The Story of The Functional Table and Chairs

When Rhett and I first got married we were given this awesome table and chairs.

Yeah, I know it's not the most beautiful table and chairs but I was just so grateful to have anything and what they were lacking in style they definitely had in function.  So I did what I could to try to make them blend in a bit better.

(My color scheme looks very 1990's to me with the forest green and mauve haha!)


After having this look for a few years I was so ready for a change.  Some sanding blocks, a bucket of primer, and paint, this is what I ended up with!

(excuse the cute little girl trying to pour her own glass of milk, it was the only picture I had of the finished project)

The table and chairs looked so much better than what I started with, but I definitely ran out of steam with this project.  There were so many nooks and crannies in those chairs. They took foooreeevverrr to paint and the latex paint wasn't adhering very well to the metal legs and and plastic backs of the chairs.  I feel like a dummy that it didn't dawn on me that spray painting them would have been so much easier.  They ended up peeling and chipped everywhere too. I did love the new fabric I put on the seats though.... for about a week.  Having two little ones and trying to keep that fabric clean was miserable.  So when we decided to move in to Rhett's Mom's house while we were building our house, the very functional but not so beautiful table and chairs were taken to the D.I.

This was my first adventure in furniture re-do's, but definitely not my last.  I have done much more research on proper painting protocols so hopefully my next project doesn't turn out so bad.  But for now my huge ongoing project will be to get my house built! :)

It's most definitely a process

First an empty lot...

Then we staked out our lot so they could dig the hole...

Then we had our very own hole! (not sure if that sounded right!)

Footings and a foundation were next...

Then they dumped gravel into the basement and garage and we put on the window wells...

Then comes the back-filling baby!

Slowly but surely we are coming along! Can you see those other homes already framed in?  We are participating in the Mutual Self-Help housing program and we have a group of nine houses that we build collectively.  We help build their houses, they help build ours.  We have already finished framing 6 houses in two months! So our house will be one of the next ones up to start framing and I'm so excited!

We already got to do a few things to get it ready for the basement and garage floor to be poured...

Can't wait for the next step!

End of one chapter... beginning of new one

Five and a half years ago I had a baby girl that I thought would stay that way forever.  How much my sweet little brown eyed girl has grown.

So I have such a range of emotions right now, fear... did I prepare her enough? Sadness... I don't want to let that innocence she has about the world go.  Happiness... She is very smart and kind and I helped develop that beautiful chubby baby into an intelligent little person ready to take on the world Kindergarten! 

To top everything off, my baby Keegan is starting Pre-school as well!  We never sent Kalista to Pre-School, so this school thing is very new to me.  Well, not completely new.  I did go to school....for the most part ;)  To top it all off, my little Keegan will be riding the school bus to Pre-School!  I will have both of my sweet babies start school at the same time.  Not really sure how I feel about all of these changes.  But with time everything becomes easier.

Also, construction has been crazy! So crazy that I have decided to quit my job.  I will stay on as back up in case someone can't find anyone to cover their shift, but I won't have to be on the schedule.  Which will be nice.  I have not seen much of my kids this past month that we have been doing the construction work.  I have to be to work by eight so I leave before they are even up, then get home by 2:30 before I have to leave at 3:30 to get out to the construction site until 9:30-10:00.  So a lot of days I have only seen my kids for one hour out of the day.  It has been awful on me as well as them.