The Boys' Room

All I have to say is, thank goodness for that burst of energy the second trimester brings. That, and my husband. If it weren't for those two things I think these babies would be sleeping in a pack'n'play in our room for a looooonnng time. The nursery is almost done! Done enough to share with you all. We've still got a few things on the list like a lamp, filling some empty frames (with photos once they get here), and the tree stump side table my dad made. We are LOVING having this room put together and getting everything put away and settled. I got some advice early on in pregnancy from someone who knows me well, and knows I wouldn't be able to function on top of my game with the distraction of their room not being done, to just get it DONE and get it done EARLY. Not only with the last several weeks of pregnancy being physically exhausting and unpredictable but also for the peace of mind and preparedness it allows you before the craziness and chaos begins once you bring the babies home. I can already say I am so thankful we took that advice and started early.

Ok, on to the details of their room. We wanted to be resourceful and pull in lots of handmade/hand-me-down/meaningful/used-elsewhere-in-our-home-items. Lots of mixed textures too. As people asked what our "theme" was for the nursery I could never really come up with a way to summarize it so I would say things like "all boy" or "adventure" or "little boy adventure". And I think we captured that pretty well. We desperately hope and pray for our boys to be adventurous, imaginative, creative, and well of course wild & free. So it's important to us to have a space that feels that way to them, and yes, even when they are infants who won't even notice : )

We also wanted a space that was meaningful and special, So there are lots of fun things passed down from family and things that represent our life together. Those antlers are from my dad's first rifle deer kill. The bow hanging above the rocker was Joel's when he was a little boy, from his grandpa. There's a wedding picture on their wall, as well as the "babies make four" sign we used to announce our pregnancy. There's a beautiful and detailed sketch of our family tree hanging behind their door, with all of their grandparents/aunts/uncles on it. There are things we've made, that have been used since our first home together. The beauty of using resources like this is the stories they tell, and we hope to fill their lives with stories and memories of their own. 

The black wall is a chalkboard wall. While it won't get used quite yet we're hoping in the future it will be a fun/creative thing for them to have in their room. My friend and business partner Autumn Matney did the "Wild & Free" lettering at the top and we LOVE it. The Wild & Free theme we've got going on comes mostly from one of my favorite quotes from Henry David Thoreau: "All good things are wild & free".

(forgive this crappy picture and the horrible editing) We're using our old TV credenza from the living room as a changer. It's definitely beat up and probably in need of way more work than we're willing to give a $50 craigslist piece, but it's got lots of great storage and is the perfect fit for under their window. Joel made that wooden arrow above the window and written on it is Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

OH! Notice there is no longer a random hole in the credenza filled with magazines like we used to have in the living room?? (top left drawer) That's because we finally found the perfect solution in the most perfect size basket for only $9! It fits right in there and acts like a drawer, and holds things like paci's, lotions, teethers, etc. etc. I may be most excited about that little basket than anything in the whole room.

Just for kicks we're calling this space the "learning wall". We'll see how that works out but for now at least it looks cute! That ABC sign is from a great local shop called LetterCraft and I highly recommend their gorgeous and custom work. Those numbers are just wrapped with yarn around nails that create the outline shape... super easy and super practically free.

With such a crazy/involved wall on the other side of the room I figured we should keep it simple/tone it down on the other. So white walls with the most amazing weave my friend from church made for us! All I did was tell her our nursery colors and next thing you know she has this busted out! I am totally in love with how funky and random it is, it's the perfect addition to this simple wall. Thanks Jenny!

Last but not least we have their cribs with these simple black and white prints hanging above. The first one is a CS Lewis quote about Aslan "He's not safe but He's good" and the other is a "be brave" badge.

 

So there you have it! For the most part, anyway. As much fun as we've had putting this room together and dreaming about our boys being IN it one day, we are so ready and excited for them to be here and for it to truly become their space. Most days we're still in disbelief that we have these two precious babies on the way, but having this room close to being done sure makes it all feel real and so so exciting.

House Tour: Living Room 2.0

Well, considering the fact that we're expecting two little babies to come rocking our world in just a few short months... it was time for a change in the living room. The living room was one of the first places in the house to really come together, you remember the first time I wrote about it back on this post. Back then we had barely been living in our new home, didn't yet have the mantle above the fireplace, and had a different couch. We wanted to change things up a bit for a few different reasons.

