Merry Christmas!

Here is our kitchen and family room decorated for Christmas!

Our family room wasn't quite completed last year so I was so excited to decorate it this year.

True to my style I added lots of pine boughs, simple candle holders, and touches of red, mostly with linens, to get a relaxing and rustic feel in the room. No fireplace for us yet but I think it still manages to feel cozy.

After months of searching Ebay for a red and white quilt I finally found the perfect one...

faded and worn just like I was looking for.

I have been trying to build my white with red stripe linen collection but the the antique ones can be rather costly especially since they usually have to be shipped from other countries. I have been able to find some reasonably priced ones on Etsy (the one pictured above and on kitchen table) but I was super excited to find the cloth napkins below at hm.com. They come in packs of two and are only $5.99! They are very well made and have a great texture, I orderd two packs but now I am wishing I had ordered more.

Our new kitchen table has been great for all of the cookie baking and gift wrapping we do this time of year. Eli is such a big help and especially loves making the sugar cookies every year.

Over the summer I bought this old chips and snacks holder at a yard sale for $2, it is perfect for all of the holiday cards that we get.

And while shopping for Christmas presents I treated myself to this galvanized metal carrier at Hobby Lobby, perfect for holding all of my gift wrapping supplies.

I put the antique tote  I used to use to hold all of my wrapping essentials up for sale in my Etsy shop...

it is a beauty:)

It has been a very busy and often stressful month but we are so excited to celebrate Millie's first Christmas and spend the holidays with our family. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Christmas Decorating Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of our house decorated for Christmas!

Stay tuned for more! 

Our Farmhouse Kitchen Table

Here it is, our big farmhouse table that Neal built us and I couldn't be happier with it! I've always wanted a big rustic table for everybody to sit around and we finally have it. I hope to someday find the perfect antique one but until that day this one will do just fine.

I was determined to make ours look old and started by giving Eli a hammer and grabbing my crowbar. We then got busy hitting the table top, Eli got the biggest kick out of the fact that he was allowed to hit the furniture with a hammer. After I felt it looked damaged enough I stained the top with one coat of Minwax Dark Walnut stain. The legs and aprons are painted Martha Stewart's Bone Folder.

Then I applied a heavy coating of Minwax Finishing Wax on the areas that I wanted to be able to easily sand, mainly the areas that a table would have extra wear like the edges.

Then I painted the table top with multiple coats of the Bone Folder not letting any of the stain show through. After it had thoroughly dried I used my mouse sander to distress the paint. I still need to apply a coat of polycrylic to the top but my picture taking window is very small these days so I figured it could wait.

It was funny because I knew I wanted a big long bench for the one side of the table but figured I would have to scour the flea market or have Neal build us one. But lo and behold on my way home from the grocery store on the weekend that Neal built the table I spotted this white bench for sale on the side of the road.

 When I pulled into the driveway of the house where the bench was for sale I decided to myself that $30 was the maximum I would pay for the bench. No one came outside so I called the number on the bench and just as I was leaving a message a lady came outside. She said she wanted $40 for the bench and I told her I didn't want to spend that much. Disappointed I got back into my car. On the drive home I started to think why didn't I just buy it for the $40, what's $10 right? What if I never saw the right bench again, one that was already shabby and white? But I really try to stick to the price I get in my head because it keeps me from overspending and then hating myself for it later. All I could do was hope that no one else came along and bought the bench for $40 and that the nice lady would call me back accepting my offer, I knew she had my phone number because I had left it on my message. Well I guess the bench was meant to be ours because she did call me back accepting my offer of $30!

I wanted the table to be large enough for a lot of people to be able to sit at it and still have room for food or a board game in the center. We had everyone here for Halloween and we had plenty of room for all of the food. For now I have an old tool caddy in the center to hold our salt and pepper, napkins and silverware. The ironstone pitcher is a gift from my mom, she took me antique shopping to one of my favorite shops Romantique Boutique  and to dinner for a belated birthday celebration. Millie was born the week of my birthday so we weren't able to do much then. Neal likes to joke that the week of Millie's and my birthday will forever be an expensive one for him:)

And some pictures of the family room just because the sunshine coming in today is so pretty.

I mentioned a few months ago that we had started working on the small bathroom between the kitchen and dining room, well that was put on the back burner for a while. However, I have finally been able to get back to working on it. While Millie naps I have been taking down the plaster and lathe and you know how I love demo work! As far as I am concerned there is nothing better than making the gross go away! I will keep you updated on our progress, hopefully this weekend we will get the tub out of here.