A Pedestal Table to Call My Own

I love, love, love pedestal kitchen tables. Big hot pink puffy heart them. Our new house has a formal dining room right next to the casual eat-in kitchen, meaning all the more that I wanted a pedestal table to differentiate from the regular four-legged rectangle table next door.

Immediately upon moving in, I was on the hunt for one to make my next DIY project. A few reasons why I knew I wanted to DIY it:

1. They're such a classic shape that they've been around for ages... translation- the perfect one would appear at a thrift store, estate sale, or Craigslist, I just had to wait for it

2. Solid wood especially with *curves* could get spendy quick and I wanted a good one that would last, like a kitchen table needs to

3. Lastly, refinishing wood furniture is about the easiest home project there is

So let's take a moment to oooohhh and awww at some glamorous pedestal tables.

Photos courtesy of Country Living.

The funny thing is that our house's previous owner did leave us a kitchen table and seating. It served us quite well for the first few days before we had any other furniture. Our first meal (Chinese take-out) was eaten here. We even asked for it- our realtor talked it up like we really liked it. Who wouldn't?


Especially since they not only came with cushions, but also...


All the extra storage a girl could want.... okay, okay not really. The real reason is because I figure this bad boy has got to be worth something on Craigslist, right? A little something to put towards my dream pedestal table and criss-cross chairs.

So finally, here's the pedestal I can call my own. I found this beauty at a local thrift store for (get this) $35. I know, right? A few character scratches even. Love it. Woke up early Memorial Day to run some errands (okay, okay go shopping for house stuff) and a quick swing through the thirft store (yes, shamelessly, I have a mental shopping list for DIY projects at all times and also know that holidays = 30% funiture). I had the sold ticket in my hand in seconds, thinking everyone else would want to fight me for it. A quick trip back to get the sleepy hubby and the SUV and she came home.


My inspiration is textbook Pottery Barn. I know, I know. Pottery Barn is so cliche, but darn it, it's so freaking classic and home-y.

So here is their Harvest table and Aaron chairs for a whooping grand total of $2,350. Um, right. But I had to have those chairs.


So I found them exactly as hoped at JC Penneys for around $60 each. JC Penneys does great PB *inspired* furniture. I ordered them in antiqued white, but they also come in antiqued black and walnut. While I love dark wood stain, I forced myself to go different for the kitchen.

When the chairs come in, I will color match and paint the table, so for now I am sanding and priming to my heart's content.

Grilled Artichokes with Pesto

There are some truths in life, not many, but certainly a few. Anything with pesto is better is definitely one of them. Another- patience adds so much pleasure to life.

It's artichoke season. Like strawberries, artichokes are absolutely delicious, but I restrain myself from buying the crazy-priced, shipped from Mexico or where ever, off-season versions. So May and June I buy the heck out of them and savor their in-season glorious-ness. I'm a firm believer that they ARE better because I have waited for them.

Anyway, on with the recipe.

Halve artichokes, cut off stem and tops of leaves. Boil for 15 minutes.

Rub with pesto (optional: add some lemon juice, salt and pepper). Place on grill for another 15 minutes or so.

The Game Changer

So.... I was planning on doing a subtle beach-y, light colored home (something a little less modern than Young House Love and a little less cottage-y than The Lettered Cottage, but using both their homes for mad inspiration).

Then my mysterious, never-met-in-my-life great-uncle died and left my parents with a wealth of family heirlooms. As a huge history buff, I think the boxes of letters, photos, and artifacts spanning the last century that my parents received are simply amazing. A letter from a son to his father arguing his worth to the family's name, WWI-era Paris honeymoon photos from a nurse and a soldier madly in love. A Yale entrance exam with French and Latin translations as included requirements. My direct ancestors. History, but nothing like from the books.

My parents also were shipped two paintings. One medium-sized, turn-of-the-century, very Andrew Carnegie, grayed man of distinguishment.

And this...

My great-great-great grandfather George. His middle name comes from a famous general of the War of 1812; he was born in 1813. This portrait was painted in the 1830s. Like Henry Clay, canals and turnpikes, territorial expansion 1830s.

It is also a whopping four feet tall. My mother had no clue where she would put this. I not-so-subtly suggested I might have a bare wall or two, not to mention a sense of crazy cool-ness by displaying and owning something like this.

It barely fit into the back seat of the SUV, but it slide it snuggly bubble-wrapped and boxed. My husband humors me and my crazy ideas quite well, but this took the cake. He didn't get to even see it until 3 hours later when we arrived back home- there was no returning it.

For now, it hangs proudly in our formal living room, competing only with bare white walls and a lonely couch. He owns that space. Owns it.

Designers talk about highlighting a centerpiece in a room , a fireplace, a canopy bed. Um, yeah.... I think I'm good. Sorry bay windows, you've been demoted to a secondary role.

Now the new question is: How will I ever make the room worthy of Grandpa George?