We LOVED that couch. The cream sectional. Not only was it extremely comfortable and low maintenance, but we also loved the idea of a sectional. When we first saw this living room space we had a sectional in mind. BUT, after living with it that way and then coming to imagine babies and toddlers all over the place, we decided it probably wasn't the best use of the space. It really closed off the area, and when entertaining it felt like if you didn't have one of the 4-5 seats on the couch then you couldn't be in the conversation. Negative. We also didn't like the idea of not being able to easily see into the space (the ground) while in the kitchen or walking by, once the babies get here and start rolling/crawling around we wanted to have it opened up so we can easily keep an eye on them.

SO... enter new couch. We wanted to keep the best of the sectional world and at least make sure we got one with a chaise lounge for sprawling out and relaxing, and we love how large the chaise section is. Not to mention the chaise can go on either side of the couch! We love that feature, it allows us to use it in a couple of different ways if we ever want to rearrange. It's a deep grey/tweed-ish fabric so it's pretty durable and should be pretty kid friendly. Once we experienced a couch with no detached back cushions we didn't think we'd ever have those again BUT these are made really well and hold up great when you recline against them, so there's minimal "fluffing" and fixing once you get up.

And the mantle that has changed my life... Still one of my favorite things we've done and still so much fun to decorate and rearrange. We also (finally) cleaned out the old burned logs and ash from the fireplace and added some fun (and clean) logs, still in search for a more permanent solution but for now this does the trick.

Next, we are using our old mid century credenza as the changer in the boys room. It's the perfect style and size to be used as a changer (with the exception of raising the leg height just a tad bit) and it was a great way to continue using a piece that we love and only paid $50 bucks for. So far it looks perfect in there, and I'm so glad we made the switch. That left us with needing a new entertainment console of some sort. We went back and forth debating all sorts of options, some more permanent or "projecty" than others, but ultimately we decided to take the easy route and get something pre-made or build something a little less intensive/mobile. One day we might get rid of the fireplace all together to add more wall space, or even build on another living space to the back, so the idea of doing anything permanent seems a little silly for now.

So to Craigslist and the internet we went... I had found a piece I thought we would just make ourselves, but while searching Craigslist I found a seller who makes the exact same thing (and all sorts of custom pieces actually), so we thought why spend the time and energy doing it ourselves when this guy can just whip one up for us? It was great, he even let us customize the size and dimensions we wanted. I knew I wanted large enough shelves for toy baskets and other storage. So for now I've just thrown some random stuff up there but eventually those baskets will be full of toys or books and I can easily toss whatever trouble from the day in there.

Last but not least, the new rug and new end table. While we LOVED our old black and white rug it wasn't soft or comfy at all. Who cares when it's just two adults living in the house but again, imagining two babies crawling around made us want a super soft/carpet-like surface for them. And that's just what we found. I seriously feel like we hit the area rug jackpot here... This thing is HUGE first of all, which is so great knowing we have that much space for the babies to roll/crawl around on before they hit the rest of our tiled house. But it's also THE softest and most comfortable feeling rug you will ever find. You don't even need a rug pad underneath, and it feels comfier than most carpets even do. We were a little scared of how light it is in color but all of the black detail work seems to hide any dirt or wear that comes from walking all over it. Overall, we're obsessed with it and we love how it's warmed up the space in both look and texture.

Oh, and our new end table. The last little black one we had, while very useful and very loved, was from a $5 Goodwill find in college and had been repainted 2 or 3 times. It was time for it to go. This new one we got at an antique shop is a little different than my usual style, but these days (as you can tell) I am so into mixing and matching and using different textures, so this had me at the iron/wood combo.

So there you have it, our new living room space... with just a few updates that make it feel like a whole new space.

New House Tour: Guest Room

Consider this room… not really finished. You see, when we moved in we made a "sort of guest room" by basically putting our old bed and some old furnishings in a room, along with all of our other junk. The room became a catch-all for unused decorations, keepsakes, junk, storage, etc. But hey, it had a bed and a place for people to sleep. My business partner recently got married and moved into a new apartment, and since we really don't have an on-going use for a guest room we decided to offer up the bed, bedding, headboard, and some other things that were in there. Leaving that room practically empty. Well, now, just a few weeks after doing that, we find out my sister will be in town home from the Dominican Republic for 2 weeks, which left up scrambling to piece back together a guest room. Since she'll be staying here for an extended amount of time we wanted to make sure the room felt put together and not like our "catch-all" room anymore. So this was a good excuse and good motivation to get our act together and put together a real room!

