The Kitchen Table #TBTStories

Throwback Thursday Stories, hosted by The Mom Creative.

Today: 1984. I was turning three.

I recently bought a new kitchen table and chairs. We just got all new kitchen cabinets and countertops too, so I definitely wasn't wanting to spend money on new furniture at the same time, but our old table and chairs were kaput. More accurately, just the chairs, which were falling apart underneath us.

You see, that dining set was my parents' first, purchased when they got married in 1973. It was in my house growing up until I was thirteen, when we moved to a new house and my mom upgraded to a new set. This one sat in the basement for a decade (a well-earned sabbatical after 21 years of service), until I had my first little apartment in grad school. It became mine and has graced Matt's and my kitchens in Nashville, Clarksville, and now back to Nashville.

The table itself and the two chairs in less-bad condition now reside in the playroom, where they will host many hours of puzzles, games, and homework in the years to come. I'm glad not to be tossing the thing entirely, because it has such sentimental value. Forty-one years of family dinners just me and my parents, afternoons of homework throwing my math book across it, and birthday celebrations like the one in the photo above, when I turned three, surrounded by my parents, all four grandparents (such a blessing to have them all live close by), and a great-aunt and -uncle who never had children of their own. This was the crowd that gathered every year on my birthday, and it was always so special.

I chose this photo because you can actually see the style of the chair around my little toddler body. I spotted a similar style when watching the movie American Hustle last night. Such a seventies style, and I won't forget it. We're upgrading and getting with the times now, but the memories made around such a simple thing as the kitchen table will continue to grow with my own kids.

Decking the Halls

I'm linking up today with Kelly Stamps' Holiday Home Tour, and looking back at my post for that link-up two years ago, I see what a creature of habit I am. So many things are in exactly the same place! I've changed a few things, and some things I changed last year, but now they're just like the before that!

In any case, welcome to our lovely abode, all decked out for the holidays.

Lots of nativities around the hearth--advent calendars, play nativity, and the shiny metal one on the mantle.

There are still a few gifts to arrive, but I've wrapped what we have. I love to wrap gifts!

I did the dining room table differently this year, with a tray I found at a thrift store, filled with candles, ornaments, angels, and greenery, and ornaments hanging from beads on the light fixture.

A simpler Advent wreath on the kitchen table this year (since I hung the actual wreath above the mantle!)

stairway

My favorite holly jollies: the kiddos, decorating our gingerbread house!

Welcome to any visitors, and Merry Christmas!

WMW: Home Office

I got my new Thirty-One organizer hung up, so I thought it might be about time to share my lovely little home office, where most of my WAHMing takes place. (Does that make this a Working Mom Wednesday or Show and Tell? Both, I guess!)

One of the neat things about our house is the little room off of our master bedroom with glass French doors. It makes a great office and craft room, and would make a great nursery as well, if you wanted to keep a baby close for the first year or two. From the time we moved in, it housed an old desk that was my grandfather's. It had been used in a war office during WWII, and he bought it cheap after the war. It's a typewriter desk, with a platform that raises and lowers to hide the typewriter away inside when you're not using it. (My uncle has the typewriter from it.)

So between the desk, Matt's green banker's lamp, my plant and framed degrees, my office has a nice, homey feel. My new organizer helps me get papers, folders, and my ubiquitous legal pads off the floor (since the desk doesn't have a lot of spare surface space). I hung a legal pad over the calendar strap, stuck my file folders in the clear pocket, book catalogs in another pocket, and put some pictures on display. I wrote a favorite quote on the wipe-off board, a line from a Dixie Chicks' song: "If there's ever an answer, it's more love." I really feel like that's a good rule of thumb when you are stuck in any way. (What to do? Well, what's the more loving response?)

The printer just sits on an afghan-covered box, and Matt's old CD tower is getting more use than it has in years, just supporting the stack of review copies I put on top of it. And for a window treatment, I used a string of Tibetan prayer flags our brother and sister-in-law brought us from Mt. Everest.

Then there's my amazing craft area, which my in-laws created for me as a birthday present last year. I previously just had a rolling kitchen cart, but they got a cabinet to sit a yard or so from the cart and a tabletop to lay across them both, more than tripling my work space. My mother-in-law made the skirt that velcros around the table, hiding the storage cart and cabinet underneath. (The space between is the secret spot I stash gifts as I buy them throughout the year.) On Friday afternoons, when I finish work for the week, I close down the computer and move just two feet to my left to do some scrapbooking before the brood comes home!

The side of the room I'm not showing you has all my gift-wrapping supplies, several cheap bookcases full of books and random stuff. In every home we have, there is a room that never fully gets unpacked, where boxes sit for years. In this house, the office was it, though I cleaned most of that up and out when I went freelance and it became my main office, but the bookcases still have a lot of college memorabilia and other stuff we've had since our single days.

