Friday Favorites

I spent the last two days at New Teacher Orientation being fed an abundance of information about the new district in which I would be teaching. Because I am not brand new to teaching, I was not required to attend the third day of NTO today. Instead, I took my time getting up and getting ready this morning. I went to Target and then to Office Depot to pick up a few things for my classroom--won't be the last trip, that's for sure! Once I found most of what I wanted, I headed to my classroom to work for a little while. I got quite a bit done today, but I still have lots to do next week during Staff Development. So, no pictures of the classroom today, but instead, I am going to share some of my current favorite things.

[one]

We have lived in our new house for a little over a month now, and we are finished decorating for the most part. My first room to completely finish, our dining room, ended up being my favorite.

I am already looking forward to breaking bread many times with many different people in this room. The mirror on the wall makes the space look double its actual size. You may remember this mirror makeover from here. We found these curtains at World Market. Matt didn't want us to buy curtains in our old apartment, because he knew it was very temporary, so I could not wait to get curtains in our new place! These have hints of sky blue that match our chairs. 

         

          

















I searched long and hard for the perfect metal chairs to go with my $20 table. I finally found the kind I was wanting at a great price from Cymax. They even shipped free (and super quick!). 

The picture on the left is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. It's our little mini-bar. It was the first piece of furniture Matt and I picked out together. We got it at an antique store while we were in Gruene for our first married Christmas. The picture in the middle is of the wall between our dining room and our kitchen. This chalk board was actually already there, and I have loved getting to write (and menu plan) on it. The picture on the right is another one of my favorite pieces. It is a butcher block that was given to me by my grandparents, and I vividly remember my grandmother using it in her kitchen when I was a child. 

Everything in our dining room has a story. Each piece brings back a fun memory. I LOVE our dining room! 

[two]

I am loving our new welcome mat! I threw out our old one before we moved, because it needed replacing. However, I couldn't find a welcome mat that I really liked. It was important to me because it is one of the first impressions of someone walking into your home, so I wanted it to actually serve the purpose of being welcoming. Well, I found one, and I am obsessed! I saw it online at Target, but shipping is not available and when I first saw it, you couldn't pick up at any of the stores nearest me. BUT, on my latest journey to Target, the welcome mat and I locked eyes. It was love at second sight! Do you love it as much as me?!? It's really okay if you don't... but HELLO, it's so stinkin' cute!!

[three]

I love watching The Today Show in the mornings, and because it's summer, I have been able to watch it more than just until 7:15am. It has been wonderful! They have these recipe segments, and one morning, they were talking all about zucchini. We have been really into zucchini lately (along with the rest of the world, apparently). They shared this recipe for Zucchini Boat Pizzas a couple of weeks ago, and I finally made it, and WOW-EE it's delicious!! I may have to share the recipe on a later post, because it is definitely one to try!

[four]

Last, but absolutely not least, my favorite thing right now is my sweet girl, Avery. While Matt has been at school, she has been there with me. We've gotten to spend lots of time together, and I know she will be just as sad as me to see me go back to work. 

Oh good grief, that face! How am I supposed to get anything done around here?! 

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

DIY | Dining Table Makeover

Before we moved to North Carolina, I printed out the floor plan of our new place and began sketching in where all of our furniture would go. Knowing that we would have a legitimate dining room for the first time, I was set on I getting a new dining room table to fit the space better than our breakfast table could. There was only one small problem... a new dining room table was just not in the budget. I mentioned in this post that I found this $20 library table on an online trading site. T-W-E-N-T-Y dollars, folks!

I had researched exactly what I wanted to do with the table before starting the project. My plan was to strip/sand down the table top to its bare wood, and then choose a stain and sealer, no paint. Then, I wanted to paint/wax the sides and legs of the table to look distressed. I have posted about some of my previous DIY furniture pieces before here and here, and in both projects, I used Annie Sloan chalk paint and waxes.

One morning, before Matt left for work, I asked him to get out the electric sander for me, because I was going to start on the table. Once he left, I got to work. I sanded the entire top of the table, and the color was definitely not what I was expecting. I loved it! It was then that I decided I did not want to stain the top anymore, and instead, I would just seal it.

Here are all of the products I ended up using for my table. On the left, the water-based, clear protective finish (sealer). I didn't want anything glossy, so this "Clear Satin" was perfect. On the right, you see I actually chose not to do an Annie Sloan brand of paint, but instead, I used a similar chalk paint that matched the color I was going for a little better. It was also cheaper. And, of course, I already had my trusty soft and dark waxes from Annie Sloan. (<-- game changers)

                         

         

      
















I coated the table top three (or four) times with the sealer, and in between each coat, it needed time to dry. So, the first thing I did after sanding the top was brush my first coat of sealer on the top. While that was drying, I painted the legs and sides of the table with the Vintage White paint. Notice, I did not strip or sand these parts of the table. This is by far my favorite part about using this chalk paint--not an insane amount of work.

After allowing both the sealer and the paint to dry, I went in for another coat of each. The paint dries very fast, so pretty soon after that, I was able to start waxing the sides and edges with the soft wax, followed by the dark, followed by a rag to brush strokes in the direction of the grain. This is what creates that distressed look that is so popular right now.

After allowing that to dry, and after another coat or two of the protective finish over the entire table, there was a finished product, and I couldn't be happier. It is exactly what I had envisioned before beginning the project, and even better, I did it myself.

If you think it looks good in our old space, just wait until I give you a peek into our new home with a picture-tour of our dining room.. coming soon!