However, since this probably won't be a permanent guest room and since it's not always needed as one we figured we probably shouldn't spend too much time or money investing in decorating or furnishing it. This my friends is when having said catch-all/junk room is so beneficial… because with the exception of the comforter and curtains this entire room was furnished/decorated with pieces we already owned that have been sitting around waiting for a purpose (like most of the stuff we own). Our home is filled with things that were bought for a certain space or purpose that I find ways to re-use or repurpose for another. This is when my "hoarding", as Joel calls it, really pays off. For example, all of the pillows, artwork, the luggage ottoman, side tables, etc. are left over pieces that were used at another time in another space, and now (because I've KEPT them) they have a new home, and I didn't have to spend money putting a room together. Sigh, the beauty of mixing and matching.

I have about a billion wire baskets that I buy every time I see one… this one came from a flea market and it was rusting on the bottom so I decided to slap some coral spray paint on it and call it a day.

If I were to run away with any furnishing I currently own it would be these curtains. I loooooove these curtains. For many different reasons… the style of course. They are a linen-ish cream color with subtle white stripes stitched in them (look at the stitch detail!). But mostly the PRICE. This PAIR of curtains was only $25! I'm sorry, but good quality curtains are usually $25 for one panel, so needless to say I was thrilled when we found these bad boys for so cheap. I love how light and airy they make the room feel.

So anyway there's the guest room! For now anyway. We're ready for you, KB! And any other visitors who want to stay with us : )

One Year in Our Home

Today marks exactly one year of owning our first home. Is it weird that the date April 26th is forever burned into our minds? Probably because it was ALL we could talk about this time last year. April 26th, the day this house became our home. We have lots of thoughts as we hit this milestone of home ownership, and I think I'll share a few below:

1. We still 120,000% love this house. We love what we've been able to do to it, we love the layout, we love the lot size, we love the possibilities and potential, we love the current upgrades, we love the high ceilings, we even love most of the things we plan on changing one day. We just love it.

2. We are hands down in the absolute perfect location for us and our lifestyle. Aside from the literal geographic centrality of where we're at in the valley, we're so close and convenient to most of what we personally need/want/know/love. The culture that the Old Town Scottsdale area brings to our neighborhood while still maintaining a safe, family friendly, and inviting atmosphere is unbeatable. There are always, at all times, at least 20+ restaurants to choose from on any given day or night of the week, and most are within a 3-5 minute drive if that. We've never once felt even a hint of unsafe or like we couldn't go for a bike ride/walk any time of day or night.

3. We truly believe we could be in this house for the rest of our lives. This is something Joel has said since before we even found this house, that he wants a house we can raise a family and grow old in. I always give him a hard time when he talks about having this baby paid off by the time we retire, and having our grand kids come visit us here one day, seems a tad bit exaggerated if you ask me. And of course in all honesty, what do we know? We have no idea what direction our lives could take or what circumstances may come up that involve us moving, we are in no way saying we WILL be here forever. But the catch is we believe we could be, and actually wouldn't mind it at this point. With how big of a lot size we have and with all of the potential for adding on in various ways we could easily create enough space and additions to accommodate a growing family. So whether this ends up being the case or not even close, it's nice to know we at least have that option.

4. We have loved the dreaming/ownership/planning/responsibility that comes along with owning our home. We love having ideas and watching them come to life. Joel enjoys doing yard work (well, most of the time at least), he values keeping a nice yard for people to enjoy. We love having people over, for anything, anytime. We've always said no matter where we live we want it to be a place where people enjoy coming to, where they feel at home, and a place that's peaceful. One day, with any lucky, we'll have screaming children running around going in and out and causing all sorts of chaos (fingers crossed). And we still hope to have this same type of home, one they enjoy being in and one that brings peace to our crazy life. No matter where that is when the time comes, we sure are happy it's here for now.

