Family Room Update- Coffee table

After we purchased the new couch, it was clear that we'd also need a new coffee table.  While we love our leather coffee table, it was just too short- something I hadn't thought of when ordering the couch!  Plus the old table would be great up in the media room to store movies in (it has GREAT storage space!)

I decided to keep an eye on the sales, and wait for the right table to come along, since we weren't in a rush. Back in April, I came across this on Joss & Main... and Mike loved it too!

It fit all of our criteria:
-A bit rustic, to go with the room...  It's made out of reclaimed wood & iron.

Legs of the table

Drawer knobs

-Will hold up well to heavy use... the weathered texture of the reclaimed wood means I don't have to stress about it getting scratched.

Top of the table

-Storage... the lower shelf & drawers are perfect for magazines, coasters, remotes.

Here it is in front of the new couch...

And the Family Room now looks like this...

From the doorway

Reverse- from the side of the fireplace

Here's a quick comparison shot (including the couch update)

Next up is getting rid of that green loveseat.  We took advantage of a Memorial Day sale, and got something for there ordered and being delivered later in the month!

Catching Up- May/June 2014

Wow- two months since my last post!  Life's been hectic lately... and the blog fell to the side for a bit.
I hope that I can get back into a rountine with it!

Here are some random things we've had happening with the house...

Mike built doors for the closets under eaves of the media room.

They had to be custom built, since the openings were an odd size.

I've primed them, Mike got hinges and hung them, and now I need to paint them.

We also bought the hardware- just a basic satin nickle knob for each.




I also added this shelf up there... I'm still fussing with what goes on the shelves.  For now it's photo albums, blankets, a couple of old Atari games, and empty buckets/storage bins.






I put together these mason jars of old thread spools and buttons.  They'll look great in a laundry room (some day!)








The fruit trees that we planted last year are doing good!
We lost one of them, so replaced it with a new nectarine tree.

Most exciting is that the peach tree has three peaches on it!  They are rather tiny, but a good start!!!!

Other items...
We've been moving forward with the plans for the extension.  Of course, after living in the house for a few years and mulling over the existing drawings, we now want to change some things.  I'll post about that once we've met with the architect again.

Media Room Updates

Although I had declared it done, there are still lots of little things we're working on in the Media Room...


We finally got the rug padding put down under the carpet.  It was a bit of patchwork to get it to cover the entire area under the rug.

I hemmed the curtains using iron on hem tape that I still had left over from making knight costumes for my son's 2012 birthday party!)

And, we're finishing up the moldings.  Here is a section that needed some wood putty to even out the space between the wall & the molding (since nothing is truly square in a house this old!)


 I hope to get the last coat of paint on them this weekend...

Lamp Update

I found this little lamp up in the attic... we had once used it in the guest room of the old house.

Since we're short on overhead lights in this house, I decided to update it for my youngest son's airplane theme bedroom.  The peachy-pink color had to go!

The bedroom colors are blue & yellow, so I got out that same yellow spraypaint I used for the Curious George party and also for the Family Room candle holder.

A couple of coats later... the base of the lamp looks 100% better!

BUT I'm not happy with the shade- it's too small.  It was just in another box of "extras" I had sitting up in the attic... I originally considered using them in the nautical bedroom lamps that were my dad's as a child... but then we came across the original shades in my parents' attic).

So, I'm on the hunt for an airplane-ish lamp shade in a better shade.

You can also see the galvanized metal buckets hanging on the wall behind the lamp (which is above his little desk)... those I got a while back from "PickYourPlum.com".  They're great for holding pens, pencils, stickers, and lots of odds & ends!

Nautical Bedroom Update- Chair Cover

Part of my spring cleaning was clearing out the clothes that no longer fit the kids. 

That led me to this sweater... my son loved it when he was in his pirate phase.

At first I thought I'd make another throw pillow- 

I started by turning it inside out and stitching with some gray thread...

That's when I realized it was going to be an odd shape, or would have some weird detailing at the corners.

So, I rounded the top and then cut off the excess material...

and turned it right-side out.

I decided to make it into a chair cover for the desk chair!

Who knows... it still may become a pillow someday... we'll see!