It has been waaaay too long since I’ve posted here. We have started and finished SO many projects in the last few weeks, and we have a few more to complete before the upcoming Holidays. This year we are thrilled to be hosting my family for Thanksgiving! This is our first year in a HOUSE for Thanksgiving and Christmas (instead of an apartment) That’s a big deal for me. Our home when I was growing up was a very special place. We made memories and enjoyed life there together, not to mention celebrated dozens of holidays as a family. I lived in that house for over 15 years! I want to make those memories with my own family now. This year marks the beginning of that fantastic journey here on Koons Road!

Our focus for several months has been our dining room, so even though our projects have been all over the house lately, I’ll start there. As I’ve mentioned, we completely re-did the walls and built a beautiful new dining table over the summer. When we finally decided that the construction had ended, we were free to start decorating! I designed and hung this plate wall with plates I collected from a few of my favorite local thrift stores:

 

and my Mom and Daniel helped me install these Roman shades and pick fabric for the curtain panels.

 

We got a great deal at JCPenney on the shades, and other than my poor measuring (my Mom and I had to hem them) I was really happy with them! I found the cotton curtain fabric at an adorable new sewing shop right here in Chattanooga. Check out Spool if you’re in the area and have any sewing/quilting needs. They are awesome!

I added the grommet detail with 2 packs of grommets I found on Amazon. Guys, they are so stinkin’ easy to add to any curtain and make a big impact!

I was foolish to think the construction had ended in the dining room, but thankfully it’s nothing too serious. When we re-modeled the dining room over the summer and moved the washer and dryer to their own room (here), we were left with a narrow cubby in the dining room across from the table. We figured eventually it would become a built-in butler’s pantry with a sink (since the plumbing was already there from the washer… super convenient). Well, that plan got pushed forward a little when we decided to host Thanksgiving at our place and we realized how great it would be to at least have the lower cabinets, sink, and counter in place before the Big Day. So here we are:

My Dad and Daniel found the base cabinets at a local cabinet shop for a great price and we snatched them up. I spent way too many hours painting them a crisp white (Snowy Mount by Olympic to match the trim in this room), and here they sit, awaiting proper installation and a counter top!

We plan to build three shelves here between the base cabinets for basket storage. This past weekend, Daniel and I visited a local bath/kitchen warehouse and picked out a counter top. We are 90% sure we are going with a poured acrylic product called Livingstone. I like the color Pebble Beach shown below (the photo is from their website). We are just hoping and praying it can get done before next Thursday. Yikes!

Our last dining room related project is still unfinished… surprise surprise.

My sweet friend Meredith let me use some of her chalkboard paint to make this chalkboard for the front of the island. I simply used a sheet of thin plywood we had lying around and I painted it and nailed it to the front of the island. We will eventually frame the island and the chalkboard with more palette wood.

Our upcoming projects include finishing the lower half of the butler’s pantry, finishing the sliding barn door in the living room, and moving the office, and I still need to show you how the laundry room is looking with a new curtain and shelf!If I don’t manage to crank out another blog post before Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends!