~dining room re-do~

Hi, my dear blogging friends!  Thanks so much for the kind comments on my kitchen redo.

After finishing our kitchen, we, uh, I decided to paint the dining room. 

Cigar Man thought it looked just fine the way it was, but reluctantly went along. 

Can anybody relate?

Here’s our dining room before. 

Limey green walls which I lived with for seven years, but now I can admit, I never really liked. 

Can anybody relate? 

I stenciled the border myself which I did like, but covered it up anyway. 

Change is Good!  In this before photo, you can see a little of the valance I made for the bay window. 

Again, Change is Good.

I stripped it away.  In this next photo, you will see I don’t have anything on our bay window yet.

I’m thinking of Plantation Shutters though.  What do ya think?

 The new wall color is Sherwin Williams’ Oyster Bay. 

Let me tell you, I love the $4.99 samples that Sherwin Williams’ offers. 

I painted roughly 2’ x 2’ squares on the wall of 4 different samples

before deciding on the color that I loved.

Previously, I painted the ceiling inset brown with some gold swirls. 

Again, Change is Good!  J

 

Now, our ceiling inset is the same color as the wall, Oyster Bay. 

The perimeter of the ceiling is Sherwin Williams, Kilim Beige. 

I painted our kitchen ceiling in Kilim Beige also for consistency.

Yes, the rug is gone too.  I may replace with another at some point,

if I can find the “perfect” compliment.

 Now for the fun part! 

The little touches!

 Replaced light switch plates…

and even air vents!

 

 

I found these plates at a local antique mall.

I fell in love, especially since they were only $36 for 6 plates!

The pattern is Wellesley by Wedgwood, Made in England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I treasure this antique pitcher, I‘ve had for many years. 

I’ve set it in my bay window for now.

Thanks for letting me share my dining room changes at Kim’s Before and After

and Transformation Thursdays and Show and Tell Friday

and Feathered Nest Friday.

and now I’m skipping over to check yours out!.

My Soap Box

If you saw my last post, you know that Cigar Man and I

just made some changes to our kitchen.

If you’ve haven’t seen the outcome, please do come in by clicking here.

But the one thing I could never change is my

“Good-Will Soap Box”.

I found my box at a local antique mall 30 years ago.

It was love at first sight!

As a stay-at-home mom, I didn’t have a lot of extra money

to “throw away” on this homemade box with a price tag of $115

so I put it on lay away until I could bring it home.

I loved and still do the

patina of the wood,

the crude handles,

and the wording stamped on the side.

What do I use my box for?

Well, for recipes, of course!

For 30 years, my box has held main course recipes in the top left drawer,

and vegetable recipes in the drawer to the right, cookies a few drawers down and so on.

Maybe you’ve got a treasure in your home that you could never do without?

Sharing my treasure in

My Romantic Home’s Show and Tell Friday

and

Common Ground’s Vintage Inspiration.

~repurposed old frame~

I have a new collage

in my bedroom.

Come on in ~

I’ll show you!

But first let me show you the original frame.

Picked this up at a garage sale for a mere couple of bucks. It actually was in worse shape before I took this photo. It was literally falling apart, but Cigar Man was able to tack and glue it back in one piece.

Next step was to paint it. I used Rust-oleum Universal Metallic spray paint in “oil rubbed bronze”.

I liked the new color but it was a little flat so I touched it up with FolkArt acrylic paint in Metallic Antique Copper.

My 60% off custom framing coupon from JoAnn’s came in handy. I took my $2 frame that I’d applied $6 paint and had a mat cut for my grandbabies pics.

Their photos were taken in our back gardens; so I love that the collage is hanging by the window with a view of just that.

Linking to Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

and

Southern Hospitality’s Thrifty Treasures.

~just old attic finds~

Since pretty boy and blue eyes left, I’ve been pulling my “stuff” out of the attic where it was stored while they were living here. (Just wasn’t room for “decor” AND playpens, highchairs, riding toys and such.

Pulling it all out again has been kinda of like when you move and unpack. You know the feeling? Lamps, books, and old collectibles look new and fresh again. You have a whole new prospective on arranging them!

I get such pleasure out of “decorating”. I never leave anything the same for too long. Tabletops at my house are like the weather in Tennessee. If you don’t like it today then stick around, it’ll change soon.

Love this apothecary jar. She is so versatile.

You can fill her with all kinds of things.

After being filled with natural items like moss, pinecones, seed pods, and even a glittered starfish or two, she's found a home on my sofa table.

I have a small collection of mallards. Love to decorate with them, especially in the fall. Their colors go so well with autumn decor. Some of mine are carved from wood, but this one’s special. She’s an old decoy.

On the other side of the room, I pulled an old table back out of the attic. Oh, I love the patina of this old table. You never have to worry about damaging the surface. The harder you are on it, the more handsome it gets. You gotta love that!

I save all my wine corks cause you never know when you’ll need them. They provide an inexpensive way to add some color and texture to the room.

The pillow was made from an old coffee sack. I made three pillows out of the same sack and if you're interested in doing something like this, check my previous post out HERE.

Let me show you one more thing before I go pulling more “stuff” out of the attic.

On my coffee table, a little birdie perches on her nest full of eggs with her log cabin birdhouse close by.

By the way, speaking of coffee tables, I have a question for you.

See the coffee table? Years ago, my dad cut the legs off an old pedestal dining table and created this coffee table for our home.

I’ve always loved the look of the rich oak, but, now, I’m thinking I want to paint it an off-white shabby chic. I think it would really POP on my rug. What do you think? Really, I would love to know!

Sharing with others at my friend, Marty’s for Tabletop Tuesday.

~old baluster lamp with a burlap shade – INSPIRATION!

 

Wish I could tell you I found an old baluster

and transformed it into this really cool lamp.

NOT!

Can you believe I bought this lamp with the chipped paint and the burlap shade?? 

Oh, can you LOVE a lamp?

I DO!

Something new (especially something new that looks OLD) inspires me to

DECORATE!

How about you?

My old gate-leg table is a little beat up which, by the way,

doesn’t bother me in the least,

but I decided to drape some burlap over the top anyway.   I  just cut some burlap in a square, frayed the edge,

and layered it in a diagonal across the table.

 Through the years,

I’ve enjoyed this old wooden bowl in many places in our home

and its served all kinds of purposes,

except for its original purpose that is,

kneading dough!

Only wish it could talk.  Wouldn’t it have stories to tell!

Now it works great for storing current magazines and reading material.

The cherished jewelry box, a gift from my dad to my mom,

secures an embroidered hanky.

Nestled in between it all is a dainty Waterford clock, a gift also.

 Add a comfy chair, fluffy pillows, and a window with morning light

and you have a cozy place to settle.

And since this is a tabletop in my little “cottage”, I’d thought I share with others over at

 Cielo and Marty’s place.

guest room to baby’s room on a budget

This was one of my guest room’s before my daughter temporarily moved in with our two grandsons during her hubby’s stay in Iraq.

An old iron bed which I had sandblasted and painted white with a black and white toile spread,

an old hand-me-down side table painted black with a lamp of wine bottles and a wine crate my second daughter made for one of her projects in design school.

and black and white sentimental photos and sketches on the walls adorned one side of the room.

On the other side, an antique oak dresser that I picked up at a junk shop years ago held photos of my family.

At the foot of the bed, an antique chair reupholstered with an old table inherited from my mom and a collection of hat boxes held old letters and sentimental cards from over the years.

As I’m explaining the details of my room, I realize how sentimental I really am!

Notice the walls are red. If you’ve ever painted walls red, you know how difficult it is and how many coats it takes. I wasn’t tired of the red so I wasn’t ready to paint over the red for our temporary change to a nursery for our youngest grandbaby.

So our challenge was to come up with a plan for a baby boy’s nursery on a budget with red walls.

With that in mind, I came across the red, blue and taupe quilt on the wall at a friend’s garage sale. It had never been used and still had the $75 price tag attached. I bought it for $20 with plans to use as a bedspread.

See the stars on the wall quilt? I took note of that and decided to use stars as a theme for the room. Of course, as my luck runs, it was too short for the bed. Oh no! What to do?

You’re not going to believe this. I couldn’t myself when I found a blue, red and cream quilt my grandmother had made for me years ago with what else, but STARS on it!!!

Well, this was one time when my luck turned out to be good instead of bad. I happily laid my grandmother’s handmade quilt on the bed

and hung the garage sale quilt on the wall by gathering it with twine and a star borrowed from my Christmas ornaments. I made the pillow with red pillow-ticking fabric and stenciled Lil Star on the front.

Come back later and I’ll tell you all about how I made the pillow above and the lampshade below to compliment the new room decor and stay in a shoestring budget.

To play on the “star” theme, I stenciled stars randomly all round the room. I used a combination of taupe shades of paint with Valspar Metal & Patina gold glaze over the top of each star.

Ending with the little fellow’s name at the antique oak dresser turned changing table. We just took the mirror off and added a changing pad.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with the walls when this season of my daughter’s stay is over. I may paint over the stars and leave the room red or I may leave this room just the way it is to host my grandbabies when they come to visit in the future. Of course, I’ll have to paint over his name.

Maybe I’ll just re-stencil the current grandbaby’s name in place of the last one.

WOW! I’m writing like I’m going to have loads of them or something! Gee, I don’t have that many children to have grandchildren!

Okay, now that you’ve seen my starry redo, meet the real STAR of the room!

I’m sharing this post with some fantastic redos at the versatile Susan’s Met. Monday, DIY Show off, and Transformation Thursday