Mahogany | It's Great To Be Home

‘Round The Table

You should have seen us last night, cruising down the highway in a big truck packed to the gills, with blankets and rope flapping in the breeze to tie down our cargo. We were quite a sight!

Look what we brought home with us:

Isn’t it gorgeous?!?

Remember that table that made an appearance last week in my video for Thanksgiving . . .

. . . and Christmas?

Well, we have now parted ways with that $100 table that I bought from the Scratch ‘n Dent store when I was in law school 6 years ago (and the chairs have made their way back into the breakfast room) – and now we have this beautiful mahogany table and chairs, and we’ll even have room for 6 people when we put in the leaf! Oh goodness, I’m so excited!

The table and chairs belonged to my uncle’s mother, and he and my aunt are so lovely and offered to let us use it. The word on the street is that the table was crafted back in the 1920s – how cool is that?

Now all I need to do is pick out some fabric so that I can reupholster these seat cushions . . .

Got any suggestions on fabric?

P.S. There’s a holiday decor blog party going on over at The DIY Show Off – head on over there to get some serious inspiration! I added my video about transitioning your decor from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and I can’t wait to see what everybody else has to say!

Along Came Poly

If you checked out last month’s post on Bower Power about polystain, then you know it’s a miracle product. Polystain is awesome because it allows you to stain and protect wood in a single step by combining stain with polyurethane. Last weekend, my mom took it upon herself to single-handedly keep Minwax in business by polystaining just about everything that she came across.

While taking a break from decorating her house for Easter, Mom tackled a slew of sad little pieces with just a few coats of Minwax’s PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany. A rich stain instantly transformed this plain oak frame into the perfect surrounding for a sweet bunny print:

The pastel, floral base of this lamp was off-putting to Mom so she never used it. After a few coats of polystain, the base was neutralized and the bunny lamp was finally allowed to participate in the Easter festivities. Turns out polystain works on more surfaces than just wood!

Mom recently converted my old bedroom into this warm, inviting guest room. (What, did she think that guests wouldn’t like the electric purple room of my youth? Whatev!) The newly slipcovered wing chair looked great in the room, but the medium-toned wood on the chair legs simply didn’t blend in. After a few coats of polystain the wing chair blends perfectly with the deep chocolate brown that accents the space.

This little bench is the piece de resistance. With stains and a dull oak finish, this bench had seen better days. Now it’s a gorgeous mahogany tone that will look great in any room of the house.