Good afternoon, and happy fall everyone!
 Fall is always my favorite time of year, with its beautiful colors, crisp cool air and that back to school excitement. But this year, one of those things is missing from my list...no more school! In some ways, this is a major relief. No projects, no deadlines, no memorizing of names and dates and vocab. But in other ways, I can't help but envy all the students on campus--while their brains are kept busy concentrating on classes, mine keeps wandering over to Vancouver and the adventure that is just waiting there. So like most people who are stuck waiting, I've done my best to keep busy. This week, two things have been my distraction--you guessed it, sitting and reading.
Part I--Sitting:
I bring you my chairs!

Aren't they beautiful? Busted out seats, creaky joints, giant cracked corner. Well, they're not pretty now, but in a couple weeks they should be. I found these beauties last Friday at Heritage Architectural Salvage and Supply in Kalamazoo. I've been searching for chairs like these for weeks now, looking at Goodwill, antique fairs and scouring Craigslist in both Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo for any that add up to my expectations. Heritage was sitting there quietly in the back of my mind, nagging me to explore it, but until last Friday I hadn't been able to find a time that fit into their business hours to go. I walked into the store, and right there these two little guys were just waiting for me to discover them. And best of all, I got them both for only $14! I'll post later the adventures I've had with them so far, but here's my inspiration for this project:

This is a page from Martha Stewart Living magazine that, upon seeing, I immediately said those four dreaded words that keep popping out: "I could do that!" Thus was born this crazy, irrational dream for four unique, beautiful, mix-match chairs for my future kitchen table. And now with my two new treasures, I'm one step closer to that dream being a reality!
Part II--Reading:
 Now, for those of you who don't know me, I'm a reader. More than just a reader--I love books. I inhale them. I love all kinds of books, but for some reason, I love books written for teens the best.  And I never have anyone to talk about these books with, so I've decided to devote part of this blog to my number one hobby.
This Week's Bookshelf:
So far this week, I've wanted to adopt a dragon, suffered from anorexia, been part of the British secret intelligence, defeated a dragon, and rekindled a romance with my childhood crush. See, that's what I love about reading, it takes you so many places, so many new experiences! But here are my top three reads from this week.

Eragon (Inheritance) by Christopher Paolini:

Now, technically my first book this week is actually three books. And they're really long, so I've actually been reading these over the past two weeks. As soon as I opened the first book of the series, Eragon, I was sucked into the land of dragons, sorcerers, elves and dwarves that Christopher Paolini created. These books are beautifully crafted fantasy novels for young adults, following the story of a young boy, Eragon, who discovers a dragon egg and becomes the only existing rider in the land. After watching Eragon grow and mature over three books--Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr, I couldn't wait to see how the series turned out. Imagine my shock to discover that the fourth and supposedly final book of the series is not out yet! I guess that's something to look forward to!

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson:

Truly, this book was disturbing and difficult to read, but I couldn't put it down. If you've ever read a book by Laurie Halse Anderson, you know that she does not write lightly. This book is no exception. Anderson crafts a chilling story about a teen whose best friend has recently died, leaving her alone in her struggle to be the thinnest girl in their school. Watching and listening to the protagonist struggle with her eating disorder and cutting habit, I was so absorbed in her story that I couldn't stop reading. I needed to know that she had a happy ending. This book will force you to look at eating in a whole different way. And it will probably make you hungry too. 

Fat Cat, by Robin Brande:

From the cover and title of this book, I was worried that I had accidently picked two eating disorder books in one week. But much to my delight, I hadn't! While Wintergirls was a body image struggle that left me craving cheese and cupcakes, Fat Cat provided a refreshing story that promoted positive body image, healthy living, and wonderful friendship. Plus, it included a sweet love story, which I'm always a sucker for. In Fat Cat, Robin Brande tells the story of a teen who, for her year long science project, decides to revert back to the lifestyle of a caveman by rejecting all things modern, with the exception of hygiene of course. Following her through her journey, you get to watch her experience all the perks of eating natural foods, rejecting modern transportation, and eliminating the distractions of technology from her life--and later, reveling in the joy of her brand new body. 

