Farmhouse Table DIY

We finished the table in December, right before Christmas. I LOVE IT! Sorry, WE love it! There are a couple minor things that I would maybe do differently if we built another one. But overall, it looks awesome! And I'm SO happy we finally did it!

I had been telling Derek we needed to build our own farmhouse table for months and months. Because there was no way I'd ever spend a ridiculous amount of money on something we could easily make. But we needed to wait until the basement was finished so we could actually fit the table upstairs (now that the couch & TV were moved out of there). He kept saying we would do it but I don't think he had the vision like I did (well, I know he didn't). He tells me now that he didn't think it was going to look good. Psh!

// DETAILS:

Derek had help from Dustin and their friend. It was their first piece of furniture they'd ever made. I'm so proud of them. They managed to put it together in one night, taking them about 7-8 hours (it was one late night!)

I got the plans from Ana-White.com >> http://ana-white.com/2012/06/plans/fancy-x-farmhouse-table 

I love Ana White's website, she has tons of great plans and gives you detailed step-by-step instructions! There were two different tables that I was deciding between. But I went with this one... the "X" style. 

Derek and I did the finishing work together. We sanded it (Hugh helped us sand, thanks Hugh!), one coat of pre-stain conditioner, one coat of MinWax Walnut Stain and three coats of polyurethane. We let it sit for a few days before using it. This process took about a week. I do like the stain we chose but I think I would have liked even better if it were a bit lighter. But Walnut has a nice rich, warm color.

I'll also note that we were a bit nervous about building an 8 foot table, thinking it might look monstrous in the dining area. But we're so glad we didn't shorten it! We wanted a big table for entertaining and this table is perfect as it seats at least 8 people comfortably. And we could squish a few extra people on the ends if we needed to. 

I wanted the table to look rustic but still be functional since it would be our every day dining table. I was tempted to beat it up to make it look more distressed but ended up just leaving it in case I didn't like the way it turned out. We chose not to fill in the wood knots with wood filler, I think it looks more natural this way. 

// THINGS I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY:
After we did the polyurethane, it felt like little bumps all over the top. I didn't like it. So we looked up online and discovered a process called "finishing your finish". Apparently you're supposed to do this or another last finishing step. Derek took lemon oil and a very high grit sandpaper and used the oil while sanding. This made it super smooth! The bumps were gone. However, when the light shines on it, you can see little dots where the bumps used to be. Like a pickled look. You can only see it in certain lighting so it's not that big of a deal but if I were to do it again I would try something else to avoid this. I'm still going to try to do something to fix this.

Also, this one is obvious but don't rush it! We were in such a rush to finish it because we needed to use it for the Christmas party at our house that week! 

One other thing, we sanded the top of the table pretty good (we sanded by hand) to make the top boards flush together but we didn't sand the bottom of the table as much as the top boards because of time. I was a bit worried about this and hoped it would not make a difference in the stain/look, but it did make a bit of a difference. I think the top boards look smoother, and the stain looks better (and less shiny) than the bottom. But these are things that most likely only I will notice them, or someone else like me I guess.

// CHAIRS:
Okay, so I love the mismatched chairs look with a farmhouse table. It has been a fun hunt finding different chairs. I have 8 chairs now but about half of them are just temporary until I find cuter ones. My original plan has been to paint them all an off-white color. But I like the way a couple look how they are now so we'll see. I've been getting my chairs off of KSL and Craigslist, and from thrift stores.

// COSTS:
The wood for the table only cost $65! What added on the cost for us was the stain and finishing supplies, also a couple tools that made things easier like the mini Kreg Jig. If you already have some of this stuff it would be less expensive. This brought the total closer to $200 for the table. My chairs have ranged from $0 (free!) to $25. But most were only $10. The whole thing is a steal considering they sell the same style table at Restoration Hardware for over $2,200!!!...(seriously, who would pay that?!)

Table from Restoration Hardware

//AND HERE IS MINE...

With chairs....

Now I need to start adding some wall decor so it's not so bare in here! That's my next project. Along with painting the chairs and looking for a few replacements. And now that I've seen what these guys can build I'm getting all sorts of ideas.... (just don't tell Derek).

FARMHOUSE BED, ANYONE?? :)

Happy Birthday Derek!

Oh, how time flies! Derek turned 27 years old! He was 23 when we met, which is how old I am now. And at that time I thought 23 was so old. Funny. Anyways, I wanted to say Happy Birthday Derek!

