Free Tables can be Pretty Tables Too!

I Love Decorating!  I'm not really sure if I'm good at it or not because my taste is somewhat eccentric, but man do I love it anyway.  I could change my house monthly and be totally entertained with the process of looking and coordinating new fun stuff to create a new space. For me, my home is my safe place and HAS to reflect my family and I and what we love.

I also have a love for finding things that are slightly unloved and turning them into something somewhat fabulous and special and different. I love shopping at Goodwill, Antique stores, Craiglist, friends trash (shhhh) and strangers curbs.  I'd say that probably half the furniture in my house cost me less than $15 to purchase and has been completely redone by yours truly and is now being used and complimented on.  I love the whole process of the transformation.  It is so gratifying to me to find good old furniture that has incredible bones and turn it in to something wonderful. 

My latest piece was a dining room table that a friend of mine was ready to get rid of.  She was going to take it to Goodwill, but because she knows my love for reinventing stuff, she asked me if I wanted to give it some love first.  Of course, I took her up on the offer.  It had incredible detail and was a great quality piece that I knew could be completely transformed with some love. 

I didn't take a before picture, but it was a rosey pink wood color. It was pretty bad. I knew it had good bones though, and I could visualize it in a bright white with a lot of glazed detailing that would make the details pop. So, that is exactly what I did. Here are some pics of the process, taken by Bosten.......

Painted a bright white all over! 

The glazing process.... using Martha Stewart black coffee glaze

 

Glazing is really fun.  You get to paint, and then wipe off the excess with a wet washcloth.  You can wipe as much or as little as you want depending on look that you are going for. In this case, I wiped off most of it because I wanted the look to be subtle.



Here is the table in its finished state.

 

 

The top and detailing

 

Finished product in the dining room.  In need of a few more chairs.  These two I found at Goodwill a few years ago and they have been moving all over the house until now. I wanted something that would add a pop of color to this boring room so I went with some very budget friendly blue chairs from Target.com

 



And here they are!  I love them.  I also love the dozen roses in the middle of the table that my Hubby brought home one day for no reason whatsoever. He is always sweet like that. : )

The entire dining room set including chairs cost me a total of $250.  The 4 chairs were new and cost $200. I had some that I got for free that I could have redone, but frankly after I got this table done, I dropped it and almost ruined it trying to get it into the house.  I was so burnt out after this process that I decided I didn't have it in me to put the work into the chairs that I had. So, I found these online and called it a day.  The other two chairs on  the ends cost me $10 from Goodwill, and the table was free. I probably spent about $40 on paint and glaze.

So, there you have it.   Overall I'm thrilled with it.  My kids are hard on our stuff and when I do things like this, it doesn't break my heart quite as much when they sweep across the table with a permanent marker.  I know that I can easily fix stuff or that I didn't invest a lot in the piece, besides time and TLC, so it isn't so bad if something happens to it. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing this latest redo.  There are plenty more where that one came from.

Brit

School Starts!

Our babies started school in August and man was I ready to drop kick them all into their class on that first day of school.   Their face in this picture says it all.

 

 

I definitley have 3 kids with tons of energy and a lot of spirit.  I wouldn't have them any other way, however, after a Summer at home with these three, I felt a little kooky to say the least.  I was thrilled when school started.  I am very involved in the kids school so I never  get too sad about school starting.  I do my best to volunteer my time to stay right in the middle of their daily lives even when they are away from me.

Brooks and Bosten went into the 2nd grade this year and remain together in class.  I had let the school know ahead of time that I didn't mind whether they were together or separated this year, but they decided to keep them together anyways.  I'm pretty sure they were thrilled with that arrangement. 

 Parker went into the 1st grade and absolutely loves her Teacher and her class.  She has several of her very best friends in class with her and her Teacher is a good friend of mine, who happens to be the best Teacher I've ever met.  She works wonders with kids when it comes to learning to read, rhyme, and all things 1st grade.  The boys grew leaps and bounds in her class, so I knew it was the right place for my P Pod who could care less about learning and could care lots about her friends. : )
She has already learned so much this year and I couldn't be happier with her progress.

 

The school year is off to a great start and we have settled into our daily routine now.  Everyone is working hard and excelling at their academics and so we are happy and proud parents of these three little munchkins.

Brit

Summer Vaca-Florida

Man oh man life has been so crazy busy that I haven't blogged in forever.  I love blogging and documenting our life here at Casa de Dwinell from the day to day.  I also however get distracted very easily and therefore I don't do it as consistently as I would like.  However, I am really really trying to concentrate my efforts on the stuff that really matters to me and blogging is one of them.  So, I'm gonna do a quick recap of Summer and the beginning of school and I'll follow that up with hopefully more consistent blogging about our daily life.

