Project Mode

A few weeks ago I was looking at the pregnancy app on my phone,

the countdown said "88 days." 

stop.

double take.

WHAT!?!?

that's not a long time! I panicked.

we went into full, all-out project nesting mode.

today the countdown is at "73 days."

{and we can't wait to meet our little girl so soon!}

We have made huge progress,

some projects are complete, some halfway there,

others were completed/begun during project week 

here, here, & here

Yes, I know I still need to finish that series! I will! I will! 

 Hubby & I are definitely enjoying the satisfaction of scratching things off our to-do-list!

It's been fun, but will be nice once we can sit back and admire our hard work.

I am waiting to post the projects until I can "wow" you with all of them 

in their completed glory...

So for the next week(ish), I am going to be sharing some of my favorite

interior design styles, elements, and inspirations.

I hope you enjoy them!

Fulfilling the Vision? or Swamped by Projects?

My hubby and I are currently reading a wonderful book by our pastor, Gregg Matte:

Finding God's Will: Seek Him, Know Him, Take the Next Step

In fact, our small group Bible Study that meets in our home each week is going through it together.

A few days ago, a particular passage from Chapter 11 spoke to me, and I wanted to share it with you.

The chapter's content is about leading, Matte defines two words: vision and projects.

vision: the grand direction of God's leading

projects: the short-term, incremental tasks that are done to arrive at the goal

Matte gives an example of how projects tend to get in the way of our vision.

His example is that of people who have a vision of living in a comfortable,
hospitable home which is open to frequent visitors.  

However, the homeowners get stuck in project mode &

never get around to having friends over to fellowship.

The pressure of perfection leads them to more and more projects.

"The patio furniture is seldom occupied; the china remains in the cabinet; no one comes over to the house; while the homeowners continue to scurry to finish unending projects." 

That's obviously not what they initially intended, but rather something more like this, 

where their projects point to their vision...

"...Clean the house to mess it up with a party; use the china so much that you know you'll break some; have a tremendous conversation with a loved one on the patio as spring blossoms.  Play in the yard with your kids so much that there are worn spots."

He concludes the section by saying

"allow the vision to drive the projects instead of the projects squelching the vision."

Is your vision to have a home that's welcoming, a place of fellowship,

a home where the door is always open to visitors?

That's definitely the vision for our home.

I used to get so nervous that people would judge my decorating skills 

because these two chairs  still weren't recovered, or my table wasn't refinished,

or I hadn't hung pictures, or my yard had weeds, etc. etc. etc.
Before I realized that my projects had skewed my vision, there were definitely missed
opportunities of opening our home to others. 

If I had continued to allow those imperfections to get in the way of hosting friends and family, 

I cringe at the thought of how many missed opportunities to love and fellowship we'd have missed.

How many Bible studies? Christmas brunches? Easter lunches? baby showers? or birthday parties?

would I have chosen not to host just because I was focused on completing the projects

rather than fulfilling our vision. 

Do you have projects left unfinished? Don't let them stand in your way!

Fulfill your vision this weekend! Invite the neighbors over, plan a party, make a mess, 

break some china while you're at it. 

and l.o.v.e. on people in your home, just as you intended to do from the beginning!

source: 

Finding God's Will by Gregg Matte

Chapter 11, pages 182-183

thrifty finds

I have spent at least the last 2-3 months looking for Louis XVI style chairs for our family room.
I have been craving seating in front of the fireplace.  

house beautiful 

decorpad

Their shape, style, and size are perfect for the room, but their price tag wasn't.

They usually ranged between 150-200 each, even in consignment stores. 

Then one day in early December I stumbled upon a recently opened thrift store via C-List.

The location is about 30 min from our house & worth every second of the drive time!

They had (2)  Louis XVI style chairs for $129.00! TOTAL! 

I saw the add around 11:00 one night, 

and first thing the next morning I loaded little one in the car & we were on our way!

Aren't they just perfect in that space?  

I had found that round ottoman a few months earlier and with a tray atop, 

it will serve as a lovely side table for those chairs.

These are my two recovering options, as of now. 

I would love for you to leave your opinion,
in favor of either {A} or {B} because I'm being indecisive.

{A}

Recover the front-back and front-seat in the stripe of the decorator table fabric (above picture),

and recover the arms and back-back in a twill khaki.

ballard designs

{B}

Paint the chairs white and distress them.
(similar to the decorpad image)

Recover the front-back & front-seat in this large check

ballard designs

which is also the fabric on our bar stool cushions.

