Table Talk: Our Block "Buster" Pick - Baltimore, MD. - April 2012

So, lets chat for a moment.

First, after getting it all down I realized I had a lot to say. So I decided to break the selection and ordering process into a few smaller posts to make it a little easier to digest.

If you're just joining us, you can get the full scoop HERE.

But, to make a long story short,we're in the midst of a blog contest to win a dining table from Su Casa. It's a Baltimore based furniture store that sells and delivers their furniture and other products up and down the east coast and also ships across the country.

Second, I find it really amusing that NOBODY chose the dining table and chairs we ended up picking. so for the last week I've had SUPER buyers remorse but following our original path of logic I eventually circled back around to our "picks".

So without further delay, I give you...

The Buster Dining Table: Straight Legs
Her Stats: L7"' (+24" center leaf) x D42" x H30")
(yes it's a her, and you'll have to stay tuned to find out this pretty lady's name)

We gave a lot of consideration to three other tables

The Boulder Dining Table:

As I mentioned before, we are currently in a small space, but we needed the table to be able to grow with us into our next (hopefully larger) space, so we wanted a table with a leaf or two. and at 84" without and no leaf it was too big for today and not quite big enough for the future.

The Dover Dining Table:

I LOVE this table top and how you can feel the grain of the wood. However, after seeing and feeling it in the store we realized that it wasn't going to be easy to get peanut butter and jelly sandwich remnants out of those rustic grooves. It does had the ability to extend with leaves placed at each end, which in theory was great, but when we saw it in the store it sort of looked like an airplane with these giant awkward wings. it's more of a table that will normally, 90% of the time, be in a small space, like an apartment or row home, that you'd occasionally want to expand for guests. It is a BEAUTIFUL table! At 70" would be great for our "right now table", but just isn't our "forever table".

The Hido Dining Table:

This was one that surprised us, On line, it looked way too modern for our taste, but while milling around the store it was the first one we were both drawn to. It truly is a FANTASTIC piece of furniture, but the Hub and I agree that bench seating isn't what wee wanted for our "dining room". When we kick back with a glass of wine at the end of a great meal with friends there needs to be something to kick back to. The Hido Bench has no back, so you'd basically fall on the floor, and although that's pretty memorable, it isn't what we want for our dining room. We both LOVED this table, and agree that it will more than likely have a place in our home as a breakfast table; perfect for doing homework and zooming toy cars on, but again, just not our "forever dining table".

Our Forever Table

The Buster Dining Table: Straight Legs really was a great marriage of the traditional look that we both like with a little bit of the rustic look we wanted in the "distressed" top...

And the modern style with the straight leg

In case the straight leg isn't your style, there's also the option for the turned leg.

As a total side note, I also LOVE LOVE LOVE that side board in this photo!

It's the Dover Sideboard and depending on the space and budget available, they make a small and large version.

Okay, that's it for now. What do you think?  Leave your comments below.  Stay tuned for CHAIRS and the EXPERIENCE!!!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Pie...? - Baltimore, MD. - April 2012

Notice anything odd about this scene from our little lady's kitchen?

A closer look....?

Yes, those are people baking in that pie...

Hmmmmmm...?

I guess that's all I have to say about that.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

A Table for the Wanderers - Baltimore, MD. - April 2012

Many of you know that because of my husband’s career, we’re over 1100 miles from almost all of our closest family and friends, so it’s worth mentioning that our little wandering family and the time we spend together is the center of our world. We spend a lot of that "together time" at our dining room table.  It's figuratively and literally the center of our home. You can see almost every inch of Its 1300 square feet from that table; a 70s model, clad in pealing, wood grain Formica...

with metal piped legs...

and brown, cracked vinyl chairs.

It's the centerpiece of that room.  We eat, play games, celebrate special occasions, and make some of our biggest life decisions around it.

 It’s not the prettiest, but we love it for the role it plays in our home.

As we've been window shopping on Su Casa's website for THE NEW TABLE for this wandering family, it's funny that I find myself comparing our "new table" to our old one (in a good way).

It's small and intimate (even with the leaf in), which I LOVE, but this makes it difficult to have more than one other couple over for dinner at a time, so we definitely want something that can seat at least 6 adults comfortably. but will also be able to grow with us.  These are some of the tables we've got our eye on. 

