Dining, Done!

 

I would have never guessed how slow progress on DIY projects would be with a little one.  Looking back over the progress pictures I had to go back all the way to August!!  Now granted this has been completed for a little while, I’ve just neglected to get around to telling you about it.  So I know it’s been a long time for me and you probably don’t even remember what it looked like before or what the plan was.

So a quick reminder:

The first project at hand was to pull up the carpet.  It was stained and icky feeling.  I didn’t love the idea of wall to wall carpet in my dining room and I wanted to be able to put down an area rug.  What we thought would be pretty straight forward and fast ended up being more of a project.  Duh… isn’t that always the way!  The carpet was easy to remove, it was the nail strips that were a bear!  When they nail them into concrete its not a simple task to remove.  Then you leave divots everywhere a nail used to be, so we had to then patch the concrete. 

We decided to paint the walls next so we wouldn’t have to worry about splatter on the floors.  As you may remember from the plan, I wanted to do some simple board and batten.  So we painted the upper section in that gorgeous Templeton Grey from Benjamin Moore and the lower section in semi gloss “white” from Sherwin Williams.

After the walls were painted then the fun started.  I researched some different options for nail guns and found a good one recommended by YHL from Sears.  I also used their “how-to” for the B&B.  I am happy to say I did it all myself (and I kind of really enjoyed it!) 

I used the 1x3 for the chair rail and the lattice boards for the vertical boards.  (tip:  find the pre-primed lattice boards – saves MUCHO time!)

Next onto the floors.  One day we plan on putting hardwoods throughout the main areas of the house but for now we did a quick fix of painting the concrete with porch floor paint.  We went with Sherwin Williams in Urbane Bronze.  I really am happy with how the floors turned out.  (tip:  this takes a LONG time to cure, so be patient and don’t put any furniture back for days!)

Once the floors were finished, we could start loading in the pretty things!  Window Treatments went right back up, but wow did they look different in the updated space!

 

 

It doesn’t even look like the same room!

Next was the light…  do you remember the lovely ceiling fan before…  um no thanks.  We used the Large Wire Globe from Shades of Light, YHL collection.  Such a deal people!  $89.00!!  Plus you can use their discount code and get 10% off.  I love the reflection on the ceiling of the globe. 

It was finally time to load the space and add the pretties!  Rug check.

I knew I wanted to add some contemporary art to the space to mix up the traditional lines of the board and batten.  So I got to work on a canvas and just had some fun with bright splashes of colors.  I love the punch that it gives the space.

I took the existing console table I had and added a burlap skirt and using my only tool = hot glue gun.  Yep hemmed it and attached it with hot glue.  That stuff rocks!

Here’s what it looked like before the skirt:

 

I am very happy with the outcome of this LONG project!  It feels like home when I come in this space and I enjoy sitting in the wing chairs reading or chatting on the phone.  It’s a nice little getaway space.

Some detail shots:

The next project is the hall bath…  hopefully this won’t take quite as long.  I’ve already got the cabinet painted so I should have an update for you at least by 2015.  I kid, I joke.

Itching for a project

I know there’s been little action of decorating on this ol’ blog for a while now.  Obviously we’ve been in baby mode for a while now.  But I am finally itching to get some decorating done around here.  We’ve been in the house almost a year now with very little modifying and if you know me at all it’s killing me.  You know its bad when Joe actually says “I think we need to do a house project soon.”  Blow me over with a feather!!  Thankfully the house was move in ready since we were 6 months preggers at the time, but its time to start making it feel like it’s our house!
So we’ve decided to start in the dining room.  This room was actually a playroom for the previous owner.  I think we need to add some architectural detail to dress it up and make it feel more like a dining room rather than just a rectangular box!  This is a shot from our walk through before the previous owners moved out.

And this is where we are today:

   

So really all we have done is add some drapes and move in our furniture.  That’s it.  And golly does it need some help!  Eek.  Seeing it in pictures makes it even more obvious.  Focus Katy, focus. 

GOOD NEWS!  I have a plan! 

I still love the drapes so those will be our inspiration. 

I want to add some architectural interest in the room so we plan on adding Board and Batten trim work along with some crown molding.  We will paint that white and add some yummy rich color above.  I am really loving BM – Templeton Gray. 

Here are some examples of nice crisp white B&B with deep color above.


Gorg!  Right?!?!  
The ceiling fan needs to go ASAP and I love this fixture from Young House Love via Shades of Light.  Simple with a fun industrial feel.  And the price you can’t beat!  $89 for the fixture and you can use YHL discount code and get 10% off.  Yes please.

The plan for the chairs are taking the vintage bamboo chairs from Joe’s mom and painting them.  I’ve talked about that for years now but we are going to make that happen!  They are similar to these and I’m thinking BM Castleton Mist would be perfect.

   

And for the floors…  my down the road goal is hardwoods.  This house was built on a slab so I’m working on the research of what our options are for hardwoods BUT in the mean time I’m dying to get rid of the berber carpet.  Wall to wall carpet does not say dining room to me.  So I’ve talked Joe into pulling up the carpet and painting the concrete for the time being and adding an area rug.  Something like this rug from World Market with some great texture would be perfect.

