A Birthday Request

It's Hubby's birthday!

Every year I ask Hubby what he would

like for his birthday and every year it is

always the same request.

A yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Not a store bought yellow cake with chocolate frosting,

or a cake made from a box mix.

It had to be my very own made from scratch cake

with chocolate buttercream frosting.😍

What a simple request that I am always

willing to fulfill each year for my Hubby.

I created little chocolate rosettes for the top.
Gotta love that extra frosting!

Hubby couldn't wait to dig into this cake.

I can't say as I blame him.

There's nothing better than cake made from scratch.
Besides, it's his birthday and he can do whatever he wants.
Well, within reason that is.😄

Happy 59th Birthday Hubby!

That's it for today.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Adding A Touch Of Elegance

It never fails, once you change one thing
there is always a snowball effect.
Our dining room has had a few new
additions added to it lately.

One of the changes was to replace our current chandelier.

This chandelier felt like you were sitting under a heat lamp.
Those lights really threw off the heat!

I wanted a more classic design with a little
bit of elegance for our dining room.
This is our new chandelier all hung and looking quite elegant.

Those are real glass crystals.

The classic drum shade balances out all the glitzy glam of the crystals.

You should have seen Hubby and I hanging this thing with all those crystals!
It was well worth the cussing and hassle though.😘
I thought Hubby would think it was too glamorous,

but once we were done hanging it he actually commented that

"I thought for sure this was going to make our dining room

look stuffy and girly, but it doesn't."

You definitely notice it when you walk into the room.

Whether the lights are off

or on
it makes it's presence known.

At night it creates a unique design on the ceiling.

We also have it on a dimmer switch to create different

ambient lighting to our dining room.

A look at the table, chairs and chandelier.

Our dining room is really coming together nicely.

Check back next week as I have one more new addition to share.

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Enjoying Life

Hubby has been busy sprucing up our back porch.

We went flower shopping and were finally able

to put out our deck furniture.

Today we hit a high of 78°.

We are so LOVING this retired life.

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 weeks since

we retired. Life has kept us very busy lately.

It's nice to be able to enjoy a nice glass of Lambrusco,

or a beer, and sit and discuss what we have

planned for tomorrow.

A slower pace life with no stress.

Ya gotta love it!

Not only are we enjoying a more relaxed life,

our bunnies are too.

That's it for today.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Mixing Rustic with Refined

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!
I've been busy today doing what I love
to do. Designing, styling and painting.
Enjoy your day today because
a mother's work is never done.😄

I'm one of those people who likes the look of many

different styles in my home. 

I tend to lean towards a timeless, classic

look with a little bit of glam, elegance and beach

thrown in just to keep things interesting.

Add in a little casual modern farmhouse
and we have my perfect style

for home decor.

As I add, or change, pieces in our dining room I
will tease you with glimpses of the room in progress.
Once the room is complete I'll be sure to share the final reveal.

I don't want our home to look too feminine or too masculine.

I want Hubby to feel just as comfortable as
myself in our home so I try to mix my tastes
and his together.

So how do I mix our tastes together?

For our dining room I chose a rustic farmhouse table,
which my father-in-law built for us.

To add a little bit of a refined look to our farmhouse table
I chose these chairs from Pier 1.
They give me my upscale look, yet still appeal to
Hubby with the nail head trim.

Combine the table and chairs together and you
get a rustic refined look.

When I told Hubby that I was mixing a rustic table

with high end chairs he thought I was crazy.

 He just couldn't see it happening.

He was afraid that I was going to make it look too feminine.

After seeing the two together he commented that,

"You have good vision."

I think he was pleased with the look.😍

Check back next week for another change and glimpse into our dining room.

That's it for this week.
Until Next Time,
Veronica

A Touch of Rustic

If you follow along with us you may remember

that we gave our dining room table and hutch

to our Son and DIL.

At the time we didn't use our dining room that much.

Now that we are retired I miss having a dining room table.

When family comes over for dinners the only place to

sit is at our kitchen island which only sits 3.

Time for a new dining room table and new look

for the dining room.

I'm a HUGE fan of Pottery Barn and love browsing
through their catalogs.
The minute my eyes spotted this table it was
love at first sight.

Source: Pottery Barn

It's made from reclaimed pine.

A view of the base of the table.

Source: Pottery Barn 

The only problem with it was the price tag, $2,199.

We are on a fixed income now.

As much as I loved that table there was

no way I was willing to pay that much for just a table.

So what did I do?

Naturally I turned to my Father-in-law.

I found a free plan to build a very similar DIY Pottery Barn inspired
farmhouse table for $100.00 from Shanty2chic.

I asked my father-in-law if he would be able to build it and I would stain it.
He didn't seem to think it would be a problem.

We live 600 miles apart so we brought this table back home in pieces

in the back of our pickup truck.

I wanted to do a couple test pieces with different stain colors
first before I made my final decision.

I ended up choosing Minwax Special Walnut stain.

I applied 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of
Polycrylic on the base of the table.

After I stained all the pieces and applied a Poylcrylic to seal and protect it,

Hubby and I then started assembling it.

The top of the table top received 2 coats of stain
followed by 4 coats of Polycrylic, I wanted a nice hard finish.

Here is our new dining room table that my Father-in-law built

for us from construction lumber.

Yes, I said construction lumber.
It measures 84"L x 40"W x 30"H.

We love all of the variations in color and imperfections.

To say that I am beyond thrilled with my new table

is an understatement! I couldn't be happier.

Hubby and I LOVE THIS TABLE!

My father-in-law did a FANTASTIC job building it!

I got my look-a-like Pottery Barn farmhouse table for 

WAY LESS than the name brand, plus I was able

to choose the color I wanted it to be.

Check back next week and I will share the seating I chose

to go with this farmhouse table.

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica