie in blue "grover" socks

that she found in my drawer

The 10 Year Dining Room

I feel like a weight has been lifted

The dining room walls are done

It took the better part of the weekend

but it is done

and I love it

Which is good because by my husband's

calculations, it's staying this way for the next 10 years

Here's a quick look at where we started

My first attempt

I totally went into the store thinking neutral

but ended up picking this color

which I still like....just not on my dining room walls

I was like a kid and something shiny

I got distracted and confused

or as my husband says I was like Cartman from South Park

Scott:  "I thought you wanted a neutral color"

(Oh please, please, please don't pick that color)

Me:  "But it will light up in the sunlight"

this is what Scott heard

I don't care, I'll do what I want! (said in Cartman's voice)

On Friday he finaly conceeded to my begging

and agreed we should re-do the gold paint

In his words

"Well if you want this done you better start priming"

So I grabbed our 5 gallon bucket of primer and went to work

by the end of Friday night it looked like this

Why did I only prime half the wall

Oh didn't I mention

I convinced Scott that we needed to do faux board & batten

to ensure the room had the neutral look we were going for

So next we marked where the batten was to go

we used masking tape so we could get a visual

and move it around to get the exact look we were going for

we ended up spacing them 20 inches apart

and if one of the batten landed on a electrical outlet

we just moved that one a hair

when it is all said and done - you can't even tell

that one or two are slightly under or over 20 inches apart

After we got our measurements for the chair rail

and batten we headed off to Home Depot to pick up our supplies

we used lattice (I don't think this is truly lattice, but that's what HD called it)

for the "batten" and window casing for the chair rail top part

both of these were already primed

It was $30 for the chair rail & around $50 for the lattice

Once we got the supplies home

I taped up the lattice to get a better visual

This was so helpful

we made a few adjustments

and then we were set to nail them in

by we I mean Scott

we had my dad's fininshing nailer

so it made things go much faster 

Lilly was our helper through the whole process

she even put up her own piece of batten

and measured it

and marked it

with a pen

which lead to a conversation of where we

can use pens, crayons, pencils

and where we cannot

Every time the finishing nailer would turn on

the girls would do this

Once all the batten were up

we started painting the top

I let Scott guide the color choice this time

we went with Ozone by Behr Premium Plus

I had them mix it 75% because I was worried about it being

"too much" color

I am very happy with the color

It gives the room such a soothing relaxed feel

I did all the edging and Scott rolled

I hate rolling and would much rather edge

Although I did leave the ceiling edging for him

Hey when you have a husband who is 6 ft & 7

and he doesn't need a ladder for this step

it just makes more sense

Bye bye in your face gold

hello calm soothing blue

Next the chair rail went up

I honestly didn't do much at for this step

This was all Scott

he measured, cut, fit, measured again and nailed them all in

I just followed behind and filled in the holes with wood putty

We painted the bottom half the same color

as the trim in the rest of our house

which is Behr ultra white

in semi-gloss I think

When it was all said and done

it looks like this

Collective....*sigh*

so much better

every time I walk in the room

I breath a sigh of relief

and think that I have a wonderful

understanding husband

...who probably deserves a cross bow

this coming fall

As we were painting I would hear

"cross bow" whispered every so often

by the end I think it became his mantra

Now the fun part

some curtains

wall decorations

and we are done

oh yeah...and still figuring out the chair situation

Lilly is 3 years 8 months old

Lilly 3 years 8 months

Ht:  3ft 4 inches

Wt:  32lbs

You love books

any form of books

but your absolute favorite is the Bernstein Bears series

you also like to listen to books on Daddy's ipad

Your favorite TV shows are

Curious George

Phineas & Ferb

 and The Neverland Pirates

You love  to build forts

actually you love when we build them and you can play in them

you make up these entire make believe worlds

it's pretty amazing to sit back and see how imaginative you are

You tell stories

Lots of stories

Sometimes they make sense, sometimes they don't

We love to listen to them either way

Your best friend is Luke (from daycare)

you have a paper model of a person (which you insisted was Luke)

and made us hang him up on your bedroom wall

You love the Just Dance Wii game

you would play this for hours if we let you

you also have a very competitive side

and like to win

You are extremely excited to be starting school this fall

you ask me every week if you are 4 yet

I think you might be a lawyer when you grow up

you can argue anything

and actually have valid points most of the time

you also like to come up with your own "compromises"

You can be very stubborn

and I have no idea where you get that from...

You love your sister so

amd most of the time try to include her in all your made up worlds

you like to climb into her crib in the morning

and then you two giggle and laugh

which is such a nice way to wake up

You like to use big words

your vocabulary amazes us every day

We have to be very careful what we say around you

Yesterday you told Charlie to get down

and then told him "you better not even think about jumping up

on Nolee's chair!"

You grow so much every day and I can't believe it has

already been over 3 years

You have changed our lives so much

and we love every crazy moment of it!