Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table

When we got our current couch we didn't have a coffee table to go with it. I had a really hard time trying to find a coffee table that would be long enough, within our budget, and in the style that I wanted. So, I came up with the idea to use the scrap wood that had been sitting outside for a few years. I attempted to build the table myself, but I didn't feel confident enough to complete it, so I had Ryan do a majority of the cuts/drilling, and I stained, applied polyurethane, and painted the table. Unfortunately, I do not have photographs of the process, but I do have photographs of the final results.

 Ryan screwed the boards together with these flat brackets:

 This box came from our garage, I believe the old owner used it as a tool box of sorts.

I painted the legs the color of the dining room walls, because I like two toned furniture pieces. If you have any questions feel free to ask! :)

New Kitchen Lighting

Yesterday Ryan and I had a grand ole time at Ikea. We knew that we wanted to update a few things in the house so we planned a small list of the items we wanted to look for. On our list was a new bed (we couldn't agree on one), kitchen lighting, and dining room lighting. We also perused the bedding, but we don't like the idea of having a duvet cover. We tried one from Ikea in the past and the duvet would always get balled up in the inside of the cover. So, we entered the first set up in Ikea and both spied lighting that we really liked. We were looking to replace the current 80's fixture in our kitchen. Unfortunately, I do not have a photograph of it. It was basically two fluorescent tubes encased in a plastic cover. So, without further adieu the lighting we fell in love with is called Foto. Here is a stock image from Ikea's website:

We finished walking around the showroom area of the store and decided to head down to the stocked area to look at the pricing information for the Foto lighting. We both really liked the look of the lighting, and it fit nicely into the budget we had in mind. We knew that one would not be enough light for our entire kitchen, so Ryan had the brilliant idea to get 3 of the lights and run them on a track like it was shown in the store. This ended up being a bigger task than anticipated, but in the end we were able to get the lighting installed. Here are the pieces we needed to complete the installation:
($5.00)
($20.00)
(3x $5.00)
(3x $15.00)
________________________
Total price: $85.00


Here are some photographs of the lighting in our space:

Please ignore the yucky ceiling surrounding the lights, I haven't got to painting it yet :). So, tell me, what do you think of our new foto lighting? :)