SLOW DOWN.............and sip your coffee.

As I sit here, on this couch of mine, with no TV, no kids a stirring, just silence...... it hits me that life doesn't have to move at the speed of light. Life moves at the speed in which you make it move. 

Slow Down.....and sip your coffee.

One day last week was probably one of the scariest moments I've experienced in my life. I went to the ER last week experiencing chest pains, arm numbness and indescribable pain in the back of my neck. Heart attack at age 30? How could I be feeling like this? Why is this happening to me? What about my girls? Who will teach them the things they need to know about life? Who will protect them from the boys that will break their hearts as they grow? What about my wife? How will she go on? We are on a journey together, we are a team, there's no I in team.... Then I think,  I've got to much to do to be dealing with this right now. I've got too many projects that aren't complete? 

WHAT???? 

I've got too much to do? 

Who says that?  

Well. This guy says that. WHY? I don't know, but as I sit at home today, I know I won't ever say it again. Long story, but it wasn't a heart attack I was experiencing but some other health related issues that I've been putting off for a while. Side Note: when your body tells you something, don't put it off, it's a lot smarter than you give it credit for.

At the age of 24 I lost my best friend to a motorcycle accident. We were 2 modern day, Bo and Luke Duke friends (minus the badass 69 charger with rebel flag roof). We ran hard, experienced life like any midwest 20 something year old kids should. One thing that set him apart from me, was his Life's a Garden, Dig it!! mentality.  I envied that quality in him.  Now that I look back on it, I think he knew that he would not be on this earth for a long period of time and wanted to make the most of it. From the day that I carried him to his final resting place, I vowed to carry that trait into my daily life.

What happened? Life Happened? No, I chose to let it go by too quick. I read Emily's last post and realized that she was thinking the same thing. So now, under this roof we will be moving at our own speed. We will enjoy watching our kids grow and will not be the ones who in 20 years tell new parents it goes quick they don't stay babies for long. No, we will tell them, enjoy them, it will be the best years of your life. 

Under this roof, we will do things we enjoy. Things that bring us great joy. 

Under this roof, we will not be afraid to try new things and experience life. 

BE A REBEL...REBEL AGAINST A HECTIC LIFESTYLE. REBEL AGAINST GOING TO FAST IN LIFE. REBEL AGAINST NOT HAVING FUN.

Okay, enough of that business. It's been a while since we have shared some DIY projects with you. I figured I would take some quick pics of the things I've recently built and some things many moons ago.  This is one of the things I love most about our house. Almost all of our furniture in our house I have made. Basically, Emily says I saw this (insert some sort of crazy idea off Pinterest) and I was thinking that you could make it for me...But better. That's where she gets me hook, line and sinker. Always up for a competition. I always give Em a hard time about having to make another project for her (shhh...I actually enjoy doing it but don't tell her or Pinterest will be the death of me.)

I made this hutch soon after we built the house. All of the barn wood came from an old barn that a friend was tearing down at his new property. (Word of advice - if you are getting barn wood in the middle of the summer; take a gun for snakes, spray down for ticks, and have plenty of ice cold beer. Barns built back in the day were built when men were steel and ships were wood.)

I also built these tables soon after the house was built.  My lovely wife said "we just have to get us some end tables. None of the ones at the store are what I like!" Cue Charlie out in the garage making some end tables. 

I found this saw milled log in our creek behind the house.  I had a couple buddies hook a chain onto it and we pulled it out with my truck.  It was water logged beyond belief, weighing close to 400lbs. I let it sit in the garage for about a month to air out.  Emily came home the night I pulled it out and said I know where that's going......

We just hadddddddd to put a gallery wall in our house (or seven).............we wanted something different then just your standard picture frames, so i decided to make a large frame with pictures in it!

We like Wine......Could've guessed huh? Well Em always wanted to have a Chalkboard in the house. So I decided to surprise her and make her one with a wine shelf.  Check out the tutorial on how to build one for yourself.

This is probably my favorite piece in the whole house.  Im not quite sure why, but it just seemed to fit perfect in our house. The barn wood came from the Nashville Flea Market and the guys I got it from said they removed it from the old stalls at the Kentucky Derby years ago. (My little helper was asleep on the couch today while I was taking the pictures)

I built this as the guest book signing table for our wedding.  The wood from this also came from my buddies barn.  After the wedding I had this pretty cool table and didn't  want to get rid of it.  So we decided to ditch our old entertainment center and put this in its place.(Notice how fixer upper is on the TV. Yea, its on almost all the time at our house and I frequently give em the superman shirt pose that Chip gives JoJo)

Those end tables I made for the living room, well yea we needed some for our bedsides.  When we remolded our master bedroom I built these to go with our decor.  Check out how I made the Flea Market Lamps here.

This is our latest project.  With the recent addition to our family with Baby Guthrie, we needed to add on. So, I lost my garage and a master bedroom was added in its place. So we went with vaulted ceilings, fireplace, wagon wheel chandelier and barn doors.  This is by far my favorite room in the whole house.  Stay tuned to future blog posts and we'll show you how we transformed the garage into the Master Bedroom and some step by step instructions on how to add a fireplace and barn doors to your house.  

That's all for today.  Since we're pledging to slow down and spend time doing things we love, you'll want to stay tuned.  We love building and creating and making our house into a home and we plan on showing you a lot more real soon!