Quickly followed up with: How I will get Grandpa George and his gilded frame to mesh with my beach-y, airy vibe?

I have no idea.

Ham, Corn, and Potato Chow-da

Super, super easy dinner.

I love me some clam chowder, but dealing with clams give me the willies, so I will never, ever make it for myself. I have experimented with a few different recipes using variations of milk and cream, but never really liking the outcome.

Too runny, too creamy. And who really has 1/4 of heavy cream in the fridge anyway??

So on a whim, with nothing more than a "hey what can I do with this ham I have" hope, I found this recipe that called for cream of mushroom instead. Now I rarely use cream of anything, but every once in a while (like today) a recipe unsuspectingly asks for it, so I try to keep a couple in the back of the cabinet, since they last quite a bit longer than 1/4 cup heavy cream. Thank God for the virtues of a stocked pantry. Anyway, on with the surprising *just right* chowder.

1 medium onion, finely chopped
5-6 small cooked red potatoes, sliced then quartered
2 cups corn
1 cup ham, diced
1 can cream of mushroom
2 1/2 cups milk

Saute the onions in a little olive oil, add the ham then corn, sauteing a little more. Add the liquids and potatoes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Half Bath is Done!

After some plumbing hook-up delays, we finally have our first room in the house done, completely done..... but I still will be keeping an eye out for wall art.... Here is what it looked like at move-in. A total builder-grade blank slate.

Since I already shared how I did the stripes here, I won't repeat myself, except for how much I *love, love, love* them. So, here's the run down of the hardware:

$20 light fixture (Costco)
$65 swivel mirror (Lowe's)
$90 faucet (Lowe's)
$5 each tp and hand towel holder (Costco, part of a 6-piece bathroom hardware kit)
$230 marble countertop and side splash with built-in under-mount sink (Lowe's, total splurge here, but love it almost as much as my stripes)

$90 dual-flush toilet (Costco; the hippie in me loves this!)

And for the accessories, I went the total "less is more" approach with mother-of-pearl soap pump (TJ Maxx), giant seashell from a years-ago Florida vacation, and sage green hand towels (Target)

With paint and other little things (like light switch plates), the grand total came in around $600. Not too bad.

Spring Break Wrap Up

1. Run 25 miles: Done! Like exactly 25 miles, no more :) Finished with a 7 1/2 miler today and it felt great!

2. Register for 1/2 marathon: Yikes! Dropped the ball on making the 3/31 deadline for the price hike. Need to add to this week's list.

3. Organize master closet: Done! An Ikea trip before totally done, but much better than before.

4. Install new towel bars in the master bathroom: One up, one still to go.

5. Organize under-the-stairs closet: Done! But could use an Ikea trip as well... :)

6. Install under-the-sink pull-out trays in kitchen: One in, one still to go (took way longer than expected!)

7. Install hall lights: Two out of the three in

8. Install dining room chandelier: Done! Love it!

9. Finish demo on half bath and clean out: Arghh.... this is going to be a lot longer than we originally hoped.

10. Finish half bath: Done! Love it too!

11. Set up guest bedroom: Too easy!

12. Finishing unpacking and organizing garage: Definitely looks a lot better! I still think there is a box lurking in a corner though.

13. Assemble barbecue and try out: Yep, we have a few parts missing, waiting for them to ship. Oh well, it rained most of break anyway....

14. Try a few new recipes: Had a lot of fun with this one.

15. Prep backyard for vegetable garden: Have my starters in the ground! Very excited!

16. Set up compost bin: Have it going; hoping for a batch ready for fall.

17. Prep front yard for grass seed: Yeah... going to take a lot more effort than originally thought... Definitely going to need a few solid sunny days.

18. Wash both cars: Done!

19. Steam clean couches: Done!

20. Order moving announcements: Done!

21. Donate items: Done! Four large boxes worth.

22. Get library card and set up online request list: Done!

23. Update iPod running playlist: So need to do this still...

24. Try a few new running loops: Tried two new ones. Will certainly need to be finding more now that I'm up to hour-plus runs

25. Take before and after pictures: Yup!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Some of my favorite foods to make are copycat recipes- dishes that exact replicas or the original recipes themselves from restaurants. I had wanted to make this one in particular for a while, but finally now got to it. This recipe is based on a copycat recipe based on P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I didn't follow the directions even though it was rated so highly because well... they don't make sense (why none of the commenters mention this, I don't know...) and I had a few more veggies I wanted to sneak into them. So I (mostly) created the "special sauce" listed in the recipe then loosely followed the rest. Here below is my recreation of that recipe.

1 chicken breast, chopped into tiny pieces
1/2 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1 can mushrooms, drained and finely chopped
4-5 giant iceberg lettuce leaves

Special Sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Saute chicken until no longer pink, add veggies and special sauce. Cook for several minutes, until sauce thickens. Spoon into lettuce cups.