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!

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Sara

A Guest Bedroom Makeover

Well, go ahead and call me crazy.  My family comes to our house Christmas afternoon and spends the night every year for the past three years.  So, wouldn't you know I get a wild hair the Tuesday before Christmas and decide to paint the main guest bedroom - something that has been on my to do list since we moved into our house.  And, while I was at it, switched the furniture out between the two rooms.  That involved moving the double bed and nightstands out and bringing the queen bed and huge nightstands in.  All while my 2 year old looked at me like I was a crazy person...which I was, and am.  Needless to say, the room was finished in a day and my family didn't even get to use the room because of the snow and had to head back home Christmas night.  This room is begging for someone to come stay and enjoy it's beauty (at least I think it's beautiful).


No before pictures, but here is the room now...

The walls were painted Moonshine by Benjamin Moore.  I used Ace Hardware brand paint and actually loved the consistency and will definitely use it again.

Duvet cover from Target, aqua pillows from HomeGoods, and damask pillow from Garden Ridge...

The lamps are from Old Time Pottery and the butterfly prints are from a free printable website - like vintage printable but different.  I had it bookmarked and for the life of me don't know what happened to it.  I'll keep searching because it is a great site.

I painted the iron headboard with a chrome spray paint and need to add the footboard once I get it painted.  The nightstands were my first furniture painting project and the post is HERE.  It was my first post and the pictures look horrible, now that I look back on them!

Anyway, here are a few more pictures and thanks to Centsational Girl, who takes gorgeous photos, I played around with my manual setting on my camera and got some pretty good pictures (for me anyway).  She recently did a couple of posts on good picture-taking and I jumped in and experimented, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Sara

 

House at Christmas!

Finally had a good rainy day to get some pictures of my house at Christmas! I will try to get some pictures of the outside up in the next couple of days. Sorry some of the pics are blurry and a ton are crooked - argh!

Starting with the tree... I used red, silver, and gold this year, with some bits of red geomesh and gold and silver willow stuck in random places.  I didn't do a topper this year and I really kinda like it without one...

The mantel was kept pretty simple since we have the TV above it.  I ordered matching stockings from Pottery Barn.  They have the best selection and the quality is really nice.

I kept the coffee table simple this year to and I love it!  Sometimes the simplest things are the best.  I found this bowl in the clearance section at TJ Maxx for $7 and I spray painted it brushed nickel.  Some red berry sprigs, a little greenery, and a candle and centerpiece is done!

I put mostly gold in the dining room since I had a lot of gold berries and needed somewhere to put them!

 The candle holder were a dollar store craft, each one cost $2 to make and I made them a while back when the idea was floating around blogland...

Sprigs of greenery on sale at Michaels, dollar store balls, TJ Maxx placemats, WalMart chargers, and Christmas plates from my mom...  Sorry for some of the blurry pictures!

I found this sign for $20 and I thought it was a splurge but I love it!

Next year we will probably get a tree for the foyer but this year I didn't want to have to buy any new decorations so the hutch got a Christmas makeover.  The tree on the landing was given to me by my mother-in-law a long time ago - back when Martha Stewart had her line at K-Mart.  Martha, please come back to K-Mart! 

My nativity set...

Another little table vignette.  Those pictures above are $4 Wal-Mart frames with pictures I printed out from Vintage Printable.  I love that site!  They aren't part of the Christmas decorations but I thought I'd share!

Another table...

And the kitchen.  I finally made some roman shades for the windows using mini blinds and two shower curtains from Wal-Mart.  The fabric is the perfect robin's egg blue to match the chairs in my living room...

Some berry sprigs and more of those dollar store hurricane vases, a few jars filled with balls and one with cookies, and of course you have to decorate around the beloved Keurig machine!

That's the inside of my house this Christmas! I have had a ball decorating and next year I am going to have a tree for my son and hopefully one in the foyer, but for this year, simple works for us!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Sara

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