I'm lucky to have him as my husband. He does so much for myself and for our family. He works so hard for us. He is one great daddy too! I'm truly thankful for him. 

On his birthday night, we went to Sub Zero, his favorite ice cream place. Jared came with us. We love that place. He always gets Tiger's Blood -- a strawberry coconut flavor -- it's delish.

Basement Reno!!!

This post is LONG overdue! We finished the main chunk of the basement back in early December. The second bedroom down there was finished up for Jared and the family room was completed. Derek and Dustin had been working on this project since right before Noah was born. They didn't completely finish the laundry room yet because we weren't in a huge rush to finish it. The drywall is up, but they still need to mud it. There is a room for a bathroom but that's not coming until later on.

I LOVE having the family room! We bought our home with the thought in mind that we would finish the family room fairly quickly. But we decided to hold off starting it for a while and then it took a lot longer to finish because of things that came up so it ended up finishing a year after we bought the house. So it was SUCH a relief to finally be able to put the sectional & TV downstairs! The couch was WAY too big for the upstairs front room. And since the couch was taking up the whole front room, there wasn't much room for a dining room table, so our dining table was in our kitchen which took up the whole kitchen and you could barely walk around it when we had people over -- you get the picture. Now we can have our sitting room/dining room upstairs and the space feels so much bigger.

Downstairs is nice and cozy to watch movies, we love it! And with the TV down there I've noticed that I don't watch as much TV during the day. Derek and I got into a bad habit of eating most of our meals in front of the TV since it was right there. It's less tempting to turn on a show when we have to go all the way downstairs, especially when we have a nice, big, dining table waiting for us now!

I chose a light, fresh blue color for the walls and I am pretty happy with it. We did a cream color for the trim and doors. We also did the same cream for the stairs. However, because of the lighting difference, the stairs look a little yellow to me. It's not what I had in mind, I actually liked how the stairway looked better when it was just primed. So I want to repaint the stairs white for now (when we get around to it). I might add something a bit more fun to them later on, but I just love white so much. I was going for the cottage-look.

I love the fact that there are not toys all over the floor in the front room now! It's much easier to keep upstairs clean and tidy since there is less clutter.

I haven't even started putting up pictures/art up yet because I don't like putting them up if I don't have enough for the whole wall to look balanced (so it doesn't look bare and awkward). You may or may not know what I mean. Either way, I'll get around to it.

For now, here are some before & after pictures. Enjoy!

(Okay, well this is after they had already started framing out the walls.)

Looking out from the stairs

Hallway & post

This is now a hallway and that red & tan wall was knocked down to put a door into my mom's room

That's the entrance to Jared's room. 

You can see behind the metal framing is where the laundry room is (it's huge!) That metal framing was already there when we bought the house, it just needed to be moved around

Looking out from the far corner 

**Okay in the next 2 photos you can really see the difference because they were taken at relatively the same angle :)

 And this is after the carpet was installed...

Some doors still needed to be put on when I took the picture 

You can see this is before the stairs were painted (on the left). That's the door to the laundry room, where the metal framing was

Hallway down to my mom's bedroom & future bathroom

Mounting the TV

Okay and here are some before and after photos of the stairway... It was so dark and grungy before. I was always scared of spiders hiding in the corners! They were (and still are) also pretty beat up. I was tempted to try to paint them purposely making them look distressed, worried that if I tried to make them look nice it wouldn't look right. But I didn't know how it would turn out. So I just painted them without distressing and they actually look great. It's amazing how much of a difference some paint makes!

Side door

And now... let there be light!

Side entrance

**but remember the stairs are not completely done, they still need to be painted again. 

That's all for now. I will post more pictures of the set up later on. I am so happy with it! And I'm extremely grateful for Derek and Dustin and a few other helpers along the way. They are awesome!

Noah is 9 Months!

Noah's 9th month was pretty eventful with the holidays and everything. But overall, Noah handled it well. He is seriously getting so big! Lately when I see pictures of him, I'm like, wow, he looks huge. He's getting stronger and stronger and it's so fun to watch him learn new things all the time. He's such a cute, little boy and I just love him to pieces. He weighed in at 17 lbs 6 ounces today.

