Newly Painted Sideboard

I FINALLY finished the sideboard on Friday night and was able to get some pretty good pictures yesterday afternoon and this morning so you can see the transformation!  Before, it was painted red, which was nice but too dark for the dining room and a little too formal for my taste.

Here is a before picture of the dining room...

Red sideboard and red on the curtains with dark lamps.  After repainting the furniture and putting the living room curtains in this room, and two new lamps from TJ Maxx, here is the after...

 

The rug isn't staying.  I am hoping to find a cheap sisal rug to replace it and use this outside on our deck for the spring and summer.  Here are some more after shots...

I love the bright white in here! It really helps to lighten up the room and is a great contrast to the dark table and chairs.  If you read my previous post about painting the sideboard, I had decided to paint it blue.  Well, after 4 coats of blue paint (2 different shades) I lived with it for a couple of days and decided to just prime it and paint it white.  That way I can use it in different rooms if I decide to, and I am not stuck with a specific color scheme in the dining room. 

Now I am going to start tackling my laundry room by adding shelves and painting the room a buttery yellow.  Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!

Linking up!

Sara

Gahhh...And Some Changes in the Laundry Room

Ok, so the dining room sideboard transformation is not going as planned.  The blue does not look like I want it to and now I am second guessing even wanting it to be blue.  Gahhhhh!  So, today I went to Home Depot and bought some primer and white paint.  I am painting it white and that's gonna be that.  Not sure about distressing it yet - am a little scared of staining and feel out of my element doing it.  Any tips would be appreciated!  So, no pics of the sideboard, but I do have some changes to my laundry room! 

Here is a before picture...

This room is sooooo bare.  I had a major mistreatment (The Nester's term) on these windows for the first 6 months we have lived here while I have been deciding what color to paint this room, and whether I want to go ahead and just buy open shelves or wait (patiently) for cabinets.  I am not patient so I think I am going to go ahead, paint the room, and just put up shelves.  Cabinets can always come later...

The color is a toss-up between a creamy yellow or a pale gray.  Yet again, can't make up my mind.  On a positive note, I have been eyeing a pretty quilted sham at TJ Maxx for a couple of weeks and I knew I could make it into a window treatment for the room.  Here she is...

I love the colors and pattern.  Creamy yellow, pale gray, a little tan, and some white.  Perfect.  Especially considering my tile floors have tan and gray in them.  For $9.99 you can't beat it.  I cut the back panel off and am going to use that fabric for little touches around the room. I love the pattern!

I cut a slit in each end of the sham and slid it on the cheap-o rod. 

For now I have just put it on the rod that is already up there but I am going to by a pretty brushed nickel curtain rod and hang it up so it looks classy - this is just temporary, and ugly on the sides...

 I also pinned the bottom to the molding around the window so it look more like a roman type shade.  Not sure if it does, though, but I like it.

 I also bought a twin sheet set at TJ Maxx for $9.99 and used the flat sheet to make a skirt to go around my laundry tub sink, since (let's be honest) they are functional, but hideous.  Added bonus - storage underneath.  All I did was turn the sheet sideways and hot glue it around - gluing a little pleat every now and then.  No measuring - measuring is for patient folks. Before...

Here is the after, once I cut off the extra fabric on the bottom...

 

I don't even care about hemming it.  You can't see that it has a raw edge and it's the laundry room.  I am the only one who usually even steps foot (practically lives) in there. But I probably should steam out the wrinkles...later.

I just took the mirror down from above the sink and am spray painting it silver to put some color on the walls, and then I need to pick out my paint and get to rolling!

I also bought a pretty yellow rug at TJ Maxx for $25.00 and it is so cushy underfoot that I had to have it!  You can see it in the first picture, but it will look so much better in the final after shot!

So, there is the laundry room progress for now.  Now, going to go attack my sideboard with the 4th coat of paint.  Ugh...

Sara

Painting the Dining Room Sideboard

Here is a picture of the dresser I painted red at my old house and am now using as a sideboard in my dining room in the new house.  The full post is here...

I love the red and I thought I would love red in my dining room, but after living with it like this for 8 months, I realize I don't really like it for the space.  My living room, dining room, and kitchen are all open with columns separating the rooms.  Since I have mainly creams and blues in the kitchen and living room I decided to paint this dresser a dark blue.  I started painting this weekend and used Benjamin Moore's Tranquil Blue.

I am not very happy with the color, so during my son's naptime today I am putting on another (and hopefully final) coat of blue that is a shade darker - Majestic Blue.

I can't wait to show off the final product! I got TJ Maxx gift cards for Christmas and used some of the money to buy two new lamps to go on the sideboard and brighten up the space.  We use our dining room for dinner during the week so taking it from red to blue should cut down on the formality of the space, since we don't use it like a formal dining room.  

Stay tuned for new pictures that I can hopefully post tomorrow, since it is oil-based paint and takes 24 hours to dry completely. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Sara

Dropcloth Curtains

Thanks to everyone for the sweet comments on my guest bedroom post! It is awesome to read so many lovely comments from blogland!  My mom and I have a lot of fun projects planned for 2011 and we are looking forward to all of the inspiration that comes from reading everyone's blogs!

Now that the Christmas decorations are down and the house is clean, I decided to make a minor change in my living room that has had much more of an impact than I thought it would!  I knew my curtains were too bland for my den and I needed wider panels.  Here are my curtains before.  Not bad just a little too close to the wall color so they fade away...

So, I went to Home Depot and bought 5 dropcloths, ripped them right out of the package, and hung those bad boys right up! And yes, they need ironing.  Here is the after...

I LOVE how they look! They were $9.98 per dropcloth and for windows this size, I would have paid a lot more than that for fabric, even cheap fabric! A plus - they are already hemmed around all edges and are a good weight for curtains.  I can't believe it took me this long to jump on the blog bandwagon and do this! 

I am now going to take the red out of the dining room.  I thought I liked it, but I want to paint the sideboard blue like the hutch in my foyer and brighten things up in there.  I like red accents, but the red is just too heavy with the dark furniture.  Planning to get my paint tomorrow and get crackin'!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to...

Sara