{31 days} the perfect table

October 2, 201411 Comments

~thrifted and created~

One Saturday Lorelai and I took a trip to Goodwill and found the round table I had been picturing in my mind for months.

A large, round pedestal table.

Solid wood.

Two leaves.

It was priced at $59.99.

Less 50%…for only five more minutes.

That made it less than $30!

I jumped on it…especially when I saw another lady eyeing it.

I texted Ryan after I left and said that I would need to use his truck to pick something up at Goodwill later that afternoon.

This is what I brought home.

I had a vision…for the table.

{this is by no means a tutorial on how to refinish a table…i used google and pinterest to find what made sense to me and just kind of dove into the project…which is how i handle most of my DIY projects}

I promptly started to sand the thick speckled finish off the oak.

Every chance I got I would head out the the garage and sand.

I took all the pieces apart.

More sanding.

Then primer.

Multiple thin coats.

After it was primed I put the base back together and painted.

Multiple thin coats.

I had help.

table9

I would let each coat dry completely and then add another coat…alternating between working on the base and working on the top.

This was after one or two coats.

I’m not sure how many I actually ended up applying.

Eventually, it started looking good.

I brought it inside and let is sit for a couple of weeks.

After it was completely dry I put a couple coats of paste wax on it.

This is what we ended up with.

I love how the wood grain shows through.

{You can also read my original post about the un-dining room table from September 2012}

home is…{31 days} a thrifted table.

Join me while I link up with The Nester every day in October for #write31days.
Click here to find a list of all 31 posts as they are published.

{31 days} secondhand, created, and thrifted

October 1, 201439 Comments

Scroll Down to read day 1::

{day 2} the perfect table

{day 3} a hand painted sign

{day 4} collections

{day 5} outdoor fall decor

{day 6} mason jar pendant light

{day 7} book wagon

{day 8} office supplies

{day 9} pyrex collection

{day 10} flash card art

{day 11} paper bag flowers

{day 12} thrifting on the road

{day 13} vintage fisher price

{day 14} interrupted

{day 15} top of the fridge

{day 16} joy all year

{day 17} globe pendant light

{day 18} a quick stop at goodwill

{day 19}

{day 20}

{day 21} love rocks

{day 22} pallet xylophone

{day 23} fall for afghans

Click above to read the other days, I’ll be adding a link to each day once it goes live.

{31 days} header

~secondhand, created and thrifted~

31 days.

Each day in October I will write about something in our home that is secondhand, created or thrifted.

Some days it will be a combination of secondhand, created, or thrifted.

Like, secondhand and created.

Or, thrifted and created.

Maybe even, secondhand, created and thrifted.

At any rate, I hope to inspire you.

After all, home is what YOU make it.

home is…{31 days} secondhand, created and thrifted.

first friday of fall

September 26, 20142 Comments

Just a bit of random for this first friday of fall…

their personalities

This photo captures their personalities perfectly…

she: little miss happy
he: mr. serious

glow

I leave the blinds open and the lights on in our front room a little past dark these days. I love looking in at the warm glow of houses.

in print

You can find my Globe Pendant Light tutorial in the October 2014 issue of Old House Journal. {just click on the link or photo to see the online version}

little guy & mommy day

We don’t get a ton of one-on- one time, so when he has a day off from school when baby girl is in school I try to make it extra special.

We visited the brand new Cabela’s store just a few miles from our house. Believe me, he was more excited than he looks in the photo…just a little overwhelmed by all the stuff to look at!

Then off to the farms.

We stopped for apples and pumpkins.

He is a super cool kid to be around…especially one-on-one. I am really having a fun time watching him grow up.

31 days

Next month I am joining a writing challenge that was started by The Nester. For 31 days I will write everyday about second hand, created, or thrifted items in our home…that you can create or find for your home, too!

Join me beginning October 1st everyday through the month of October!

We’re headed to the local high school Homecoming Parade and Football game tonight. A little Friday Night Lights on this First Friday of Fall.

home is…some random fun on this first day of fall.

{through the rearview} fall in the flat tops

September 23, 2014Leave a comment

I took these photos the last time I was up in the Flat Tops of Colorado. September 2005. I knew it would probably be the last photos I took up there in a long time as we had just decided to make the move to Oregon.

I made Ryan stop on the way down the road so I could take most of these photos.

Lots of good memories were made up there.

Withe the dogs.
With family. With friends. We camped up there a lot from 2000-2005. It seems so long ago. It is one of my favorite places on earth. home is…memories of a favorite place.

do you ever….

September 22, 20142 Comments

Dear God,

Make me a bird. So I can fly far. Far away from here.

-Jenny, Forrest Gump

Do you ever…

feel like that?

wish your marriage was stronger?

wish the sun shined brighter?

wish you were better at laundry?

wish you were a more positive person?

wish you could give more grace?

wish you had more time in the day?

wish you were valued in the way you deserve to be valued?

wish you were more organized?

wish you were kinder?

wish you were recognized for your talents?

wish you could share more?

wish you had a better relationship with your siblings?

wish you were more patient?

wish you had a best friend to share with?

wish you could have more energy?

wish you could throw a better party?

wish you had time to read more?

wish you could follow your dreams?

wish you could take better care of you?

wish you weren’t such an introvert?

home is…i do.

{through the rearview} 1407

September 16, 20146 Comments

Fifteen years ago Ryan and I decided to buy a house together.

It was this little house that was built in 1947 by the Army for soldiers coming back from WWII. Our next door neighbor, who called herself “Old Lady Bowden” had lived there since they had been built.