So what has our first year in our house brought us? Obviously we still haven't "finished" all of the spaces, and there is still plenty of stuff on our list, but there HAVE been many projects that were on our "do right away" list that we can happily say have been crossed off. These include:

1. Painting baseboards, trim, and doors white (since our entire house was sprayed tan during the flip)

2. Adding a mantle to the fireplace

3. Building a kitchen nook

4. Painting/restyling hall bathroom

5. Painting/restyling master bathroom

6. Adding cabinets to the laundry room (stay tuned)

7. Building Joel a shed in the backyard

8. Painting master bedroom

You'll remember this first post of the listing photos, our blank canvas as we liked to call it.

Pastels and Bunnies and Eggs, Oh my!

A lot of people who come into our home ask me why I tend to decorate with a lot of black and white. There are many reasons for this. First, I want to BE Kourtney Kardashian. And I love almost everything about her black & white/neutral home. A close second to that reason would be because I think when you furnish with neutrals, or stick with a specific pallet, it allows you the freedom to throw in almost any color throughout your decor (i.e. artwork, accessories, pillows, and most importantly… HOLIDAY DECORATIONS). Other than Christmas, when decorations TAKE OVER the place, I hate when they don't gel or vibe with the rest of my home, or when they look out of place and scream "HEY I'M EASTER!" So having that neutral/black and white color scheme to go off of really helps tie everything together, even if you are using random colors or funky accents.

This year for Easter decor I can't get enough of the bright pastels. I need more of those in my life. I still love my felt egg banner from Target ($5) so hanging that over the mantle already adds the main pop of color. But to compliment it this year I brought out my green candlestick holders (used in many different ways at Christmas time) and stuck in some blue candlesticks. I love the neon green mixed with the muted green, AND they're a pretty sweet match to the banner.

Next I fluffed up my book stash next to the TV with a fun pink spine down at the bottom, that's a new coffee table book called "Making a House Your Home" and I love it. This year my mom went through her old Easter decorations and cleaned out stuff she doesn't want anymore. There was a small little ceramic bunny attached to a ceramic basket that I thought might be fun to detach and paint. So I did. GOLD. Instantly it took on new life.

The little ceramic egg crate was a couple of bucks at Hobby Lobby. I love how it matches the blue candlesticks and books. See what I mean about the fun colors??


Also I'm pretty proud to say I think I found the perfect fake flower display. I've been searching for a while now to find a permanent floral arrangement for our bench nook table, something I can keep on there year round when there's no special holiday and when I don't have real flowers. But why do almost all fake flowers have to look so FAKE?! I wanted neutral, real-looking, fake flowers. Why is that so difficult? I finally stumbled upon this perfect little white peony (my favorite) display and I love it.

You can take the rock out of the ocean...

... And you CAN take the ocean out of the rock.

We found this heart shaped rock while walking on Laguna Beach on our anniversary. We decided to bring it home with us but a few days later the strong ocean smell wasn't going away, so it sat in a plastic bag for a while. Then I attempted "washing" it with soap and water- but still, nothing. That's when I remembered one of the many interesting coffee facts Joel has shared with me, it's a natural deodorizer! We sealed it up in a bag of coffee overnight and woke up the next morning and the smell was much much better, another day or so in the bag and we'd be ocean free. Sure enough the next morning I opened it up, rinsed it off, and wa-la! We now have a scent-free, heart shaped.... Rock? Paperweight? Whatever it is it's a little keepsake from our anniversary trip that is fun to have around.

Kitchen Bench Nook

There is a short, but significant, list of projects that Joel and I knew we would want done the very moment we laid eyes on our home. Today I am happy to report that we crossed another one off the list! This little spot when you first walk into our home has been practically screaming for a built-in bench nook ever since we moved in. Our large dining table wouldn't fit well in this space, and because we assume it was intended to be an eat-in kitchen area, we decided to make a cozy little breakfast nook. Joel loves to sit and chat with me while I'm in the kitchen, we've had a chair thrown in this spot since we moved in and it's gotten lots of use so I knew a little bench nook would be the perfect long-term solution.

We drew up a couple of designs, showed my dad, and the boys got to work making my vision come to life! While they were busy building, I got busy fabric shopping! I knew I wanted bold black and white stripes, even pursued a couple of other options, but found a great and affordable indoor/outdoor black and white stripe fabric on buyfabrics.com. The fabric is perfect, so durable and easy to clean! I got in touch with my upholstery wizard, he came and took measurements, and quickly delivered these beautiful cushions. When I say he is a wizard, I mean it. These cushions are the most perfect fit, so snug in the space, and the perfect amount of thickness. They zip and unzip so I can take them right off for cleaning. The man in a genius.

