Dining Room Makeover STILL a work in progress

Dining Room Makeover STILL a work in progress

When I first saw the AWESOME multi-blog, multi-room linky party ROOMSPIRATION, I was SO hopeful to be able to link my COMPLETED dining room up by the deadline.  Not happening!

Firstly, it is at times like these when I SO wish I would have gone through with getting married.  If only for the fact that I am getting tired of doing all of this work myself!  :-)  Dont know how much I would have let him do but at least he could make lunch and go on supply runs!  LOL!!!

I started this project in SPRING and here we are two seasons later and Im still plugging away.  So, I am posting this to motivate myself to finish by November 1st!  So all of the amazing room Roomspiration link- ups have served their purpose and are totally inspiring me to finish this room once and for all!  Thank you!

It started with the removal of the "lovely" carpeting and wallpaper and it took quite a while to get the walls repaired and prepped for primer.  The green stripes were painted in case the wallpaper seams separated, the white wall wouldnt show through.  My parents were wallpaper masters.  :-D

I really liked the grey primer color!  I sanded the brown windows and painted them white.   I also removed the brass crystal chandelier and gave it new life by spraying it silver.  It still needs to be re-assembled - something to which I am NOT looking forward.

When it came to paint color, I never could have imagined that there are so many shades of navy blue!  I mean R U KIDDING ME?

I finally decided on Blue Velvet from Ace Hardware and once I got it on the walls, I hated it.  I think it took me about two weeks to pick a color but, in the end, I got it right.  BEHR paint - STILETTO!  It is a deep, dark navy blue and I couldnt be more thrilled!

I got rid of the old dining room furniture except for the hutch.  I was going to paint it white and buy a new table and chairs but then I had a total change of heart.

I decided to keep the sideboard intact and I took a hammer and dismantled the hutch to use the pieces for a WINDOW SEAT.  I know - crazy, right?  But it is almost finished and I LOVE it.  These crazy ideas keep entering into the original plans and wreaking havoc!  :-)  No wonder its still not completed!

I found my dining room table, chairs, mirror and buffet lamps on Craigslist and they are just sitting in the garage waiting to be put in place.  My dining room table (LOVE) is from a travel agency.  How funny is that?

Then I watched Somethings Gotta Give for like the 200th time and I am so green with envy of her transom windows!

Source:  Hookedonhouses.net

 Crazy idea #47 - "Hey, I can put those in my dining room!"  And so I did.  I bought two door sidelights at a builders supply house and put them on the horizontal and built frames for them.

 I then adhered them to the ceiling and I love it!  I just have to figure out how to trim it out - yet another delay.  UGH!

And I couldnt just have a NORMAL ceiling, right?  I found this awesome picture and decided to use it as my inspiration picture.  

I found these little beauties at Hobby Lobby on clearance for $2 and they were a rusted finish.  I painted them white and they will be put in the corners of the ceiling.

To prepare the ceiling, I painted the blue wall color onto the ceiling.  I painted the rest of the ceiling grey because I didnt want a traditional white ceiling.  Color:  Secret Passage.  Love the name!

So, all I have left to do really is finish the ceiling, chandelier, wainscoting, crown molding, transom room divider, and window seat.  YIKES!   Oh did I mention I am going to try to paint my underlayment to look like mahogany wood floors?   Hopefully, they will turn out as great as I am imagining them.    A temporary fix until I can afford the real thing... Someday.

 Can I get it done by November 1?  All of you amazing DIYers and ROOMSPIRATION linkys have totally inspired me to get in gear and get it done!  I Thank You all for sharing your beautiful rooms and please check back - I will be posting my progress!  (Fingers crossed)


Dining Room Makeover STILL a work in progress

My Blog Makeover

My Blog Makeover

I am really excited to share my new blog design!  I think I have as much fun changing up my blog as I have changing up my house! Except it takes a whole lot longer to change up my blog.  I have zero experience in this kind of thing.  I just sort of wing it.  And do a lot of Google searches.  And cry.  Ok well actually there were no tears.  But I thought about it a couple of times.  :-)

So how did a complete novice make a new header, blog button, center the navigation bar, and tweak my borders?  With the help of my friends.  No, they arent my real life friends (although it would be cool if they were because they are super smart).  They are my blog friends.  And they are awesome at explaining how to do your own blog stuff.

