Sunday, May 30, 2010

one down...dining room finished?

My dining room is finished!  Or is it?  Let's say it's finished for now.  I will also add here that this post is chock full of pictures so grab some sweet iced tea, kick your feet up and have a look.
Remember the before?

Here's the after!


Not a drastic "OH MY GOSH and gasp" kind of change but rather "oh, how pretty" kind of change. All free with stuff I had except the fresh flowers on the table (thanks Jeff!)

Details.....

This victorola (however you spell it), the jar of salt/pepper shakers and the print have been in the dining room since day one.  I just moved the print to this wall and put them together. (Yep, this picture is leaning.  I tried to fix it but it just kept leaning.  Tilt your head slightly and it might help.)

This English pine pie rack has been in an entry way for most of it's time at my house (it's travelled around several rooms).  At Jennie's suggestion, I moved it in the dining room and filled it up with stuff I had all over the place.





Let me tell you about this little thing.  There are two that are almost identical.  They were pulled out of a hand built large shed on my husband's family's property.  They were old weathered wood when we got them.  However, we got them in the mid-90s and I put that little stencil on both.  I now despise that little stencil so I painted these babies.  I didn't sand or prep or prime but just painted over it so it will look like it has ages of paint under one fresh coat.   You can see them on either side of the pine rack above the chairs. The actual makeover of these will be a future post.
cute, huh?
I put some vintage kitchen utensils in them.
Love this jar with it's bubble/hobnail like glass.
It's not old.  I think I got it at HL or Target or some place a few years ago.
I know they are hung a little asymmetrical which is challenging my very mild autism spectrum tendencies but I can always add more.  In fact, I've got my eye on some tin butter pats that would look great added here.
The dining room looks out onto the front porch.
So, why am I not declaring it 100% finished?  I like those white painted wood shed things so much and I think they would look lovely in a bathroom with rolled up towels in them or in my craft/project room to be as storage.  My husband thinks we can recreate them so we may give that a try.  If we're successful, then this room is finished. What do you think?

I may link it up to my favorite blog parties listed below on the right or above in my list. 

Next up: Entry room part A&B (you'll see what I mean).  I'm starting tomorrow but it won't be finished for awhile.  I have a lot of little projects to do for that area.  I'm sure I'll post about the little projects.


Memorial Day.
I'm so thankful for their service.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

unfinished business

Please tell me you all do this too.  I bring things home.  I find a place for them.  Things looks good but I'm not loving it.  So, I move things around.  I move things from room to room.  Then, I start thinking about other things I could move around.  I'll say to myself (or maybe outloud) "I could put that there and then move that over here and oh, then I could move that from this room to that room and what about if then I put this with that?  Wouldn't that look great?"  I do this all the time. I also forget what I have until I'm out and about.  I'll see something great and say "I think I have one of those...but I don't know where."  The result:  I never have a finished room.  Since I move things around, I always have rooms in progress.  It's becoming frustrating.  So, I need to start finishing rooms...with all the stuff I already have.  (When my husband reads this, he's going to faint.  Somebody catch him.)

This is a long weekend for Americans so I have 3 days to get something done.  Next week is the last week of work since I work for the school system.  I will then have June, July and a couple of weeks in August off.  So, there is no excuse not to complete things.  I have a loooooong wish list of projects I would love to complete.  I'm starting with the easiest...my dining room. 

Here it is, the before pic:

I've worked on this room bit by bit off and on.  It's simple and cute but boring.  Here's what I like about it and won't change: I love the cherry red walls, white beadboard and my big white chippy barn star.  I like the table and chairs.This table has a lot of history in my family so I really wanted to use it.   It's an antique oak table.  I'm not a fan of oak so I painted the bottom of the table and the chairs.  I stained the top of the table with a dark stain.  I love it.   I also like the dark brown concrete floors.  Of course I also love my industrial funnel light I posted about here. 

