Years and years ago I sent my MIL out on an hunt for a new Danish Modern table. It took her a few months to find one that I could afford. Can you see why I could afford it? It was a hot mess from the get go. Shaky and scratched. After some haggling I think that I paid a $100 for it. As bad as it was so much better than the battered oval IKEA table that I had had for years. Since I know a thing or two about tablecloths, it's served my family well.
One of the projects for book 2 needs to be photographed a nice tabletop so I grabbed a pint of paint and primer and I am good to go. I'm so excited, I think it looks great.
Wow, the first coat of primer really made the scared surface obvious.
I love my freshened up dining room! Gone is the wood on wood with wood effect. Yuck! I love painted wood, it think that I would paint my mother white if she was made of wood.
Remember my hunt for new chairs? Well I went with a mod chair in peacock!! I found them at Target.com at $40 each they were a total bargain!!
I am getting closer and closer to taking photos for Book #2 and there are some things I need!! I NEED new chairs for my dining room. But I have a problem, do I buy new ones or paint up the ones that I have or do I buy new chairs? The chairs that we have are perfectly fine, they are sturdy and fairly comfortable. But boy, are they boring!
So what do you think paint or buy? Leave me a note and help me decide!!
Either way, I thought I would share what inspires me! For more inspiration check out my dining room pin board!
At last years Country Living Fair in ATL we were right across from the Happy Chair people. What happy chairs they are! I just had to take advantage of the photo op.
So here's the dream, I would own a settee like this if I had one of those awful Mc Mansions in the far West End, you know the ones, they have master bedrooms w/ en suite (non-existent in my 85 YO home) that have the same square footage as my entire first floor. I would lie around eating bon-bon's in this chair reading novels all day long. This chair would make me happy!!
OK! Enough of that, I just like the chair, A LOT! : ) Maybe when Modern June has some trendy warehouse loft to call home I can have my Happy Chair! A much better dream!
I cannot believe we are about to begin week 11 of our "a-stupid-freaking-tree-fell-on-our-house-5-months-ago-and-it's-still-not-fixed" RENO!!! Seriously? Seriously!
As if closing down my retail business 5 weeks before Christmas wasn't bad enough. We hit rock bottom when my kids started worrying about us not having a Christmas tree because the dining room furniture and 25 bolts of fabric was in the living room? What could be worst than all of that? Well let me tell you what's worse I'm getting kicked out of my bedroom. Today my husband and I having to remove everything from our bedroom into out dining room, one level below.
Told ya! It just got worse, didn't it? Who knows how long this will take, best guess 2 weeks. They guys have to board over the ceiling with new drywall and remove a plaster wall to assess the damage from the trees impact and fix all the water damage. Fun. Good times. I. CAN'T. WAIT.
Can you tell I've gotten a little surly. Hell ya I am, I am so totally over this. NO more lemonade for me. Today these lemons are rotten. Maybe tomorrow (or in two months time) I'll be back to seeing this massive project as lemonade. But today, it's just rotten.
The silly during shot.
It was a slow week here in reno-land, the guys just touched up the paint in the kitchen and dining room and put in 2 NEW exterior door in our bedroom!! Okay, all surly bad attitude aside, these two doors really rock my world. They are so strong and fancy. No rotting wood or broken glass. We won't tell the insurance company that a lot of that damage was there when we bought the house 13 years ago. Not that they paid for these beauties entirely, but every little bit helps. My hubby went the extra mile and told the contractors to make me happy and to put in the primo doors. I love that man!! The light that is pouring in is worth all the extra money we're paying.
I found some time to move some of our kitchen stuff around to new spots, I am making the most of that pretty window by making a useful vignette.
Since I moved the (little used) Kitchen Aide to the top of the fridge I was able to get the bread box my Mother-In-Law gave me a better home. It's needs some tweaking and some navel jelly but it's progress.
What's really exciting is that the studio is all put away and working out so nicely. Well mostly working out, I did a really bad job with the cutting tables finishing tape, that will have to be redone. Don't you think we need a pretty new cutting mat? A giant white one will have to be ordered soon.
OK, I stand corrected, there's some lemonade to be had!
I took some oilcloth and covered the backs of the cube book cases to make it all wee bit nicer. I love my stashed storage. A rolling rack keeps our scraps organized and the rolling filing cabinet is perfect. LOVE!!
Maddie and I hit IKEA last week so I could the chair bases for my fun red chairs. Don't you love them?
The best part of the week was the fact that I could open up the window when the temperature hit 60. Please keep in mind I have never-ever-ever been able to open a window in the studio before now. What a gift! OK, there it is, I am happy again. So the tree falling down wasn't but so stupid.
Can we talk about this color??? I just love it, it's Behr Poinsettia!! Can we talk about these lights? I had to pay for these myself and they are worth every single dime -- even if I had to work through the Christmas Holiday to pay for them.
My second favorite upgrade in the kitchen is the trim along the ceiling! We've never had trim in the kitchen before, how very fancy. We also got toe kick along the kitchen cabinets, the toe kick we where supposed to install in 11 years ago. Oh, what's a decade here and there?! My only regret, no new floor first. Oh well, there's always the year 2021 for that.
Next up for the kitchen? The kitchen cabinets will get a good scrubbing, the trim will get painted and I'll overhaul the glass front cabinets with a fresh display.
Moving on to the dining room...
Behr's Mellow Yellow
I was totally excited, after fretting and fretting, I really love this color. It's just pure sunshine.
It's insanely bright and I love every bit of it. I am sure my M-I-L will hate it, and that's how I'll know for sure that it's right for me.
Look at it with the white trim and a new Modern June tablecloth!! Love, love, love!! Now I need some red chairs. : )
I emptied out half the studio and said good bye to yellow walls this week. I must say that I love-love-love the color, it's so bright and happy!
