Dining Table Lust

Since we moved into our now-awesome house, one of our favorite areas is our used-to-be-the-kitchen-but-now-its-an-eating-area right in front of the new, glass back doors.  It's such a bright and cheery spot and its now home also to our family-photo-album wall, which I promise to do a post on at some point. (Not today).  However, we were using my bought-when-i-lived-in-a-tiny-apartment "dining" set which consisted of a cute but tiny table and 4 chairs (that i recently recovered using some awesome cloth Dwell Studio for Target napkins).  It would be a perfect set for the aforementioned tiny apartment or a breakfast nook, but it just wasn't functional as the only dining table in the house as four adults could barely get around it.  So the search began for a dining table and right out of the gate I fell in serious table-lust with this lovely piece from Restoration Hardware.

I know.  Isn't he handsome?  We even went to our local store so I could run my fingers over the beautiful carved table-legs and smooth top.  But at $1295 for the small version, we just couldn't justify bringing him home, no matter how beautiful it was.  (even last January when they ran a sale and the size we wanted went down to $1095, we just couldn't bring ourselves to plop down that kind of change for a table.)  So we decided to just be happy with our cute, kitchenette size set and that was that.

But when I had free time and was just surfing the internet, I always drifted back to the table.  And looked for less-pricey alternatives and just couldn't seem to find any.  Until last week when I got one of those email coupon thingys.....

I went to delete it.  It was $10 off a $30 purchase at World Market.  And I didn't need anything that cost over $30 at World Market.  Or so I thought.  So I went to delete it.  But as I scrolled down something caught my eye.  They were advertising 50% off on dining room furniture so of course I clicked over to see what kind of deals and styles they had.  And that's when I found her.

Not quite as awesome as the table that originally stole my heart.  But pretty dang close.  And 50% off the original price of $499.00 making her in the realm of affordability.  I called for husband to come and look.  He loved it.  I loved it.  We wanted it.  I clicked through to the item page,  but of course the website had sold out.  Dejected, I went once again to delete the coupon email, when I thought that maybe I should call our local store just in case......

Victory!  They had one left and were happy to hold it for me!   Not only was it in stock, but it was 60% off in-store making it an awesome $199....plus, they were happy to honor my $10 coupon that started it all bringing my grand-including-tax total to $208.  That's right folks.  Almost $1100 cheaper that the original table.  And super similar....in fact....in retrospect, the original table was a little too "grand" for our cozy house.  The one we actually bought is perfect for the space.  It comfortable seats 4-6 and has a leaf so we can get 8 adults at the table if we needed to (i smell a dinner party cooking) which will be fabulous when it finally comes to be my turn to host holiday gatherings.

We have yet to locate chairs so we're still using our mismatched ones from the other table, but if I've learned anything, its to be patient and the perfect item will come.  I'm sure there is a dining-table chair post in my future.  :)

And the trophy goes to.....

Yes.  This is a DIY blog (-ish).  But it's also a family blog.  And so today's post focuses on two things we love here at the yellow barn: Craft Projects and Fantasy Football.  Yes.  both of those deserve to be capitalized. 

So a few weeks ago Hubs and his fantasy-football-loving buddies decided to have their annual draft shindig at our house.  He had mentioned casually the day before that he wished they had a trophy to pass around each year for the winner.  So of course I decided that the boys needed a trophy.  Laugh all you want, but as I laid in bed that night, I was mentally trophy-building, and as soon as I got up the next morning it was off to purchase the necessary supplies.

 First on my shopping list: a football player action figure which I finally located in the toy section at Target for about $5.00. (Those suckers are hard to find!  The salesclerk kept suggesting Spider Man and various Star Wars characters and I had to explain my project before he finally helped me locate one of the two figures they sold)  Then it was off to Home Depot for a can of gold spray paint ($3.00 ish) and finally Michael's for a wooden plaque similar to the one from my "belt hanger" project to serve as the base of the trophy. 

I managed to keep Hubs out of the shed while I sawed an extra 2x4 to my desired height, spraypainted by football player gold, nailed the base to the 2x4 and stained the whole thing with stain left over from some previous furniture-revitalizing project.  I also spraypainted two pieces of cardstock to look like "metal plates" and "engraved" them using a fine-tip-sharpie with the name of the league on the front and the previous year's winner on the back....the back plate is big enough to add the winner each year.

I think the boys thought I was mildly weird for having made it...but thought the trophy was just kitchy enough to be awesome.  The "Aresnal" coach looked pretty happy as he took it home at least....or maybe that was just because I sent some left-overs of my home-made "Tennessee Titans" themed cookies home with him as well.

Buckle Up.

So I figured I'd make good on my promise of blogging about my DIY adventures by posting about a 10 minute project I did last weekend.

One of the best decisions we made during our home re-model was to transform some unused kitchen space and part of a hallway into an awesome master closet and tear out the mini-closet that existed in the master bedroom.  This added square footage to our actual bedroom, gave us a functional closet, turned the master bath into a private master bath (instead of having an entrance from the hallway as well) and gave purpose to a hallway and kitchen nook that weren't really used.  So. Lots of bonuses.  But I digress.  Back to my DIY project.  We had our carpenters build a killer custom closet organization system complete with short and long bars for hanging clothes, a shoe rack, and a shelving system.  However.  I neglected to have them make hooks for hanging things such as belts and scarves.  Fortunately I'd picked up this baby at Target a few years ago for our old laundry room for $15.....














.......but as you can tell, it quickly filled up. 

Apparently Husband and I have more belts and scarves than I originally thought.  Frustration ensued every time one of us needed something from one of the hooks and we'd started just leaving things around instead of hanging them up.So clearly, we needed another set of hooks. And while they were still in stock at Target, I'm cheap... we're on a budget, so I refused to drop another $15 at my favorite superstore even if that's what needed to happen.  Plus, it's a closet.  It doesn't have to look amazing.

So I went on a search in our shed two-story storage building out back in my little boxes and jars and found everything I needed in the "hooks and random brackets" box.  Yes.  That exists.  I had these lovely hooks from the back of my old bathroom door (we got new interior doors during the remodel and I refuse to drill into them!), a hanger from a picture hanging kit and a small plaque of wood I'd bought at Michael's for another DIY project that never happened.  Then I snagged a can of paint left over from our interior trim (glossy white) and went to town transforming this stuff.......

......into this. ta-da! another belt hanger!  So easy.  So quick.  So needed. 

and even though they don't exactly match, I'm not complaining. Close enough. And functional. I'll take it!

and it's clearly remedied the over-stuffed-hook situation. Now everything has a place.

So here's the rundown if you're looking to do something like it on your own.

hooks: free (we already owned them, but I think they were $2.50 a piece originally at target or home depot)
wooden plaque: free (again, we already had it in storage.  it was originally 99cents at Michael's craft store)
picture hanger hook: free (yup, we had it in the shed, but a new one should cost no more than $2.00 for a package at a home improvement store)
paint: free (again, leftover from other painting projects.  a can of white spraypaint would work (about $3.50 at a home improvement store, or purchase a sample size plain white paint at the store for around $2.50)
my total cost: free  
total cost of new materials(in case you don't collect junk, hoard save treasures to be repurposed like I do: about $9.00

still cheaper than the ready made Target variety.  And the whole thing took ten minutes to assemble using only a hammer, electric screwdriver, and a paintbrush.  Not including the time waiting for the paint to dry.  Which wasn't long either seeing as I chose a 100 degree sunny day to do this project.

So I know it's not exactly rocket science....but I thought I'd share my fun, easy project with you.

Home, sweet Blog

Have you missed us?  Or have you just totally forgotten that we exist (more likely than the first option, methinks!)  We'll, we're still here, people.  And lots has happened in the past year since last I blogged.  Namely, the entire inside of our house has been redone literally, from the studs up.  And we're a little obsessed about it.  There's still lots to go however so I've decided that we'll morph this forgotten and neglected blog into a DIY space....because there aren't enough of those already out there.  So gear up for lots of info on our various nesting ventures.  I'll keep you updated as we continue to improve, and I'll take you back in time to various projects that you've missed over the past year or so of dormancy.  Maybe I'll even convince Hubs to write a post now and then. 

