Archives for November 2015

Have you ever had a big project that you began with every intention of completing in . . . like 5 days? Then that 5 days turned into 5 weeks and the 5 weeks into 5 months . . . or even longer?

Yup, that’s pretty much the way my dining room makeover went. I felt quite vindicated on Sunday though when our Pastor, who is doing a series called Flip my House, talked about how building anything good takes time. It is a process. So I’m thinking this dining room of mine must be pretty good because it took way more time than I ever could’ve imagined!

It began with my trying to strip some very stubborn wallpaper, only to find out that it was applied directly to the sheetrock. Not a good situation. Believe me, I tried every method known to man to remove that paper and it wasn’t worth the time I would have had to put into it to get it to the point of being paintable.

So I repaired the damage I’d already done and moved on to Plan B, new wallpaper. Shopping, shopping, and more shopping, ordering samples, rejecting samples, ordering more samples and finally finding just what I was looking for The wallpaper application itself also took way longer than expected but it wasn’t such a bad experience because I had a good GREAT friend who came all the way out from Washington to help me. Pain shared is pain lessened!

Of course there was also the painting of the buffet and dining chairs, reupholstering the dining chairs, repairing and painting a hutch . . . you get the picture.

It would’ve been a whole lot easier to pick everything I wanted from a catalog and have it shipped but that’s not the way I roll . . . Mrs. Old Things New here.

This was the style board I originally put together for my dining room using Olioboard. This great design tool actually kept me from making mistakes when I realized that some of the things I originally planned on using in this room didn’t look good together. If you are interested in reading about how I came up with the inspiration for this room you can read the full post HERE.

This is a view of our dining room BEFORE, looking toward the kitchen. Very classic wallpaper in a pretty shade of red but, like some of the other changes we’ve made in this house, it just wasn’t me.

This is the dining room view looking toward the front door, where Sasha hangs out all day long looking for something to bark at.

And here she is, my somewhat glam, somewhat rustic new dining room.

The hutch is the first piece I worked on, using a color wash in different grey tones. You can find the tutorial for that HERE

These old doors were taken from another large piece that I’m working on for my bedroom. I used liming wax for the first time to give them this weathered look.

Then I attached some vintage wall sconces for that Rustic Glam look that I like.

You may have heard about my chandy before. It was a birthday gift from my husband the first year we were married. Even though we had to pay a small fortune to have it specially packaged and shipped across the U.S. it was worth it!

An antique frame turned chalkboard so I can write messages to myself.

This is a close up of the wallpaper we used. I like that it has a very subtle pattern in pearly greys, cream and tan. The pattern is Brunate Damask from Seabrook Wallcoverings.

This is the little redeemed and restored hutch I recently wrote about HERE

The pattern in the glass of the hutch . . .

. . . matches the pattern in the fabric I used to recover the chairs . . . and also the pattern in the rug that once belonged to my mom.

I’m either very clever or very lucky 😉 You guess which one it is.

I painted the dining chairs with the same color wash technique that I used on the buffet.

One of the items on my style board was tufted and upholstered chairs for each end of the dining table. These are Bennett Camelback armchairs from Restoration Hardware and they were on sale at the time I purchased them. Though the price was pretty good I guess you could still say they were my big splurge since all of the other dining room furniture combined cost less than one RH chair.

That doesn’t include these vintage Florentine nesting tables. They don’t normally hang out in this room but needed a place to stay while the Christmas tree takes up their nook in the living room.

This antique frame holds blue and white vases filled with dried roses.

An antique French mirror hangs between the two dining room windows.

This, of course, is my favorite thing about this dining room makeover! I have loved this painting from afar for years, ever since I began following Sherry’s blog, No Minimalist Here.

Sherry’s was one of the first blogs I followed. I’ve always loved her style (being a non-minimalist myself) and I’ve always admired this painting which hung in her home. Several months ago, after downsizing, she had an online garage sale through her blog. Would you believe that we drove the 7-1/2 hours to get this painting? It was actually hubby’s idea because he knew how much I loved it. It not only makes my dining room but it also has a special history behind it, in that it comes from the Jamestown Plantations in Virginia.

Ever since I put the last sprig of greenery in my centerpiece in preparation for taking pictures for the blog I’ve been walking by my dining room and feeling delighted at the transformation that I knew would one day be. But you know what? When it comes right down to it, it is all just stuff! Temporary treasure that brings some temporary pleasure but nonetheless, just stuff.

Because of that mindset, and because I’ve had times in my life that I’ve struggled financially, I have a hard time spending too much money on the temporary things. That’s also why I like to restore things that others have no use for, or to create things myself to add beauty to my home.

I know that not everyone is like me. Not everyone enjoys searching through junk stores and spending hours in a hot/cold garage restoring their finds, and I certainly don’t begrudge those who have decorated their homes with high end furnishings. In fact, I love going to into their homes to OoHH and AaHH and gain even more inspiration! Like I’ve said on my sidebar, I believe anyone can create beauty on a budget.

Now, because I can’t help myself . . .

Another BEFORE

And AFTER

BEFORE

And AFTER.

Yup, I like it better this way!

Blessings,

P.S. I have one dirty little secret. It is the dirty, scratched up dining room table hiding under the tablecloth I made to hide it. It is a table just like the one on my design board except beaten. One day I will be stripping and restoring that final piece to it’s original wood tone. One day . . . but probably not too soon.

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