DIY: A new {to me} dining table!

My husband and I have been married for almost years.  When we got married, I was living in a small apartment with a card table as my dining room table.  Adam had a nice, square table with matching stools, so that's what we used as our dining table.  Even though the wood finish was beautiful, there were a few drawbacks.  It sat pretty high, and there were no backs on the stools, so you couldn't sit there for too long and remain comfortable.  Also, because of its size and shape, it would only sit 4 people.   Here's a picture from our old apartment:

My parents decided to get a new dining room table to accomodate our growing family and additional company.  My mom asked me if I wanted their old dining table - the one I'd sat at all through high school, college, etc.  I turned her down because, well, I didn't like the table all that much.

Until I saw THIS!!!

My friend, Kathryn over at Barefoot Daydreams had THE SAME TABLE and had found a way to make it her own.  I'm pretty sure you can even read my comment at the end of her post explaining that immediately emailed my mom asking her if we could still have the table.  I LOVED the color Kathryn went with - the finish was beautiful - so I knew I wanted to copycat her process.  Thankfully, Kathryn is super crafty and explains things very well, so her tutorial was very easy to follow.

About a month later, my mom brought the old table up to us on a visit, and I spent a Saturday transforming the table.  It was a lot of fun!

The weather was getting cooler, so Adam made Butternut Squash Soup - delicious! 

This soup was so yummy and perfect for this fall day!

My job was the bread.  Here's the easy recipe:

BEST Sweet Corn Muffins EVER

¼ c. butter, softened

¼ c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 ½ c. bisquick

¼ c. yellow corn meal 

2/3 – ¾  c. milk

Preheat oven to 375; grease 12 muffin cups. Combine dry ingredients in small bowl and stir together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk and stir until just combined.  Spoon equally into muffin cups. 

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until set and just turning golden on top.

And finally, here's the finished table:

Obviously I didn't take the time to "stage" it for the photo, but who cares?  

I love it!