Living Room Curtains!

For Christmas my mother decided to make my sister and me new draperies for our houses.  Yay!  I have been wanting to replace the curtains in the living room for a while now.  It's on the list.  Anyway, I can never decide on fabric and of course when I do, the one I pick is $30/yard embroidered linen.  Not exactly affordable.  So, I put the curtain project on the back burner for a while.  Then when Mama asked me what I'd like for Christmas I decided now would be the perfect time to pick a new fabric and have her sew it for me!  Hooray!  Mama is an experienced drapery maker, and I was happy to hand this job off!  :)  I picked a lovely neutral floral print cotton from Fabric.com.  It's Waverly's Barano Bliss.  It has a nice gray/beige background with a slate blue, golden yellow, brown and ivory floral print.  It looks perfect with our couches and the wall color. :)

The yellow chenille pillows are from Ikea, I had my friend pick them up for me while she was there over Christmas break.  Thanks Marissa!  They are a bit brighter than the yellow in the curtains, but they certainly bring some cheer to the room!  :)  And they'll look especially nice come Spring!

We had some extra fabric leftover from the draperies so Mama made me this matching pillow with fringe trim for my chair.

Here's a good view of the curtain fabric.  I think it would look nice in the dining room, too, with my new color scheme.  I might end up buying a bit more to make coordinating drapes in there.  We'll see.  These curtains are lined with Roc Lon thermal suede lining so hopefully they will help insulate our old windows against temperature extremes.  It's been pretty cold lately, so I've been keeping them closed at night to block the chill.  I'm really enjoying my new curtains.  Thanks Mama!

Well, it's another snow day for me, so I must get back to my knitting. :)  At least until I have to go out and help shovel the driveway.  Boo!

Stay warm!

Living Room Side Table Update

Yikes! It’s been almost a month since I’ve posted here.  Don’t worry, I have been hard at work around the house and yard, as usual. :)  We’ve been picking beans and corn and weeding and spreading mulch down in the new garden.  And I’ve been repainting walls and refinishing furniture in the house.  Today I am bringing you one of those house projects—refinishing the side table in our living room.  This is a project I have been wanting/needing to do for a while now.  We got this side table secondhand from my boss six years ago when we moved in and it fit perfectly between our two large couches.  It has been neglected over the years, used and abused, and was in need of attention.

The other night while I was on the phone (best time to receive inspiration) staring at the scratches and water marks on the top, I thought, why not start on that tonight?  So I did.  I took it to the basement (which is wide open and ready for projects now that we got rid of our broken ping pong table) and promptly started sanding off the old finish with 150 grit on my palm sander.  When I took out the little drawers I noticed there were screws under them to connect the frame to the table top… Hmm… I decided to take those out and see what happened.  Then I found more screws on the other side and a whole row of them around the back!  Turns out the “corner hutch” part of the table was only screwed on (no glue!) which meant that I could easily remove it.  Eureka!  I had never really used that area with the shelves and drawers and it was a bit outdated so I thought I would see what it looked like without it. 

I finished sanding it down to the bare wood and got rid of all the scratches that evening.  Then I suggested to Michael that we leave off the top part and just have a simple flat table instead.  He was skeptical, so I carried it back upstairs for a visual.  We both loved the new open look. 
I filled in all the screw holes with wood putty, sanded those and then began restaining it with our favorite Bombay Mahogany polyshade.  I did two coats on the whole thing then an additional layer of color on the top so it would be nice and dark.  I figured the most light would hit the top so it needed to be the darkest area, plus you can’t really see the apron and legs anyway behind the couches.  After the polyshade was dry I put on two coats of satin polyurethane.  Then I waited for that to dry before carrying it back up to the living room. 
Then came the accessorizing… my favorite part (except maybe sanding, that part was pretty fun, too!).  I had to try out a new lamp shade (that I stole from the bedroom) and I loved the update!  I added a brass bowl of TV incidentals and some dried hydrangeas which tie into the colors in the lamp shade.  Plus I added a plant from the den (something for Bandit to chew on). 

