Monday, December 17, 2012

Kitchen Table

It's about time I showcased some of my husband's woodworking. The last few years, he's been turning another person's garbage into beautiful furniture for our home. Let's take our kitchen table for example. He found a white rectangular table on the side of the road one day, brought it into his woodshop in the basement, did some re-configuring (sanding, cutting, replacing the legs with sturdier 4x4's that he probably found on another nearby street) and, voilĂ !

 
But that's just the beginning. It needed some paint. 

After looking at the November issue of the Martha Stewart magazine that featured some "Bright Ideas," we were inspired to try out a bright blue.

 
photo from marthastewart.com
 
I really liked how it turned out! But what do you think about doing something with the top of the table? At first, we were thinking about painting a tile pattern on top of the table, but now we are second guessing that. Or should we paint some sort of design on the tops of the stools? Which, by the way, are old stools from a school's woodshop that Tim cut to a shorter size to fit our table. Resourceful guy, don't you think? :)
 


What do you think? Do more? Or leave as is?
 

Monday, December 10, 2012

Cheers!

A few weeks back, we had the opportunity to host a wedding shower for some good friends of ours.  This couple have each spent time in a number of different countries, so we thought it would be fun to highlight that aspect of their relationship by incorporating maps and flags and foods from around the world into the night.

(1) We started the cultural theme with the invites. By using a circle and map paper in the background, I created an inverted globe of sorts. :)
(2) My friend Katie made this amazing cake for the event! She used map paper as the background for the cake topper and incorporated the 'g' and 'e' style from the invitations as well. Katie never ceases to impress me with her cakes! And they always taste as good as they look!
(3) We had people bring foods that represented other countries and made little flags to stand beside each dish. Side note: I'm bummed that the coloring of the photo is not that great - still working on how to get decent pictures in the evening. Suggestions welcome.
(4) We rented champagne flutes from a nearby rental company so that everyone would have a proper glass to toast the wonderful couple (for some reason I really get a kick out of drinking something from the proper glass). I made little glass markers so there would be no confusion about where guests set their flute. 

This cultural celebration was a group effort, and I think it turned out perfectly. Thanks to all who helped!

Cheers!