Recover the arms and back-back in this dark chocolate twill.

 ballard designs

I am leaning more towards option B because the brown would help anchor that area of the room...

but I haven't made up my mind 100% yet!

decisions. decisions.

credenza here or there

once we moved our bookshelf into the office we were left with a nice empty wall.

at that point, hubby hadn't agreed to move the t.v. down from the fireplace.

so i went in search of something that would nicely fill the space & that allowed for creative decorating.

i found this beautiful credenza for a great deal on the c-list. 100 bucs to be exact!

i loved the legs and the detail. 

and it fit perfectly in the space...

but one night i was the only awake and was piddling around
when i decided to try placing furniture in different spots around the house.

i slid our credenza from the family room to the breakfast room.

i squealed outloud at how perfectly it fit! our credenza had a new home.

sorry for the weird coloring...it was 12am but i realllly wanted a pic of it!

the plates had been hung at the perfect level, just waiting for credenza to arrive!

i. love. it.

but that's what left us with this...

so i'm scouring the c-list daily to find the perfect armoire for the yet again empty wall spot.

it's amazing how rearranging furniture can completely transform a space!

pillows, pillows, pillows. never too many pillows.

our first fight argument as an engaged couple was over the number of pillows we would have on our couch.

we were in the middle of a large furniture store.  we'd gone to get ideas of each others "style."

he saw a staged living area, and the couch had 7 or 8 pillows on it.  

then went on to say "we'll never have more than two pillows on our couch. ever."

i laughed out loud.

but he was serious. 

we politely argued our points in the middle of the store... 

until a nosy sales lady came up and asked if there was a problem.

he said we couldn't decide about the number of pillows.

she said to pick the piece of furniture first.
...which makes sense b/c her job is to sell furniture.

here we are 3 1/2 years later and he has a much softer side for decorating now.

as he takes pillows off the couch when he lays down he says,

"babe, i sure love your pillows."

wanna guess how many pillows are on our bed?

we have 9 ...but until the other day we just had 8...

{4 of the pillows are behind the decorative pillows. we each sleep with 2.}

do you ever have a moment when you walk into a room and wonder 

"why did i make that decorating decision?"

a couple of weeks ago i noticed that something about the pillows on our bed seemed off...

then i realized that i only had 2 euro shams and 3 sure would fill in the extra space nicely.

i ordered 1 additional green apple pearl embroidered sham from the fabulous pb

pottery barn

a few days later it arrived at my door.

i opened up the pkg to find my euro sham, stuffed it, put it on the bed, and ta-da!

what a difference it makes!

now i just wonder why it took me so long to notice...

i didn't tell hubby about the additional sham, i wanted to see how long it would take him to catch on.

it took about 1.5 days, and he is totally ok with it :)

**linking up at Tidy Mom's Lovin' It**

hutch help

this little corner has been needing a friend for a long time now...

 

and we picked her up this weekend!

 ::sorry for the funky lighting in all the pics that follow::

although she needs painting/staining,
i love my new corner hutch!

she is my newest c-list treasure.

 

::please ignore the drapes, they are squooshed & the rod is obviously too long 

i'll fix all that...i was just in a hurry to take the pic!::

 i love how the hutch completes the breakfast room.

here is where you come in...

i need your paint color/ staining suggestions.

i am considering painting her white and distressing the hutch a bit.

then staining the blonde wood the dark brown of the table top.

what do you think? is that too much white in the room? 

the red wine rack in the right corner was purchased for our original color scheme...

what do you think about the rusty red wine rack?  should it stay red or should i paint it?

should i re-paint the chandelier?!?

any suggestions would be fabulous!

thanks & happy monday!

what a bucket of paint can do

Here are a couple of things you should know:

{1} When we moved into our house, all of the walls were a dark, dark brown.

O yeah, and so were most of the ceilings.

One more thing, the carpet was brown, too.

::i'll be doing a whole series of before and after with those pics soon::

{2} Once we signed the papers, we had a very short amount of time 

before we had to vacate our apt.

{3} This move came within our first year of marriage, and I was in my first year of teaching, too.

{4} I hadn't been creating a home portfolio my whole life...and...

{5} I was preggers, and in the business of making rash decisions to meet the deadline.

{6} I was in charge of choosing the paint colors.

{If you are into all brown decor, please don't be offended by this post}

That should give you an idea of what we were working with.

Our house was so dark and "cave like" 

that my mom said she had no idea where we saw the potential....once we already owned the house.

We, however, loved the floorplan and the neighborhood, 

and thought that painting every wall, ceiling, and trim piece wouldn't be too much work. ha.

My #1 goal was to brighten this place up, and that's exactly what I did.

I picked a creamy white for the walls in our family room,

and creamy white carpet,

did I mention we also had a white couch?