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll post the new dining room, completely finished.  I will be spending 0 buckaroos to finish it.  I'm using what I have; just moving things around.  Until then, here are a few 'sneak peak pics' (say that 3 times real fast. I even had trouble typing it.)

crates and wooden boxes
(If you see dog hair/dust bunnies in this picture, just pretend they're not there.  We have two of these shedding machines...
Anyway, here are a couple more sneak peak pictures:

Stay tuned....

Saturday, May 22, 2010

vintage ladder and the color red

I really like ladders.  I have a couple but I want more.  I would love to have one like this.  Look close, see the one with the spring like rungs?  Cool. 

And one of my favorite blogshots ever is this one:

So, I really wanted to participate in Donna's Saturday Night Special "ladder" theme party over at Funky Junk Interiors because I like ladders too!  I knew I had a great little ladder to bring but I had to find it because we are moving things around in our little cottage and the cute little ladder was "taking a break."
Here's my little white wooden one but that's not the one I'm looking for...and I'm certainly not looking for the huge silver extension ladder.
This one is kinda cute but it's not the one either.
I like the old galvanized detail so maybe one day I'll paint this little cutie but for now, we still use this as a real stepladder.  So, where is that other cute one I really want to use?
Oh, I think I see it!
There it is, right there...in this really bad picture because I'm such a bad photographer.
That's better!  Now you can see it.  Cute, huh?  (Grace, I know you would like it better if it was blue and a less rusty:)
I like the rusty and actually it is a very pale bluish white.
Now, of course to take it to the party, it needs a little something.  Since my favorite color is red, I think I'll add some of my favorite red things.
That's better!  Love a little red around my cottage.
See that cute little birdhouse with the metal red roof?  Target.  Yep, Got it at Target last year on sale for less than 10 bucks.  Love that.
Little ladders make great bookshelves...especially for old red books!
This sweet porcelain teapot (cause I only drink tea!) was painted by my grandmother. It's one of my favorite things!  There are some of those wooden tops from my father-in-law's childhood that I keep moving all over the house.  I wish I had about 20 more of those!
vintage ladder and the color red

Sunday, May 16, 2010

For Purposes Not Intended

Sometimes you find stuff that is just so cool but what do you do with it?  That's one of the number one questions Jennie and I ask each other all the time.  When we go out "shopping", here's our typical verbal exchange:

One of us:  "Oh, look at that!"
The other one: "Oh, that's cute."
First one: "What is it?"
2nd one: "I'm not sure...but it's so cute!"
First one: "I just love it but I don't know why."
2nd one: "It is really cute."
First one:  "What would you do with it?"
2nd one: "I don't know but it's just too cute."

Then, one of us buys it.  Sometimes we come up with great ways to use it and sometimes it just sits looking pretty.  Here are a couple of things used for purposes they were not intended.  It makes them interesting and unexpected.

 Up first is this.  It took us a little time but we figured out that this is a galvanized metal mold for concrete edging.  (or at least that's what we decided it was)  It hangs on this little wall area bordering the kitchen.
  It looks so cool.  Love the rivets.
Next up is this thingy.  I'm still not 100% sure what this is but I'm guessing it was part of a plant stand, maybe one little adjustable arm of it.  I like the shabby, slightly rusty look of it.  We've mounted it to the wall and it could be used for lots of things.  It could hold keys.  It could hold a candle or be a soap dish.
Finally there's this.  It's some sort of pedal or step.  This hung in our main bathroom for quite awhile and we used it to hang up a wet towel.  We attached an L bracket to it (the little white painted part) so we could attach it to the wall.  Then, just slung a towel over the pedal to keep it off the floor.  It could be used for a lot of different things too.  We recently took it down from the bathroom to find a new home for it. (that's why it's not hung right now.  My husband doesn't want new holes in the wall just to demonstrate something for this blog and I forgot to take a picture of it before we took it down pre-blog).
All of this junk was pretty cheap or free.  My mom actually found the pedal in the last picture and used it in her bathroom more than 15 years ago (probably more like 20).  I think I've mentioned before she was a junkin' pioneer.  So what have you used for purposes not intended?  I would love to see it!

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