dining room Archives - Feathers in Our Nest

Fall Hospitality (& How Vera Helps!)

November 5, 2014 by Aliesha

Something about fall just makes me want to show hospitality!

I love having people around my table, serving them warm food and talking while the candles burn down.

So many “fall dishes” are warm and comforting, and perfect for easy hospitality. Beef stew, ham & potato chowder, lasagna, enchiladas… all of these are warm and delicious, yet simple.

Our new wall art is so special to us. We sang this hymn at our wedding and at Tad’s ordination. It’s a Lindsay Letters print we bought at Hobby Lobby.

Our calligraphy name art can be found at MiMi’s Soda Shoppe.

Vera has been so excited about showing hospitality when we’ve done it lately.

Here are some ways she helps:
-straightening up her room
-picking up books and toys in the living room
-setting the table (with a little help)
-greeting guests at the door
-serving dessert (she loves to carry plates in for people!)
-thanking our guests for coming

My best tip for showing hospitality… just INVITE them, and then figure everything else out! I bet you’ll get that table cleaned off if you know they are coming. 😉

The Sauder Experience: Sideboard Restyled

October 10, 2014 by Aliesha

Sauder recently challenged me to take one piece of furniture and style it in three different ways! This was easy, and so fun!

If you remember from this post back in the summer (where you can read about my experience shopping for and assembling the piece), I selected the Shoal Creek Soft White Dresser from Sauder. This is what it looked like then.

Three months later, I still love it! I’ve been using it as a sideboard in my dining room when entertaining, and it is so great to have the extra surface to set things on other than the table!

We used it at Vera’s birthday party (see here and here), as well as pretty much any other time we’ve had lots of guests over! We had a sandwich buffet on it one weekend, and another time we used it for holding all the dishes we served family-style. I also like being able to decorate it seasonally.

Here is one new way I styled it recently… for an autumn brunch!

The next way is a bit outside of the box, but I wanted to show the versatility of this piece! Many homeschooling families I know do their school work in their dining room, so I styled this as a practical piece for educational use!

As we start to do more “official” school stuff in the future, it will be great to be able to have all our supplies in the dining room so we can work right at the table.

Think about how many school supplies you can store in those drawers! Perfect for keeping everything conveniently within reach, yet also hidden out of site!

I love using this Sauder dresser in my dining room! I can’t wait to use it in many other fun ways in the future.

For more ideas for ways to use furniture in new and unexpected ways, check out my Pinterest board: Furniture Repurposed!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sauder. The opinions and text are all mine.