Smorgasbord - Part Dos

Happy Sunday everyone! Well again, we don't have any major project posts, so I decided to do another post of randomness...

First, we'll start with another frame/picture makeover. I found these frames (we got 2 of them) when I went with my mom to the mountains a few weeks back. I loved the print, but the burgundy frame was not at all in my color scheme. So I brought them home, did a little sanding and priming, then spray painted them black. They turned out super cute. Here is the before pic:

And here is what they look like after. Love 'em!

Ok, remember the little table I made over in my previous post. Well I did another switch-a-roo after I came back with a super cute lamp and some vintage cameras from my yardsaling yesterday. It was out with the black lamp and apples (I move them to the corner of the bar) and in with the new lamp, cameras, a chair I had in another corner and some plates I had laying around. I think it looks much better than the lonely nook before.

Next on the smorgasbord we have our very unused formal living room. For those of you who don't know, we have a den, a rec room and formal living room (way too many seating rooms for me, but I suppose it will be good one day...). So the only things we have in that room are this little seating area, the pictures from the beginning of this post and the table ensemble shown below.

Most of the items in this picture are from a yard sale. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a deal. But note to self, I do have to have those chairs recovered one day...

Next, I'm back to the dining room. I got some good input from a friend about moving my chairs to either side of the hutch, so I did and it looks great! She also suggested I get some upholstered chairs for the ends, so I'm on a mission to find those...I sure wish I knew how to cover furniture it would make my life so much easier, not to mention cheaper!

Anyway, other than the musical chairs, I did some switching around inside the hutch, added some things up top and did a little centerpiece. I still need to get some things on the wall, so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled at the markets and sales. (I do have some white plates that will be making their way in there soon...)

Finally! (And I'll stop with all the randomness...) I am revisiting the front door. We had some blank space on the left side of the door and it was driving me crazy! I couldn't think what to put there. So eventually my brain woke up and I realized I had these really strange, metal thingys that I bought from Hobby Lobby a while back that I had no use for. I decided they would look great against the brick, so I put one on the front porch and painted one for the back.

For the front, we paired the metal thingy with a planter basket that I found at my trusty Tuesday Morning, added some cute plants and wa-la! Instant floral decor. It turned out great!

For those who don't remember the before, view this post...

And here are the afters. Oh and btw, I found a new light fixture at a yard sale for a buck! I gave it quick coat of black and it was the perfect fix to our old broken one.

Ok, enough with the rambling. It's time to go take it easy for a while, something we don't do very often. I will say this though, we are getting bathroom redo fever....

It's all in the details...

Well, there's nothing new to post in the major projects department, so I figured I would just post a smorgasbord of stuff :).

First, we'll start with my quick and easy table makeover. A few weeks back I went yard saling and found this great little occasional table for $20 bucks! I know, I know, the leg is broken, but other than that I saw Behr's Cotton Knit paint all over it. So, I paid the cute little man and lugged it to the back of my "deal-mobile."

Gregory added a new screw and some wood glue and it was as good as new (well actually, it could have been refinished, but since I was going to paint it, there was no need). So I took my handy little mouse sander to it and prepared it for paint.






After two good coats, it came out pretty good. (It's pretty hard to see, my lighting wasn't too good and I hate a flash, but it'd'll do.) I found some good coffee table books at another yard sale and made a cute little nook display. It's not my favorite, but it replaced the piece of furniture that we moved into our entrance hall for bills and mail (see second pic below.)



This is now what you see when you walk in our carport door. It's a great place to walk in, take off your shoes, sort you mail and keep all you coupons/invitations in order. I hated seeing all those things on our fridge door, so I did a little rearranging. I thought we would use our office for bills and whatnot, but turns out that the office/craft room doesn't get a whole lot of use. Hopefully, I take up some new hobbies this summer...


This is a close up this neat sorting metal thingy that my mom and I bought at a flea market years ago. I love the rustic look of it and it's perfect for housing bills, coupons, etc.


Anywho, on a completely, non-decorating related topic...I'm super excited about my recently purchase nail color! It's kinda bold, but it's a perfect and fun color for summer. I figured "hey, if I can sport pink, why not turquoise?" So, I grabbed it from Target and came home immediately for a homemade pedi/mani. It's great! The color is Mint Sprint by Sally Hansen and it's great because it dries in no time!


Again, totally not related to this post at all, but I just had to share in case anyone else is looking for that "new hot thang" for summer (well I don't know if it's "new" or "hot," but I liked it :)).


Ok, well I'm out for now. Hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing weekend! I hope to post more tomorrow! Night!

Sunkissed and Cookouts

First and foremost I left out a few details in my previous post about our Board and Batten wall treatment. Just for knowledge, the bottom of the 6in horizontal strip is exactly 4ft from the top of the baseboard. The 2in perpendicular pieces are 10in apart. And finally, the green paint above the treatment is the same green that we used in the kitchen, Behr's Silver Sage.

I hope that clears that up. Now, to the new post...

Ok, if you haven't figured it out by now, Gregory the boys and I spent 3 fabulous days at the lake. The weather was wonderful and I needed some serious R&R. Because I wasn't able to post while I was there, there is now an overload of pictures to be blogged :). So enjoy!

This was my view for most of the time. I had a book (Return to Sullivans Island by Dorethea Benton Frank - Exhibit A) and a frozen margarita in my hands 99% of the time and boy, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Exhibit A-

Then of course all that rest and relaxation made me super sleepy so Exhibt B shows my "nap time" while enjoying the cool breeze and swaying hammock.

Later we found a GORGEOUS Hydrangea plant and I HAD to take some pictures of it. It was the most amazing color purple/blue I had ever seen.

Again, to remind you all where I spent most of the time, please see Exhibit C which shows me yet again, in the hammock. This is a great picture that depicts a day in the life of lake living. I can't believe Duke looked at the camera!

Like I said before, we had so many good pictures that there were just too many to post, so I had to make some collages. Duke is always my model and Rhett, well, he's usually on land somewhere taking a nap...

So, that's all I have so far. It was a fantastic time and we can't wait to go back. It's a great place to unwind and take a load off (and read a good book while cemented to a hammock :)).

Happy Tuesday everyone! Stay tuned for our next project...

Here Batten, Batten, Batten...

Well as many of you have read, we redid our dining room. I know, I know. When will we ever stop? To be honest, I think it's become an addiction. We just can't stay still! Hopefully one day we'll just look around and say "Ok, I think we're done." But it's not likely :).

So in our previous post, we mentioned that we were going to install a fun wall treatment to our dining room walls called, Board and Batten.

It was as super simple project (it took only a weekend to finish). However, I must warn you, if you don't like to paint this project IS NOT for you! It took 3 coats of paint and if you are a messy painter like me, you'll have just as many coats on your hands, legs, face, etc. :).

So without further ado, here are the befores...

And finally, the afters...

The rundown of the makeover is as follows:

1. Used MDF for the 6in board on top and the 2in boards that run perpendicular (the bottom molding was already there). Then we added a 2 in "shelf" on top out of the same MDF.

2. Painted with Behr's Ultra Pure White Primer and Paint. Again, even with the primer, you will need 3 coats. For some reason, white is much harder paint to cover other colors.

3. We replaced the chandelier with one I found a yard sale for $20 and added the shades that I found at Tuesday Morning for $4.00.

4. I painted the china cabinet the same color as our kitchen cabinets, Behr's Cotton Knit.

I think that's about it. I'm debating what to do with the dining table. Should I paint it? Just the chairs? Get upholstered chairs? Ahh, the decisions.

I hope you like our transformation. I think it turned out pretty good and adds a whole other dimension to our home.

Have a great Wednesdady everyone! I hope you enjoyed your day(s) off like we did :)!

Let's Hear It For The Boy!

Yes, that's right...I made another song reference. I can't help it. What can I say? I'm a sucker for music (especially the 80's tunes)! Anywhoo, the reference is to Gregory's latest project. Normally, he is working on house projects, but since we are starting to catch up (and really all of our projects are just "wants" rather than "needs"), he decided to do a little side project on his own.

He had some old water skis that he acquired from his lake house and parents' house and has always wanted to build something with them. So, after finding some plans online, he set out to make an Adirondack chair! He did a fantastic job, and of course I had to share with everyone :). Below are the construction and final product pictures.

Mr. Safety didn't have his safety goggles, so I suppose the shades were the next best thing.

The dogs always "help" (hem - get in the way - hem) us with our projects...

Staining and polyurethaning.

Here you will find Gracin also "helping" Gregory with the staining of the boards.

And finally, the BEE-U-TI-FUL end result. I am super proud of him for making such an awesome chair!

The details...

And of course, being the (amateur) photographer that I'm trying to be, I decided to take this opportunity to make it look like a "catalogue" shoot :). It looks so much more appealing in front of our peach tree (too bad the peaches aren't ready to be picked) rather than on the porch with our dirty rug and nose printed, dirty glass door.

And of course no photoshoot is complete without pics of the pups :) and Duke was the perfect model! (Rhett didn't want to participate).

Sooo handsome :).

Well, that's all folks. It's time for me to head to bed! Come back this week because we've finished the dining room and I'll be posting pics soon! Night!

Board and Batten it up!

Good Morning Everyone! I wanted to post a little something about one of our current projects. I am IN LOVE with the "board and batten" look and we have decided that it would look fantastic in our dining room. For those of you who don't know what "board and batten" is, some of the pictures below will help.

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We've started painting and we decided to use the same colors as the kitchen (brown, green, white and cream.) I'll be sure to post the afters soon, but here are the befores:

So, the to-do list for the dining room is as follows:

1. Clear out room - done except for the large cabinet that will be painted my favorite white, Behr's Cotton Knit.

2. Paint top half of the walls - done, but still needs a second coat

3. Determine height of wall treatment and buy supplies

4. Borrow table saw and get to work :)

So, stay tuned...the afters should be up shortly!