Looking forward to being back with you.

-B

Columbia Bound!!

Again, I'm still playing catch-up, so though it's Thursday as I post this, this is an account of our Tuesday.  :)

We decided to sleep in again Tuesday morning, and since the huevos rancheros wrap was so darn yummy....we headed back to Starbucks for breakfast.

Before bidding Asheville goodbye entirely to head to South Carolina for some family time with Keith's family, we decided to stop by Camp Cedar Cliff which was formerly the Cove Camp.  Keith spent 6 summers there growing up as a camper and then as a counselor so it was so fun for him to get to show me this place that has so many memories attached to it!  Camp is gearing up for the summer so we got to hang out with Hugh and Nicole, some of Keith's friends from his camp days who work there, over a lunch of watermelon and corndogs.  It was so fun to meet them after hearing so much about them and fun to see the camp and walk the trails that Keith walked as a teenager and college student.

(Keith and I hang out with Nicole and Hugh on the dining hall porch at Camp Cedar Cliff)

Then it was back on the road again to Columbia, South Carolina to Mom and Rick's house where we had a leisurely evening of smoked chicken and pasta and some good chit chat and soaking time in the hot tub before we curled up in bed for the night.  Leg 2 of our vacation is officially upon us!

If it's Monday, it's Biltmore and chocolate....

So I'm a few days behind in my blogging!  I've gotten completely caught up in the vacation-itis where you forget about all the things that happen in the real world...thus my blog is a few days behind.  :)

Monday was a glorious whirlwind of a day.   We started off by sleeping in and venturing across the street to Starbucks where we had the yummy new huevos rancheros wrap (A-mazing!!!) and morning coffee to kickstart our day....we had lots planned so energy was vital!  :)

(Keith drinks his coffee and lounges on the Starbucks patio.  Our hotel is that cool building in the background)

After breakfast we used the 12 month passes that I'd bought us last week to head back to the Biltmore Estate where we spent the next 6 hours touring the extensive gardens and house, taking the official "behind the scenes tour" and the moving on to explore the new Antler Village where we did a free wine tasting and took a much needed nap in the grass and listened to a local musician pick and grin.  (I think the guy who took the photo of us that appears at the top of the blog must have hit the wine tasting early....as the photo is a little lopsided.)

(Keith and I pause to take in the beautiful gardens and greenhouse)

  (Taking time to stop and smell the roses)

After our Biltmore adventure was over, we headed back to the hotel to take a nap and get dressed for dinner.  We felt like something light and exotic so we drove downtown and walked to Zambra for tapas for dinner.  It was absolutely amazing...our favorites were a pan-seared trout and a braised chicken taco.  Mmmmmm.  Despite the rain, we walked to French Broad Chocolate Lounge where we fed our sweet tooths with the liquid truffle "sipping chocolate"(my mouth is watering as I write this in the memory of it's goodness) and munched on a few truffles (early grey, Hawaiian, chai tea, and cayanne pepper) before retiring to the hotel again for the night.  I highly recommend a stop there if you ever pass through Asheville.  Heck.  Even if you aren't going to Asheville....it's worth the trip!

 (sipping chocolate and truffles.....mmmmmmm...........)

The Grand Bohemian & The Grove Park Inn

We arrived in Nashville last yesterday afternoon after a loooong drive to Asheville (thanks to a wreck on 40, construction and my car's need of an oil change) and checked in to our fabulous hotel, the Grand Bohemian which is right across from the main entrance to the Biltmore Estate.   It's a boutique hotel and Keith and I are loving the rich decor and the amazing art that is displayed on every floor.  Here's a picture of part of our room.....

