Home Inspiration |

Dining Room Update–Painted Curtains

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Christy

I posted on my dining room back in October {read that post HERE}. It’s the first room you see when you walk into my house, and it was my least favorite. I couldn’t allow that to happen! So, I sold the rug and window treatments on Craigslist, painted, hung open shelving, turned two art prints into chalkboards, recovered my piano bench with gray chevron fabric, painted an old metal stool metallic silver, and stuck shelf paper on the door panels of the serving buffet. Phew!

The lady who bought my window treatments through Craigslist was super-nice. She liked the way I had decorated my house, and wound up being my very first decorating client. Hi, Tina!

As a random aside, the stuff I sold on Craigslist more than covered the cost of the paint and supplies I bought to redo the room. This is a very important point, and I’m throwing it in here specifically for the benefit of my dear husband (who reads all of my posts) and who probably wonders why I have to redecorate rooms more than once. See, honey, it didn’t cost a thing!

Here was what I started with:

Dining room “before” at 11 Magnolia Lane

And here is how it looked when I was done with it. Harley is sorry he ripped the antique hooked wool rug.!

Dining Room “after” at 11 Magnolia Lane

The only thing that was left was window treatments, but as Christmas was coming at me like a speeding bullet train, I had to put them on the back burner for awhile. Here was what we stared at for a couple of months:

Window area in dining room at 11 Magnolia Lane

Part of my goal for this room was to make it look more casual. Dining rooms are rarely used anymore for very formal dinners–the way we eat and entertain has certainly changed over the last few years, hasn’t it? I decided that the horizontally striped painted curtains that I’ve seen all over Pinterest would be a great, inexpensive way to add visual interest and tie the room together.

I bought the cheapest white panels at Target that I could find ($15 for two panels). In hindsight, I should have spent $30 on the fabric that was a smooth cotton duck because it’s easier to maintain a line that doesn’t bleed, but that’s okay. I was after quick and cheap here, not perfect!

Using painter’s tape and a level, I taped stripes that would be approximately 9″ thick. I wanted a gray stripe at the top and the bottom, to ground the drapes, so I did the math accordingly. I also put a big “X” in the middle of the stripes that I needed to paint so I wouldn’t get mixed up (this has been known to happen on rare occasion). Note that the stripes don’t look even, because the tape goes inside the line on the stripes that stay white and makes those stripes look smaller. Does that make sense?

Dining room drapes taped for painting

Then my daughter and I painted for awhile (!). I used Fawn Brindle by Sherwin Williams–remember, I used half-strength Fawn Brindle on the dining room walls, so this was slightly darker. A contrasting color stripe would have been cute, too, if I was using an accent color in this room. Yellow, anyone?

Dining room curtains--painted in stripes

It took those suckers awhile to dry, and when they did the dried paint was stiff! I used the wire drapery hangers (Hobby Lobby, $2) to hang them onto the curtain rings. You’ll see that I kept my heavy black rods and rings when I sold the original drapes on Craigslist–oftentimes the drapery hardware is more expensive than the window treatments themselves!

Even though the stripes aren’t quite perfect and there’s some bleed-through, I love them. A $30 fix was exactly what I was after. Since we’ll be renting this house when we move this summer, I won’t feel bad leaving $30 window treatments behind if the tenants want to keep them.

Here are the after shots. I actually really like the way the sun shines through the stripes.

Striped painted window treatments at 11 Magnolia Lane

Dining room at 11 Magnolia Lane

If we were going to be here longer, I’d buy a new rug–maybe jute or seagrass–and paint the table and chairs, but for now I’ll wait until we’re in our next house. The movers always mess up my furniture, anyway, and the dining table might not even survive the next move.

That’s it–what do you think? I’m always amazed and you can really, truly, paint almost anything.

