How it all began, & a Red Hen version of a Pottery Barn Dining Table

In case you were wondering how I got started on my table-building spree…I’m here to tell the tale!

Our new home has an actual dining room, and I’ve spent WAY too much time dreaming and wondering and imagining what kind of table I’d like to put in there…

I fell in love with this look first…

Traditional Dining Room by Seattle Kitchen And Bath Warmington & North

…as well as this one.

Pottery Barn

The Pottery Barn table (above) particularly made my heart go pitty-pat.  I love the fact that it is large enough to seat eight people (since there are that many of us), and it also extends to seat even more.  What I didn’t love was the price—anywhere between $1700-$2500, depending on if you were in store, on-line, or standing on your head (meaning…there is no rhyme or reason to it). 

I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I’m just too cheap frugal. 

So I decided to try building my own table.  I had wanted to try building something for a long time, and surely this was my golden opportunity!  It wouldn’t extend, but I figured the money I would save would make me feel better about it!

So I started with this one:

…and then I sold it. 

Then I made another:

…and another:

I sorta-kinda joked with my husband that if I could only build and sell five or six tables, I could afford the Pottery Barn one!  But really, I was having so much fun building tables, I couldn’t bring myself to stop!

After building three of the same style table, I decided to make some small changes to get closer to that PB one I loved.  And this is what I came up with.

I followed the measurement of the PB table almost exactly.  I wanted the maximum possible room between the legs for the people sitting on the sides.

I swapped out the super thick top with breadboard ends for a thinner version.  I used three 1x10’s and two 1x8’s, and skipped the breadboard ends. 

I liked the pretty little brackets that detailed the legs on the PB table, so I made some of my own.

I don’t have a band saw, so I had to be nervy and make my husband ask a new neighbor if *I* could borrow theirs 

…but I made homemade cinnamon rolls for payment!

Here are my pretty little brackets…aren’t they cute??

You may recognize the bench from here.  I liked how its curves complemented the table, even though I didn’t choose to keep it! 

The chairs were purchased from World Market when they were on sale.  The kids are jealous that their dad and I get the GOOD chairs!    Especially since they don’t actually have chairs yet; I’m still on the hunt for those!

So that’s my version of the PB Solomon dining table.  It doesn’t extend.  But it’s solid wood and cost about a tenth of the price to make (and that’s on a good day). 

I’m sure you’re all dying to know…are you keeping the table??

Well….no.

Oh, go ahead.  Roll your eyes if you want to.

But remember how I said it was fun to build tables??  Well, it IS!  And I keep having new ideas I want to try out, and you can’t just keep building tables if you also aren’t selling them at the same time…

So I sold it.

We got to eat Easter dinner at it first.

But now it’s gone.

My husband thinks we should put a revolving door in the dining room.

He may be right!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	Sawdust Throwdown
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
The Scoop!

@ Ruffles & Rust Inspiration House

I seem to be “in the middle” of SO many projects in my own home, that I can’t quite bring myself to blog about any of them!  So what do I do?  I run off to the Ruffles & Rust Inspiration House on Saturday to get ideas for MORE projects!

It’s such a fun idea…the gals behind Ruffles & Rust teamed up with a new home builder to fill a brand-new home with all sorts of treasures.  For five days, you could go drool over the house and it’s contents (not really; they discourage drooling), and EVERYTHING was for sale! Including the house!

Come visit with me…

This was the sight that greeted you when you first entered the house  <sigh>.  So many lovelies!

This was probably my biggest temptation in the whole house.  I think it would look amazing in the office (yes, that’s one of the projects I’m still in the middle of), but I figured I couldn’t figure out where to put it AND my card catalog.

An Underwood typewriter!  I have one of those; it makes me happy!

Loved the grouping of gold-framed chalkboards…and the theater seats!

The chippy metal table and child’s chair made my heart go pitty-pat…

Even the pantry was decked out!  How fun to get to decorate a house where you don’t have to find places for “real-life” things…like FOOD!

I love the look of the pretty tray on the counter.  I could do that…except it would shortly be buried in mail, homework, and—dare I admit—crumbs!

Love this little egg holder!  I wonder if I could make a reasonable facsimile??

Great chippy table, but my favorite thing on it were the cute egg cups!

One room was decked out as a home office, and it may have been my favorite.  It was just very chic!

I thought this organizer board was cute, and easy to recreate.

I loved the bookcase; it has sides made out of what looks like hardware cloth.

What a pretty master bedroom!  I have a weakness for sleigh beds, although my tall husband would never go for one!

This sweet dresser is so feminine and pretty.

Another bedroom was decked out in pink, white, and gray.  I would love to find a pair of wooden beds for my girls’ room someday!

The boy’s room had this cute little alcove that was perfect for a desk of sorts.

The whole room had a nautical feel.  Loved this bed!

…As well as the Ladder to Nowhere!

Even the bathrooms were full of treasures.  The bottles on this little shelf were such a pretty green color.  I have some aqua bottles, but no green!  I’m feeling left out!

The next bedroom was for a dog lover!  There were several dog beds for sale.

I am admittedly NOT a dog lover, but I loved this painting!

Every night the house had to be re-stocked as items sold, and so they were pulling items from the store.  The “Market” sign is one of mine.  It was fun to see it there!  I spotted one of my canvases as well.

The garage was stuffed full of goodies for sale.  I have a weakness for cubbies…

…I especially loved this piece.  It may have been a mail sorter?  I have no idea what I’d do with it; I just love the look!

And I loved this short little armoire with the baskets on top.  Someday I must have an armoire, just so I can put baskets on top of it!

Hope maybe YOU found some inspiration in these pictures!  My project list is growing by leaps and bounds!

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Thanks to the Ruffles & Rust team for all their hard work and imagination!

Aqua Farmhouse Bench

I’ve had this little project completed for a while, but it wasn’t my favorite, so I haven’t gotten around to posting it.

I built this bench based on plans that are in Ana White’s book The Handbuilt Home.  I made mine a little longer to go with a table that has yet-to-be blogged about as well!

It’s just a simple little pine bench that is made special by some decorative cut-outs.   I hand-drew my curves out on a piece of paper, cut them out, and then traced them onto my wood.  I cut out the shapes with a jigsaw.

Would you believe I still have the piece I cut out for the leg?  It was just too cute to throw away!

I had in mind that I wanted this bench to be aqua, but on the day I needed to buy paint, the line was SO LONG at Lowe’s that I picked up one of their pre-made sample pots instead of the color I wanted.  I got “pale aqua” instead of “aqua.”

And it’s an OK color…just not the one I wanted!!

I distressed and glazed it, but I still thought the color was a little anemic for me.  I mean, if I want color, I want COLOR!

Yes, I know it’s just paint and I could re-paint it…but it’s hard to get up enough ambition to re-do a project you just did!

So you guessed it………… I sold it….

On to the next project!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	Sawdust Throwdown
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
The Scoop!

Farmhouse Table with Bench

I hope you’re not tired of these tables yet!  This is the third farmhouse table I built, although it is trifle smaller to fit in a smaller space.  I think this one is just about 62” long.  I also built a 48” bench to go along with this table, and I think they look so cute together!

It’s kind of fun to have an empty dining room so  I can have revolving dining tables!

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Dining table is a modification of the Ana White Farmhouse Table.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	Sawdust Throwdown
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
The Scoop!	Coastal Charm

@ Ruffles & Rust

Even before we moved to the Seattle area, I had heard from my little sister about a delightful little tourist-trap of a town called Snohomish.  Isn’t it just lucky that our new home is only 10 miles from there?

One of our first outings then, naturally had to be to check out all the fun shops that line the main street of town.  There are several that are definitely worth a visit, but one of my favorites is Ruffles & Rust.   So one day when I was feeling particularly brave (it doesn’t happen that often), I asked one of the proprietors if maybe…possibly…if it wasn’t too much trouble…would they be interested in having some of my wares in their shop??  When she said YES, I was on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day!

Although I dropped off a few things (just to test the waters) last week, I had to go back to take a few pictures of what MY things look like in their delightful store!  And of course, I have to share ;-)

Here are a couple of my ever-popular “Biscuits & Gravy” signs…

“Lemonade”’ and “I Love You Like Cupcakes” make an appearance…

Here’s one of my great big beadboard flags…

One of my “extra” chalkboards perches up high…

Here’s a “You are the Bubbles to my bath” canvas.  You can’t tell, but “Bubbles” and a few of the bubbles are glitter-i-fied!

 I made two folding tabletop chalkboards like the ones from That’s My Letter.   These turned out so cute; I’m in love!

One thing that made me laugh was seeing my little chalkboard easel next to the Flea Market sign—because I made my own version of it last year!  It made me do a little bit of a double-take!

There were a couple of things that I couldn’t find, and I hope that means they have sold to someone who will love them like I do!

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I do love selling through my Etsy shop, but there’s just something about a brick-and-mortar store, you know??  Don’t miss Ruffles & Rust if you’re in the area!