Dining Room Rehab: Decorating the Corners

I've got family coming in from out of town, so today's post will be short and sweet. And that's the best kind anyways, right? Today, continuing with our Dining Room Rehab theme, I'm showing you two little corners that got a splash of decoration.

Here are the before pictures, with  those hideous shelves backed with the burlap sack stuff. Yeesh.





And then the during pictures, after I used all my girlpower to renovate this wall.





And here's what they look like now



Better, no?



This corner has a builtin desk that we'll eventually remove. The coat rack and a shoe bin will eventually live in this corner, so I knew that I just needed a little something. I originally bought these sconces for the living room, but they just didn't look right. They hung out in the basement waiting for inspiration to strike. The candles are from the dollar store, and I wrapped them with pale blue grosgrain ribbon and then  a thin brown bow. The ribbon is held on with hot glue. :-) Eventually, I'd like to find flameless candles for these sconces, as any candles that are burned in this room end up affecting the thermostat and the whole house gets freezing. :-)



We bought a set of ladderback chairs from a garage sale when we got married for $40. One by one, the rushing on each chair  is disintegrating, and they become unusable. Lover fixed two of them by creating a rope seat, which is actually quite comfortable, but finding the time to do each chair is another thing entirely. This chair is unusable right now, so I parked it in the corner. The basket it is holding was Lover's family's picnic basket that they used all over Europe, so it's very sentimental. I am under strict instructions to return it rather than throw it away, if that day ever comes. :-) The "blanket" over the chair is a table runner I found on clearance a while ago, and it brings the colors over to this side of the room. And the little aloe vera plant is really trying to kick the bucket, and I am encouraging it because it is ugly :-) But until then it brings a splash of green to this corner.

So there you have it. Two simple corner fixes, that bring a lot of life and color to this side of the room. Tomorrow I'll be showing you the opposite two corners, and talking about how I figured out what I didn't like about this room. Should be fun. I'll catch ya later!

Can't wait till tomorrow? Read about the previous fixes so far - lamp, art, dresser, curtains and where this room started.

Dining Room Rehab: Decorating Shelves

As I looked through old pictures of the dining room for this post, I realized that I've never really talked about this corner of the room before. When we toured our castle during the open house, there was an enormous mirror on the wall I am about to show you, that took up most of the empty space. Very Italian. :0) A friend suggested to me the other day that I should start a de-Italianizing business. This house has certainly given me a lot of experience, that's for sure!

Anyways, so here's what this part of the dining room looked like when we bought the house. You can see the huge bolts in the wall where the mirror had been, the dingy white paint and the total lack of character. :-)



My grandfather loves to take all kinds of stuff from friends and sell it for them, and this antique dresser was one of those finds. I don't have much information on it, but it seems that it is at least 100 years old. It doesn't look too bad in the pictures, but the top needs to be replaced, and some serious repair work needs to be done on the whole piece. But I love those curvy drawers in the front, and those massive drawers are great for storage.

This picture is from last fall, and shows the dresser and the two shelves I found for above it. I actually bought the shelves when we still lived in the apartment, because I found them on super clearance at Office Max and I knew I would use them somewhere.  I put a bunch of my cream dish collection on the shelves, as well as some art from Lover's mom and my Willow Tree figurines.



Here are the shelves again, with some Christmas decorations. I never really liked how they looked, but couldn't come up with a better solution.



One of the things I will do when I am totally stuck in my decorating process is to start from scratch. I will clear off all the surfaces, and start over, giving myself permission to use all different things. This is what I ended up with.



The shelves are less cluttered, and now incorporate all of the colors that I've used in the room. It helps them feel much more purposeful. The ultimate test: Lover came home and immediately noticed how much better they looked. :-)



The lower shelf has our Willow Tree from our wedding, the sugar bowl from our dishes, a bit of gold with the mirror and some blue with the hydrangeas.



The upper shelf is very simple, with a print that I love and wooden candlesticks from Africa.



The top of the dresser again incorporates all of the color scheme, with the cream pitcher, hydrangeas, gold frame and the blue lamp (just to the right of where the picture ends.) That old tyme picture of us brings a  lot of laughter, as we have made up an entire story for our friends about how these are our great-great relatives who met, fell madly in love, but were never allowed to be together. :-)





So in the end we've gone from cold, stark and boring, to warm and cozy. This little area makes me smile, I love all of the romantic elements. What makes a home warm and cozy for you?

Tomorrow I'll show you  the two corners that face you when you walk in the room. They each needed only a few small touches, as they share the wall with the freehand art I did a while back.

Can't wait till tomorrow? Read about the lamp makeover and curtain rehab here.

Linked to Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog

Dining Room Curtain Rehab

I told you that this was going to be the week of the dining room. Aren't you so excited? I know I am. :-) Today's topic will be the curtains.



I am trying to remember when I bought these curtain rods. I'm thinking it was about a year or so ago. I bought two, one for the dining room, and one for the living room. These rooms open up to each other, so I've tried to keep the color scheme and design cohesive so that the rooms didn't feel disjointed.

I made the curtains by purchasing the wheaty golden colored panels from Lowe's and then sewing this awesome sari fabric onto them. I love the rich deep blues in the fabric, and the gold panels bring out the gold designs in the fabric. Plus, the panels coordinate with the wall color perfectly.

