Close friends of ours have a brother that just came home from Iraq after being deployed for nearly a year. He had to leave his wife and 5-month-old baby girl to serve in October of last year, but you would have never known it. When my friend Emily told me that Jesse was coming home, I hoped to be able to take pictures of their family. What Jesse and my Dad does means the world to me. My Dad leaves for Afghanistan in 20 days, and it was just what my aching heart needed. Seeing Jesse with his beautiful wife and daughter and getting to look through the pictures of him with his family made me so grateful for his safe return as my Dad prepares to leave.

Thank you Jesse and Alyssa and the rest of your family and friends for letting me spend the day with you. Welcome home Jesse. Your family is wonderful. Can’t wait to see you in December!

I bought a table and chairs set off of craigslist with the intention of refinishing the top and selling the chairs. The top wasn’t what I thought it was, but it was too late and I did really love the legs. 

So I ripped off the top and made it my new garage work table. I think it will do just fine set on top of two sawhorses and slopped with paint. And here is how you can turn your current table or a craigslist find into something you’ll love for years:

1. Rip off the top down to the legs and aprons

2. Install cross braces

3. Determine how long and wide you’d like your tabletop and purchase your planks. I used 4 2X10s. There were $7.72 a piece and Jason helped me cut them down to 79″.  

4. Pickle

5. Yep, pickle. I wanted the planks to have an aged look to them so I googled and found an old time method of pickling wood with steel wool and vinegar. You put a piece of steel wool in a jar and cover it with vinegar and let it sit for a few days. Then you just brush it on. So that’s what I did. And the results are AMAZING! Try it. You’ll be hooked.

6. Poly with water-based acrylic. 4 coats.

7. Attach planks to the cross braces from underneath

8. ENJOY!!

There isn’t a drop of wood stain on the wood. It’s just the vinegar and steel wool recipe applied with a brush. At first when you brush it on it’s as if you’re painting on water. Within an hour, there’s a chemical reaction that causes the wood to look beautifully aged. I’d like to pickle the entire house.

Jason and I saw Step Up 3D last night and we’ve decided that we are going to start a dance crew and have underground street battles. We just need to find childcare. Who’s in?

It hurts. I can feel the actual pain inside my heart and it hurts. My dad leaves for Afghanistan in 33 days. His assignment is set for 6 months once his boots hit the sand in Afghanistan after his training in the states. And it just plain hurts. This is his second deployment and this one is harder for some reason. Yes, I know to pray. I know the “he’ll be okays” and the “6 months will go by fast” and honestly hearing that just makes me frustrated because it doesn’t take away the pain in my heart.

This is someones Dad. And husband. And grandpa. And son. And father-in-law. And golfing pal. And he’ll be so far away and we won’t be able to hug him. As the days pass by and it gets closer to September 18th, the moments when I’m alone and I think about it keep turning into tears. I think about my younger sister and my step-mom and my 4 children and my husband and how important my Dad is to all of us.

My usual building or painting furniture or decorating a room to perk up my spirits just isn’t working right now.   

I just really can’t even comprehend what it’s like for my stepmom or any other wife to prepare for their husband to leave and serve our country.

The next several weeks are going to be difficult for me. Jason is taking my Dad to the airport because he’s probably the only person that would be able to drive home afterwards. I am going to push on and pray and have faith and be strong and paint and play with the kids and thrift shop and go out on date nights but I already feel like a little piece of my heart is missing. I just want a time machine.

Yesterday when I went into the garage, I found a humming bird that was very confused and couldn’t find his way out. I called for Jason and we quickly called for the kids. Jason saved the day with our dry dust mop. It’s so nice to now have such fond memories to look back on when I’m sweeping up daily crumbs with that mop. I much prefer meditating on one of God’s beautiful creations then wondering why the kid’s can’t just get the stinkin’ food in their mouths.

I’m a tweaker. I change things, switch them around, move them, arrange them, rearrange them, put up, take down, patch holes and admire. Then when I tire of it or I need a refreshing, I do it all over again. Jason loves it.

What I think I’m realizing though, is that accessories can only do so much. Statement pieces can really make a room. Hear me out though. Not expensive pieces, just ones that make you smile. If it doesn’t make you smile, paint it or donate it. A funky dresser, a large handmade painting, flea market chairs, anything.

Our dining room table, does not make me smile. I considered painting it, but I don’t even like the lines of it and it is just so stinkin’ shiny. My mom continues to tease me that I’m going country. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the mountain air. But the table has got to go. I don’t want one that looks like it came off an assembly line. I want one that looks like it’s been through the wringer but is still going strong. I’d like a table that steals the show in the eating area and looks like a piece of artwork even with a morning’s worth of stuff strewn all over it.

And since Jason isn’t down with the $3,000 version from Restoration Hardware, I’m going to take the plunge and attempt to make my own for hopefully around $75.   

Here is the current dining table, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It’s sturdy, large, but just too modern for my taste anymore. I’ll be selling this puppy on craigslist very soon.

And a few of my inspirations (I apologize for not referencing the original photos. I went on a mad image search on Google one day and forgot to save the sources):

Looooove these tolix chairs with the table:

My favorite:

So I’ll be heading to my favorite lumber store very soon. I have a couple projects I need to finish and then I am all over this.

How can dancing not pull you out of a funk? So far, the two older boys share my love of hip hop music. So when they’re driving me nuts, we turn up our favorite Pandora station and throw it down. Cuz’ we’re gansta.

This table had seen better days. Some gouges along the edges and water damage on top had her looking rough. Nothing your palm sander and a couple coats of paint can’t handle. It’s solid wood, sturdy enough to dance on and use to leap to other chairs. The two adorable drawers stashes remotes perfectly. I hope her new owners enjoy her! She found a new home today.

I’m not in the business of refinishing furniture, but if I see something that catches my eye and has good bones, I can’t just walk away. These two pieces have made their way into our home just long enough for a photo shoot before they were out the door.

This first one was a buffet that was super sturdy and I thought it would make a perfect television console. Someone else did too and I’m sure it has a flat screen sitting on it right now.

This dresser on the right was the shorter version to a tall one I did and has it’s new home as a set in a little boy’s room.