Where do you stash all your old junk? Where do you do your work, crafts, or other computering?

Up It Goes!

I'll admit it. When I first saw the boxes of lumber and hardware totaling over 700 pounds, and the 84-step assembly guide, I thought we'd have to call in the professionals who would build the new swingset for us "for a small fee."

 

Matt and his dad had their doubts too, but they did it! This project has been the main event at our house for the past four weekends. The swingset that was here when we moved in last year was fine—if by fine you mean an eye sore and a death trap. The paint was chipped off, it had some sort of algae growing on it, it visibly leaned to one side, and swayed as one swung. It was time for an upgrade.

My dad helped on it too when my parents were in town for Labor Day weekend, and as you see, Kate was a very enthusiastic helper. She did little tasks as the men asked, and came in to get them snacks and drinks of water. (Who knew grown men needed goldfish and grapes five times a day? :)

 

This thing is fancy, I'm telling you. It has bay windows, a picnic table, and a little porch awning—not to mention the swings, slide, rock wall, and monkey bars.

The instructions said it could be built in 8-12 hours with one person and a helper. Ha! There's no counting the hours the guys put in on this, and it definitely required three people to get the roof in place!

Pictures like this are a time capsule. I hope the girls will look back and say, "wow, so that's what I looked like when Daddy and Opa built the swingset."

Claire enjoyed cruising back and forth on the slide as it waited to be attached.

Finally, Kate got to climb up...

... and slide down!

 

They still have to put in some soft groundcover, but the girls are already enjoying their new swingset.

All that hard work will be rewarded in smiles, laughter, and hugs for many years to come!

Timidly Trendy

Does anyone else feel like Pinterest gives irresistible, pregnancy-like nesting urges to totally non-pregnant women?

That's how I've been feeling lately. For the first few months I was on Pinterest, I just dabbled with it and didn't bother with it too much, beyond party-planning ideas for Kate's birthday back in January. Lately, I've gotten more into it, though, pinning gift ideas as we head toward Christmas, making a few boards for work and contests, and most recently, adding to my "house" board, with ideas for things I'd love to do with our home—in particular, a shelving unit for our mud room and an accent wall in the guest room or somewhere else. (Redoing our kitchen is my big wanna-do, but that is a much bigger investment than these other ideas!)

Anyway, I've been in a nesty mood lately, and I've been intrigued by this whole chevron trend. Have you noticed this? Chevron patterns are everywhere right now, it seems—in home decor, clothing, even some gorgeous scrapbook albums I saw the other day. I've never been big on following trends. I wait to see if they "last" before jumping on board. And something so bold as this chevron thing is sure to fizzle out quickly. But it's pretty cool looking, and while I wouldn't try it for an accent wall inside my house, I thought I'd give it a go for spicing up our garage a bit!

Yes, our garage. A utilitarian space that barely seems deserving of a makeover, and yet, for that very reason, seemed to be a fitting canvas for some trendy-patterned-accent-wall fun. So this has been my project for the last few days, in what spare time I can muster. (I'm not above putting a baby gate at the back door so my kids can play in the mud room while I climb a ladder in flip flops just outside.)

It's not even a whole wall, obviously, just the area right around the door, but adds some interest that I can enjoy every day as I pull into the garage after a long day at work.

What sort of crafty things or home improvements have you been making lately?

Crafts and Crafts

In high school, I went on a choir tour every summer with my awesome church choir, Revelations. One year, two crazy girls who were best friends brought a bunch of construction paper, scissors, pipe cleaners, etc. to entertain themselves on the bus, making silly things and hanging them above their seats.

They told everyone, "It's crafts and crafts. No arts, just crafts."

I had a big postpartum nesting impulse last Friday (is that a thing?) and went on a little spree at Michael's.

Project 1: A set of four wall frames to display together in a grid. I found the cheapest frames I could (black) and painted them gold. I also got a couple plain wood frames in the dollar bin to save for future projects, but since Kate wants to do whatever I'm doing, I let her paint them. She made one for her room (which holds a 4x6 of her and her friend Becca), and one for my office (with a pic of Kate and I in it).

Project 2: Catch up on scrapbooking. Saturday afternoon, Matt took Kate with him to a meeting and out for a Daddy-Daughter Date so that I could have some crafty time. I did my annual page for housing all the photo cards we received over the holidays. It looks a little vintage-y, I think, and has the headline, "Sending You Holiday Love."

 I also did the spread for Claire's baptism, and got started on Kate's birthday pages.

Matt and Kate returned home while I was still working, and of course Kate was interested in what I was doing. I handed her some extra pics and stickers and let her go to town. I put it in the scrapbook, since it's Kate's first scrapbooking page!

