Dinning Room

Hey there!  We are in the process of redoing our boys' rooms upstairs and this past week, I worked on several projects for little guy's room.  I was so happy with how they turned out, but it sure didn't start out that way.  I have a tendency to get in a hurry when working on projects, because usually I have other things to do like laundry, dinner, and being a mom and wife, so I get in a hurry and do things wrong only to have to go back and redo.  Not fun.   First up was this headboard I made for his room using our collection of vintage yardsticks.    I started out by building a simple frame using 1 x 2's and attaching the yardsticks to the front of the frame.  Because I didn't want to use all yardsticks, I also used groups of lattice strips that I already had from a previous project.    Originally, I stained those strips of lattice with Minwax special walnut stain.  But I didn't love it and it didn't look right.  So, after staring at it for a couple of days,

Hey there!  When we first found our home 6 years ago, I was absolutely in love with this side porch off the kitchen.  At the time of course, it looked awful because it was in the middle of being renovated, but, I saw what it could be.  I pictured pots of delicious herbs just waiting to be harvested for cooking, a cozy table to enjoy lunch or a morning cup of tea or coffee, or just a place to sit and read.  Funny thing was, it wasn't until now, 6 years later, that I finally filled the porch with those things.  I have no idea why. We have a large vegetable garden in our backyard, complete with herbs, so, it never occurred to me to also have some on the porch.  My hubby came home the other day with a crate that he found beside the road that I just loved.  I had it sitting on the porch for a few days waiting until I decided what to do with it when I realized how much I loved it on the porch.  And an idea was born; fill it with unique herbs that I don't have in my vegetable garden,

One of the things I've loved so much about blogging this past year is how much I'm learning about home design, building my own furniture, and various wood treatments.  And I look forward to learning so much more.  Now that I work with wood for a living, I've also learned so much about different ways to age new wood, though, I'm certainly no expert. Several years ago when I decided to build a new dining room table with the table legs that my dad made, I really didn't know that much about any of those things, but we really needed a larger dining table for our larger than usual dining room and I really wanted to give those special table legs a purpose.  The tabletop I put together then was okay, but, I wasn't happy with the dark stain and polyurethane combo I used.  It didn't absorb into the wood, instead, it sat on top of the wood and dried to somewhat of a strange shine.  Neither of which I wanted.  I also longed for a thicker table top.  Preferably barn