Blake, our sweet Auntie Gail, and I headed into Viroqua Saturday morning to attend a Kickapoo Coffee Cupping.

It was FUN!

Even though I only have a few photos, this is a memory I still want to keep!

This is a free event that Kickapoo Coffee offers so that you can learn about how they roast their coffee, the farms that the beans come from, the ins and outs of the coffee business, and you get to taste LOTS of coffee.

It was VERY interesting!!

The coffee was delicious too!

The storage area was a temperature controlled room, but the beans dispensed through this wall into the roasting room.

The two roasters were huge!

One was much bigger than the other and could hold a lot more coffee beans at one time.

After the tour we headed into a room that was set up for the cupping.

There were probably six to eight different roasts of coffee to taste.

You would dip your spoon into the coffee sample and sip the coffee off your spoon.

There was a lot of slurping going on!

Blake and Kayla had been to this before for Blake’s birthday last year.

Now Blake and I want to take Grant and Addie Mae back!

It was such a neat learning experience!!

And they love coffee too!

This coffee cupping was a great start to a great weekend!

We bought this church pew quite a few years ago off of Craig’s List, and it was a great addition to the mud room at the farm.

I was very thankful when we fell in love with Twin Oaks that I knew right away there was a spot for the pew here too!

Even before we left the farm, I had a plan in my head to bring life back into this pew.

The guys sanded some spots on it for me a few weeks ago – areas where a certain cute puppy had chewed on it.

This past Saturday I did not have a lot of kitchen work (WHAT?), and figured I would have enough time to complete this project in one weekend.

Thankfully, Grant helped me with the painting part!

This was the first time I have ever used Annie Sloan chalk paint, and now I AM HOOKED.

We washed the bench with dish soap and water, dried it thoroughly, and the first coat of paint was on in no time!

This paint is pricey ($32, I think, for that small can above), but you get what you pay for!

It had no odor and very low VOC’s.

We only used half of the can of graphite colored paint to complete this whole project – so this paint goes a long way.

It only took about one hour for the first coat to dry.

We waited a bit longer than that and then applied the second coat.

Once the second coat dried, we decided the seat of the bench was the only area that needed a third coat.

We did that the next day.

After painting the seat again, I took some sand paper and did some light distressing.

I wanted to keep the distressing subtle, and I even painted back over one area that I had distressed across the top of the bench and did not like.

After I finished distressing it, I applied a coat of clear glaze.

It was easy too!

I added a second coat of glaze to the seat of the bench.

After it dried, I buffed it one more time – kind of like waxing a car.

Addie Mae and I have now been eyeing up our old beat up kitchen table and chairs.

I do have a full can of white Annie Sloan paint too.

Hmmm.

There’s also that buffet downstairs.

Spring better get here quick, or I might go a little crazy painting things!

The finished bench looks just like the picture I had in my head!

I, of course, am envisioning the bench with the furniture we are about to buy for this room as well!

It looks even better with the furniture!

Stay tuned – Lord willing I will be able to show you it all together sooner than later!