I am obsessed with how the bench turned out. The boys framed it out so there's some dimension and character as well as added my special request of a little "decor shelf" on the edge. What will I put in it? The verdict is still out, but I love the little extra touch of decor it brings. Did I mention the tops lift up and provide me with tons of storage space? They do. We've already gotten tons of use out of this bench, and I know we will for years and years to come! Not to mention I now no longer feel like there's a big meaningless empty space when you first walk into our home. Once again I am so so thankful for a husband and dad who work so hard to make my dreams and visions become a reality. I think we make a pretty good team, huh? : )

Decorating for Valentine's Day

You all know how much I love Valentine's Day, so when it comes time for decorating every year I get so excited! Not sure what's gotten into me this year but I'm all about non-traditional V-Day decor. I scoured  the house searching for new ways to decorate, rather than what I've done every other year with all of the red. Don't get me wrong, I still used a lot of red, but it was fun to incorporate other colors like pale pink, gold, and white.

Of course my favorite thing to decorate is the mantel, I did change my mind about a billion times with what to do here but I finally settled on this and I love it. To me it's whimsical and romantic, and MUTED, which is hard to do when I use a lot of red. A couple of weekends ago I found a couple of pieces of scrap wood in our backyard and decided to stain and paint them with little hearts. It ended up being the perfect little rustic touch to my V-Day decor.

Can't go wrong with stringing more paper hearts everywhere. And that cake plate was $2 at Target a couple of weeks after Christmas. Who's to say it can't be used for MORE holidays?? Such a steal.

 And now I leave you with a little tease... We are almost/SO close to being done with our built-in bench project so I will be sharing that as soon as it's done but for now we have the table that goes along with it in place and ready to go, so I had to give it a little V-Day love. I got that adorable place mat at Ikea and I love the perfect touch of pink for Valentine's Day. Stay tuned for the bench reveal!

"Black & Yellow Black & Yellow"

You know, like the song? Well, not quite. But black and gold are definitely the chosen Christmas colors for 2013 around our place. It all started when I spotted this awesome kraft/black wrapping paper and decided to go in that direction for my signature wrapping this year. You know, I have one every year. I bought 4 different types of kraft wrap that each have a different black or white design and decided to pair it with gold glittery ribbon. Meanwhile I was designing our Christmas card and went in the exact same direction, without really even thinking about it. So I guess that's a good indicator of where my creative mind is at these days... all things gold and black apparently.

 My #1 wrapping rule: when a box has a lid- WRAP THE LID. It makes it look like it's in the movies.
 And for our Christmas card this year... drumroll please... MINI CARDS! I was on a mission this year to send out the smallest cards possible. I literally googled "smallest possible size to send through US mail". And while the size of the card itself would have been impossible to mail, I ended up finding the smallest envelopes I could send through the mail and it worked perfectly. John 1:14 is on the back and it says "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." I love that theme of Christmas... Jesus becoming human to live among us. That's love.

New House Tour: Master Bathroom

Remember when I showed you our master bedroom and those last shots gave you a nice view into our lovely tan/brown/beige/dark bathroom? I said to ignore it because, well, we were. But eventually it got to us and we decided to do something about it. Our master bathroom is.... small. To say the least. The curse of buying an older home, especially in the area we did, is the curse of small bedrooms and small bathrooms. We knew this going into our house hunt but we also knew large bathrooms and bedrooms were not a "must-have". After all, we're thankful to even HAVE a bathroom. My husband does seem to have a plan that we're staying in this house for 30 years, so maybe a master suite add-on is in our future some day, but for now we digress to the smaller bathroom.

We decided to liven and brighten things up in our master bathroom. The tan walls and tan ceilings and dark light/mirror made an already small space feel even smaller, so those had to go. When we moved in you know we tackled the hall bathroom right away... and we went with the same dark grey color in our bedroom. However THAT bathroom is significantly bigger than our master bathroom, so the dark grey was a no-go, and at the time we were making too many decisions and overwhelmed with moving to even care about our master bathroom. It felt like a hotel and we didn't mind it. For long : ) We knew choosing to first and foremost paint the ceilings white and then paint the walls a light and airy color would significantly brighten and lighten up the space, which would make it feel bigger. Bigger = Better. So that was first on the list, walls... light grey, check. Next we wanted to find some white fixtures like a new mirror and a light, again the heavy and dark brown-ish ones in there before just drug the whole room down. We found the light at Home Depot (cute and stylish bathroom lights are hard to find might I add) and the mirror I found on Craigslist, it's this same mirror from Pottery Barn that the poor suckers originally paid $200 for... we did not. It's amazing how these quick and simple changes completely transformed the space, they really help open it up.