For those of you who might not know all the details of our engagement story, Keith followed up his proposal at the Overlook at The Cove with an amazing brunch at the Grove Park Inn.  For a wedding gift, our sweet friends Nate and Heather gave us a gift card to the Grove Park, so we decided last night was the perfect chance to take advantage of their gift.  After settling into our hotel, we headed over for dinner on the "Sunset Terrace" where our candlelight table for two had the best view in the house!  The weather was perfect, the view exquisite and the food...well, the food was just fabulous.  We each started with a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad, then Keith had the "steak dianne" and I had the "duck marsala."  For desert, I had cheesecake with strawberries on top and Keith had a key lime pie.  The whole meal was amazing.   Somewhere between the mozz and the duck, I realized it was May 23rd, which meant it was the 4 month anniversary of our marriage!  Such a fun coincidence to get to celebrate at such a special place on a special day!   (The pictures don't do the evening justice as it was dark and all we had were our iPhones...but trust me....amazing!)

I know this puts me a day behind, but tomorrow I'll blog about the amazing day we had today (Monday the 24th).  (I'm exhausted and hey...one post a day is enough!) We've decided that this little trip is the first of many "2nd honeymoons" that we'll have over the course of our life together.  Tune in tomorrow......

Asheville bound!!

So Keith and I hit the road again this morning for a 3 leg vacation. The first stop is Asheville, NC (yes, I know I was just there) for two nights at the Grand Bohemian hotel which happens to be acros the street from the entrance gate to the Biltmore. Good thing I bought us each a 12 month unlimited pass when I was there last week! We're planning on just hanging out, enjoying the Biltmore some more, checking out Filo pastry shop and French Broad Chocolate. Mmmmm. I'll let you in on legs 2 and 3 of our journey as we get there. :)

In other family news, we gave the cat a proper name and got him a tag yesterday which bears the inscription, "Winston B. Bordeaux". The "B." of course stands for Booger. We just couldn't bring ourselves to drop it all together. :) The Winston part is after Winston Churchill, sort of. We're already missing him lots and lots. As you can tell by the picture, he didn't want us to leave this morning and refused to get off the top of Keith's suitcase for quite a while this morning. Fortunately, our sweet friend Erin is coming to live with him while we're gone, so I know he'll be fine.

Ok. That's all until Asheville!

Booger

Meet Booger, the newest member of our family. He enjoys being petted, sleeping upside down, nibbling at our fingers to wake us up, sleeping in odd places, snuggling with his people, sleeping all day long, watching the birds out the front window and sleeping some more. And no, we didn't pick out his name. He came with that.

This week

This week has been another bitter sweet taste of life on the road. Amazing to be out playing, but missing being home with the hubby. I've had an amazing week with Ronnie Freeman and the crew leading worship at The Cove (The Billy Graham Training Center) in Asheville, NC for the yearly meeting of the international employees of Samaratin's Purse...a Christian international relief organization. It was so beautiful to see these people from all over the world come together to strategize of how they can better serve the nations by providing disaster relief in the name of Christ. We had a sweet communion service last night in a chapel designed by the late Ruth Graham, wife of the great evangelist Billy Graham...and this morning as we gathered for a prayer service, a man from Ecuador began to cry out a prayer in Spanish and I was moved to tears at the songlike quality of this man interceeding for his fellow employees in his native tongue. We're on the road now from Asheville to Boone, NC where Samaratin's Purse is headquartered to lead one more night and morning of their yearly meetings at headquarters where we will be joined by an additional 400 employees. Then we get to head back to Nashville.   We got to spend a great afternoon exploring the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville.  Here are some pictures from that excursion....

Keith meanwhile has been at home holding down the fort. He's been hard at work and has gotten some good time with some of his close guy friends. He's also been playing Daddy to the newest inhabitant of the Yellow Barn. Yes folks, as of last Saturday, we are the proud parents of a long-haired, orangy/yellow tabby looking cat named "Booger". (He was already named that when we got him from the Humane Society. We're currently trying to think up a replacement name.) He is such a wonderful cat with a sweet personality, no bad habits as of yet, and has generally brought joy to our house with his motor-like purring and absurd looking sleeping positions. He's already got us both wrapped around his little paws and I'm afraid to report that we might have already become "those pet people" who are obsessed with our cat. :)

Guess that's all for now. I'm riding in the van and am starting to get a bit queasy looking down at my iPhone so I'll sign off. :)