Good morning all!
Jared and I love the look of antique furniture. A couple weeks ago, we heard of a monthly antique fair in Allegan, Michigan from my older sister, and decided to give it a shot. While we were there, we quickly learned that dragging yourself out of bed a couple hours early to get there when it's cool is definitely worth it! The fair was really neat, with lots of vendors and treasures, but it was so hot! But it was worth it too. Our original goal was to find some cool wooden chairs like these:

My goals is to collect 4 chairs like these, paint them a unifying color and add some cushions. Unfortunately, finding chairs that actually work has proved...well...impossible so far! That'll hopefully be a later project. But anyway, instead of finding chairs, we found these--

We thought they would work great as night stands, but they needed a little work, so took them with us to Jared's parents' house, and spent a wonderful afternoon in the garage working with our hands. First, we took off the drawer pulls that had been glooped up with paint. We were planning on just buying new ones, but I liked the antique look of these and thought it'd be fun to find out what's underneath all that paint first. We threw those in a bucket of paint thinner, and waited an hour. The results were amazing! Almost all the paint came off, and what didn't could be scraped off with some steel wool. After that, Jared's mom was  a trooper and spent an hour and a half buffing and polishing them to a shine with a dremel tool. They came out looking amazing, perfectly aged and worn, so we decided to use them. But we added a coat or two of lacquer to keep the shine and prevent discoloration.

After that, our top priority was to fill in some of those gouges on the tops. We like a few texturizing bumps and scratches, but these tops were beyond everyday wear and tear--it looked like someone had taken a hammer to them! With the help of Jared's dad, we filled in the gouges with Bondo. It took a couple times of filling, drying and sanding before it came out how we wanted it, but it made all the difference.

Our next step was the biggie--painting! We decided on black, since we are getting a wrought iron bed and thought this would accent it nicely. We had opted against stripping the paint from the actual stands, and since we were then painting over an already painted surface, we decided to use paint brushes to get some brush strokes. This helps create the illusion of wood grain. After it dried, we grabbed our sand paper and sanded down the edges to create that worn look. Here, we ran into a couple problems. Some areas didn't seem quite dry, even though they should have been, and the paint peeled instead of sanding away. In other areas, we were simply sanding down to that white paint underneath instead of the wood, creating too much contrast. In the end, I discovered that sanding the areas with only wood underneath worked, and with a lot of patience and finesse, we finally got the look we wanted. Then, Jared smudged on some watered down, dark brown acryllic paint over the whole piece. This gave it more texture, more of a wood look, and warmed up the black paint a bit. Plus, it helped cover up the areas where there was still too much contrast. In the end, these were our final products.

What do you think? Right now, we're using them as side tables in our "living room" area. We're excited for when we actually get to use them as night stands!

 

Hello everyone! Thanks for visiting our blog! We'll try to update this regularly with what's going on in our lives. Here's a photo recap of what our summer has been like so far...

First, Jared and I graduated from Western Michigan University in May.

And then on June 12 we tied the knot!

Followed by a wonderful honeymoon to the Adirondacks.

And then in August, we took a trip to Vancouver!

During our Vancouver trip, Jared was offered a job there with Young Life as the Langley Area Director. We decided to accept the job, and are planning to move to Canada in November! We're both so excited to move, but waiting for our immigration papers to be accepted has been rough. Since we didn't want to sign a lease for an apartment, we've been subletting wherever we can--we've moved three times since June! Right now, we're living with the bare minimum, true newlywed style. It's been fun...but we're definitely ready for the next adventure. In the mean time, we've been working on projects--refinishing antique night stands (ours), fixing up an old road bike (his) and soon, sewing some throw pillows (hers). We hope you enjoy our updates!