NURSING

I did have a bit of a scare this month and thought I might be at the end of the road with breastfeeding. When I got the flu my milk supply went down because well, for one I was barely conscious so I missed a couple feedings and also because I didn't eat for two days. So we had to supplement with formula for a few days to make sure he was getting enough. I didn't know if we would be able to continue on but we did! My supply seemed to go back up after I was back to normal but I still worry he's not getting as much as he was before though because he hasn't been sleeping as good at night now. I am just going to do my best to press on and we'll see how this month goes. And for the record, he was a bit less distractible this month as long as it's just me & him in the room. 

SOLIDS (BABY LED WEANING):

I feel bad because I wasn't really focused on baby led weaning this month. Normally I am always giving him new foods to try, making sure he has a variety of foods each day, AND making sure he eats lots of healthy food. But this month with how busy it was, Noah didn't try a whole lot of new things. And I didn't cook as much veggies as usually do. He did enjoy eating at all the holiday parties we went to. We took him to several restaurants this month and I liked being able to just put him in the high chair and give him some of our food. Right now it seems like his favorite food is cheese. 

CRAWLING:

Literally the day after Noah turned 8 months, he started trying to get from his tummy or all fours to a sitting position. This basically kick started everything. In the process of mastering this, he figured out how to crawl on his knees and stay on his knees, rather than going up & down. So after a little over a month of doing his walrus crawl, he started crawling the "normal" way. He started doing this about mid-month. So now he can basically get into any position, which he absolutely loves. And he is super fast now with his new crawl. I really need to keep my eye on him. He is getting into everything! He just crawls and climbs around the whole house and makes silly sounds while doing it. He recently started trying to crawl up the stairs.

On the go!

Little rascal

PULLING UP/STANDING:
He really started pulling up on everything this month! A couple weeks ago after I put him down for a nap I heard him crying so I peeked in his room and surely enough he was standing up in his crib! Even though I knew it was coming, it still really took me by surprise to see him doing that for the first time. I went in and helped him down even though I know he knows how, and he went to sleep. But ever since then he has been doing that all.the.time. Lately he won't go to sleep right away because he just keeps standing up in his crib. I'll go in and lay him back down and he just does it again so I am really going to try not to keep going in and putting him back down so he learns that he just needs to do it himself. But this is totally his personality, he has to keep doing the new thing over & over again even though he knows he's tired. He did the same thing with rolling during naps, he would roll over and cry but then kept doing it over and over. Just another phase we need to push through I guess. He really loves standing up on every piece of furniture possible. He also likes to walk while holding onto your hands.

PERSONALITY:
He is such a little adventurist. He needs to touch everything, climb everything, play with everything, gnaw on everything, see everything! I love his curiosity and determination but it can be dangerous. If he wants to explore something and I pull him away from it he will instantly go back and he does not give up! Even if he gets hurt playing on something, he continues to try and explore it. I don't think one day goes by lately where he doesn't fall and hurt himself. I feel bad, he's gotten a couple bumps on his head. But I guess that's just what happens when they become very mobile. Now that he can get around so much he has been much happier and less frustrated. He still has his moments, and days, of whininess but overall, less whining this month. He is clingy towards my mom, but it's because she totally babies him! Noah likes to be silly and he makes us laugh all the time. He still blows lots and lots of raspberries which gives him a slobbery chin all the time, hah. He still gets a kick out of watching and hearing things fall onto the floor. Me and my mom call him mischievous because he always makes a sneaky, mischievous face. For a while now he has really disliked being changed, especially at bedtime when I'm putting his pajamas on.

Silly faces

My sweet boy

SIGNING & COMMUNICATION:
He hasn't signed back yet. I added a few new signs this month but I don't want to add too many until he is pretty solid on the basic ones first. I know he understands the ones we do very frequently but he just doesn't seem to even try to sign back. It's only been a couple months though. It does still sound like he tries to say "all done" (after nursing) but it's hard to tell because he says "dada" a lot which sounds similar to "a da". I'm not sure if he is starting to know that Derek is "dada" because he is just babbling, but lately it seems like he's starting to put the two and two together.

PLAYTIME:
Once he was able to go from his tummy to his bum he started playing so much better and longer by himself. For a while he would only play in his pack n' play for a few minutes at a time before starting to get fussy. But now he's back to being able to stay in there for a while. I'm trying to be more consistent with giving him independent playtime in the pack n' play every day after breakfast. Some days he can stay in there for up to 25 minutes but I'd like to lengthen it. I think it teaches them a lot of good things, like how to entertain themselves, and how to focus for a while on just a few toys. He likes to play with and watch other kids but he's at the age where it's possible he could try to pull hair or pull a binkie out of a baby's mouth or something like that, so I just need to teach him not to do those things.