(click the name and it will link you to an image)

The Dover

The Buster - straight leg

The Buster - round

The Boulder

The Hido

This may sound funny but those old beat up chairs are so comfortable ans easy to clean. Because of this, we're both leaning in the direction of a leather upholstered chair, but we also can't resist being drawn to a classic sturdy wooden chair.  Here are some of the chairs we're thinking about.

(click the name and it will link you to an image)

The Texas Chair

The Valencia Chair - Leather

Stiles Chairs - with arms

Stiles Chairs - without

I also like the chairs pictured with the Dover Dining Table,

but can't find them on their site.

What do you think? Any favorites in the crowd? Let me know if there are any contenders we missed.

Til next time,

Bon Voyage!

The Destroyer of Books - Baltimore, MD. - April, 2012

We have a problem!

This sweet, beautiful little lady does this...

to just about every book she gets her hands on.

She use to eat them, now she destroys them.  I'm at the end of my rope!  I've been hunting on line to find other parents that have dealt with this but really haven't found much.  I think this is so exasperating for me because I LOVE books and to see my daughter making quick work of dismantling all the pages, peep-a-boo flaps, spines, and covers just breaks my heart.

PLEASE HELP!!!  How do you stop a 2 year old from destroying her books?

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

I'm A FINALIST!!! Ready? Set? BLOG!!! - Baltimore,MD - April 2012

 I've been watching a lot of the award shows lately... The CMA's, The Grammy's, The Academy Awards, and 3 nights ago the ACM Awards.  I just love the suspense and watching the faces of the nominees just before they announce the winner. That's a little how I felt the morning I woke up to find an e-mail from Su Casa sitting in my inbox. I was sort of transported back to my senior year in high school when I was opening college admissions letters. Did I make it? Am I in or out...? I almost jumped out of my chair when I read the words, "We are happy to announce that you've been chosen as a finalist..."

I am a finalist in the "Test it. Blog it. Win it." promotion at Su Casa!!!

My dear friend Ashley and Anna hate the excessive use of exclimation points and capital letters, but...

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY! YAY!! YA!!!

In case this is the first you're hearing about it, The "Test it. Blog it. Win it." contest” asks a select group of bloggers to document the entire process of creating, ordering, and living with customized furniture from their store. At the end of June they will take a bunch of factors into account and on July 1st, they'll announce that one of their featured furniture testing bloggers has won everything they've been demoing in their home. The cool part though is that even if you aren’t the BIG winner, just by being selected as a finalist blogger you have the opportunity, at the end of the contest, to purchase your custom furniture at 50% off the retail price.

Out of all the submissions, I have been chosen, along with 16 others, to be one of their featured bloggers. I'll be blogging about custom dining furniture and I can't stress how much I will need your help!

The way Su Casa makes their decisions on the winner are creativity, quality and frequency of posts, Feedback and commentary on each post, and traffic from the blog sites back to the Su Casa website. I'll do my best to keep the posts coming and make them entertaining, informative and creative, but I need your help on those last 2; Feedback and commentary on each post, and traffic from my blog back to the Su Casawebsite. This is the one part of the contest that is actually quantifiable, meaning they have a way of seeing where their website traffic sources from and they can also go to our blogs to see how many comments we have on our posts.

NOTE TO READER: You DO NOT have to live in Baltimore to look at, dream about, and buy furniture from Su Casa!  Which means you DO NOT have to live in Baltimore to help me win a fantastically beautiful dining set by commenting on my blog and checking out their website. 

Over the next few months we'll do some fun stuff to get you in the Su Casa Spirit.

OH and there will be a couple of GIVEAWAYS that just might be based on who my most loyal and frequent commenters are. 

NOTE TO SU CASA AMPLOYEES: You may not have been able to participate in the "Test it. Blog it. Win it." promotion, but you are more than welcome to participate in my giveaways.  (If you need an alious I understand just make it the same one every time you comment.) Based on what I've read in the "Our Story" section of the website, Y'all are some of their best customers!

So join us for some dining furniture fun!

READY...? SET...? BLOG!!!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!