We pulled up carpets.

Painted every wall at least once.

1407 6

Had walls torn down and the kitchen remodeled.

1407 5

We had lots of fun parties here.

I did lots of Interior Design school projects on that table (which is now our craft table).

Murphy, Ben, Hobbes, Oak, and Odyssey…and four of Oak and Ben’s puppies all lived with us at this house.

I used chalkboard paint on the walls in this house.

Our bedroom was the remodeled one car garage.

Ryan had his own den/office.

We had a dedicated guest bedroom.

It was a good house with good memories. We lived there for just over 6 years.

home is…our first home.

an autumn chalkboard

September 15, 20143 Comments

The chalkboard in our un-dining room has been bare since after the Fourth of July. It was time to get something on it!

I sketch it out and then of back in and change the hand lettering to the style that I want.

Lorelai almost always wants to do the same thing on one of our smaller chalkboards. She gets frustrated that she can’t do things as well as me, but I am totally impressed with her artwork!

home is…an autumn smile.

when summer meets fall

September 13, 20144 Comments

home is…soaking up the last days of summer.

life is messy

September 11, 201411 Comments

Yesterday, I posted the following photo on Instagram with the caption about how I am changing up my cleaning routine and hoping to reduce the clutter that, at times, feels constant in our home .

Nice clean bedroom and bathroom, right?

A couple hours later, I posted the following photo with the caption, “oh, a clean house feels so good…”

It does. A clean house feels great, however, my WHOLE house was not clean.

So, I posted a third photo just a bit later with the following caption: “in full disclosure, only *part* of the house is clean…the craft table, the office, and the kids rooms are total disasters. tackling the craft table this afternoon, the kids rooms next week (when they are at school), and the office is all @rctaddeo!”

Keeping it real. Giving myself grace.

After that, I ran around the house and snapped the following photos with my phone before we rushed off to pick the little guy up from school.

In reality, life is messy. Not messy everywhere all the time, but messy.

Sometimes it’s just the floor.

Or a table.

Or, the one slipcovered cushion that got dirty right after you cleaned all of them.

Sometimes, it’s the entire path that gets you where you need to go and you need to clean up one little mess at a time.

Sometimes, those messes aren’t messes you made, but you need to clean them up anyway.

Sometimes, you just shut the door to ignore the mess.

Sometimes, you need an overview of the messes so you can figure out where to start.

Some messes are best taken care of when other’s aren’t around to tell you how to clean it up.

Other messes are ones that we might need some help with because we just don’t know how to handle them.

Whether it’s our house, or our life, it gets messy.

Messes can be overwhelming. They can stop us in our tracks. They can keep us from moving forward because we just don’t know which one to start cleaning up first.

Sometimes, I need to focus on the sparkly parts, so I can get motivated to work on the mess.

Just know that we all have messy parts…not just in our house, but in our life.

home is…giving yourself some grace.

{milestones} baby girl is five

September 9, 20141 Comment

We celebrated baby girl’s fifth birthday recently.

Five.

My BABY is FIVE.

She is full of life.

One of the most positive people I know.

For instance, at a recent family vacation to the oregon coast she said, “Good thing it was a great day for flying kites at the beach!”

She can be moody, but she always finds the good in things.

I hope she never loses that.

She loves to play games that she makes up. Recently, its been “family” with dolls, but she makes up all kinds of games to play on her own, with friends, with one of us, and especially her brother.

She adores her brother and loves to play the games that he plays. He’s not always interested in playing with her dolls, but she is always up for playing Minecraft, Mario Brothers, or any of the games that her brother loves.

She is strong and sensitive.

She’s silly and loving.

She is social when she feels comfortable, which means she talks my arm off all day long.

She has become a lot more independent this year and doesn’t cling to my leg everywhere we go, but can still be very timid with the unknown.

She’s always been my girl and tells me all day long how much she loves me.

She humors me and poses for all the photos I ask to take of her. Goodness is she is photogenic.

She loves to draw pictures and do all sorts of crafts.

Recently, on one of the games she plays on the computer, she has figured out how to use the shapes to create cards for us…she created a Minecraft card for her brother and many cards for me that, in her words, “tell you I love you”.

She swims, scooters, climbs, runs, digs in the dirt, skis, plays sports with her brother, twirls, dances, and sleeps ALWAYS in a skirt.

Everyday she wears a skirt. This year has been the year of the long dresses and skirts.

She is all girl, but in her own very special way.

She will ALWAYS be my baby.

I love you baby girl.

I asked her the same questions that I asked her brother this year on his seventh birthday to get a feel for how SHE feels at five:

favorite color: all the rainbow colors
favorite toy: puppy and peppa pig
favorite t.v. show: peppa pig and tom & jerry
favorite game: mario brothers and candy land
favorite snack: fried cheese sticks
favorite animal: puppy
favorite holiday: christmas and easter
favorite book: little house in the big woods, my bible, and goodnight moon
favorite song: let it go
what do you take to bed: puppy
favorite food: fried cheese sticks
favorite thing to do outside: swim at the pool
what do you want to be when you grow up: a kid that has real wings that can fit through the door
what are you most grateful for: mommy and puppy
favorite part of the day: when reece comes home and playing with all my toys
what makes you happy: my family
what are you scared of: the dark
what makes me special: because i’m thoughtful

To be part of her life EVERYDAY and watch her become her own person is one of the biggest joys of my life.

home is…five of the most rewarding years of my life.

stephany taddeo

home is what you make it