He is growing out of his bouncer but he still likes to play in it once in a while

SLEEP:
Naps were better this month. They are lengthening out a bit now but they are still shorter than they should be. We're still in the process of dropping the 3rd nap but his naps still need to stretch out before we can successfully and consistently do that. But his wake-times have lengthened out quite a bit, which makes things SO much easier. However nighttime sleep has gotten worse. You would think that as they get older that nights get better, but nope. It's been the opposite for Noah! He's now waking 2 times a night pretty much every night. Sometimes he still wakes up around his dream feed time too if he was overtired. He was doing really good and started sleeping through the night again some nights until we took him to the airport to get Jared, ever since then he has been having rough nights. Plus me getting sick and my supply going down didn't help either. The other day I tried giving him formula at night after his nursing to see if it would help him sleep better but he wouldn't even drink it. Maybe this coming month sleep will improve :) Oh and he started sticking his arm between the crib slats and hanging it down the side of the crib every time he sleeps, I think it's really cute.




And a few more pictures.. This little stinker bug is just the love of my life. Hopefully he won't be grossed out by all my kisses once he gets older, because I don't think I will ever be able to stop :)

Love you Noah!

Happy 1st Anniversary, House!

That title sounds kind of lame. But we've been living in our house for one year and I didn't know what else to name it.

Wow, I can't believe we've been living in Rose Park for one year already! It's no Sugarhouse but it's home now :) We have enjoyed living here. We really like our ward. Even though there isn't a whole lot of younger people/families in our ward, we've made a few good friends. We like living so close to downtown. It's nice to have City Creek & Gateway mall so close, and to be minutes away from Temple Square. We really enjoyed having the park so conveniently right across the street.

The one thing I wish is that we had different next-door neighbors. They aren't horrible neighbors or anything but it would have been nice to have someone in the ward living next door or just someone we connected better with. On one side we have a family but they don't speak much English and kind of stick to themselves. And on the right is just a middle aged man who also kind of sticks to himself.

We haven't stopped working on the house since we moved in. Even though the upstairs of the house didn't need too much work, there's just so many little things that come up here and there. Last summer we focused on the front yard and kind of neglected the back yard so it still looks like a jungle back there. This year we plan to fix up the exterior of the house and hopefully we can start using the backyard. Our house was vacant for a while before we moved in so our front yard was completely dead, because here in Utah if you don't water your lawn, your grass will quickly turn yellow and die. But by the Fall, our front yard was almost completely covered in green grass which definitely spruced up the curb appeal.

It's funny how there are things that I wanted to do as soon as we moved in the house, that still haven't been tackled yet. But it's okay, I've learned to take things on one thing at a time. It has been really fun being homeowners. I love having the freedom to do whatever I want with our house, if I want to paint my ceiling gold, I can (and I plan to!). I love having all the space we do too, if we didn't have our house, my mom wouldn't be living with us, and Jared most likely wouldn't be able to stay with us.

We're not sure exactly how long we plan on living here but we have no intentions of moving any time soon. I am thinking once Noah is getting ready to start school is when we might start thinking about moving. But that's like a million years away, so who knows.

I still have to make a separate post about the basement.. that's coming soon!

And I actually have never taken a picture of our house from the outside. I will have to do that one of these days.

Throwback to pregnant painting days! 

I love our wallpaper

New Beginnings

Happy New Year! 2013 was such a great year, I'm looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us.

Some of the highlights from 2013...

- We moved into our first home & started our new life in Rose Park
- Noah was born & we became parents!
- I quit my job & became a stay-at-home mom
- We celebrated our second anniversary as husband & wife
- We both received callings with the youth
- My mom moved in with us
- We finished most of the basement project
- Derek finished his associates degree and got accepted into the University of Utah
- Jared came home from his mission

I think that covers most of the big stuff.

I have so many goals for 2014. Many of which are too personal for my blog. But in general, I just want to become a more humble, charitable, loving & kind human being. This is already my goal every single day but I always manage to fail. Derek says I'm too hard on myself, and maybe he's right. It's just that I know who I want to become, and I just want to be her already. But that's very unrealistic, and I know that we have our weaknesses to make us stronger.

I hope this year I can become just an ounce closer to the woman I want to be. I hope I can be a better wife, a better mom, a better daughter, a better sister, a better friend, a better lover of mankind, a better teacher, a better example, a better optimist, and a better disciple.

Cheers to 2014 and to new beginnings!