table for two, or 5

appetizing, yes? good thing this was only the beginning.

The dining room is really starting to shape up. Me + Iron-on hem tap = world of possibilities. This stuff is totally addicting. I tell myself I'm going to put it away for a while, but for some reason, late at night, I hear it calling from the craft closet, and, I can't help but give in.

I finished a stand-in version of our table runner. I would really like to go ALL out with the real one, and, dare I say, try to actually sew it!! OH GOSH. big words.

Here's the table-scape as it stands today. I cannot wait to replace the all white, clean looking candles for pumpkin candles come fall. I cannot wait to dress it up for the BEST part of the year - autumn, fall, el otono, my birthday season - whatever you like. The only thing I see or smell during those few weeks are pumpkins. oh the delight.

I digress.. Table-scape.

that's a chevron table runner, don't mind if I do.. Just thought it'd be fun to play with the chevron print before I look up in 2 weeks and it's out of style.

All angles for ya..

artsy shot..

my favorite part - of the whole house - simple pleasures. Napkins from West Elm. They look so rich (yummy, not bankin') against the wood table.

a candle holder, from HomeGoods, turned vase and centerpiece.

the perfect length.

Next post shall be dedicated to the dining table itself. It needs/deserves it's own post. You just see the top here, but oh - is there more to feast the eyes upon..

the hutch

Today, I present some before/after fun. In order to make a short story long, I will start at the beginning.

I think it started when I began working at Anthropologie. I fell in love with the inspiration. The way that it felt like home with such an eclectic feel. The art, the found items collected from around the world, the colors, the smells. I started picking piece by piece things that I loved and wanted to incorporate into my home.

Two words. China. Hutch. Something light, something open, perfectly placed in the corner of the kitchen displaying a ton of little goodies. Something eclectic yet homey. I was out shopping one weekend with some fellow thrifters and found this treasure.

I immediately fell in love with the bones of this piece. The size of it was nothing short of perfection.

After some wheeling and dealing, I got the piece down 25 bucks and we loaded 'er up. Blake was pleasantly surprised with my find. We immediately started brainstorming - with a gazillion ideas to attempt - which would work??

We started by removing the 2 doors.

Before.

After.

After making the executive decision to remove one shelf, we (read Blake) built wine glass holders to line the bottom of the first shelf. They are perfect and I love them. They hold all of the special gifts we received from friends for gettin' hitched!

For painting purposes we decided to add a touch of molding to the opening of the hutch.

In progress. Using clamps to hold while the wood glue dried over night. Look at Blake, so cute - even as a blur...

From there, we spent an entire weekend, I'm talking sun up to sun down out on the front porch, sanding and painting, and painting and painting.

After about 48 hours of constant sweat from the Texas sun - we got to bring our baby inside. As the proud little parents we are, we starting filling our hutch with previously mentioned goodies.

It was so fun to design and build this hutch exactly as we wanted. We incorporated wine glass holders - because, we Johnsons (mostly me - guilty) love a decent bottle of wine.

We also wanted a little nook for our coffee maker. Our personal coffee bar, outfitted with coffee grinds tin, stack-o-mugs, and one sugar packet holder sponsored by my mom from Crate and Barrel outlet.

As for the color selection, we opted for a light gray (remember - going for a light and airy Anthropologie feel) with dark gray for the molding piece and a seafoam green for the shelf and wine glass holders. What a crazy color scheme, a little out of my element, but still so fun to work with! And, it's the kitchen - make it fun!

Upgraded knobs. And can you tell, we moved the location of the knobs? It was so dang hard to pull those doors open as they had it. Upgrade!

One last touch - the side panels. Previously glass, now chicken wire. I love how it adds that touch of country to our fresh new piece.

I am just loving how it turned out. I love that I can display my china and favorite cookbooks. I mixed in touches of brown ( in baskets and trays and bowls ) to fulfill the whole eclectic criterion. Here she is again, one more for the road... or two...

a married woman's Saturday night.

aka - my adventures in Iron-on Hem tape. Tonight I accidentally made curtains for our guest room. I am really enjoying having an extra bedroom in this house of ours. I was rearranging some things in my closet and found an old set of sheets that I had previously bought, on the cheap, from Homegoods to hold me over until our wedding registry stuff flooded in. I really liked the pattern of them - but polyester just ain't ideal to sleep on. I took the flat sheet and held it up to our windows by Blake's desk, and what do ya know... perfectly long enough.

Grab my hem tape, heat up the iron and start measuring.

First, laid it out flat on our living room floor.

Second, measured the exact middle and made one cut to turn my flat sheet into 2 curtain panels.

Third, started ironing. I followed the pattern on the sheets to ensure straight hems. The sheet already had all three sides hemmed, so I finished off the 4th with my hem tape. SO FUN! I would iron-on hem tape if I could. Pillows, table runners, dakota, etc. I just love it.

