A new table and thoughts on death (interesting combo, no?)

I wanted to show you our awesome table that my grandpa made for us. It's definitely going to be something we keep forever and will be such an amazing heirloom to have, made with love by my 80-something Pepaw:)

I have always wanted a piece of furniture made by him, but never really knew what to request. I was worried about transporting a nice wooden piece all the way up to Wisconsin from southern Missouri, so I just didn't ask for anything at all. Then my younger cousin got married and asked Pepaw to make them a dining room table as a wedding gift. Genius! It turned out SO well and I figured that if he could make her one, then he'd probably make us one, too.

I already had the six wooden chairs I scored on Craigslist for a mere $100, and I wanted a table that would be big enough to seat at least 10 people. I sent Pepaw a few pictures of the chairs asking if he could model the table around their style, and also found a cool table on Crate and Barrel that was similar to what I wanted. And then he took off, working away on this beautiful one-of-a-kind table for us. He was in Wisconsin for a visit this summer and took a look at the chairs in person, and had the idea of taking a chair into a local paint store, asking them to match the chair with a stain for the table. He took that custom stain back to Missouri and stained the bad boy, topping it with many coats of polyurethane.

The end result is awesome, if I do say so myself. I am in love with it. I've always been a table cloth girl, and although Memaw sewed two gorgeous table cloths for us, we are just using runners she made to dress the table. Can't hide the prettiness of it under cloth!

Our new dining room table:















And also, my mom brought up the window treatment she made for our stairway window. It's a 'faux' Roman shade this time since we never actually lower the blind in that window. Love how it finishes off the stairway for us.





And on a completely unrelated subject, I feel the need to mention this on my blog today: a coworker of mine died suddenly in her sleep last weekend. She was probably no more than 55 years old, completely healthy and was such a kind, thoughtful person in our small therapy department. When I got the urgent message Monday morning I was in complete shock and my mind immediately started spinning.

When was the last time I talked to her on the phone? Friday, it was Friday and she was helping me with scheduling some new patients. Was I kind to her? Was I stressed and hurried, not taking the time to thank her for her assistance?

And then the deeper questions rose to the surface: Would she have done anything differently last week, if she had known it was her last? Did she get to see her beloved grandkids recently enough? Is her family going to be okay without their anchor? I can't believe she is gone. She just didn't wake up one day and they are going to do an autopsy to figure out why. She was so young and healthy. How can this be?

Death is an intense thing. It makes people push aside the insignificant details of life while grasping onto priorities. Sure, I'm tired and busy and there are never enough hours in the day to knock out my ever-important To Do list. But who cares? Life is amazing and good and such a gift. Nothing is guaranteed. Something could happen to me, or Nate, or our parents at ANY time. I absolutely hate thinking about it that way but when someone dies, it automatically makes me refocus. It makes me pray to God, thanking him for this precious day. It makes me pray for protection over my friends and family. And it makes me want to hold my babies and never let them go, kiss Nate goodbye like it could be our last, and call my parents just to say 'I love you.'

In addition to my co-worker passing away, my Dad's oldest sister also died a week ago. This death was not quite as shocking and sudden, as my aunt had dementia and was no longer eating. But it was still a sad loss for our family as she was like a second mother to my Dad, 15 years his elder. My heart hurts for my uncle and their family. It's just so sad.

I know this new-found focus about life will fade and I will be stressed in no time. It's impossible to ALWAYS be in the moment and grateful and looking at the bigger picture. But if nothing else, I was able to snap out of the mundane day-to-day routine, the feeling like we are just barely getting through each day and not really living life. We are living it, no matter how crazy it is. And we are so blessed.

New favorite pictures alert:







and my teenager who is too busy on his iPod to look at the camera

DIY upholstered headboard: project complete!

I'm taking a break from my weekend-o-fun to post our finished results because I'm too excited to wait. Here is the bed sans headboard before:

And here is our labor of love, after:
This was my inspiration from JC Penney. I wasn't too happy with the online instructions floating around out there so I'm going to make this post as detailed as possible, to encourage YOU to make a headboard, too. It really wasn't too hard at all but I decided to skip the decorative ridges in the board and made mine thinner, too. I'll explain why later.

Total time spent: 3.5 hours
Total cost: $106 [because of some badass 40% off coupons at Joann Fabric]

Supplies needed [specific measurements for a queen bed]:
~plywood [cut to 4X5 feet]
~4 2X4s: 2 that are 66" and 2 that are 53"
~fabric of your choice [ours was 2.5 yards]
~liner of your choice
~batting [2.5 yards]
~foam [we chose the 1" kind after we discovered the 3" to be VERY expensive. Needs to total 4X5 feet to cover the plywood without anything hanging over the edges]
~buttons to be covered by your fabric [you can buy a kit for this]
~kite thread
~darning needle
~staple gun [or if yours totally sucks like ours, you'll need upholstery tacks instead]
~spray adhesive
~drill and nails

1. Have some handy boys make the headboard for you:) Here is ours made by Nate:
2. Drill holes into the plywood where your buttons will go. Observe said 'handy boy' closely:
3. Spray the plywood with adhesive and stick the pieces of foam onto the board. Next goes your batting, then the liner, then your fabric. They don't need spray adhesive but line them up without wrinkles while the headboard is on the floor. Then you'll tilt it upright for the rest. Here is our layering:
4. Now the REALLY fun part: the stupid buttons! After covering all 14 with fabric [totally sucks!] you need to attach them to the headboard. We did this with our kite string and darning needle. You poke the needle from the backside to the front, where you hook the button on and pass the needle back to the backside:

5. Then you'll pull very tightly on the button and tie a piece of batting in the back so it won't slide through. Each time you add a button make sure your fabric is tight and wrinkle-free. Here is what the back will look like when you are done:And here is the front after the buttons are finished. Now all you have to do is secure the edges to the board:
6. Our staple gun hated us and refused to work so we used upholstery tacks instead. As you hammer them in make sure the fabric is taut in front:
Here it is with just the legs showing. We didn't have to cover our legs because you can't see them anyway but you might want to just in case:
7. Drill the legs into your bed frame [or the wall, I supose] and you are finished!!!

Ah, I feel like such a grown up with a REAL bed! I absolutely love it and I'm so glad Mom is here to help.

As a side note: my newfound love is upholstery stores. I was seriously drooling over the gorgeous fabric and potential projects but I stuck to my guns and got plain old white fabric. Quite possibly the hardest part of the whole project was to resist the fabulous damask pinks and blacks! Our fabric has just a little bit of texture to it and looks perfect with our curtains and comforter.

Anyway, more projects and fun times to follow tomorrow. And it's official: we purchased plane tickets for our anniversary trip! Stay tuned for details:)

Sleeping part deux

I figured out how to take pictures from Flash! We have a Mac so we don't have the "print screen" button [like Stephanie so helpfully suggested], but with a little googling I figured it out. And I don't even have to open and fix it after I save it---the picture just goes straight to my desktop after I crop it down from the original site.

Anyway, let me finish my bedding post with my FAVES from C&B and Anthropologie:

1. C&B has this Shadow Bed Linen duvet for $60 [but that's twin size, and I'd need a queen]. I like the wintery feel of this set. It makes me want to snuggle in for the winter. Someday when we are rich I'm going to have different duvet covers for each season. Someday, folks.


2. Then there's the Vinca Bed Linens duvet, $109 for a queen. Of course that doesn't include the $30 for each sham, and $130 for the sheet set. I just love this pattern. Have you noticed that I like patterned bedding?
And now the mother load: Anthropologie bedding. It's expensive. It's girlie. It's obnoxiously bright. And I love it.

1. St. Lucia bedding. [It's meant to be since our honeymoon was in St. Lucia.] A whopping $228 for the duvet, $88 for a sham, and $98 for the bedskirt. Wow that is one expensive duvet but don't you love the pretty green pattern?


