So I have always dreamed of having a farm table and would occasionally look online for the perfect dining table even craigslist. I also found this awesome tutorial from Ana White. But it seemed like too much work and we didn’t really have that much room to build one.

So last week I was talking to Missa Lee about it at work. She immediately looked on craigslist and the first post she found was a woman who was selling a farm table that she made. It was perfectly priced and just the table we wanted! She and her husband made a similar table to the one from Restoration Hardware for $2,245.

I immediately emailed her and learned that she and her husband were building tables to raise money for their adoption in Congo. I really loved the table and it was a nice touch to it knowing where our money was going towards. We made plans to pick it up with my dad’s car. Really…my dad is amazing for helping us with getting the table. Thanks, dad!

We didn’t waste time once we got it into the house. The table was already sanded so all we had to do was stain it. But I kind of didn’t want to stain it. Tyler on the other hand wanted to. He convinced me to stain it…. more specifically the color, dark walnut.

I was nervous since I didn’t want it to be too dark. You know how it is…the longer you leave the stain on without wiping it, the darker the wood will get. We decided to start staining the bottom of the table so we had some room for error. I didn’t wait too long before wiping it off and it turns out it was too light and I didn’t like it. So we left the stain on for about 20 minutes or so.

Don’t let this picture convince you that Tyler did all of the staining. I did pretty much 85% of the work. I know his little game of being slow and watching football at the same time on TV. He knows I’m fast and focused so I ended up doing most of it.

Yikes! Look at how dark it looks with the stain on for a long time.

Wiping off the stain was Tyler’s job. :) The next morning we put fast-drying polyurethane (semi gloss) on the table. We did about 3 coats and that was it!

Now look at this beauty! Notice something else too?

The new rectangle hanging capiz that I got for Christmas!

Here’s what it looks like with the light off.

I just looove it! After my dad and Tyler got the pendant up, we realized that it was too high so they’re going to fix it later this week and add more rods that came with the package so it’ll be lower.

Seriously this is the best multi-purpose table! For eating, holding cards while playing card games, beer pong and ping pong! Want to come over now?

This is what it looked like before. That table has been moved to the formal dining room for a little hang out spot next to the foosball table.

And this is what it looks like now! The table was $265 and we only spent $35 on supplies (stain, brushes & tarp cover). Total cost of the project: $300!!

I have always wanted to do something with chalkboard paint in our house but I didn’t really know where or what. After talking with some friends & Tyler, I was told myself that I had to do it before I changed my mind.

The original plan was to do it on the pantry door but it’s so small and I wasn’t really feeling it. Then we both saw the wall in between the kitchen & living room and knew it had to be on that wall.

We made a trip to Home Depot and bought chalkboard paint, wood for the framing and paint.

This project was really easy and painless! We did a second coat after letting the first coat dry for 4 hours per the instructions.

Tyler did the painting while I painted the wood with metallic paint by Martha Stewart. After they dried for a few hours, Tyler cut them up and then nailed them into the wall.

We’re so happy with how it looks! Now we can use it to chalk up reminders, grocery lists and pretty much anything. I love that I have been catching Tyler looking at it with pride. Doing projects ourselves really makes us feel good and accomplished considering that it has been a while. Now I’m hoping we will do another project soon!

I love the pinwheels that Mrs. Priss made! She made them herself and posted a tutorial on her blog. I thought I’d give it a try and do this since it’s a cheap and fun project. I didn’t have anything for the center of the pinwheels so I used dimes. Not bad, huh?

I love mustard yellow & pink! I told Tyler we need to add more pink to our house because he wouldn’t let me before. I’ve added some color of orange (his favorite color) to the house so now I have pretty pink pinwheels in our house. As of adding more pink and going pink-crazy, I guess I’ll have to wait until we have a baby girl some day. No, sorry this isn’t a hint. No babies for us yet! :)

I loooove it! Now I get to go pink-crazy this weekend because I’m in charge of decorating for my sister’s graduation party on Saturday.

I hope you all have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend – any fun plans? I’ll be spoiling my sister and getting some sun!