This Summer we went on an amazing vacation with our family on my Dad's side.  It was such a fun time and we made memories that we will enjoy forever.  Here is the highlight reel below.

We had a wonderful vacation!  I am so grateful to have such an amazing family! 
Brit

Look Who is 6!!!!!!

Parker Rae turned 6 about a month and a half ago and I am just now getting to blogging about it. 

Happy Birthday Parker Rae!  You are a pretty rad 6 year old in every sense of the word.  Your personality shines so bright and you are my sweet saving grace. 

What I love about you most in your 6th year alive is what a kind and generous little lady you are. I get compliments all of the time about your sweet demeanor and loving spirit.  You treat everyone the same whether they are kind to you or not.  You always rise up and do the right thing and "fill others buckets" no matter what.  I love this so very much about you, and it makes me so very proud. 

You conquered your first year in Elementary school and made quite an impression on your Teacher and your classmates.  Your light shines!  I pray you always let it!

I love what a good friend you are to those that you love.  You always lift others up and you always make sure that you make everyone feel included so that noone gets hurt.  I couldn't imagine a better trait in my  little girl than to live a life of love.

You have a confidence about you that is rare for your age.  You carry yourself with grace and you know how to laugh at yourself rather than to get hung up on things that you think might be shortcomings.  Having a Daughter with a great self-esteem who defines herself by how God sees her is a feat that I am so very proud of you for.  It is my greatest wish for you that you always see yourself through the eyes of our Savior and that you always feel his arms wrapped around you through the trials in your life. 

In addition to being kind and confident, you are a witty little thing.  You make me laugh harder than anyone I know and your sense of humor will carry you so far in this life.  Your laughter carries me some days and I am grateful for that. 

Daddy and Mommy love you baby girl and we couldn't be prouder of the little lady that you have become.  We know that you can do anything that you want with this life and we can't wait to see where your spunky little personality takes you.  I'm pretty sure you'll be in charge of something someday.....whether its a classroom, a practice, a firm, or a household, you will for sure be on top of some organization telling everyone what you expect and how you would like it done while inspiring them all along the way. 

We love you Baby Girl! 

Happy 6th Birthday to you!

Instagram Love!

Ok, I have to admit, I keep getting asked who took all of these pictures from our trip that make us look way cuter than we are in real life, and the truth is, I did, but with a ton of help and editing from Instagram.  I love this app.  I'm actually fairly obsessed.  It just has this way of taking away all of my photo fears.  It makes things look just plain better and really appeals to that vintage flair that I am somewhat obsessed with.  Goodness knows I'm a sucker for anything that looks old, weathered, and slightly unloved. 

We went to Seaside, Florida for a great vacation this year.  I feel so blessed to be able to go on these amazing vacations with my sweet family.  I am thankful every day for a Husband that provides for us in a way that allows for us to enjoy life in this way.  We are truly blessed.  I don't say that to be annoying or make you want to puke.  I say that because I truly  know what it is like to not be able to provide that for my kids and I am so very thankful that hard work and perseverence pays off and that Dustin and I are now in a place where we can provide experiences that give our kids a sense of belonging and the importance of taking time out to celebrate your family. For me, the hustle and bustle of daily life is only worth it if we can pause and celebrate our hard work every once in a while. 

Enjoy the Instagram Pics and I'll post the ugly unedited ones later!

My sweet family before a day of shopping and snow cones!

My baby boys enjoying the waves before the hurricane hit! 

 My wonderful family! (minus the Mom and TK of course)

Team Dwinell

My hottie with a body! 

Pretty sure they know they are cute and have this photo shoot thing down to a science.

Visiting the Gator Restaurant! 

Loving the hotel on the way!

13 hour drive is no biggie as long as she has her IPOD.  

Love this guys guts! 

My sweet Husband!  I adore this sweet Man! 

Hanging at a local pizza joint.  Mommy wants those windows in her next house! 

This is what happens when each of your kids have $20 to spend on souvenirs.  We are now the proud owners of 4 turtles.  3 from Seaside, 1 wild one that won't leave the backyard. 

Love this pic and love what Instagram did to it. Bosty Lou Lou! 

Sweet babies.  Best part of this pic is the amount of threatening and yelling I felt the need to do to accomplish it.  I lost my mind for a hot minute. 

This is my piece of heaven.  

This sunset was absolutely stunning!  Florida, we will miss you till next time. 

We had a wonderful trip and hope to continue to try and get  back to the Destin, Florida area every year or so for a nice get away. 

Brit