I built the a Galant table for the sewing machines...
... and another one for the computer! It even has a key board drawer, so very ergonomic!
Aidan and I built these cool shelves that attach to the table top. We left the back off the second one so the printers could stack up. LOVE THAT! But what really rocks is having a desk with a work surface for the first time every! I'm not sure what to do with that, but I'll work it out. ; )
I'm also digging the old peg board that I painted turquoise. I reconfigured the board, it's amazing how much stuff you can get a 2'x4' sheet of pegboard.
Maddie helped me hang this pegboard today. I am so happy to replace all those 3M hooks, now I can move everything as needed. Easy-peasy!
Friday afternoon, the kids and I sat on the studio floor and watched The Voice while I put these together. They are for the new cutting table that I'll be making next weekend. For now the old folding cutting table top will have to do. We've got tablecloths to make this week so no more playing decorator until they are completed.
I replaced the old white bookcase with these two wire shelves that I stacked. I like them for several reasons: it's wider and deeper so I get more bang for my buck and it's open on the sides so that area feels more open now.
As you can clearly see, I have a lot of work left to do but I am pleased as punch to be back in the room. Next weekend I'll tackle the cutting table, hang wall shelves and finish painting the doors and trim. Then it's back to IKEA to get the right bases for the new chairs (I messed up) and a few more of these great drawers! (Aidan and I had a blast building this, they're a wild puzzle.) Then it'll be time to make and hang some new roman shades. Wait till you see the great fabric I'm getting for those!!!
I figure it'll be 100% complete in about 2-3 more weeks!! I can't wait!! Yay!!!
I'll be back with a full room shot tomorrow, the sun fills the room with pretty light and the turquoise blue looks so wonderful.
The best thing about this shop is all the little "rooms" that are nestled within the old vintage doors and furniture.
And then there are the really big rooms filled with pretty, pretty fun!
Don't forget the garden shed! Those chairs look familiar!
Frilly pink fun. I did a trunk show at Feathernesters once, and every single thing I sold was pink! Not a lie! Those ladies that frequent this shop love their pink!!!
Check out our fun fruity oilcloths, they are just perfect for summer. Think pillows for the garden chairs, a tote for the farmers market, or a great new tablecloth for the kitchen or the patio!
By golly I am going to start the New Year with a lovely and clean house! Here's what I did today...
Clean out the fridge, inside and out!
De-clutter those kitchen hot spots, basically this is every flat surface in the room.
De-clutter back of stove and give it a good wipedown.
Cull any old spices from the spice cabinet and make a shopping list for fresh jars.
Wash up the oilcloth cat mat and give that part of the floor a good scrub.
Take down all the notes, numbers, and recipes, file them away.
Re-cure the cast iron skillet that Christy lovingly saved for me!
I took some time to repurpose the Christmas flowers, I weeded out the old tired ones and put them in some new containers. The red carnations are in a new and fantastic milk glass vase from Janet. It is a really great addition to the collection! Thanks Janet, I love it. The other flowers (I have no idea what they are) are in a recycled pizza sauce can I used for Maddie's 11th birthday party last week. I just had to buy that sauce because of the bright, colorful label, Don Pepino's Pizza Sauce, and the great illustration on the brightly painted label! Perfection. Don had put his clipping of a passion flower vine in it a few days ago, I added the pretty white flowers to spruce it up a bit.
I could spend a whole week in the kitchen but honestly that ain't happenin'. Maybe I will do some fly lady stuff later but for now I have other rooms to get to!
After a long lunch I got to it again! This time I hit the dining room from hell. Clutter, holiday dishes, and Legos EVERYWHERE! Yikes. At least Don was kind enough, or fed up enough, to remove the leaves from the table. That is a big help.
Dishes, time to pack up all those fun holiday dishes that I love so much.
Aidan moved all the Lego's to his room!
Finally put way all the birthday banners and decorations from Maddie's B-day.
Maddie was supposed to wipe down all the chairs but my TWEEN coped some "tude." I'll get her to do it tomorrow instead of skate boarding all afternoon. Hee, hee.
Cleared off the counter top that separates the dining room and kitchen--that's a real treat!
Grab paper bag and colect all the recycling laying about the house from presents.
Finished dumping out my oilcloth owl tote that has been all over the dining room table for days. I filed all the receipts into my "file pile."
Cleared off the dining room desk and tided up the drawers a bit.
Dusted like a mad woman.
Vacuumed floors and baseboards.
I left up the holiday display on the ledges because I love them so very much. The ornaments on the wall are from my childhood, the white garland is from Ikea (I regret not buying tons of it), the ornaments in my fab punch bowl are from here there and everywhere and are all vintage.
Next up was the living room!
Bag Attack, take two bags, one for recycling and one for trash, and don't leave the room until all the crap is gone!
Kid pile up--put all the kid stuff on their side's of the couch to go upstairs, and don't allow any PS2 gaming (Cute Hubby brought out his "mistress" to share alongside our Gamecube as a way to delay the inevitable Wii purchase) until all of it is put away in their rooms.
De-clutter the hot spots.
Dust and Vacuum.
I took off the couch's slip cover and shook it off outside, then put it back on all nice and straight!
And I save the worst for last, the front hall. This is where all the real junk ends up. All the piddly stuff that needs to go up stairs but never seems to make it there.
Remove all the Christmas cards from garland (hugh difference!).
Take 500 trips up the stairs (good exercise).
Tidy up bookshelves.
Put Beth's tablecloths in my van so she actually gets them someday.
Vacuum hall and steps.
Now I am off to get pretty(ish) for out New Years Eve tradition, Bowling! Silly and fun.
