Weekend Project Update!

We made some progress on the porch this weekend! One coat of white trim paint down, one more to go... well, we're going to wait until after we put the new decking on the porch before we go with the second coat, in case of nicks and bumps during installation.

The bench looks fabulous out there, don't you think? I am a little nervous because the bicycle chain that we bought won't fit between the slats, nor the tabs I sewed into the cushions. Dumb me forgot to measure properly before buying the chain, but another one is not going to be hard to find I am sure.


For now, I will just hope for the best and pray that no one would think of messing with our cute little porch.


In other news I went ahead and painted the last of the coffee table paint onto the dining room wall and LOVE it! There wasn't enough to do the whole wall, and it still needs a second coat, but this gives me a good idea of how it will look when it's done and I love it! What do you think? I know it's not a great color for resale, but we can neutralize it when it comes time to sell.



So far the progress on the spare room is still limited. I did manage to empty two boxes and get them out of there, but if you could see the state of the room, you would know that this really isn't much progress at all in the grand scheme of things. It is literally wall to wall boxes, bags and stuff in there and we're nowhere near to calling that room "done" just yet. I want to make it my mission to remove at least one bag or box per day this week and see how I do with that. It's probably a good thing that my mom is coming out for my birthday in July as I HAVE to have the room finished by then, so that will light a fire under my butt.

Ohhh what the heck... here's a picture of what is becoming known as the black hole...
... don't judge me....

Weekend Project: Porch & Spare Room

Hallelujah! It's Friday!! And it's time for another weekend project to-do list.

This week, we'll be trying to keep the costs down as we've kind of gone a little hog wild over the last few weeks. We have a big visa application coming up soon, so we need to hold back a little on the cash.

In this light, the plan for the weekend is:

- Organize the spare room.

Yes, I know this has been on the list for a few weeks now. But we have now identified the problem. We need to get rid of a ton of office stuff, papers and things that we don't need to hang on to. I also have a secret plan to share some of my rarely used scrapbooking supplies with a friend who actually scrap books and could use some to add to her stash. I know that I need to go through my fabric stash with a ruthless eye and throw out any, and all fabric I am unlikely to use.... ok, except for those pretty vintage sheets... I may decide to throw a quilt together at some point. LOL

- Front Porch Beautification

During our recent trip to Pier 1, we stumbled upon some cute outdoor throw pillows that I love, love, love. It brought up an idea I've been toying with to add something to our decidedly boring porch. Trouble is, my plan involves moving one of my fave pieces of furniture that really doesn't fit in the house to the porch.

Now, the porch is covered, and rarely even gets wet when it rains (which, let's face it, it never does in Texas). My real issue with bringing it outdoors is that the South African in me won't shut up about the possibility of it being stolen off my porch. I know, I know... Round Rock is number 19 on the list of safest towns in the country so what am I worried about right? The bench I have in mind is gorgeous!! It needs some rehabbing, new poly stain, etc. But lately, everywhere I turn I see this bench on display in some magazine, or brochure, etc. It's a hot item, and I want to keep it in my possession, but I also need to make more room in our house.

Enter the master plan... We're going to Walmart to pick up a bicycle chain.... I have already sewn some loops into the back of the cushions, and we will (subtly) chain both the bench, and cushions to the porch railing. Problem solved! LOL Don't judge me! I am a product of my childhood environment.

And look, it's not just me... Here is a picture of my mom and step father's camp site in Calgary, Canada. See that picnic bench? They brought that with them... See the chain attached to the tree? They brought that too! (What you can't see in the below image, is that there is also a fully built shed and a plastic storage/seating bench too!)

Please note the deck in front of the RV... they built that too. You can't be without a deck for the summer,
even if it's only 3 months long in your town, and you'll only be visiting the RV over weekends!
What can I say, it's in the genes people!

I also have plans to slap some fresh white paint on the railings, and possibly also paint the living/dining room wall... But I make no promises on these two, the porch and spare room are main priorities.

My gorgeous rugs arrived today and I must say I am surprised. The leafy one is actually a totally different color to what I thought, BUT.. it's gorgeous and actually I like it more! I want to hold off on showing you pics until I have painted the wall in the dining area and done something with the table top in the living room. Pics on Sunday.

xoxo

It's the Little Things that Make Me Happy

Like this for example...


When we had this house inspected our home inspector pointed out that some of the insulation on our a/c unit needed replacing right quick, both on the outside unit as well as inside.

We also needed some other a/c fixes and had a quote drawn up for this as well as the insulation repair. Well, summer got here quicker than we thought and we aren't ready to get started on the large a/c project just yet so the insulation remained untouched until a recent trip to HDizzeepo where I found this and for $2.25 I did it myself!

This was one of the first things we did to the house and it took only a few seconds, but I cannot tell you how proud I am of this little thing. Saved me $7.75 of the $10 the a/c guys were going to charge and I had enough to do both pipes AND have enough insulation left over to replace them next year as well if necessary.

:) We need to get planting and weeding back there...

A Bar in the Desert

You know, I find decor blogs sooo inspiring. Lately I've spent WAY too many hours reading through archives of some of my favorites and I've picked up so many great ideas. Also, my Domino Decor book has been incredibly helpful. (TOTALLY love that book, just wish the free year's subscription to the magazine could actually still be honored. :( )

Anyway... we have this odd little corner in the living room. It's sort of in no mans land between the couch and the dining area, but has a prime spot next to the window. I've been wanting to do something with this area, other than plonking a lamp there where it is neither attractive nor necessary. I have admired Katie's bar nook over on BowerPower blog and tucked it away in the revolving to-do list that has taken over my brain. Then I stumbled upon this cute, keyoot idea in the Domino Book and put two and two together. (Bar tray on pg 69 for those of you who own the book).

{photography by Deborah Jaffe for domino}

We happened to be in Pier 1 yesterday for some placemats that I needed for another project -- pictures soon -- when I came across this beautiful little tray and eureka, a plan was hatched. (See those little birds? I am totally bird obsessed lately and don't care if they're passe')


Last night I grabbed one of our TV tables (previously used as guest room nightstands), plonked my little tray on top and grabbed everything I could find that was remotely bar themed. Yes, it's sparse. Yes, we only have one bottle of rum (Yeugh!). No, we still don't drink alochol. But I feel like this once awkward little corner now has a purpose, albeit one rarely used by us.

I've never been a big fan of formal living rooms that are only used for special ocassions and rare guests, and I realize that the bar is just a smaller version of a formal living room for our lifestyle. But I figure what the hell, the corner makes sense now and bridges the gap between the living space and dining space and best of all it's pretty, so there! haha

I love it so much I am almost tempted to crack open a bottle of wine or something just looking at it!

Rehabbed Mirror

I said I would update you on the other projects I tackled this weekend. This one I am also VERY proud of... We inherited this mirror from my in-laws. (Hi!! *wave*) I love love love the lines of the mirror, however the finish was really starting to look ratty. The poly was chipping, it was badly scratched in places and the color was uneven in others. I believe it once as part of a dresser set, so it's no stranger to a "makeover" and I felt that it could use one more.

I couldn't find a recent "Before" pic, but I found one taken at our dodgy little apartment in Buffalo above. (Please don't mind the junk shop-esque reflection... it was a tiny apartment and I worked from home... space was at a premium there and that paint color was not our choice, but the landlady's.

Here she is ready for her makeover.

After a light sanding. (The black giraffe statues had a makeover of their own. It failed, but I am working on it. Update soon)

Taped and first coat of Krylon Satin White spraypaint.

And here after a coat of poly. Ahhhh... isn't it beautiful! So fresh and clean looking!
The original plan was to turn it into a blackboard for the kitchen. I wanted to use black magnetic paint, but realized that we don't have a window in there (yet) and adding a black item to the already dark laundry nook wouldn't do our light issue any favors. So instead this little beauty will hang there as a mirror and reflect light from the sliding doors opposite into the kitchen.

LOVE it!!

Weekend Project Update!

It's Sunday and finally time to show you the finished coffee table!! I am soooo happy with how this turned out I could seriously cry... I am not kidding.

Here we have the table sans glass in our crappy patio area (yes, I know it's a sty... we're working on it!)



I sanded the whole table lightly to smooth rough spots and create a "key" for the primer and paint to stick to.

Here she is all primed... it was about this time that I posted my feelings about the lattice work and how I hope to never have to deal with it again.

This was the first coat. Don't you love that gorgeous shade of grey/blue? It's Amphibian by Behr. I chose it on a total whim when the Home Depot paint lady looked at me askew after I requested Behr's Dense Shrub... She handed me the paint deck and told me to take it outside to get a better idea of the color in natural light. I am SO glad she did, or I wouldn't have found this gorgeous color!


After 2 coats of Poly, here is the finished product in the living room. I've not set up any table scape as yet.... Want to be totally sure that the Poly has dried before I go setting anything up. The last thing I want is to have things stuck to the surface.


So there you have it! My beautiful $15 coffee table rehab totalling just under $30 all told. Best of all, this color has inspired the whole living/dining color concept. More about that later. For now, behold the beauty....

P.S. Any of you veteran Craigslist furniture rehabbers ever tempted to send a picture of the refinished article to the person you bought it from in the first place? I am sure he thought we were some scrubs buying his beat up old $15 table... little does he know, it looks better now than it did when it was new.

What do you think? Did I make a good choice on the grey? Would you have done the lattice differently? I have some other ideas for ways to fix it, but I am going to live with it like this for a while and see how I like it before I go about changing.

ETA: I forgot to add the final, final pic complete with placemats to distract from the lattice.

I X Lattice! $%&#!!!

Just a quick note to myself... Never, NEVER ever fall in love with ANYTHING that needs painting and has any lattice in it whatsoever.... From now on, if you need to paint it, and it has lattice, run, don't walk away from it!

On the plus side, painting is going well. Halfway done with the table so I am on track to hopefully have a "reveal" pic for you tomorrow.

The BEST part is... I found the perfect, perfect shade of grey AND I decided to try it out on one of the walls in the living/dining area and it ROCKS! It's a bit dark for the whole space though, so I went and picked the most stunning main color that works with this as an accent. I am totally in love, and feel like rushing back to HD to grab the paint so that I can put it up NOW! But alas, I need to wait on wall repairs before I do that... although... I could just get a little extra and do a patch job later.... hmmmmmm

Weekend Project: Furniture Rehabbing

Well, it's Friday again and you know what that means? It's weekend project time!!

So here is our plan of attack for the weekend. Again, I make no promises that everything on this list will be done... this is just the "ideas" list.

- Painting new coffee table
- Paint decor items & possibly lamp
- Finishing garage door insulation
- Start painting wood trim exterior
and the ever present... Organizing spare room

Wish us luck!

New Rugs -- Squeeeeeee!!

I want to give a big shout out to Heather of at home with H for sharing the wealth today. I recently saw this post on Baltimore Rowhouse and lusted after their gorgeous dining area rug because it worked so well between the white chairs and dark wood table which is exactly what we're dealing with. If you read this post you will see that they paid the unbelievably low price of $123 from rugsusa.com - TOTAL steal right?

So I rushed on over to rugsusa.com only to find that this rug was no longer available. This morning in Heather's post about some great Urban Outfitter finds I nearly wet my pants with excitement to find an almost identical gorgeous rug available for just $39.95... you read that right!!


While I was there I picked up a gorgeous grey chenile rug for the living area at $49. Not 100% sure it will work, but for $50 it's worth trying! Otherwise it might end up in the guest room which could use a calming influence color wise.

LOVE me a bargain on a Friday! W00t!

Color Me Bad

Still playing around with ideas for the table. But Lu came up with the genius idea of possibly painting it charcoal grey to help bridge the gap between modern and traditional by giving the traditional table, more of a modern "edge".

I think I really like this idea... but now I am torn on which exact shade of charcoal grey. (You had to know this was coming).

I think that Lu meant something along the lines of this little fella's coloring.

But a quick squizz in the Behr.com paint lab I discovered this little paint chip:
What do you think of the last two? I think that Evergreen Bough (bottom) might be too green. But Dense Shrub could do the trick.

Or should I just stay with the regular dark grey color of the Behr bear?

I shot an email off to that master of makeovers Kate from CentsationalGirl.com to get her advice on color. Will let you know what she thinks!