Chalkboard Dining

It's 6:50 am. My mom wakes us up and says, "It's 7:10! You're late for school." She did this everyday. Yet, everyday, we jolt up and race to get ready because we think we're late. I guess she liked seeing us work fast.

It's 7:30pm. Mom calls out, "Dinner's ready! Come down!" We come done and dinner is NOT ready. Yet, she calls for us 15 minutes in advance so that when we actually do come down, dinner will be ready.

After becoming a mom, I understand the time constraints and the pressure to move a whole family on schedule. So, decided we're going to have a chalkboard in the dining room so that everyone will be doodling together nearby while I prep dinner.

Our chalkboard in dining room

Picked up some hardboard and trim at Home Depot and made the chalkboard.

The trim was pine white so it needed a stain...but I didn't want to buy a whole pint of stain...

So I made this concoction: vinegar, rust, and old nails over 2 days

At first, I was disappointed bc I didn't see any stain. But came back in 30 mins and WAH-LAH!

Homemade Wood Stain!

Putting up the chalkboard was really hard. Drilled 8 holes within 2 inches of each other...finally decided to use some cardboard and tape to get it level. Ugh.

Nice reminder for a cranky couple who were extremely irritable at the end of the project.

Lesson learned:

1. Should've helped mom set the table.
2. Don't do any projects with the spouse past mindnight.


Love,

Sunnyluna

Farm House Table

Before I got married, I used to live in a "half-studio" that was the size of the smallest Uhaul truck you can rent. If I lie down in the middle of the room, I could touch all four walls within one roll. And yet, it worked for me and I was happy.

Then, a month before I the wedding date, all these adults (Korean) started to say, "When are you going to pick out your furniture?" What, my twin bed and ikea dresser ain't enough once I'm married? So within a day, I picked out all the adult furniture I was supposed to have as a married woman.

However, I felt like I was living in someone else's house! With everyday, every year that passed by, we still felt like we could not comfortably place a cold drink on the dining table without a coaster. So six years later, we decided to build a table that we would love and be comfortable with.

Bought lumber from home depot, calculated some numbers, and built this during the winter.

I love the "X" legs. They were hand chiseled and fitted together.  

We rounded the corners so that we can avoid any bloody toddler foreheads.

 I stained it in weathered oak which has gray tones and lightly finished with polycrylic.

Also built a bench. This is before it was finished and reupholstered.

I made Chief cut circles for the fabric buttons on the bench.

Still got some work left to do on this bench, but this is it so far.

My favorite part of this set are the chairs. These are chairs from Restoration Hardware. They practically cost my entire Roth IRA. I just couldn't spend that much for chairs. I'm the household CEO and decide on the spending, but the guy I'm married to is the CFO and finances the spending. He has veto power.

So I sold a solid wood dining table, 6 leather chairs, and a modern bookcase through Craigslist and finally had enough money to buy the chairs and bought em.


Eventually, a rug under the table would be nice, but for now, I really like to sweep and mop under the table since we've got spillers old and young. So I felted the bottom of the legs for a smooth surface.

Our very first time using the table was with our good ol friend, Pastor Bryan!

Lesson learned:
Nice furniture is great. Good company to use the furniture with is even better.



Note: Chief asked why he is called "Chief." It's because he drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Love,

Sunnyluna

Lies Adults Tell Children (and the Effects They Have on Them)

10. "If you swallow gum, it takes 7 years for it to come out, or it may get stuck in your ribs while trying to pass. So stop swallowing your gum." --my mother

Gave me a psychosomatic stomachache. I was sure it got stuck.



9. "I found you under a bridge."--my father.

Thought it was the bridge behind the playground. Hoped they wouldn't return me to the bridge. Only dawned upon me after college that "bridge" in korean is the same word for "legs" in korean.


8.  "Ouch." --my mom, after I tickled her.

Really thought my tickling pained my mom until I asked her why it tickles for everyone else but hurts for her. She said it's to make me stop. I thought to myself, "Confusing, but good tactic."


7. "If you swallow, watermelon seeds, you will grow watermelons from your ears. Same with grape seeds." --my father

Worried all night about all the watermelons that would grow from the seeds I had swallowed before he told me this and wondered if it would hurt if I plucked the watermelons off.


6. During elementary school, Mrs. Kirby's hair went back and forth from strawberry blonde and platinum blonde. I asked her why her hair color keeps changing, and she said, "It's the change in the weather that changes my hair color." --Mrs. Kirby

I'm still confused if blonde hair changes according to weather.


5. "If you cut your fingernails at night, a ghost will come out and eat you." --Grandma

I cut my fingernails in daylight to this day, even as an adult, just in case.


4. "If you cut your hair shorter, you will grow taller." --Older girl at church

Nope, didn't help. Maybe I didn't cut it short enough.


3. "Santa Grandpa came last night to give you this card and gift."--Mom

Wondered why Santa's handwriting was the same as my mom's and wondered how he knew my korean name.


2. Caught my mom slipping a 20 under my pillow. She said "Uh...The tooth fairy told me to give it to you." -Mom, in the morning

The tooth fairy has 20's??? She's rich!


1.  [Tooth threaded] "Close your eyes. I won't pull the string." --Dad

Liar.



Lesson Learned:
Adults lie to children because they love them. The children grow up loved, but slightly confused.


Love,

Sunnyluna

Craigslist Find: Long Dresser

Growing up, TVs were like a box of kleenex, a trashcan, or a pillow--things that are nice to have in every room and somewhat convenient/comforting. There was a TV in every major room. Maybe that's why it was me who fell in love with our Samsung 52 inch.

The only problem is that it is MASSIVE. The dresser it is sitting on is about 65 inches, but it still didn't really allow for any extra space.

I found this 74 inch dresser on craigslist. I went over to their house and it was a 25-acre mansion. They couldn't even hear the doorbell ring, so I went to the back of the house where the help probably lived and the owners lived there to save heating costs. For reals??? Ok, anyways, we hung out for a few hours, talked politics, met their whole family, toured their house, and got the dresser. They're downgrading their possessions and selling their empty nest.

Same thing I tell young college ladies, "Don't look for the finished product; just look for potential."

With several weeks of hard work in the cold...you can see some progress. The hardest part was putting on these antique handles. Thank goodness Alex (and Caleb) was here to help.

Caleb handing daddy the pull cups

Me helping a lot while sipping my coconut water

My supervisor checking my work

And finally.....

This was inspired by Life in the Fun Lane

More room...

I wanted to add something to line the drawers. So added a Waverly fabric in heavy cotton with modpodge.

The cups and pulls are antique brass made in Italy.

Lesson learned in this hunt:

Build a large house in heaven, keep your house on earth smaller or else you'll end up trying to sell during a recession and your grown/married kids will try to live with you.

Love,

Sunnyluna

Korean 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy.

It seemed like yesterday your daddy and I bundled you up in 4 swaddle blankets as we exited the hospital on a warm day in July with temperatures soaring in the high 90's. But you didn't complain. You slept peacefully and quietly. So quiet, that I worried that I broke you...so I checked about 20 times to see if you were still breathing.

Now, you're running around in the Cerritos Public Library, the place your mommy used to write her MUN speeches at because she needed the encyclopedia, because we didn't have google back then. You're a big boy now, with friends of your own. Happy birthday my dear boy. Looking forward to many more to come.

Love,

Sunnyluna

2 tiered cupcake stand on paper plates using terracotta pots in Martha Stewart wrapping paper

Balloon friends

Doljabi: Caleb, you are free to be whatever you choose, but just letting you know the occupation to your right pays a lot better than a scholar.

Fondant cake by Michelle Kim at ummaknowsbest.wordpress.com

Friends!!!

Sporting Burberry

Used wrapped boxes to fill space (it's a really large stage)

Closing Thoughts: My next kid's dohl will be with a theme where I can wear jeans and less makeup. 

Craigslist Find: Rolltop Desk

My motto: It is easier to hide stuff, than to clean stuff.


So, searched for the perfect rolltop desk.

Requirements:

1. It has to be able to hide my stuff so I don't have to clean.

2. I prefer it to be small to be functional because Chief and I don't use desks anymore. We plop down on the couch to do any work. If we're serious, we use the dining table. But this is rare, too. So we need a "storage desk."

3. Should be kind of distinctive in features, not too generic and bulky.

So this is what I found:

It even had a cool pencil sharpener!

So this desk is from the 1950's. It was a child-sized desk used in a school. It passed my criteria for a redo:

1. It's old, but not too old where I would strip the value if I refinished it.

2. It's more valuable to me redone than as is.

It's not complete (still need to add more hardware and stuff), but here is progress!

What was done: sanded, hammered off old drawer handles, sanded, wiped clean, primed, sanded, primed, sanded, spray painted, sanded, spray painted, sanded, poly-acrylic added, sanded, sharpener in acid cleaner, scrubbed.

(Chief, you begged me to give you hints on what I wanted for Xmas. Maybe an orbital sander.)

To be done: add hardware, line drawers, maybe redo the whole color with an ivory rather than bright white...we'll see.

Love,

Sunnyluna

Craigslist Find: The Vanity

I used to live in LA. Now, I live on farmland…in NJ. Big change. We trek 1/2 a mile to put our trashcan out on the curb. It’s really gloomy these days, but strangely, natives here rave about how the weather has been so nice. Before I get Seasonal Affect Disorder, I thought…”I need a hobby.”

So I decided to look into antiques. Yes, Pawn Stars and Storage Wars have done a number on me.

So, this is my big craigslist find! Basically, a young guy stopped his friend from throwing out his grandma’s old vanity that was being unused. It was listed on Craigslist for a while and he was eager for more garage space.

When Chief picked up the dresser, he said, “I could see why you like it.” That was it. That’s all I needed for my weekly verbal affirmation. He was impressed.

So we looked at every detail to find out more information. There was no label or branding. After reading a website on how to identify furniture, we found the numbers 534 in the back of the vanity.

According to the Biddington Chart, the patent date traced to 1837. Is that cool or what? Now the disclaimer: I think it could be a reproduction, which is still vaulable. Possibly like late 1800's, early 1900's. Some of the details didn't really add up to be in the 1837ish era. Still pretty old, though.

I was planning on painting it, but now, how can I paint it knowing that it’s so old? I feel like I would be wiping out history or something. So we decided to leave it. I guess I will modernize it with accessories and stuff. We’ll see.

So that was my high for the week!

Love,

Sunnyluna