Pull Up A Chair

Does that phrase resonate with you the same way it does with me?

It tells me I’m welcome and I’m wanted.

At our core we truly just want to be seen, known, and loved. While know one can see, know, and love me to the depths that God does, and neither can I do that for anyone else in the way that he ultimately does, we sure can try be his hands and feet and to be used by him to make others feel that way.

I am so deeply passionate about this. I always have been. That doesn’t mean I’ve always done it well, but I’ve always cared deeply about making sure others feel welcome. And the place I get to do this most? My home. While I love making guests feel welcome in my home, making sure they have a place that feels like their own, and that there are kind gestures that communicate that their presence is valued and welcome, I care most deeply about creating a sense of belonging and welcome for my husband and my kids.

So, a natural way to do this is to provide a literal seat for my people, a seat they know is theirs and that communicates the desire for their presence. It’s a tangible way to show them that they have a place, a significant one, under this roof and inside these walls.

Let’s talk about one of my favorite spaces that does that well, our family room! The star of this room is definitely our extra large desk. Here’s how the desk started out being used in our apartment:

We built this using a countertop and some legs from IKEA. I’m almost positive this is the countertop we used. The nice thing is there’s a variety of prices/materials. You can do wood veneer, which is obviously most like a wood desk. That’s what we have and we’ve sanded it and oiled it multiple times with no issues. Although I don’t think I can sand it again, so it’s now developed that glorious craft table patina. Or, if budget is more of an issue, you could do one of their laminate options. And then they have 74” options or 98” options. We went with the 98”. If you’re hoping to seat four on one side, that’s the size I’d recommend.

The legs, well, as soon as I brought them home I wished I’d gotten a different color, but they were very on sale, and honestly they went fine with the overall vibe/aesthetic of that specific room. (But I did end up painting them when we moved into our rental home.)

The original intent of this table was for my husband and I to sit side by side in the evenings while he did work and I did something boring or creative, ha. But it quickly became a favorite space for the kids to hang out.

Then, when we moved to our rental house, I decided to try it out as an outdoor dining table. Here are a few sub par pictures of it, since I can’t find any great ones. (Feel free to note how all my paper lanterns slid together at one point, ha!)

We decided to move it inside because we transitioned to homeschooling and needed a space to do that, and because it was getting some pretty significant water spots and mildew spots. Also, the yellow chairs were starting to rust. (We moved during thunderstorm season so they got wet quite often. We also didn’t eat out there as often as we imagined we would. At the time I was (and still am) in love with the family room set up, so I didn’t think twice about moving it in. But I’ll be honest, as I look at this now, it makes me miss having that table, or any table really, out there! It was so nice for eating a snack, the kids doing watercolor, or doing Bible study… My wheels are turning, so if I make changes and create another table space out there, I’ll let you know!

But for now, here’s where the desk ended up going and where it still is to this day, getting tons of use and making sure my most precious people know they are welcome in this place.

You may notice in the last picture we added the lamps and we also added cushions to the chairs. Those were some chairs I got at an amazing price, but my oh my, they are not comfortable on their own and what’s the point of pulling up a chair if you can’t stay a while? So the cushions make them much better. This is the sweet spot where my four kiddos line up each day for homeschool or gather throughout the day to paint or play play-dough. It doesn’t often look orderly and calm, but it is always full of life, love, and learning.

This post was inspired by a dear friend asking me about this desk, since she’s searching for a solution for her sunroom. I hope you find the best solution for your space, friend! And as for the rest of you, I hope this is an encouraging reminder to you that there are more options for a space than what exist at Target or on Wayfair. The sky really is the limit, so have fun creating!