A Christmas Home Tour & A look at our New Dining Table Build decked out for the holidays

Holiday greetings to all of you today and thanks for coming to take a look at our home! I am sharing a look at some of our holiday decorations as well as a dining table that I built a few weeks ago. I started looking for a new table simply because the dining table I had would only seat six and I needed a table that would seat more of our friends and family. After looking at my options, neither of which were in my budget or that coordinated with my design style, I decided to build what I wanted myself.

I wanted a European style dining table that matched my dining chairs. I knew it would be a challenge to build, but I was pretty certain I could do it, although it would turn out to be one of the more intricate builds I had done to date, partly because I didn't want it to look too rustic or farmhouse. Most farmhouse tables consist of 2 x 6 plank boards across the top, and although I do like this look, it didn't fit within my style. Most farmhouse style tables are also an easier build because they use 2 x 6's and are mostly done in pine which is a soft wood and I wanted something a little more hardy. I ended up choosing or rather piecing together hardboards to create a pattern that matched the dimensions I needed. One of the main reasons for having to piece together boards was because it is difficult to find real hard woods in a big sheet in the right thickness and without it costing a pretty penny. I ended up using a few softer wood boards to connect it all together and If I had to do it again, I would have used all hard wood. The difference in using a combination of soft and hard woods, caused some imperfections and flaws. But imperfections and all, I'm happy with how it turned out!

I also found myself having to spend a great deal of time on the finish. I ended up choosing Minwax stain called Early American as a base coat, a white wash (white paint with 50/50 water) over the base stain and a second stain application of the Early American. The reason I had to do this was to get the European white wash finish which adds an aged look, as well as the stain which adds warmth, but also to marry the difference in color of the boards from pine to fir and oak. I know, its complicated, but all I can say now is that I did this all to myself! In the end, it all worked out because you can't see any difference in color and I got the aged finish I wanted. The finish color still came out a little more red than yellow than I was wanting, but it was close. I gave myself a deadline of a week, and I should have know better, but it actually took me a little over two weeks to get it all finished. There were some cold days out in the shop aka my garage, but it was all worth it!

My kids and I were discussing Christmas decorations, and because I do a different theme each year (blogging world requirements), I was asking for input. We decided on a Harry Potter/Old World inspired theme this year. I have to say, it's been so much fun decorating!

Today, I want to share the dining room table and it's decorations and next week I will be sharing all the fun theme inspired little details throughout our living spaces. Here is a look at our dining table we built. We actually moved the table into our living room and switched out the spaces as it is all open living. We wanted the big dining hall table to resemble the Hogwarts dining hall and thought it would look best in this space for the holidays.

The table scape was designed with lots of candles, greenery and an aged wooden lantern that lended itself to that old world charm. I added the gold paper Christmas crackers, a London inspired tradition that suited our holiday theme. If you would like to learn more about these Christmas paper crackers, click the link here.

Although I didn't offer a tutorial on the build, as it was a difficult one to share, I thought you might enjoy some of the during pics of the table build action.

And without fail, I can't seem to take photos in my house without our dog, Chewbacca jumping in for a cameo. Here he is making himself cozy in the chair by the tree, on top of my daughter in laws, beautiful hand crafted navy and gray Harry Potter, (Ravenclaw house) scarf. I moved it after our photo shoot, just in case, but I should have draped it around his neck in true Harry Potter fashion! :) Maybe I will think of it for next time!