Ah, once it all comes together, I'm sure your wife will love all of it. For me as I have not a single ounce of creativity in my bones, its hard to picture what a finished product will look like. Maybe she's the same.

At least she's got good taste in corals!!
Yep, family first. My dad always had projects on the go when we were growing up, he built a lot of our furniture in our house, children's furniture, rocking horses (one won an award at the Calgary Stampede) model planes, refinishing old vehicles, model trains for a while, endless pets, wine making (which started my brother's enterpreneural skills at 15 as he was selling bottles to all his buddies..lol). As we grew, we would help or hang out with him on projects. Hopefully your girls will want to share in some of your interests as they get older (I know they are still babies

).
My dad said the same thing about the material around the stand....I'm considering it. It doesn't bother me or anyone else the way it is now.