2. Viceroy Garden Bedding. $198 for the quilt, $88 for a sham, and $98 for the awesome bedskirt. Isn't it lovely? It makes me want the iron bed, too. And it makes me want to own a vintage loft with white painted wooden floors and lots of expensive, unique furniture. Basically, it makes me want to live inside Anthropologie for awhile. Sigh.

3. Bella Hothouse bedding. $168 for the quilt, $68 for the sham and $68 for the bedskirt. I am in LOVE with this one. It is so bright and girlie that it will never be mine. But a girl can pretend. It reminds me of a technicolor dream but Nate thinks it was made for stoned hippies.

4. Flowering Quince bedding.
$198 for the duvet cover, set of 2 shams for $88 and $88 for the bedskirt. This was my first Anthropologie bedding love and it's still one of my top picks. The flowers are a little more spaced out and plus, it's not as pricey as the other duvet covers. Still a little 70's hippie but I dig it.

So someday, when we live in an urban loft full of Anthropologie splendor, I will lounge on my expensive hippie bedding in these pajama pants:
And sit on this pimptastic upholstered chair:
And cook delightfully organic meals for my happy little family in this fantastic apron:Until then I'll just stalk the website and dream.

Now I lay me down to sleep

I LOVE bedroom furniture, bed linens, and all bedroom decor in general. Oh, and I love to sleep which makes the bedroom even more important.

It's fun to dream of a day when we own a home and have room for a real, grown up bed. I supposed we could get one for our stint at the in laws, but I'm not sure we'll have the room. And I'd rather not move heavy furniture up and down those stairs if we can avoid it. It would make sense to wait on a purchase like this until we are a little more settled in our own home, but until then I can scope out the possibilities, right?

1. I love this dark wooden bed from ZGallerie. It's the Chelsea bed for $799


2. Nate despises fabric-covered beds like this, but I like their soft, whimsical feel. I don't like the price tag on this Cara bed [$1500]. Again from ZGallerie. 3. West Elm has some nice options, and I like this "narrow leg upholstered bed frame" for $499.


4. And possibly my fave from Pottery Barn, the Sumatra bed for $1100. It looks a little lower than the others, which is a problem for us tall folk. We'd practically have to fall down onto this guy.

Then there are the numerous bed linens to go with the new bed. We have a really nice duvet and sham set right now from C&B that we received as a shower gift. Wouldn't it look great with one of the above beds?But it's fun to change it up every now and then. Here is our biggest problem with linens: I love the ultra girlie, pink and floral variety and Nate likes the masculine, contemporary styles. In fact, I'm kind of surprised we agreed on our current set since it's a floral print. Maybe Nate just lets me have my way more than I think. I mean, he did agree to this shower curtain, too:
Hmmm, maybe I could pull of a girlie set next time, too. Here are a few sets I like now:

1. Bed Bath and Beyond has Jonathan Adler's Origami Duvet pictured here. I love the mix of patterns and it's a neutral color, leaving the fun for the wall color. I'm not sure they have a Queen duvet though. That would be a problem, but it's still cute.
2. BBB has this Southgate Herringbone duvet by Nautica for only $59. But of course I'd need to buy all of these fabulous pillow and shams and dust ruffle. I like the brown shades and again, would be able to accent with a fun wall color.
3. Pottery Barn always has such a great red color. And over the past few years I've steered away from red and stayed loyal to red's sister, pink. But now I find myself liking red more and more these days---it's classic and not too feminine. Here is the Multistripe duvet and sham set, duvet for $129. I love the eclectic mix of patterns here.

4. Pottery Barn has this Madison Floral duvet for $100. This goes on my "If I were a Single Girl" list.

5. Pottery Barn's Jasper Bedding ensemble includes everything for $289. This isn't a typical pick for me, since it's so masculine and blue has never been my thing. But for some reason I like this one. And I know Nate would approve.
My absolute favorites are from Anthropologie and Crate & Barrel, but how in the heck do you save a picture from a Flash site? I could not figure it out after wasting a lot of time trying. Anyone? The frilly florals on Anthropologie are to die for. And C&B never disappoints, either. Help!