Setting Goals

We have been LOVING the changes we made in the living room!!

It was a simple change but our living room definitely feels more cozy and deliberate. I know deliberate may seem like an odd word choice but it is the most accurate one I can think of and it actually inspired this blog post.

It has been all too easy for the 15 months that we have lived in this house to live with everything where it got thrown when we moved in. We had to make quick choices while the movers were here and things have just stayed that way. I think that our frequent moves since we have been married is partially to blame for that mindset. But it is time to change that.We aren't going anywhere for a while and we have a lot of people who still haven't seen our house- one of them being my MIL who will be coming to visit in June. Trust me she puts no pressure on us to have the perfect place for her to stay but we want to give her a nice place! So I am going to be setting weekly goals for myself of things to accomplish so that MAYBE by the end of June this house will be at least a fraction of what we dreamed it could be when we bought it.

This week's goals are to finish painting the living room and the new-to-us dining room table. I also need to get the old table and chairs on Craiglist. That may not seem like a long list and even to me it's not- but getting that done while wrangling my three little angels makes that list a realistic and not over-ambitious one. If I am kicking out more projects it is more I can share with you- Right?

1st Misson is to finish painting the dining room table.

Off to do that now!!!! Wait until you see it! It's looking awesome!

~R

Birthdays, Haircuts, Painting and Musical Furniture

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted! Yikes! We have been super busy. There was a certain little girl who turned 4.

I did a big post for her 3rd birthday last year and it's crazy how fast this year has gone by and how much she has grown up. She also had her first parent teacher conference since my last post. She is doing really well and the teacher's only complaint is that she talks too much when she is supposed to be listening. The girl does  LOVE to talk! We have seen HUGE strides in her development since she started school and she only goes 2 days a week. We are very pleased at how this year has been going! Next year she will go 3 days a week. My little girl is growing up!

Most of you probably already saw that I also decided to donate my hair again (for the 5th time) which resulted in 9 inches getting cut off.

I had forgotten how much adjustment time I need to get used to my hair being so short. Luckily it grows fast and I should be able to put it in a ponytail again soon!

I started painting the living room. Finally!- I know I am Sloooow. I am only half way done but painting was put on hold to play musical furniture which will actually make it easier to finish painting. I also found the *perfect* TV stand for the living room. Aleena and I took a drive up to a used furniture store in Kutztown to look around just see what they had. Well they had this...

That has a lovely marble top.

And it was only $45. Crazy right?

Normally an Eastlake dresser like this one is something I would love to strip and show the original wood. Especially since someone took some orange stain to this one and left it on there to dry without wiping it off. But there were too many spots like these.

So I went against every instinct I had and painted it.

Yes there is a pull missing. I found the back plate and the handle for it in one of the drawers but I have to find two of the parts that are bolts but also hold the handle. Anyone know what they are called? I also cleaned up the marble by using a baking soda and water paste. I covered the top with the paste and let it dry and then wiped it off with a damp rag. I didn't take pictures because I had no idea what a difference it would make. I was just trying to see if I could get some of the stains out. After we played some musical furniture today this is where we are.

 Since we just moved everything this morning I haven't finished reloading the bookshelves. The two bookshelves and the dresser JUST fit. I mean just barely. I totally lucked out because I didn't measure I only guessed.  Here is the before picture of that corner.

The small bookshelf/TV stand you see in this picture moved up to Aleena's room and the taller one that was up there came down to flank the TV. Aleena told me that it was the best surprise ever- because now she can reach to turn her lamp on by herself. She is so stinkin' sweet. The other bookshelf was the one in this corner.

 We have a plan for this corner and it's something we will have to build. I will let you know how that goes! Back to the bottom right of this picture. See all those wires at the bottom of the shelf?

 All those wires that were all over the place before, are now all tucked away behind everything. Well except for this.

I now wish I had more of an opinion when they installed it. But at least it doesn't stick out too far. Also now we don't have the love seat sticking out into the room. The room feels so much bigger and we have a ton more storage! So I promise we are making progress! Slow progress but I am feeling good about everything so far and so is the Hubs which I think is the most important thing of all!

Shopping the House

Things have been moving slowly around here. Aleena was sick all last week and didn't go to school. So I was more focused on taking care of her than trying to accomplish much in the living room.  I did make some progress though!

In the front corner under the windows is where our toy box has taken up residence. It was one my Mom picked up at Home Goods and it has served us well. However- it's gotten to be too small (We have an insane amount of stuff animals.) and it totally doesn't match (color-wise), or even work, with the direction we are going in the living room.