For the top that goes around the drapery rod, I just loop the fabric over once, lay my hem tape down and iron away. The smaller the loop - the tighter your "pleats" will be on your curtains I've learned. Just make sure your rod will still fit (if "that's what she said" was still cool - I'd insert that riiiiight here).

The outcome. I'm very surprised that I like them so much. A sheet turned curtains - and for free! That is probably why I like them so much.

Saturday nights have drastically changed, haven't they? Wouldn't change it for anything.

salvation army finds.

Next to the new office lies a salvation army. I've never seen one like it. The furniture selection is out of this world - though I haven't purchased anything big from this location yet. There is a room in the back that is dedicated to home goods. It has a country store feel which is fun. Not your average thrift store people. A couple great finds from your typical shopping trip.

I'm trying to fill a house these days!

On one particular trip I came home with some shelf decor.

One duck.

A gorgeous silver tray. The holes in the sides did it for me. They're like little Moroccan windows... from a mosque in Spain... ah, Spain..

One pigeon.

one delightful sea-foam bowl.

I cannot remember exacts, but I'm pretty sure I spent less than 5 or 6 dollars for the whole thang.

After taking a can of white spray paint to a few objects - they came to life! I read some where that white spray paint is a designer's equivalent to botox and it couldn't be more true.

Here the salvation army finds are in there natural habitats.

Silver tray. Now on our coffee table to spruce up the ol remote holder.

close up.

We somehow temporarily inherited these quaint shelves in our kitchen and dining room. The character in this house makes me so happy. I'll post some better photos once I have them of our charming built-ins.

The duck. With a fresh coat of glossy white.

Next project for kitchen. Make cafe curtains. I have stumbled into the world of Iron-on Hem Tape. HELLLOOO. Thank you for thinking of us completely non-domestic sewing ladies. Heaven sent. Another post dedicated to this lata.

Then we have the pigeon. (all shelves in kitchen were outfitted with plants and pots from Ikea as well - they just fit so perfectly in our shelf space and look clean and easy - my kinda style!)

We seem to have acquired a safari of animals in our kitchen. Only explanation - Young House Love is totally and completely rubbing off on me. I'm starting to feel brainwashed. In a good way.

Last Salvation Army find. A family of elephants. They sit on my top shelf to oversee all dish washing now, but later, wouldn't they be cute in a nursery?? yea, ok, i'll stop. 3 more years..

I'm am 100% endorsing the Salvation Army on Inwood - go check it out Dallasans... Dallans... Dallasites?? You won't be disappointed!

dining chairs: check!

After work today, I was skimming my local Dallas craigslist, with the words of Lauren Kimmel floating around in my head (stay strong - keep checking - something will find you eventually). I had been through about 4 pages, feeling discouraged.. then there she was. A post for 5 dining chairs....... 90 bucks....... say what???

And within literal seconds I'm on the phone with the nicest gal. I swang by, pick up my girl Hope, we head to East Dallas, flash some flash and take home 5 of these babies.

as follows:

and she throws in one more, completely broken and falling apart, for good measure. Maybe I can craft something up with it's remains.

I love them in white. I love their honeycomb backs. And for now, I will enjoy their rough-looking navy and white upholstery (I'm seeing a thicker, bolder pattern in these chairs' futures though). The fact that if I went to get them that night she would knock 10 bucks off just made me even more giddy. So they're home now, waiting patiently for their cousin (the farmhouse bench Blake's going to build) to arrive.

In fact, I'm signing off - going to stare at them until my eyes become too tired to stay open. Good night!

my pinterest challenge

I'll just be a little early on my Pinterest Challenge reveal, just because I kinda cheated a little and took an easy way out - I cooked. With the move and still working on big projects and not having this house look like a home yet, I opted to cook something I've pinned to fulfil the challenge.

Introducing a little blagging. Bragging on the blog, if you will... (Blake coined the term and I like!)

With this pin, I'm pretty sure I made the best dinner I've ever made last night. Insert Blagging.

I think I've been juvenile in my tastes for about 25 years, but lately, I've been trying things I haven't even heard of - and loving it! (Proscuitto. Instance #1. I spent about 10 minutes yesterday looking for this in the special cheese section of Tom Thumb. Embarrassing. Helpful lady stocking shelves explained to me that it was thinly sliced dry-cured ham. Well. There ya go.)

Other fun ingredients never used before. Phyllo dough. Artichoke hearts. Sun-dried tomatoes.

Guys, I literally grew up on turkey and bacon sandwiches. Hello brand new world of food!

You can find the recipe over HERE!

Chicken, Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil wrapped in Filo

Mission Accomplished.