You might look at these pictures and say to yourself "wow, still looks unbelievably small". And well, you're probably right. Maybe you have to be IN it to really feel the difference, which we definitely do. We are really enjoying the new fresh feeling this little mini-update has given it. So I present to you the NEW view into the bathroom from our bedroom, MUCH much better.

One of the reasons I love this mirror is because it allows for decor and design without taking up the much-coveted space of the bathroom. Because it IS a smaller space there's no way I would want to fill the counter space with decor and clutter. The shelf is the perfect solution... out of the way and looks pretty : )

Did I mention how hard this room is to photograph??

Yes, that says what you think it says. Hey, it's a master bathroom, right?

I present to you... sigh... the towel. The towel of all towels. How obsessed am I with it? Quite. I think it's one of my most favorite pieces of art I have ever bought. And that's how I justified it to Joel... that it's "art" for the bathroom. The cream, the aqua, the mustard, the coral... it's just perfection in a towel. One thing this made me think of is how happy I (still) am that we chose to register for and buy all neutral decor so that when opportunities to buy crazy things like THIS come around, it goes with the rest of what we have! All of our towels are either tan, mustard, or grey... boom boom and BOOM. Dishware = white. Sheets = grey. Frames = white. I just can't emphasize enough to people how much you won't regret going NEUTRAL and then being able to dress it up however you want to, like so.

And lastly I guess I'll show you the somewhat unfinished side of the room... the shower. We have no plans to replace the beautiful tile work in there anytime soon or the glass doors that we love... BUT it's still rather dark. And it goes with how the bathroom USED to be, not how it is now. So we're contemplating a few ideas for adding a shower curtain, but again fearful it might close out the space. I guess it can't get any worse than it looking like a dark cave over in that corner, right? So stay tuned for a possible shower curtain update.

New House Tour: Dining Area

Time for part 2 of the new house tour... our little dining nook! Of course this dining table has a story... what piece of furniture do we own that doesn't have a story?? In March we took a trip up north to my Great Grandparent's house in Prescott. While we were there the entire family got to look through all of their stuff and take certain things that were meaningful to us or that we wanted for our own homes. Among the things that we took were a few pieces of wood from a huge pile my Grandpa had stocked up, I knew right when I saw them that I was looking at our new dining table. I just wanted one thing... a loooooong wood table big enough for 8 people, simple enough right? One afternoon I left for a photo session and came back to find Joel and my dad had practically built the entire table top, complete with that gorgeous lip underneath to hide where the legs attach (see below). We spent the next few days sanding and coating (no stain necessary), ordered the legs online, and just like that we had an 8 ft. dining table ready for our new house. Only problem at the time was we didn't exactly have a house yet, so for a little while our living room looked like this... I know, classy and subtle.

Needless to say we DID find a house with the perfect spot for this table to go. If you look back at this photo from the "before" pictures of our house, you'll see the spot where this table is, right on the other side of that wall to the left of the kitchen. We found the 8 chairs on Craigslist and painted them black, and while they may not be what we have forever we certainly love them now and they get the job done. Hard to find 8 matching AFFORDABLE dining chairs! These chairs are obviously the traditional 90's dining chairs that most of us grew up with in our homes, am I right? But surprisingly I'm happy with the style they've added to the space, the color black and the lines on the back of those chairs really goes a long way.

Overall we are capital O-Obsessed with our little dining area... it is so special for me to have a piece of my Great Grandpa in our home. I do think of him often when I use the table and I like to think he'd be proud of the resourceful lifestyle we try to lead. Not to mention how special it is that Joel and my dad built this table together. I love the stories and memories that will revolve around this table for years and years to come, and some that already have!

As I mentioned we ordered the table legs from a website and are so pleased with their quality. When discussing plans for the table we decided to add the lip underneath to hide where they attach, this is a feature that a lot of DIY wood panel tables are missing and one that I think makes a huge difference in the finished look of the table.

In case you're wondering since I haven't done the rest of the house tour, that door leads to the laundry room.