It is nice that is sits in the corner and doesn't stick out. It's also nice that the kids can use it as a window seat but when you still have toys all over the floor and it's already full then it's time to change it up. My only solution was to shop the house aka using what we already have. You already know that I love texture. I really wanted a wicker trunk but couldn't afford one. Then I remembered (serious brain fart) that we already own a wicker trunk AND it was already being used as a toy box... in Aleena's room. So I went to check it out. All the toys in her room were in it and it was still half empty. Total no-brainer to switch them! The bench even sort of matches Aleena's room (for now) since her room is painted teal. So our toy corner now...

 It does stick out past the fireplace a little bit but not too much.
 

You can't even tell that it got a little bit injured when we moved up from NC (the movers really did a number on quite a bit of our furniture that move.)

I am really happy with this decision- as is the Hubs who had to help me move it. That sucker is HEAVY! This was purchased from Pier 1 ages and ages ago (almost 10 years??) and was about $100 then. It has moved many times and I am so glad we kept it!

The other thing that gets a surprising amount of use in this corner is our blanket basket.

It's a vintage wicker laundry basket that doesn't quite hold all of the blankets. Granted we have a lot of blankets and I could probably get rid of a few but the kids like to snuggle up with them and we build a lot of forts. The kids are always trying to climb in it and I am afraid they are going to destroy it. I have been pondering this dilemma for a while. Home Goods had some really cool striped baskets (maybe they still do?)

source

I thought they would be perfect but were totally out of my price range. So again I went to the best free source I know- things we already own.

How about an olive bucket? I totally love the feel it gives in this corner!

 

 

 I have plans to make a liner for it so I won't be putting the blankets in it until then. Pottery Barn sells these right now for $135. Which means they are on sale because they were originally $169. I got mine almost a year ago from here. It was only $50 plus $5 shipping. They have them today 2/20 and I think they still have a few left if you go check it out. They sell one item a day and they have a limited amount- especially when it's a found item like this. Since I already owned it for this make-over it's going to count as free.  Nothing better than that!

One more thing I want to share with you... remember my wicker lamp shade?

It's one of the very few things I have bought recently without consulting the hubs first. (oops) But we were sitting in the living room the other day and he looked at me funny and said, "Is that lampshade new? I really like it." Score! I really try to get his input on things before I buy them, since we both have to live with them so knowing he likes it (although probably not even close to as much I do) is great news.

Anyone else shopping their house these days?

A Table with a mind of it's own

I have "after" pictures for you! They are slightly different than what I Thought I would be showing you because this table really did seem to have a mind of it's own. We started here...

 

You can see the finish coming off in the second picture. This table really needed a little love. The midway point I showed you yesterday.

 I was feeling really good about it. I had finished the second coat and left it in the kitchen to dry. I made sure I used the bonding agent because I had a plan. So what is that they say about the best laid plans?

 I had not envisioned this as a "chippy" table. But this table truly had a mind of it's own. You really can never tell how a finish on an old piece of furniture will react to milk paint. Every piece is different. With this piece the old varnish just peeled off with the paint. I was able to come to an understanding with the table and now it looks like this.

I put a hemp oil finish on it which will protect it. It took a little longer than I had planned and it's not how I had originally envisioned it but I am very happy with how it turned out. It's a perfectly chippy spring green table. Now to get it back on Craigslist! Just remember if you are in the Lansdale Area and are interested in this pretty little table for $30 I will be in Lansdale tomorrow afternoon and can bring it with me!

Painting the Night Away

For me it never fails that smack dab in the middle of a project I have doubts. Sometimes they turn out to be valid but either way I have learned that I cannot stop in the middle or I never seem to want to get started again. I spent last night doing quite a bit of painting. Not the walls although I will get there eventually but 4 different tables. We have a LOT of tables going on in our house right now!

I worked on fixing the coffee table legs. Since I used the last of my Grain Sack milk paint I used whatever was leftover to also start painting the legs of our new to us dining room table. (I need to order more!) It felt good to almost finish one project get moving on the next phase of another.

The next table I worked on was the one I showed you in my last post. As much I as I love this table she has given me fits! Mostly her top...

The wobbly legs were a super easy fix. I just had to tighten the bolts on the legs- something I checked before I bought it! The top...sigh. When I went to start to repair the veneer, the job that someone had done previously was keeping me from being able to fix everything. So my next thought was to take the veneer off. Not my first choice by any means!!!

 Ugly right?! But after getting all the loose veneer off the rest of it was surprisingly well attached. So I decided to wood putty just to even everything out and then paint. The wood putty took 3 applications before everything was smooth.

So then what color to paint? Well the walls are going white, the couch is white, the chairs are white. I really wanted to do something different. So I thought I'd try red.

