AN INTIMATE GRADUATION GATHERING IN OUR NEW MOUNTAIN RETREAT
Hello!
Last Saturday evening our youngest son Austin graduated from Rim of the World High School, Home of the Fighting Scots. He received his diploma from a kilt-wearing Principal bearing a sword.
Austin elected to have an intimate graduation gathering in our new mountain retreat in lieu of a large graduation party like the one I hosted when his brother graduated. I was delighted to accommodate that request because it would give me a hard deadline to complete the renovation of our new/old Fawnskin log cabin.
I am excited to report that it is now nearly complete and ready for occupancy and I will be listing it for rent on VRBO.com along with my other vacation rental cottage real soon. However, on the weekend of graduation a fire threatened the area and we were worried that our plans to spend graduation weekend at the cabin would be squelched by a fire evacuation. Thankfully the winds blew and the fire burned in the opposite direction and all was well. The billowing clouds of smoke were a sight to behold however!
Soon I will be sharing with you every corner of the cabin with before and after photos of the renovation. But for now you will get a sneak peek at the dining area where we gathered to celebrate Austin. If you’d like to duplicate the look, simply click on the highlighted words for links to all my resources.
As I have mentioned previously, Austin will be attending The University of Colorado at Boulder, or CU Boulder as it is referred to. So I hung a chalkboard bunting overhead proclaiming that he is “CU Boulder Bound”.
I purchased the Chalkboard Bunting at Hobby Lobby. They come in plain black and can be personalized using white chalk markers.
I also purchased this Chalkboard Easel at Hobby Lobby.
As another ode to Austin’s alma mater, I placed 8″ paper mache letters, a C, U & B, on the table. I plan to paint them in his school colors and send them to the university with him as dorm decor, that is if he doesn’t decide it’s not cool.
The color scheme I chose for my new/old log cabin decor is black, white and natural. So those were the colors I chose to use for my tablescape as well. As you can see, I still have not tired of chalkboard decor, which some designers are saying is now passe’. I used cute clip-on chalkboards as place cards, also from Hobby Lobby.
You can find the black & white chevron patterned paper straws here.
I sewed the tablecloth and napkins myself. The black ticking striped woven ribbon used to tie up the napkins comes from World Market. My Treble Clef Iron Flatware also comes from World Market.
The placemats, white ceramic water glasses, champagne glasses, flower vases, candles and glass votives all come from IKEA.
As mentioned in a previous post, I sewed the cushions on the banquette myself. And I reupholstered the seats on the antique chairs (left behind by the previous owners) with matching fabric. The throw pillows are from H & M Home.
My sweet little Grandson was the first one to the table. It was a wonderful and memorable weekend, and the beginning of a new chapter in all of our lives.
By the way, I do know one thing that will definitely be going off to college with Austin: the turntable Brad & I gave him along with the vinyl record collections we had saved from our youth. Did you know that records and record players are all the rage today? We did get a kick out of Austin learning to operate it. Having never used a record player before, he needed a lesson in how to use it. This, of course, made me feel nothing short of ancient! The new record players are also MP3 players with lots of other modern bells and whistles. And I bought this at Nordstrom no less!
I hope you enjoyed our intimate little party and the sneak peek at my log cabin renovation. Stay tuned for lots more renovation news coming to the blog real soon! I can’t wait to share more of my cabin with you.
So there you have it: AN INTIMATE GRADUATION GATHERING IN OUR NEW MOUNTAIN RETREAT
PS – This is not a sponsored post. I just like sharing my resources with all of you!
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