Thanks for stopping by!

christy name pic

Pin It

Posted in Before and After, DIY, Home Inspiration | Tagged curtains, dining, drapes, painted, room, striped | 12 Comments

Great Room/Living Room Tour

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Christy

I’ve been getting the house ready to go on the rental market in a couple of months. There’s SO much to do, but as I’ve been getting each room cleaned and decluttered, I’ve also been snapping pictures for the listing photos. I worked on our living room last week and realized I’ve never showed you this space. Maybe because I haven’t done much with it, like I tend to to with our other rooms. I didn’t even paint the walls–they were already a color I liked (Fawn Brindle by Sherwin-Williams, by the way). But, since it’s the room where we do most of our, well, living, I thought I’d let you see what it looks like.

It’s a big room and the rear wall is two floors worth of windows, so the light’s a little tricky. Here’s a wide shot:

living room at 11 Magnolia Lane

The white built ins and the serious trimwork around the fireplace were all here when we moved in, and to be honest, they were a selling feature for me. I love built ins! The other houses in the neighborhood that are the same floor plan don’t have these, so they were obviously added as a custom feature by the original owners.

Here’s a shot from my stairway–it’s tough to capture a wide shot of both sides of the shelves. The stained glass window is my most precious possession; it’s from the church in which my parents got married back in 1969.

Living room at 11 Magnolia Lane

I won’t lie, I struggle with keeping the shelves clutter-free. I removed quite a few items and like it so much better.

Built in bookshelves at 11 Magnolia Lane

Stacking the books horizontally adds visual interest, and turning them pages-out creates a more neutral color palette. My husband laughed at this idea, though, because it’s so impractical–who can see what book they’re after?! It’s only temporary, though…

Stack books horizontally and pages out

The Barcelona chair is the real deal, from the 70s. We’ve got pictures of me in a ballet tutu with this chair (and green shag carpet) in the background. They’re apparently still pretty popular, although a bit contemporary for my style. It mixes things up a bit, though, and I love the pillow I found at Home Goods to jazz it up a bit.

Barcelona chair in living room

I moved my children’s silhouettes to the shelves for awhile; I love the black and white colors with the gray walls. One of the silver cups was my dad’s when he was a baby; the other is from Goodwill.

Bookshelf styling at 11 Magnolia Lane

On the other side, you are correct, I don’t have a photo yet in the harlequin diamond frame. Better get on that, huh?! The TV is a necessary evil, but I disguised the DVR and other components on the shelf below with a curtain.

Here’s a close up; it’s just blue and white ticking stripe fabric on a tension rod. I had the curtains previously in another house, covering the white wire shelves in my laundry room, and I just cut them down to fit this little space. Now I don’t have to stare at all the electronics!

Curtain on tension rod hides TV components at 11 Magnolia Lane

I do love when the pillows are all fluffed. They’re not normally like this; my kids usually have them strewn all over the floor!

Pillows in living room

By the way, our sofa and chair are the Charleston collection from Pottery Barn and are almost fifteen years old. The white slipcovers have been washed dozens and dozens of times and are still holding up. Given the many moves that we’ve had and the long lives that they’ve lived, I have to say that these two pieces have been worth every penny we paid. This isn’t a review, by the way, I’m just giving them a shout out for a great product!

And, of course, we can’t avoid my husband’s “man chair.” Currently, it’s a leather recliner, although it’s on its last legs and he’s going to let me pick out a new one for him soon. I’m hoping we can compromise and get one of those recliners that doesn’t really look like a recliner. Anybody seen one of those?

Living room chair at 11 Magnolia Lane

The little square table on the side of the sofa was my grandmother’s. My grandfather made it for her when they were first married so she could put her typewriter on it to write. Isn’t that sweet? It’s pretty rough, but it’ll be in my house forever. Sitting on top of it is a bust (of David, I think) that I scored at the thrift store. And I swear I filled that silver sugar bowl with conversation hearts yesterday, but they’re already looking kind of picked over!

Living room vignette at 11 Magnolia Lane

I guess the only angle I didn’t take was a full-on of the front of the sofa, but I honestly forgot. This gives you an idea, though, of where we hang out. We have a bonus room upstairs and a little sitting room in our master bedroom, but this is where we spend the bulk of our time. And it’s usually a full-blown mess!

If you have a minute, please click HERE to vote for my black and white polka dotted pantry in our old house in North Carolina. It’s up against some stiff competition at HouseLogic.com, but I just know it can win best pantry. It’s the “$50 chalkboard pantry” and you vote at the bottom of the page. Thank you!!

Thanks for stopping by!

christy name pic

Pin It

Posted in Home Inspiration, Real Spaces | Tagged living room | 4 Comments

My Daughter’s Room–Updated {Yes, Again!} in Aqua Blue, Brown, and Pink

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Christy

This post feels a bit like Groundhog Day, because this isn’t the first time I’ve written a post on my daughter’s room redo! My daughter’s style is constantly changing, and her room has changed along with it. In our historic house in North Carolina, her room was pinks and greens with tons of vintage touches, perfect for the first and second grader she was at the time (click HERE to read the post):

When we moved to Tennessee, she told me she wanted to get rid of ALL the pink in her room. Gasp! That was pretty much her entire room. We tried aqua blue, green, and white for awhile, but the pinks kept creeping back in. Finally, we decided to embrace it and added pops of hot watermelon pink to her color scheme. Here’s what we wound up with, read about it HERE:

I lived with it for about six months, but then my daughter and I both realized that it was a little, well, much. So we turned to Pinterest (of course!) and found two rooms that we adored:

Edie at Life in Grace did this gorgeous room for her girls (swoon!), and I loved how she used brown to make the bedding pop:

Life in Grace Girls’ Bedroom

Then, Chris at Just a Girl did this gorgeous room for her daughter:

Little Girls’ Room at Just a Girl

I love the way that they both use brown (chevrons and zebra) to set off the bedding. And, of course, it’s the same bedding–Serena & Lily’s Annabel duvet cover. My daughter is named Annabelle, so obviously it was meant to be! We ordered it, and the game was ON!

Here’s how it turned out:

I spray-painted the iron headboard–again–covering up the hot pink with white. I was tired of the brass accents that were there from the 70′s (it was my headboard as a girl), so that worked out well (I was tempted to do the antique brass that Edie has in her girls’ room, but chickened out). Then I spray-painted her flea market nightstand from robin’s egg blue to metallic silver. Here’s the before:

And the after:

The lamp was a Target purchase and the drum shade was white. I covered it with brown zebra shelf paper from TJ Maxx (we’ve given several rolls of this away on the blog and it’s in stores now). The quatrefoil monogram is a free printable from the ladies at For Chic Sake (thanks, girls). I used a different color combination in my closet. The brown bedskirt is from Goodwill ($2–score!), and I already had the sheets and the pillows.

Amy gave me these square polka dotted plates when she changed her color scheme in her kitchen a few years ago–I think they were a TJ Maxx purchase. We pass things back and forth more often than we’d care to admit, and it’s probably a good thing we don’t live near each other, because our houses usually sport pretty much the same decor. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut letters out of that same roll of vinyl shelf paper and stuck them on the plate–instant wall art!

The little table got a coat of brown spray paint, but it’s lived several past lives. I wrote a post about it HERE and you can see all the different ways we’ve had it painted. It was a $3 yard sale find. There’s a big wooden “A” on the wall above it, and I spray painted it metallic silver (it was hot pink and then celery green prior to that!). By the way, I also spray-painted the lamp shade brown–why not?

At the foot of the bed is my daughter’s armoire–it’s been in my kids’ rooms since my son was born, and the door panels have had different paints, fabrics, stencils, you name it. For this project, I gave it a shot of brown zebra!

To the left of the armoire is my daughter’s ballet barre. You can read the tutorial on that HERE. It only takes up about 3′ of wall space, and was under $20 to build–one of my favorite ideas ever!

To the right of the armoire is her “bulletin” board–a thrift store picture frame I filled with chicken wire (the tutorial is HERE). A little girl needs somewhere to put all her paper bits, right? The kitty cat collection is OLD, because it was mine when I was her age!

In the corner to the left of the window is her reading area. Right now there’s a patterned papasan chair from PB Teen there, but I’m hoping to have an old slipper chair from my bedroom recovered in white and put in its place.

Her desk was a find at the Cameron Antiques Fair in North Carolina. It’s a junior size and just right for her. Last time I checked, there were twelve tons of junk in the drawers!

I’m planning to change the window treatments–the panels were on clearance for $10 at Ikea, so I’ll just pop them on Craigslist and buy another pair in a softer pink–or maybe brown. Thoughts?

I only shot the top of the bookshelf, because we have TONS of books in our house, and it’s hard to make them look cute when they’re jammed in there every which way! The little white shelf was from Goodwill, as were the vintage Bobbsey Twins books.

And last, but not least, here’s a repeat of the first shot. The chair was given to us by a friend. I painted it white with brown accents and covered it with a brown and white striped fabric that I had in my stash. This little chair has seen a lot of different styles over the years, too. Right now, instead of a stack of books, it holds my daughter’s Kindle, because that’s as good as a couple of thousand books, right?! You can also see the close up of the duvet fabric–so beautiful.

We are not changing this room again until she goes to college. Or, at least for a couple of years! And for those of you who are wondering, my son keeps saying that he doesn’t want his room updated–he likes it just the way it is. HERE’s a post of how it looked in our North Carolina house, and it’s pretty much the same here. One of these days!

Do you have any rooms in your house that you obsessively redecorate, or is it just me?

Thanks for stopping by.

Sharing at~

Pin It

Posted in Home Inspiration, Kids Rooms | Tagged aqua, bedroom, birds, girls, Pink, vintage, zebra | 8 Comments

Dining Room Tables & Kitchen Tables?

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Amy

One thing we did shortly after moving in our house was switch our dining room table with our kitchen table.

Our switch was more of an experiment, but I liked it so much we’ve kept it that way ever since. Recently I have spoken to several people who have done the same thing so I no longer think it was that strange of a thing to do!

Here is the same table {above it is in our dining room} shortly after we moved in still in our kitchen {below}.

Not only had our family of five outgrown our round, designed-for- four kitchen table, but anytime we had company we had to eat in the dining room. Sometimes that seemed too formal and just too much trouble for a casual meal. Since we have more casual meals then formal meals these days this seemed like a good solution.

Even New Year’s Eve –the best picture I can find of our dining room table actually in the dining room– with six adults here we had to camp out in the dining room rather then hanging out in the kitchen, which was a little strange because at every good party, don’t you always wind up in the kitchen?

By the way, yes that’s Christy and our friend Robyn {we covered her stairs HERE} and they are drinking {THESE} if you are interested!

So, this switch meant saying goodbye for now to formal sit-down dinners. I loved the spacious dining room in our old house, it held a ton of people and while we lived there, we definitely put it to good use.

{This is our former dining room, same table, in our old house, set for a dinner party, the post is HERE}

So far this change has been a good solution. In fact, we haven’t missed having a formal dining room at all. If we weren’t planning on moving, I had envisioned this room becoming more of a library anyway. I even started adding books into my former china cabinet after I moved all my china to my Butler’s Pantry.

So, I am curious. Anyone else feel like they could repurpose their dining room? Anyone else already made the move? Tell us your thoughts…

XO,

Pin It

Posted in Home Inspiration, Kitchens, Real Spaces | Tagged butlers pantry, dining table, dinner party, entertaining, hospitality, kitchen, kitchen table | 6 Comments

{Amy’s} Updated House Tour

Posted on January 21, 2013 by admin

One of the nicest parts of blogging is that I have a permanent record of all the houses I have {recently} lived in. Of course the reason I haven’t shown every room in our current house is because every room hasn’t been whipped into ‘perfect’ blog-worthy shape.

However, I have done some updates and the time has come to pull some photos together in one place. We’ve been in this house over a year now, and while I still have a long list of things I hope to do, we’ve come a long way from our move-in day.

So the first thing you notice about our home is the large front porch and the pretty lake we live on. Here it is decorated for spring–I can’t wait for warmer weather to arrive here so we can enjoy this space again.

In the front door…

To our front hall with the forever in-progress Gallery Wa ll.

On one side of the stairs is our Dining Room with its blue ceiling. {Read more HERE}

Through the hallway to the left is our Butler’s Pantry {Read more HERE}.

Behind the Butler’s Pantry is our little Guest Bathroom and guest room.

Across the hall is my Office. {Read more HERE}

Down the hall into the Family Room, here is a picture since I haven’t posted about the entire room yet.

The family room is across from our kitchen {Read all about our kitchen HERE}.

And our adjoining breakfast room with the $30 hutch I remade, you can also read about how we did our open shelving HERE.

Heading upstairs you will find our daughter’s room {Read more HERE}.

And our laundry room {Read more HERE}.

Here is one of our upstairs bathrooms, this was such a fun project {Read more HERE}.

Here is a shot of our boys’ room. They used to share it, but we recently separated them so their rooms are also still ‘in progress’.

Here is a picture of our Master Bedroom {Read the ‘in progress’ post HERE}

So, thanks for hanging in for all that! Since you did, I am going to share a little secret. A few weeks ago, after much consideration my husband and I have listed this home for sale.

Without boring you with details, we have loved living in it, putting our spin on it, and living both on a lake and near the beach, but this area isn’t our home. And the time is right for us to return to what is home in our hearts, where we have family to lean on and dear friends to enjoy.

{So, if you know anyone looking for a house in Virginia Beach please send ‘em my way! 11magnolialane@gmail.com}

In the meantime, the focus of my home projects has shifted a bit and we’re actively searching for our next {and hopefully forever} house. I am excited at the thought of having a new home to decorate, and expect that will mean I will have plenty to share!

Thank you, as always, for stopping by.

Sharing at~

Pin It

Posted in Bathrooms, Home Inspiration, Home Tours, Kids Rooms, Kitchens, Real Spaces | Tagged bathrooms, bedroom, home for sale, Home Tour, kitchen, lake, moving | 5 Comments

Laundry Room Makeover

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Amy

I didn’t start with an ugly laundry room by any means, but when you spend SO much time in a space, I figured there wasn’t any reason not to make it more enjoyable!

Here is the laundry room as it was when we moved in. We were lucky to have a tile floor, cabinets and even a chandelier but it was just a little boring.

As I mentioned in our Home Goals post I also wanted to make it more functional, it goes without saying that with three kids I do quite a bit of laundry.

Here is the AFTER {I won’t make you scroll down!}

Its hard to see in the photos since the room has no natural light, but I painted the walls a pale blue color. I used my ironing board cover {Homegoods, purchased several years ago} for inspiration.

To give the ironing board a place to hang, I painted a wood plaque from Michael’s, drilled holes and installed cabinets knobs to hold the ironing board up. We did the same thing {except with hooks} for my Mom’s Craft Room.

The biggest need the room had– after painting it reduced the “boring” factor –was I wanted a large space to fold and sort laundry. Front loaders have disadvantages, but they make up for it by having all that great space on the top.

I measured the room wall to wall and purchased cabinet grade plywood which Home Depot cut to size. I attached simple wood molding to each wall to support the shelf.

I also used a molding strip along the back wall, as well as installing some inexpensive 13″ metal shelf brackets {I don’t have a picture} underneath so the wood would have some extra support in the middle.

I tacked a piece of molding across the front of the board so it looked a little prettier, and don’t be mistaken by the cleanliness of these pictures, the shelf is put to daily use with piles of laundry!

On the other side of the room, I hung some IKEA brackets {the come black, but I spray painted them matte silver} with some standard small ready-made shelves from Home Depot.

Underneath, I added a coat rack {also spray painted} to use to hang things to air dry. These shelves hold the laundry once its been folded and is waiting to be put away.

I added a few decorative touches, like this little sign which seemed appropriate for jobs that can get boring very quickly! {printable to come}.

I will admit that this room is so much more functional now, but it also makes doing laundry a little nicer…and since the laundry doesn’t seem to end, I think it was worth the effort!

So tell us, what projects are you all working on these days?

**Don’t forget to enter our current organizing giveaway HERE**

XO,

Sharing at ~

Monday FUNday

Pin It

Posted in Before and After, Home Inspiration, Laundry Room, Organization, Real Spaces | Tagged diy, folding shelf, ironing, laundry room, laundry shelf, organization, shelves | 21 Comments

Our Top Posts of 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Amy

Happy New Year everyone! This year just FLEW by, didn’t it?

We thought we’d do a quick recap of our top {the ‘most read’ according to google analytics} posts this year, just in case you missed anything

Christy’s North Carolina Pantry lives on…and on…and on, thanks to Pinterest {oh, how we love thee, Pinterest!}

Christy’s Kitchen Makeover follows next. The Better Homes & Gardens Real-Life Kitchens & Baths issue featuring this kitchen should be out any day!

Christy’s Kitchen Re-do

Her adjacent Laundry Room also got prettied up, and it’s another “top post.” This room is in the current issue of Cottages & Bungalows magazine!

My Kids’ Bathroom makeover follows next. I called it a Part 1 post because I intended on doing some more work to the mirror, but that will have to fall into our “goals” post, I suppose!

Terry’s Kids’ Learning Center is our next most-read post; her basement is amazing and such a great use of space.

Next up is Christy’s {New} Pantry Makeover. In this post she also reveals that Better Homes is on their way to photograph her house for this spring’s Kitchens special issue.

Next up is a post with a great tip–an easy way to hang silver platters on the wall.

This tutorial post was next with a very useful chalkboard “Out of Treats” sign to end Halloween on your terms

Terry’s Camping Themed Birthday party she threw for her son is our last but not least, “most popular” post.

As always, thanks for visiting us! We are looking forward to an exciting 2013.

XO,

Pin It

Posted in Entertaining, Events, General & About Us, Home Inspiration, Real Spaces | Tagged about us, kitchen makeover, Makeover, Most popular posts, pantry makeover, pinterest, Top Posts, year in review | Leave a comment

Tricks to Ensure Your Guests Feel Welcome This Holiday Season

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Terry

I am hosting Christmas at my home this year. My husband’s family will be traveling in from Syracuse, NY, and from Hilton Head, SC, to celebrate the season with us here in Virginia. I am so grateful they are willing to travel, as my husband and I simply will not. That probably sounds quite selfish, but we decided that while our children are young we want them to experience Christmas morning at home. I feel we are creating some amazing memories similar to the ones I grew up with, and that is just something I am not willing to compromise on.

Norman Rockwell captures it perfectly!

With that said, I do realize it is a huge sacrifice for our family and friends to travel during the holiday season, and I really want to make them feel welcome. In order to ensure that our guests feel comfortable in my home over the holidays, I try to be sure they have everything they need during their stay. Here are some helpful hints and creative ways to welcome your guests this holiday season.

Bathrooms:

Fresh towels are a must. I try to have at least two towels per person, especially for our female guests. I use two towels daily, so extra towels are just something I wouldn’t want my guests to go without.

I personally love the Better Homes and Gardens Thick and Plush Towels from Walmart (yes, I did say Walmart!). They come in about 10 different colors, they are super inexpensive, and you can easily monogram them to give your bathroom a more custom look. Doesn’t the monogram make all the difference?

I love the pure white with the pale green monogram and stripe.

The white on white is pure luxury but the single letter makes it really down to earth and simple.

I hope to have His and Her guest robes hanging in my guest bathroom someday. Wouldn’t that be such a nice hotel touch?

Pottery Barn robes would be such a lovely touch when welcoming your guests.

I always have Q-tips, cotton balls, soap, a new toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner on hand. It is a busy time of year, so guests might forget to pack something.

I re-purposed grandmother’s mason jars to hold cotton balls and q-tips.

Bedrooms:

Fresh Sheets and lots of pillows are a must in my guest room. There is nothing like crawling into a comfy warm bed after a full day of traveling.

Decor Pad

Southern Living- I love the desk area!

I also try to ensure I have photos displayed around the bedroom that reflect their family. It is like bringing a piece of their home into my home. For example, here is an amazing photo of my niece Chloe from her senior picture photo shoot. I have placed that in the bedroom where her parents are going to sleep this holiday. Isn’t she beautiful!?!

My Niece Chloe- As gorgeous as ever!!

Kitchen:

I try to ensure that all dietary needs are met. As most of you know, I have a son who has a rare metabolic disorder, so when we travel we have to pack so much food to ensure he can eat along the way! I would hate for my guests to feel that they have to do the same, so I try to stock my fridge to ensure I have something for everyone. My niece is lactose intolerant so I will have soy and almond milk available for her. My nephew is peanut free so most of my baked goods will be peanut free. This is not always realistic, but I try my best to make sure everyone feels at home.

Lastly, I always set up a coffee station so my guests can brew a cup as soon as they wake up. I hate waiting for my much-needed cup of Joe in the AM! For this reason, I love the Keurig Brewing System. No one has to wait for a hot cup of coffee, cocoa or tea in the morning. You can simply brew the perfect cup of coffee whenever your heart desires.

Terry’s Coffee Station

Christy’s Holiday Coffee Bar

Amy’s Cocoa Bar

May your guests feel warm and welcome this holiday season! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Pin It

Posted in Bathrooms, Christmas, Gifts, Home Inspiration, Real Spaces, Uncategorized, Winter | 1 Comment

Dining Room Makeover {BM Revere Pewter Paint}

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Terry

It’s been 5 years in the making but every room on the main level of my house is finally painted- YAHOO!!! This is such a huge victory for me as I really hate painting. Well, that may not be entirely true as what I really hate is the prepping and taping. I know there are million gadgets out there that tell you that you don’t need to tape if you buy their products. Unfortunately that just doesn’t apply to me and my “get it done” personality. I am a born ‘rusher’, I start a project and I want it done as soon as I begin. This is not the best personality to have when it comes to DIY home improvement projects and that is why I must tape prior to painting:)

I hate taping but it is a necessity for my “get-it-done” personality!

My dining room is prepped and ready for some color!

Another reason it has taken me so long to paint my house is because I am afraid to commit. I have a huge fear over picking the wrong paint color. I am so thankful for my girlfriends as they have an amazing eye for color and help point me in the right direction. This time around, I painted outside of my beige comfort zone and tried a cooler shade of grey. Revere Pewter is an amazing Benjamin Moore color with a tiny hit of beige so it was the perfect compromise for me. It ties perfectly into the rest of my home and as you can see below, it works well with the Grant Beige painted in my formal living room which is right next door.

Adding some color to my dinning room inspired me to move some things around. Remember that mirror I had hanging above my buffet? I have since painted that with chalk paint and shifted it over to another wall. My husband and I placed an open white shelf where the mirror used to hang. I am sure this looks very familiar as Amy and Christy both have this exact shelf hanging in their home, I guess I felt left out and had to have one for myself! Doesn’t it look so much better?

Here is the mirror before the chalk board makeover- sorry for the Halloween flash back!

My new and improved chalk board!!!

New paint and open shelving really changes the look of my dinning room.

I actually stenciled this jar because I wanted to create a fall “Thankful” apothecary container this past November. I tried to write down reasons to be thankful daily and I would place them inside this jar. I have kept it out because I love the burnt red color of the leaves and I feel that I still have a ton to be thankful for this Christmas. It is a terrific reminder to remain thankful during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Lastly, here are a few shots of my holiday dinning room tablescape:

Bunched up burlap fabric creates a rustic table runner

My dollar store snowflake plates add a pop of red to my dinning room table

: I love adding greenery to a table

This belonged to my beloved grandmother (aka: Nanie). She passed away last year at 103 years old. I love having bits and pieces of her memory scattered around my home especially at Christmas. This is one of my favorite holiday memories as Nanie would light the candles and it would magically spin around.

Happy Holidays!

Pin It

Posted in Christmas, Holidays, Home Inspiration, Winter | Tagged Burlap, Christmas, christmas table setting, Dining Room, diy chalkboard, holiday, open shelves, paint color, tablescape, thankful jar | Leave a comment

Trash to Treasure: Christmas Front Porch Decor

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Christy

**Congratulations to the winner of the giveaway for the red damask steering wheel cover from Embellish Me Patty V, #7 Tina W! Enjoy your treat, girl! And thanks to Patty for the giveaway!**

I sincerely hope you guys aren’t tired of seeing my front porch. As you know, I change it out every season, and I was really looking forward to decorating for Christmas this year.

My daughter and I don’t shop on “Black Friday.” Instead, we put our decorations up. We follow a strict schedule (set by her) that starts with her room and tiny tree, and then we move on to the rest of the house. She loses interest before we get to her big brother’s room!

I pulled out my standard evergreen lighted roping to swag over the front door. Last year I wove in some red mesh to give it a little color. The “Merry” banner was one that I made a few years ago. The cardboard letters were spray painted, then I drilled holes in the top and wove ribbon through. I also made two that say “Joy” and “Noel”. Joy is white, and I sprinkled white glitter on the letters during the last coat of paint and added a pale green ribbon. Noel is gold, and ditto with gold glitter (but a vanilla ribbon). Merry is just plain red, but I love the red and white gingham ribbon. It added a nice pop of red to the top of the door.

If you follow us on Facebook, then chances are you saw a few posts about how I snagged this beautiful greenery. If you don’t follow us on Facebook, then you’re missing out, because we go into WAY too much detail! Let’s just say that all my fabulous greenery was salvaged from a pile of leaves and lawn clippings, and that my sweet golden retriever “discovered” it all for me while we were walking on Thanksgiving morning. Yes, that sounds like a nice, sanitized version of the story {wink wink}.

So, I arranged the holly, evergreen, and boxwood into this door bucket, and then I tossed a little more into my leaky old watering can:

The Dutch wooden shoes were a thrift store find. We had two pairs when I was growing up, but they got lost somehow when my dad remarried and moved out of my childhood home. I was happy to find a replacement pair!

I had enough greenery left to make a swag for the lamppost and tied it with more red mesh.

The sitting area on the porch doesn’t get much sitting done on it at this time of year–Halloween is pretty much the last night we’re out there–but I put out my red pillows and red candles, and added a new pillow that I made using the same method I used for my numbered chair cushions.

If you don’t believe, you get underwear. Really!

I had enough greenery to poke a few pieces into the grapevine wreath that’s been on my front door all year (I love that burlap bow!). It’s gracing my garage entry for the Christmas season.

There is more boxwood sitting in 5 gallon buckets in my backyard, so I think I’m going to try my hand at preserving it, as soon as I can find glycerin. The dog really did me right when he found my Christmas decor, didn’t he? Click below to follow us on Facebook–that way you’ll always know the rest of the story!

How are your decorations coming along?

Sharing at~

Sand & Sisal, Serenity Now

Pin It