So as I am writing this I am mid-process and beginning to doubt myself! The end project that I am going for would be a nice antiqued finished with big creamy cabbage roses painted on the top (My Mother in Law offered to help me out with that one!)  Doesn't that sound great? Streaky unfinished paint jobs always throw off my vision. Like my other table I was working on-

This was the night table in our guest room.

And I really liked it.  But then I saw this.

Someone had this lovely little table on Craiglist for $25. $25?! I snapped it right up. Look at those legs! Plus a drawer in a night table is always an added bonus. So I put the other table on craigslist. I didn't do anything to it and it's been on craigslist for a couple of weeks. I listed it as a fixer upper and apparently no one was interested. So I thought I would do the fixing myself and re list it. It's going to be a lovely spring green color. I am SOO ready for spring! But again I hit mid-paint job and it made me nervous. But it's great. You should see it. Come back tomorrow because I will post pictures! Also if you live in the Lansdale Area and are interested in my little green table for $30 I will be in Lansdale on Sunday and I can bring with me!

See you tomorrow!

The Perfect Little Table

We gave away our old coffee table and end table to a family friend who needed it. We had a coffee table from my mom (no I haven't tried to paint it again) but we didn't have an end table to replace the one that left. It wasn't a big deal and I wasn't in a hurry to replace it. At the same time I was keeping an eye open in case I found something I liked. I wanted something in a similar style to the other furniture we have put in the living room. I found this one on Craiglist.

They wanted $50 for it- which in my opinion is a little much because if you look closely at the picture you can see the veneer coming off along the back edge of the table. So I kept looking. I looked at a local used furniture store's website and they had this one for $35.

 I liked the price and it looks like it's in good shape but not enough to drive up to Kutztown to go get it. With gas prices these days I didn't love it enough to make the drive. So today I dropped Aleena off at school and hit the thrift store and found this little beauty.

Look at the carved detail on the shelf (and try not to look at my messy floor!)

I love this one even more than the other ones that I have found and this one was $32 and I didn't have to drive out of my way to go get it. Perfect deal in my opinion!  The top on this one needs some work although I don't think it's anymore than the $50 one would have needed.

I am going to sand the legs because there is some goopy varnish on them but I think I am going to leave the legs wood and paint the top. I have to paint the top- after I glue and wood putty it it's not going to be refinish worthy but I will let you know what I end up doing. I was just so excited about my find I had to share! Anyone else have some good projects going on right now?

Lampshades, Slip Covers and Forgotten Corners

So I have been chugging along trying to make some progress in the living room since my last post. I got the sofa slip-covered and started painting. I also realized I forgot to show you the last corner of the living room. So I figured I should start with that.

We have the TV in one corner of the living room which you could see in this picture.

 

In the front 2 corners we have the toy box and Aleena's desk.

 

The toy box is under the window and Aleena's desk is against the shared wall for the foyer.

The last corner is where we have been stashing a bookshelf that holds our movies and some books and it doesn't get much attention.

So things start to accumulate. I am a little embarrassed to show you some of the pictures you will be seeing today but at the same time showing them to you will be good motivation for me to fix it! We have plans for a small table/desk in this corner moving the bookshelf to where the love seat is currently. Just wait- it will be a much better use of space.

We use this lamp all the time since it is the dark corner of the living room. I got it because 1. it has a mercury glass feel and 2. it reminded me of leaves. But I hated really wasn't fond of the shade. I got an email reminding me that Pottery Barn put a whole bunch of stuff on clearance and I saw this.

I loved the texture!! So I figured I would give it a shot. 50% off was a pretty good deal. So we started here.

 

and ended up here.

The jury is still out. (sorry about the picture quality the camera is giving me fits today!) I think I need to live with it before I decide. I LOVE the shade. LOVE. Just not sure it's right for this lamp. It's definitely better than the other shade though.

The other thing I wanted to show you is our slip-covered couch. I really struggled with the slip cover. Our couch is so weird. The back cushions are sewn on and it was hard to tuck in the extra fabric to make everything smooth. I love the color. It makes the room so much lighter. I just wish I was better at making the slip cover look good. Helpful hints are welcome if you have slipcover experience! I want to preface this photo with a warning.- this is how my house looks right now. The empire dresser I am working on is stuck behind the couch.  Motivation to get moving!

I know it would be nice if the front were ironed. I would like that. I was more worried about getting it ON the couch. It's a starting point at least! The ticking pillows are staying but I am going to switch out some of the other ones now that the couch is nice and light. No hurry on that though. I have a room to finish painting!

~Rosemary