Creating the Dining Room

When we moved into our house, the only eating area was in the kitchen as there was no dining room.  We thought it would be nice to have a more formal dining area for holidays or dinner parties (not that we typically have dinner parties but we like having the option).  The only space to create this would be in the living area.

To go about setting the dining area, we moved a table in (duh) and to add some definition, installed a chandelier.  Finding chairs was a harder challenge- not that chairs are difficult to find but trying to decide on what type of chairs would work best.  I settled on Ikea's Henriksdal Chair.

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The dining room table seats only six but when we tried to put six chairs around it, it looked too crowded.  So instead we decided to use an ottoman/bench on one side of the table.  This was an instant solution since it made the table look less crowded and also opened up some room between where the dining room ended and the living room began.

Finding an ottoman to match the chairs was a bit of a challenge but I decided on Lands' End Country Lux Upholstered Storage Ottoman:

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I actually picked this up at Sears of all places after seeing Freckles Chick's chairs.  I was a little worried that the ottoman's would be more white and not match the chairs as well but surprisingly they are a pretty close match.  Here's a pic of the finished product:

The kitchen table was  my parents which I painted a dark brown and the mirror is from Home Goods.  I still need some table decor but I added some candle stick holders which I picked up from a used furniture store.  The shorter candle stick holders are also from Home Goods.  Here's a close up of the ottoman and chairs:

To get an idea of what it looked like before, here's a pic:

And one more time, here's the after:

Much better, don't you think?

Craigs List Patio Set Make Over

We have been having unseasonably warm weather lately so I took advantage of  it and painted the patio table and chairs I scored on Craigs List.  Here's a pic of what they used to look like -the table was originally an aqua green color and the chairs were a dark hunter green.

A few cans of glossy black spray paint fixed that problem and now the chairs and table look like this:

 

I spray painted the chairs and table on a tarp outside and accidentally made some "art" in the process:

Next on my list is to find a patio umbrella.

Master Bathroom Reno- Day 9

The master bathroom reno is nearing the end of its completion.  Hopefully everything will be complete within another week or so but here's a quick recap of the past few days.

The bathroom project kicked off more than a week ago. To prepare, I went out and purchased 2 toilets (one for the master bath and the second for the powder room) a towel bar, toilet paper holder and sink faucet.  I had to drive around for a few days with a toilet in the backseat until DH could help me unload it from the car.  I also laid down carpet protector and rugs over the wood floor and assigned special shoes for us to walk on the protector so not to track the rest of the dust in the house.

The contractor and his guys showed up promptly on Day 1 and by the end of the day the entire bathroom was demo'd.  By Day 4 the floor tile and wall tile had been installed.  On Day 5, no work was done to give time for the tile to dry and Days 6 and 7 fell on the weekend.  On Day 8, the contractor couldn't make it out but I learned that I was going to have to find a shower door so I found myself in the Lowes plumbing department that night.  Thanks to some luck and a super strong store assistant, the Kohler glass shower doors I purchased fit into my Honda Civic.

On the morning of Day 9, the guys showed up on time and finished grouting the shower tile.  In the course of this madness, we also decided to have them re-tile our powder room floor so they got started on this.  In the meantime, three other guys showed up to install the bathroom vanity and sink.  The entire time I was basically confined to the living room except for when I was hovering around to get a glimpse of their work and trying to remind the guys to keep their feet on the carpet protectors.

Pretty much everything is done except that the shower doors have to be installed and the bathroom has to be painted.  I'm double guessing my choice of BM's Marilyn's Dress since it looks a tad lavender on the walls (so not the look I was going for).  Here's a peek of what the bathrooms looked like at the end of Day 9:

Master Bath:

Powder Room Floor:

Shopping for a Friend

One of the things I love most about moving is having a fresh slate to decorate your new place.  Since we just bought and moved into Chateau 809, I'm obviously not moving but one of my good friends is as she and her husband just bought a fabulous house.  Unfortunately, it's in another state so while I'm sad she's moving away, I'm happy to help her mull over decor decisions.

