It is important to have a peaceful work space. For me, this means clean, uncluttered and pretty. I have a desk where I do my “real” job (aka the one that pays the bills) but I needed something else for my creative work. When my sister told me she was getting rid of this desk, I jumped on the opportunity to make something new out of it. You can see the before picture below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was no small undertaking. I had never refinished furniture before. I scoured Pinterest for tutorials, bought the chemicals and got to work. The stripping involved painting on toxic chemicals and then wiping/scraping all of it off. It smelled horrible and it was majorly messy. Once that part was done, I sanded the whole thing (see the lighter color version of the desk above). Then came the fun part! I decided to stain the top a warm brown color and paint the base of the desk off white, inspired by the Whitney Desk at Pottery Barn. It turned out better than I could have imagined and I’m glad I was brave enough to go for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pretty desk needs a pretty chair, so I grabbed an old chair from our basement that had been handed down from my in-laws and got to work. I wasn’t interested in going through the work of refinishing again, so I went with chalk paint which supposedly you can paint over anything. I didn’t even sand the surface. It went on a little clumpy, but I sanded it in areas to give it a weathered look and it turned out pretty nice. The fabric on the seat was old and stained, so I  ripped it off and re-covered it with some adorable fabric from Ballard Designs. Ballard is a go-to for home decor and they have so many awesome fabrics you can buy by the yard. I used the Dodie Beige, which is sort of a leopard polka dot print. I think it has kind of a Kate Spade vibe to it.

So now I have a lovely work space that cost very little to put together. I love it. This is where I sit to sew, create and dream!

  

I am so grateful for the Thanksgiving traditions my parents shared as I was growing up and I looked forward to celebrating Thanksgiving every year. My parents hosted as many as twenty people at our house for a home cooked turkey feast. I never realized until I became an adult how much work it was to prepare, manage and clean up, especially for my mom. I will forever be grateful to her and my dad for giving us such wonderful memories.  After dinner, we would take a walk in the cold, dark night and come home to a cozy fire in the fireplace.

Now that I am an adult (!!!), I have my own family, and I am happy to start new traditions with my children. We are the new hosts of Thanksgiving dinner and every other year host either my family or my husband’s family. I am beyond grateful for my husband’s ability to cook an amazing turkey, complete with gravy and stuffing. This year a few of us took a walk before dinner. It was sunny and unseasonably warm. The quiet in the neighborhood was almost eerie, but breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sun and the breeze always brings me peace.

 

I often have all kinds of creative ideas for decorating but don’t make the time for it. This year I decided to go for it and do a romantic Thanksgiving tablescape, much of it crafted from things around the house. My problem is I can’t often find quite the styles or colors I want, and often decor costs more than it needs to, so I just make it myself. I wanted white pumpkin place cards, but the stores didn’t have quite what I was looking for at the price point I wanted, so I purchased some yellow pumpkins, spray painted them white, added gold to the stem, and tied on a gold leaf and name cards which I printed out on brown paper and then cut into shapes. I think they turned out really pretty!

The Happy Thanksgiving banner was inspired by others I had seen in stores and on Pinterest, but they always cost too much ($15 for a paper sign? no thank you!) so I made my own. I cut out the flags from brown paper, drew the letters on with markers, added some tiny wooden clothespins which I embellished with gold glitter and voila! A lovely Thanksgiving banner.

The base for the middle of the table is just a picture frame from Home Goods with a piece of paper in it instead of a photo. And don’t underestimate the dollar store! Those white salad plates with gold trim were $1 each and add a perfect touch. You would never know.

Lastly, the flowers. I could not for the life of me find the color combinations I needed at the flower shop so some of the flowers are real, and some are fake. Oh, and note to self: don’t go to the craft shop the day before Thanksgiving expecting to actually find fall themed decor – all they had was Christmas stuff! Regardless, I think it turned out really pretty and I’m already looking forward to decorating for Christmas.