The color of the curtain rod, however, was terrible. It too was gold, but it had green undertones that clashed with the wall, the trim and the curtains and drove me batty every time I looked at it. I wanted to change it from the get go, but I felt like it needed to match the one in the living room. (And that one doesn't look too bad)

Besides all that, I didn't like how the curtains hung from those little strings. They were really dramatic, except for that top part where they looked a little pathetic. I hemmed and hawed about what to do to fix them, and finally decided to simply pin those stringy parts to the back with safety pins. I folded the skinny tabs toward the back of the curtain, and secured it with a safety pin. Then I ran the rod between the back of the curtain and the pinned down loop. Now the top of the curtain was right up next to the rod. The bonus was that this shortened the curtains by a few inches, so now they just graze the floor and they look a lot better.



Next up was the curtain rod. I decided that it would be okay to paint it, so I took that sucker down. I hauled it down to the basement where I gave it a coat of matte black paint, and then a light spray of glossy brown. Once I got it up on the wall again, I knew I had made the right choice. The dark color just popped right off the wall, but it blended with the color scheme, instead of clashing.



Now the curtains looks full and luxurious, and the rod makes a statement of its own. I love the difference!

Come back tomorrow for another little project that I accomplished in the dining room on my quest to take it from good to great! And if you just can't wait till tomorrow, read about how I created cheap wall art for one of the blank walls in this room and made over a lamp for the buffet.

Linked to Make it For Monday @ Cottage Instincts

Metamorphosis  Monday @ Between Naps on The Porch

Make Your Monday @ Twice Remembered

I Made it Without my Hubby @ Shanty 2 Chic

DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog

Dining Room Rehab

A few months ago I blogged about how the dining room has been bugging me. At the beginning of the year I set out to make this room into one that I enjoy being in, and I think I've accomplished that goal. Now this room makes me smile when I walk in there!  All of the projects were accomplished in a few days, here and there over the last few months, and the total cost of bringing this room from blah to great was less than $30. I'll be blogging all week about the little tweaks I did to this room to make it something special. Tune in this week for the details!

Friday Favs: Dollar Store Decorations

It's official! There will be an end to winter! :-) Yesterday we were driving home and I saw geese in the fields. And with where we live, if you see the geese, then you know that it will start getting warmer soon. All this week I've heard a couple of birds singing in the morning, and when shopping I spotted the first tiny bits of green poking their way up through the dead leaves on a perennial. Now I'll be obsessively searching for my first Robin sighting, as that is dead ringer for the beginning of spring.

On a random note, shortly after Christmas I went to Target, and had a total crisis. As I stood in the middle of the aisle I could see clearanced Christmas decorations, Valentine's day decorations and summer swimsuits. I told Lover that I didn't know if it was still Christmas, close to V-Day or if we had just jumped right to summer. Not that I would mind that.

On a related note, I was in a spending mood the other day, so I thought I'd go "blow" some money at the Dollar Store. I love that I can buy a bunch of things there and  still have lots of money left in my wallet. I picked up some random stuff like cleaning supplies, and a cute soap container, but my find of the day was this little guy.



I'm not a fan of the overload of Pastels that greet us with the onset of Easter, but I do love spring-y things. And this little guy looked so brave and cheerful and he has served as a reminder the last few weeks that no matter how long the winter seems, spring always comes. :-)

Castle Consultation: Mission Accomplished!

Back in October I made up an idea board for Trisha with suggestions on how to create a beachy, relaxed vibe in her master bedroom. Well, just a few short months later, and after $300, Trisha has really transformed her bedroom! But first, here are the before pictures:







If you remember, Trisha wanted to incorporate this painting so I designed the idea board around it. Here a refresher of the board.



And here are Trisha's afters!






I love that new bedding set, it really sets the mood for the whole room. Isn't that door-turned-headboard so awesome? Trisha and her husband ended up going a shade lighter with the paint on the walls, and I love the soft color. They also opted to paint their existing furniture a dark gray, which is so classic and moody! Love it! I think that fish up in the nook is an absolute stunner. Here's what Trisha had to say about the makeover:

The room is coming along great! I liked your suggestions so much for the curtains and bedding, that we have purchased both and couldn't be happier.  With the different patterns on the bedding and the curtains, I was a little concerned; however, they look really good together.  The green was a bit dark for our room, since we have only the one window, but we went with a blue/green lighter shade called "barely jade". It's all pretty exciting for us because you really gave us some new ideas, all based on the print we love.  The day we put the bedding on, we already had new life in the room.  It was so much more comfortable and alive.

Thanks again!!!!

So that's that. I am so glad that Trisha and her husband have a lovely master that they can relax in, and that they were able to accomplish so much on a small budget! What is your favorite part?

Do you have a room that you'd like some suggestions for? I'd love to help, so shoot me an email!

Linked to Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Show me the Progress Party @ Serenity Now

Baby Will

You know, sometimes I get the impression that people think that being a photographer is the easiest thing in the world. Well, let me tell you, taking pictures of scrumptious little babies is not all fun and roses.




Oh, wait, yes it is. :-) Little William wasn't crazy about being put on his tummy, as you can see here in this picture. :-) But, as soon as we put him back on his back and let him see Mommy again, he was all smiles. I loved this little guy! So happy and cheerful, and boy does he love his mommy! Here are some of my favorite shots.
















Thanks for being so much fun Baby Will!