So, for a while I loved that because the result was so drastically different than before.

However, the white started to get to me,

which in part led to redecorating the family room, kitchen, and breakfast room.

It's an understatement to say that I have 

an incredibly supportive hubby who loves my creativity,

and gives me lots and lots of freedom in decorating our home.

He rocks.

He even hired painters to repaint 1/ 3 of our house once I decided I didn't like the colors

that my pregger self had chosen.

Which leads us to the family room ...

before {before we owned it}

before {before we painted it last week}

the top paint color sample of the wall is what we went with

after

it's so much warmer, and now i can decorate with white accents!

the loveseat and couch really pop

i love what a simple paint color change can do for a room.

panels...a splurge

i hardly ever pay full price for home decorative items.

i love, love, love to find a good deal

and
i am usually up to the challenge of making/sewing/painting it myself

now that i have that out there, i splurged this week. big time.

but

i have been looking for drapery panels forever...i had even decided that i wanted blue ones

i just couldn't seem to find the right blend of color and fabric.

until...

tuesday night i was flipping through my favorite catalogue, 

and realized that ballard offered many more color options than pictured on their drapery page.

they had the perfect blue! 

 ballard designs

spa linen blue

the spa blue that's in the fabric on my loveseat.

 ballard designs

the design is much larger in person, but this gives you a good idea 

and although you can't really see it, the background is spa blue

my heart started beating fast.

 then...wednesday morning i got an email reminding me that ballard was offering free shipping.

and my mom had given me a coupon for 15% off my entire order last time we saw them.

i thought about it all day going back and forth, 

but it was one of those things i knew i'd regret not buying! forever.

mom also said she'd help with the cost because my bday is coming up,

which definitely helped me make the decision.

thanks mom!

i did it! i bought the draperies! and i couldn't be more excited.

 ballard design

those lovely curtains, just spa blue

(they didn't have a picture of it)

they'll arrive sometime next week.

my walls will go from drab to fab!

o don't worry.  i'll post as soon as they're hung!

rusty red revamp

our lovely coffee table joined our family as an outdoor piece of furniture, 

but we really didn't buy the furniture because of the table.

we just liked everything else.
 i looked at it everyday for weeks, trying to envision its place in our living room...

::pros::
great overall size
space to place baskets that can hold my random stuff magazines
character in its legs and wooden slats

::cons::
too tall
needs to be refinished 

so, after a few lonely months in the backyard, it was ready for a new home.

it receives much more daily love and attention in its new spot.

 let me show you how we got to this point...

{1}

the height of the table was a little too tall for the family room, so we sawed off its legs.

poor guy.

{2}

time to sand!

make sure to sand off all the previous stain, and to create a smooth surface

{3}

brush off the excess dust.

wipe it clean with a damp rag.

maybe twice, depending on how much dust you made.

{4}

stain it.

we chose minwax english chestnut,

which we also used to stain our kitchen table here.

i was planning on painting the bottom half rather than staining it.

to prevent wiping up drips that might fall through the cracks I spread out newspaper

on the bottom level.

i actually took the picture of newspaper after staining one coat.

{5}

paint it 

no, i didn't prime it which i was very glad about after just painting one coat of red.

geez, those slats were a pain to paint

can't find my painting pic, but here is a good shot of the legs

 

{7}

decorate it. 

 love it.

go here for some great pointers on how to decorate your coffee table. 

this was my first piece of furniture to redo, and it really boosted my confidence.

start on something rather simple, with a few easy steps.

then you'll feel like conquering the world, or something like this guy

hob lob's knobs

I can't say enough how excited I am to begin Shabby Chic Cottage's 

10 tasks in 10 days challenge!

 

one of my projects involves adding some new hardware fabulous knobs

to a c-list find.

so little one and i headed to hob lob to see what we could find...

i probably browsed the knob aisle for 10 minutes...

just wishing i had more places in my house that needed them!

these little zinnia knobs tickle my fancy

southernliving.com

did you know they are the same knobs that anthro has?

they just go on 1/2 price, and anthro's don't.

                                                                                                                                          pinkybrown inc.

 boston.com

 
maybe not quite as much of a selection as anthro,
but definitely something that will wrap itself around your little finger.

can't wait to get started on the project...
hopefully it will be revealed soon!


p.s:
when we were leaving, little one waved "bye bye" for the first time!
 i kinda teared up.  he is just so adorable!

to frame or not to frame

Hubby has always wanted to hang his t.v. above the fireplace.

I must say, it doesn't lend itself to being the most fabulous decorative piece,

but if it makes Hubby smile I suppose it can stay.