The other day she mentioned that she was recently at Crate and Barrel and had her eye on their Suffolk Settee. 

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While she loves this piece, she doesn't quite love its $1,199.00 price tag.  I offered to look for some less expensive options for her and here's what I came up with:

JC Penney's Custom Teasdale Settee:

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At $699 this is significantly less than Crate and Barrel's and nearly identical.  Best part about it is that you can customize it with different upholstery options.

Ballard Designs Hudson Upholstered Settee:

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This one is priced from $799.00 to $1,183.00 and you can also customize it to be upholstered in a fabric you like.  Hopefully my friend will like one of these two beauties!

The Foyer

The foyer has changed quite a bit from when we first moved into our house. Here's a look at the "before":

Gotta love that bug swapper and window curtain. Not to mention the lovely floor tile but that's probably the least offensive.

We started by first chipping up the floor tile and laying down wood flooring which was probably the biggest change.

Chipping up the floor tile was NOT as easy as we first thought. The stubborn little suckers refused to come up and it took a few hours of using a chisel and hammer before they were all removed. The area was still not entirely flat afterward and one of the guys who installed our floor had to spend another couple of hours trying to flatten the surface even more.
 We then painted the walls and changed out the light fixtures (we weren't planning on this step but after I broke a shade trying to change the light, it was necessary). The door also got a mini-makeover. We took down the window curtain and removed the chain lock but after we did that, the door had quite a few holes.

Luckily it was nothing that a little wood filler couldn't fix. After doing that and slapping a fresh coat of paint, it looks as good as new.

Here's what the foyer looks like now.

The table is from Ikea and the mirror was a Craig's List find (I'm told that it was originally purchased at Bombay Company) which I spray painted oil-rubbed bronze (aka orb). The rug is from Home Goods but I'm thinking of adding a runner instead. I also like the decor on the table but I'm thinking of changing it up a bit- maybe adding a lamp or table runner?

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Wall Paint: Natural Wicker by Glidden
Door Paint: Custom Color Match
Table: Expedit table by Ikea
Mirror: Craig's List find
Floors: Lumber Liquidators
Light Fixture: Home Depot
Rug: Home Goods

Painting the Master Bathroom

I'm hoping that the master bathroom gets finished up by Monday or Tuesday at the latest since the only things left to do are to grout the subway tile and install the vanity, mirror, toilet and light fixture. But before these things get done, I wanted to paint the wall behind the toilet and mirror since these areas will be the hardest to reach. Of course, in order for me to do that, I had to decide on a paint color and actually buy the paint. Anyone that knows me knows that I can't make these kinds of decisions easily but after some deliberating, I decided that a soft gray would be best for the room since it would compliment the marble tile and white vanity.

So while the bathroom guys took a lunch break, I took a trip to the closest paint store, which is less than a mile from my house and also a Benjamin Moore retailer. After deliberating over several gray paint swatches, I settled on a grayish-blue color called Marilyns Dress.

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I picked it in part because it complimented the paint in the master bedroom which is Silver Mist (also by Benjamin Moore). Since I'm not allowed to walk on the tile, I painted a patch of it on one of the master bath walls while standing right outside the door. The color looks more ice-blue than gray to me and when I asked the hubs about it, he told me he thought it looked more blue-lavender. This was soo not the look I was going for but since I already went and bought a gallon of the stuff, I figured I might as well wait to see at least one entire wall painted before making a definitive decision on whether the color stays or goes. I'll keep you posted!

Master Bathroom Chaos

We're in the middle of renovating our bathroom and living in chaos in the meantime. The bathroom is taking a little longer than expected but hopefully it will be well worth it. Here is what our bathroom used to look like:




After day 1 of the renovations, our bathroom looked like this:


As you can see, we knocked down the tiny linen closet that used to be next to the shower. You can also see the 80s light fixture in this shot but we're getting rid of that too. After five not-so-full days of work, the bathroom now looks like this:



This isn't the greatest shot but you get a pretty good idea. The tile is carrera marble and the shower tile is stock subway tiles. Hopefully the toilet and vanity will go in on Monday.