So that’s the plan…  Hoping to get the carpet up in the next week or so and get to work on the walls!  Here’s hoping that can happen with a little 8 1/2 month old crawling around! 

Some updates

Well Lord knows y’all need some updates since I can’t seem to write a blog post recently to save my soul!

Today I happen to click over to the “Look Around” page on this little ol’ blog of mine and noticed that I’ve made some updates to the hizzy and haven’t let y’all in the loop! 

And before we go any further, I just need to say it’s hard to be a fulltime-working-another-job-than-blogging photographer.  {did you follow that?}  That is to say it’s difficult to get good pictures when the sun is on it’s way to sleepy time.  So until day light savings time changes next week {YAY!!}– these pics will have to do…  please excuse any harsh sunlight you may see!

We’ll start in the living room…  as of right this minute this is the picture on the “Look Around” page:

So a few changes in here:

New drapes	Layered rug on rug
New Chair &  reupholstered	Different cocktail table
New Lamps	Desk area added
Accessory Changes	New throw pillows

I’m really enjoying the kind of “layered” feel that‘s working in here.  Of course there are tweaks to be made…  I need to raise the drapes (and actually sew them), etc. But I like the addition of the white touches that bring a little lightness to the room as well.

Dining Room:

I know we’ve talked about this room a lot…  and you probably felt like it wasn’t getting any action, but I have made some changes although there’s still more to do!

Changes in here:

Light fixture	New Rug
Window Treatments

Still hoping to get my chairs done…  do you remember?!?  But I’m still on the fence on color.  Loving the drapes and the rug although a rug with white probably wasn’t the best choice for the high traffic area it’s in but you only live once, right??

Master Bedroom:

Just a few little touches in this room…

Updated Pillows

New Lamps

The lamps in this space we’re too small so on a lunch shopping trip @ TJ Maxx I found these lovely grey ginger jar-esque.  I moved the lamps out to the Living room (you can see in the above picture.)  I also found the black pillows at one of my other favorite stores – HomeGoods.  They are perfect…  the little nobbies on the pillows are grey, pink, and gold.  I took the existing pink pillow and had my mom cut it down and sew it to fit an existing filler.  Then I took it to L & M Monogramming and had the snazzy “L” embroidered on.

One last update…

I alluded to this a long time ago but never officially updated you guys on the hallway..  I painted it the same color as the living to brighten it up a bit.  I added a mirror from IKEA, which I am loving!  It’s so nice to have a full length mirror to see your outfits in and it totally opens up the space as well!  DUAL purpose – Love it!

So that about does it for changes around here…  what have you been working on lately??

I’m off to update the “Look Around” page ☺

Dining Inspiration

As you may remember, I have been trying to figure out what I’m going to do in our Dining Room.  We’ve been talking about this for a while here and here. So I have been scouring my favorite website…  PINTEREST for inspiration for a little refresh. I have been having a hard time trying to decide what direction to take (since I’ve been thinking about it since FEBRUARY!)  Our dining room is open to the Living room and kitchen, so you really have to treat them like 3 rooms in 1, which makes it a bit challenging! 

The walls in the kitchen and dining room are a bright cheery green.  The kitchen and dining room have to be the same color.  I’ve gone around and around trying to figure out a way to create a transition area so the rooms could be painted different colors but it just doesn’t work.  I’ve actually had multiple conversations with my design team (a.k.a Shannon & Cindy).  All that is to say that the green walls are staying – which I love anyway!

So when I saw this pin by Katie Bower on Pinterest via Canadian House & Home, I knew it was the perfect solution!

The combination of the celery green, navy and golden browns are just scrumptious!

So we already have the celery taken care of with the wall color.  The natural tones will be in our dining table – a family piece from my Grandmother, hardwood floors and antique corner cabinet.  To bring in the navy I will be painting a set of vintage bamboo chairs courtesy of my Mother in law.  She has the whole set from the 70’s – table, chairs and china cabinet!  She is still using the cabinet and had given us the table a while back.

I will need to add new soft furnishings: rug, fabric for chair covers and window treatments.  We replaced the chandelier a while back with this super good bargain from CB2 for $50 smack-a-roos!  Can you say deal?!?!  So here’s what I’m thinking…

So what do you think??  The rug is another good bargain from Shades of Light.  The 5 x 8 is only $280.00.  The Ikat panels are from West Elm – and might not be the final selection but give the right idea of what I’m thinking.  And the artwork is just another idea – we’ll see where we end up.  I have been toying around with the idea of gallery wall there.  It’s a long wall that could use some different shapes and sizes.

So what do you think??  Are you working on any re-designs?  Any great sources for window treatments I need to know about??

Dining Room Inspiration

Here are few shots that I’m digging…

 

Loved Michael T’s comment on the last post:

Think "Jonathan Adler". Get the bamboo chairs. paint them white. Replace the fabric with a bold black and white print. Then get yellow, bright yellow drapery panels. That will make the dining room everything you want...chic,clean,bright,fun and classy. Just a thought. Michael T.

Thanks for the insight!  Any other tips out there for me??  Have you seen any great rooms that fit in my “chic, clean, bright, fun and classy” category?