Now comes the challenge of how to disguise it...

I found this great idea over at 

A Penny Saved

and can't wait for hubby and I to get started!

Penny framed her t.v. and created artwork to cover the screen.

Her artwork looks great, but we're just planning on framing ours.

She even created a step-by-step ::how to:: guide, so helpful!

a penny saved

I love how the t.v. looks purposeful.

Not just thrown on the wall...like ours does.

I'm not crazy about those symmetrical candlesticks, either.  

I just don't know how to decorate around the darn thing!

 

My newest motivations to frame the thing are:

{1} Hubby is painting the walls in the family room next week,

so the t.v. has to come down anyway

{3} the white trim will show up much better when the wall itself isn't white

{2} Shabby Chic Cottage has a 10 projects in 10 days challenge,

and this is (hopefully) going to be one of mine!

So, what do you think...

Would you frame your t.v.?

Do you even allow a t.v. to hang above the fireplace?

it's time to strip...the varnish off the antique table

weekend plans :: sand and refinish table & paint 6 chairs

actual weekend accomplishments :: strip table top, sand table, de-gloss table & 6 chairs, paint, and stain

whew! 

just typing that list makes me tired...try knocking that out in a weekend

we encountered many bumps in the road, but now I have lots of advice to share!

The kitchen table that I wrote about here 

 

ended having close to a thousand layers of varnish,

which i realized after sanding for 20 min.

i didn't have the time to sand off all 1,000 layers...

after much research on the best way to remove varnish,

i discovered that sanding was the "last resort".

 little one and i headed off to pick up some paint stripper,

then he went down for a nap, and i went to work!

 here are a few things that you need before you get started:

hand and foot protection, paint stripper, brush, and 

puddy knives to scrape off varnish

::not pictured - eye protection::

 it took 2-3 applications of the stripper, but mainly because i was impatient.
the can says to wait 20-25 minutes...i waited about 10.
{advice}: wait the appropriate amount of time

 the varnish easily scrapes off

 progress!

 thumbs up for stripper!

left side: stripper is setting      right side: after

i still needed to sand the remaining varnish residue

and smooth the surface before staining.

next thing i knew, i had burned out hubby's sander...

 
 o geez!

he actually didn't mind because he we got to buy a new, orbital sander.

 

awesome.

so much more effective than the previous.

{advice: if you're in the market for a sander, go for the round one}

i finished sanding the varnish off with a coarse 60 grit sandpaper,

then went over the entire table one last time using a fine 120 grit 

for a final smooth buffing

after encountering such a large amount of unexpected varnish,

i decided to try my hand with some :deglosser: for the rest of the table and 6 chairs

 

so glad that I did...

the top layer of gloss/stain/or something came off.

 left: before deglosser     right: after deglosser

 then i sanded and deglossed all 6 chairs...

{1} find any areas of chipping paint

{2} hand sand

 {3} degloss

wear gloves and use an old rag

time to paint!

i had read that priming with KILZ was highly recommended;

however, i found that it dried with tiny bumps

and i sure didn't have time to re-sand the table/chairs.

{advice:  personally, i would suggest skipping this step}

 it bubbled up in some areas, too.

i decided to go straight to painting.

hubby has a SWEET paint sprayer attachment for his air compressor. 

it worked like magic on our kitchen set!

one coat and done. 

they chairs are so fresh and bright now!

finally, i stained the table 

 love the stain we chose - the same as our coffee table

Minwax English Chestnut 233
the small size was definitely enough for this project

available at most home improvement stores

 the white nicely accentuates the table's curves

notice the tint of blue in the previous pic?

it's because my sweet hubby rigged up a shaded work area on the side of the house!

he's such a sweetie

finally i coated it with polyurethane 
i still haven't completed that step, but i was ready to have my table back!!
i'll get to it sooner or later, then i'll let you know how it turns out

last but not least, recovering the chair cushions!

i chose a burlap-ish fabric, with the look of burlap yet more durability
picked it up for a whopping $6.99/yd @ our local craft store

ta-da!

i.am.obsessed.

white. 

my new favorite color.


{table top not shown here because it looks a little funky without poly-coating}

i'm loving that tablecloth, pulls it all together

:editing note:
please ignore the sagging curtain to the left of the pic.
little one pulled it down. down as in partially out of the wall.

more on that incident later...

the white and neutral colors of the table and chairs

will go perfectly with the colors of any season!

i know many more wonderful family meals will be shared around this table in the years to come!

p.s. imagine it with this lovely rug underneath...
i've been drooling over it in Ballard's catalogue for months!

ballard designs

I'm linking up at:  

The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday