Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.

PAUL THEROUX

We are hitting the open road and heading towards Kansas today to spend the holiday with our family.

It is always a full car with our luggage and both pugs in their kennels. At least Nellie does not seem to mind the three-hour drive.

In honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to do a post about our dinning room design project. When we first toured our home, the thing that stuck out to me was the beautiful living and dinning room when I walked in the front door.

I knew I wanted to recreate a similar look. We had a dinning room table that was passed down from my father, but it was a yellow pine that was crafted in Colorado. It was not quite what I was going for, so Chris and I decided to try our first refinishing project.

We started by sanding off the finish of the pine table. We used a wood filler to fill in any cracks. Then we painted on a few coats of dark stain until we achieved the look we wanted. To seal in the finish, we applied a generous coat of polyurethane.

Our spin was not an exact match to our inspiration, but I really love how it turned out. By incorporating a similar large mirror, it kept the open feeling we were going for with views into the living room.

We also decided to create a memory wall to showcase some of our family pictures.

There are so many ways to create a memory wall, and pottery barn does a good job at explaining the basics.

I decided to use a theme of all gold frames. Since I had the frames all touching to maximize the space, I broke up the photos by putting mats in some and a small mirror in the mix. Less is usually more when it comes to pictures displayed in your home.

I think family dinners are so important, and it is nice have a place to eat that you enjoy.

What is your favorite room in your house?