Project 3: Felt hairbows. Easy, cute, and wintery. I pinned this tutorial a couple weeks ago and practiced with the felt I had on hand, but since Claire doesn't really have any hunter green or tan clothes, I had to get a better color before attaching one to a headband. It's a no-sew thing, just felt, scissors, and a glue gun. I glued a triad of pearls to the center of the bow, but one came off even before church on Sunday, and the other two came off once we got home. (Only two have been found.) Claire looked so cute wearing this with her red valentine dress. I'll get a pic when she wears it again on Tuesday!

 

Project 4: Mantle art. The wall above our mantle has been blank since we moved in last May; I had been planning to wait until Claire was born and get a good family pic on a canvas, but none of the ones from the newborn/family shoot really suited me (better to have one when Claire is big enough to look at the camera and show some personality), plus it needs to be vertical because of the paneling. Maybe a pic this spring will work. 

Anyway, I decided to get a canvas and do something crafty to fill that space for now. I used scrapbook papers in the color scheme of the living room and repainted a big K that was hidden away on a bookcase. Just a papercutter, ModPodge, and a vision produced a decent work of art!

I wrote significant dates for our family into the collage.

The quilty-look is a little folksy for my taste, but it'll do for now! Here's our whole mantle, including the Valentine heart garland I made a few years ago.

Hope you can enjoy some crafty time this weekend—or whatever activity relaxes you and brings you joy!

Home for the Holidays

Today, I'm linking up to Kelly Stamps' holiday home tour, giving a virtual tour of houses all decorated for Christmas! So, "Welcome!" whether you're a regular reader or just visiting from Kelly's Korner. 

We just bought this house in May, so I had the fun and challenge of decorating a new space—deciding where the old decorations should go, and figuring out new things unique to this house now.

Like the long banister up the staircase in our foyer. It would be fun to add sparkly doo-dads to this garland and ribbon in the future, but for now, I figured that would just be begging for Kate to mess with it! 

Straight ahead from the foyer is the living room. I was really excited that our tree this year would be where we would actually see it a lot and enjoy it in our daily lives (mine especially, since I'm on maternity leave and home most days right now). In our old house, we had the whole formal living room in front, casual family room in back thing, and the tree fit best in the front room, which left us trying to be intentional about hanging out in a room we didn't often hang out in, just so we could enjoy the tree. This is so nice, and since this room just has a half-wall separating it from the kitchen, the tree is visible from the kitchen too.

I love the fancy trees people do with a color scheme and the elaborate tulle-type stuff all around it, but what would we do, then, with all the sentimental ornaments we have, commemorating childhood hobbies and trips, milestones like graduations, our wedding, and the kids' first Christmases? Some people call it hodge-podge, but we like our meaningful tree! (Last year, I did a series of posts called "A Life in Ornaments," showing the story told by our collections of ornaments.)

I have nothing against putting kids' crafty glue-and-glitter ornaments on the "main tree," (I forced my own mother to keep my oversized felt thing from kindergarten on her tree years after she went the fancy route) but since we have this little 4-foot fake tree, it seemed fun to let Kate put her creations on it.

On the mantle, I have our cool metal nativity set (an epiphany scene, really, since it has magi, not shepherds), along with garland and berries.

For the coffee table, I needed something Kate couldn't destroy (at least not easily), and I had this wreath that used to hang on our front door until I got a nicer hand-me-down one from my mom. I was going to put a big pillar candle or something in the middle, until I realized it would be a great place to put Christmas cards as we receive them!

These three glass hurricanes were a wedding gift, and I've used them for candles, mantle decor, etc. in the past, but in the new house, I've got them on the dining room table and plan to switch out the contents for the seasons. In the fall, I had pine cones and autumnal potpourri, and in the spring I could put flower petals or something around pillar candles. For Christmas, though, I've got a sparkly mix of ornaments and gold beads.

Close up on the candle- and garland-laden buffet behind the table.

On the kitchen table is our Advent wreath and wooden Advent calendar, and the church's Advent devotional. We light the candles when we pray before dinner, and sometimes read and discuss the day's devotional. (Yes, I know the candles should be purple, but I couldn't find purple this year, or even burgundy, which is usually my compromise.)

On our kitchen counter right now is the gingerbread house Kate and I decorated and the light-up Santa figurine I got in our Sunday school Christmas party's white elephant exchange. (I'll be moving the Santa up to Kate's room soon!)

Already in Kate's room is a ceramic Christmas tree and wooden Santa (both passed on to me by a friend who doesn't "do" holiday decorations and who is probably quite amused by this whole post!) Also, we have the stack of Christmas books I pack away with the decorations and only get out at this time of year. Actual Baby Jesus stories stay out year round, but these fun seasonal books include The Little Drummer Boy, Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming (LOVE this book!), Merry Christmas Curious George, and the Mary Englebreit-illustrated The Night Before Christmas.

And Claire has a music box that my family had from my childhood, as well as a few Christmas bibs, of course!

I love decorating for Christmas. How about you?