While I was reorganizing this side, I decided to spruce the other side, too, where I added a fern (more things for Bandit to chew on).  Luckily these “Kimberley Queen” ferns are only $4.50 at Walmart so if this one doesn’t like my TLC (total lack of care) I can afford a new one to replace it down the line.  I love it, it looks so fancy!  The little urn we found in a pile of junk my neighbor was giving away for free.  My mother carted off the whole lot of stuff which was mostly gardening supplies and old pots.  But I snagged this little jewel for myself… hooray for free stuff!

And since we are doing the living room tour, I must show you my new mirror that is over the side cabinet.  Mama got this mirror from a friend and then mentioned that I might want it... well, yes, yes I do!  Thanks, Mama!  Isn’t it lovely?  I like how the curvy part at the top mimics the curves in the front of the cabinet.  It’s way nicer than our old blah rectangle mirror.

Before I go, you know you want to see the before and after of the side table, right?  Here you are:

Lovely!  Now that the living room is finished, I can get back to the other room that’s in progress… the office.  I repainted the walls and I am working on staining the bookcase.  As soon as it’s done I’ll be back with the details!  I have lots of work to be done before summer is over! 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

New Couch Reveal!

I know you all have been sitting around with bated breath, waiting for the big reveal of our new couches… so without further adieu, I bring you the first of many updates of 2013!

I’m sure you remember me telling you that my mom was reupholstering our sad, tired couches as our Christmas gift this year.  Well right before Christmas they were delivered and I have been waiting to reveal the room until we got our new television hung on the wall.  That was accomplished last weekend (Thanks Mike and Nelson!) so here we are:

The couches are covered in a warm beige colored chenille type fabric.  I don’t know the exact name (wish I did!!) because we bought it at a wholesale fabric outlet.  But it’s a lovely color and very comfy!  The only thing we changed when reupholstering these bad boys was the dust ruffle.  We just left it off and I like how simple and open it feels without it.  Mama refinished the legs of the couches to match all the rest of our furniture.  Bombay Mahogany for the win. :) 

After I took down all of the Christmas décor, I had to decide how to redecorate the room around the new couches.  They are so plain in comparison to our old plaid couches that it was challenging to bring in some color and pattern without a big statement piece to go from.  I’m hoping to bring in more pattern and color with some new draperies.  I am still hunting for the right fabric for those.

I basically stole all of this from the den, where all my beautiful accessories have been gathering dust and being neglected since we are hardly ever in that room.  I stole the blue and green striped pillows which I think look awesome backed up with the brown floral ones from before.  And the teal throw was originally for the guest room but it goes with all the blue accessories in here.  The metal butterfly art on the wall between the windows is also from the guest room.  After Christmas came down, that spot was looking bare so I threw that up there and realized how nicely the blues and greens played in this room.

My antique trunk turned side table is sporting an ivory frame and a potted plant.  Here’s a close up of the couch detail and the pillows!

I still needed some more teal accessories to wrap up the color scheme so I repainted a couple of thrift store frames that were in the office.  I think they look nice but Michael says they are ugly. haha! :)  They might get relegated to the den later on…

The teal blue bird pillow is also stolen from the den (poor den is looking lonely) and it fits perfectly in my “butter chair”.  It’s called the butter chair because it is the color of sweet cream (or something related to butter) and it so soft it feels like butter… or you feel like butter sitting in it!  :)  And here is one gratuitous shot of the new TV mounted on the wall.  I had to move the gallery wall up to accommodate the height of the TV.  I am undecided what to do about the cords.  I haven’t had a chance to look at cord covers yet…  to be continued.

I will leave you with this parting glance at the new space and a before and after comparison of the old and newly refurbished couches. 

Love love love our new couches! 

Hopefully it won’t be long before I’m back with a reveal of the new draperies.  Stay tuned…

Tackling the Living Room

I finally completed a much-anticipated and much-dreaded project in the living room.  I’ve been planning to paint the walls, trim, and ceiling since we moved in because while the color was okay, the finish was bad.  There were spackle holes and cracks and dings and everything was dirty.  So last week I finally jumped in and got it done!

First was the dreaded paint color decision.  I wanted something mostly neutral since the color continues down the stairs and around the corner as well as down our main hallway upstairs.  After trying a few samples and finding most of them too orangey, I decided to mix in a little gray and came up with a custom color.  It’s a combination of Olympic colors Gravel and Toasted Almond with some gray thrown in there, too.  I call it Toasted Gravel. :)  But it’s more like greenish/grayish/beige.  How’s that for a color?

Here’s what I’m talking about:

It’s a color changing wall paint.  In daylight it looks more beige, in evening it appears grayer and in lamplight more green.  It’s kind of interesting, but I like it!

I had some fun with ladders in order to finish painting the trim in the foyer.  Good times.  But no pictures.  I wouldn’t relinquish my death grip on the ladder long enough to direct Michael to take a photo.  Mama came and helped me paint the ceiling, too.  It was my first ceiling painting adventure… let’s just say it’s not my favorite thing ever. :)  But it’s much improved from the dingy off-white ceiling we had before.  And now the hallway and living room ceilings match.

I love the foyer now… the color really pops against the white trim!

 

I’m hanging on for dear life to these floral print pillows I made last year.  Riley is an avid pillow destroyer.  I have lost three of my couch pillows because of these tendencies.  So I keep these remaining two pillows in the chair across the room where she does not go in an effort to prolong their life.  I also have extra fabric so I can make another set in case of accidental death. :)  Evil doggy.

I added the Wake Forest trunk that was my grandfather’s as a side table of sorts next to the couch.

I have a lot more plans for this room now that the painting’s done.  (It only took me four years to get it done!  Oh and four full days of painting.. whew!)  Next on my list is to recover the couches.  I have already purchased the fabric which is a warm beige/gold color.  And I also want to make new linen curtains in a brown/cream/green patterned fabric.  Wish me luck with fabric selections! 

In the meantime, here’s a look at the before and after!

This one is a bit more subtle and you can see how similar in tone the two colors are.

And this one is my favorite!

So what do you think?  You like the new look?  I’ll be back as we continue updating the living room this fall.  Thanks for coming along!

The Story of a Little Light Fixture

This is the story of a little light fixture that no one appreciated.  No one wanted to take it down to replace it because it lived in the ceiling of a vaulted foyer.  It was in a safe place.  Safe from Sarahs and spray paint and electrician people.  Mostly safe because Sarahs are afraid to unwire and rewire things and also because Sarahs don’t own twelve foot ladders.  The little light fixture was safe in the ceiling.  It was happy being brassy and having lots of shiny things to reflect light.  But Sarah was not happy.  Brass equals bad, and blah!  Something had to be done about the little light.

Enter Papa.  Owner of twelve foot ladders and possessing much electrical unwiring and rewiring knowledge.  This Papa came and took the little light fixture down from the ceiling and gave it to Sarah!  Oh Happy Day!  Sarah was joyful that she could scrub, wash and spray paint the little light fixture so it could have a new lease on life, and also so it would match all the other fixtures in the living room.

She took it apart into many little pieces.  The light fixture was sad, and afraid that Sarah would not be able to remember how to put all the pieces back together again.  Sarah was also afraid. :)

Undeterred, Sarah spray painted all the pieces anyway.  The little light was unsure about this fancy oil rubbed bronze spray paint, but what could it do, it was all laid out in the garage in a bunch of pieces!  What would become of it?

Luckily Sarah took lots of pictures of how the light went together and after careful internet research to fill in the blanks, she was able to put the all the little pieces back in the right places.  The little light fixture was kind of excited… it was clean and shiny and all its glass panes were polished and clear.  It was pristine!  Even the oil rubbed whatever wasn’t so bad, it was nice!  The little light fixture was happy again.  The Papa returned and reinstalled the light in the ceiling of the foyer.  The light shone brightly and looked around with new eyes… it was just perfect and matched all the other fixtures in the room!  It matched the lamps and the curtain rods, and the hardware on the furniture.  The little light rejoiced!  Sarah also rejoiced.

People came and saw the little light and said how nice it looked.  It was appreciated, not only for its light, but for its beauty.  The little light and Sarah lived happily ever after.  The end.