Yesterday, I told you about Kim at Cheap Chic Home.  Shes the one who shared all that info to get my "Featured" and "Where I Link" pages looking better.  That was the first step.  It sort of snowballed from there.

I knew that I had to learn a new photo editing site - now that Picnik is closing.  So I downloaded GIMP.  And I soon realized that this was way over my head.  I had no idea how to even get started.  So, I went on the hunt for something a little easier.  I downloaded Pixlr.  (Side note - when I downloaded Pixlr, I had no idea there was a Pixlr Express.  I assume it is similar to Picnik - and Im looking forward to trying it.)  It did take a while to figure out this photo editing program.  It really isnt as user friendly as Picnik.  But once I started adding layers and text, it was fun.  And I know that I havent even scratched the surface on all that this program can do. But I wanted my header to be simple.  And I like the result.

I could probably throw together a small tutorial of the how-tos for the header.  If anyone is interested, please leave a comment.  I didnt really search out much help.  Again, I just winged it.  But the more I played around with it, the more comfortable I became.  And the more fun I had.  I would recommend giving it a try.

After designing my header, I was still trying to figure out how I could make it wider and more in line with my blog.  Another Google search brought me to Cindy at Cinsarah.  She has a beautiful blog - which she designed herself.  And she has a bunch of tutorials for the novice blog designer.  I found so many answers.  I learned how to get rid of the padding (so my header would be wider).  Thats also where I found the coding to center my navigation bar (all of those tabs under my header).  She made it very easy.  Yay!

Trying new things isnt easy.  And I know my blog still needs some work (Im still tweaking it).  But I love learning new things and Im glad I took the time to do my blog makeover by myself.  It was a fun little break from painting!


My Blog Makeover

REVEAL My 40 Shed Makeover

REVEAL My 40 Shed Makeover

Well, it is finally done - my shed makeover is complete! Here is the BEFORE:

It was a typical "barn" shed and it was painted yellow with white trim and a green roof. Cute for a few years, but it needed a little punch! So, I made it into a Tiki Hut complete with a thatch roof, flamingo lights, painted waves, etc. I SO wish I had a picture because it was really something. LOL!

As the snow melted this spring, it was looking quite awful. The shark lagoon was full of weeds (did I really just type that sentence?), the thatch roof needed to be replaced, etc. After taking a good look at the shed, it appeared that ants were totally hanging out at the tiki bar and setting up shop in the wood trim on the doors. YIKES - time for a big RAID umbrella drink for them! So I ripped all the wood off the doors and decided to give the shed a totally new look...

This is my new shed and I am so pleased with the final result. It has totally given the yard a very calming and eloquent feel. The entire project was only about $40 as most of the stuff was, ironically, already "in the shed". I already had the paint as it is the color I chose for my house (Behr - Hilltop). The scrolls were on sale for $5.88 each and the finial was on clearance at Hobby Lobby (LOVE) for a dollar!

I simply shaped a piece of 1 x 4 and attached it to look like a finial and spray painted it all white. I added new 1 x 4 wood trim because I felt it needed some substantial trim to detract from the barn line of the roof.

I removed all the wood and painted the doors white and then added black gloss paint squares to give the illusion of french doors. I added screen door molding painted white to mimic window grids.

The planter was my Moms and was just hanging on the wall in the shed and I thought - how perfectly perfect! A little white gloss spray paint and it turned out pretty sweet!

The Bay Lake Tennis Club sign was made from a geranium garden sign I found "in the shed". I simply painted it white, spray painted some old tennis racquet coasters black and used the Rustoleum paint pen in black (my new favorite thing) to give it new life.

The window boxes were a redwood mess that I had sitting on the side of the house - why I was saving them I have no idea but now Im glad I hung on to them. The brackets were from a thrift store - 50 cents for the set. Again - a little white paint and they worked out perfectly!

I used a 1 x 4s and furring strips to make board and batten shutters.

I originally wanted to have the racquets crossed on the peak over the doors but it was just too much. So I incorporated them into the shutters and I like they way they add a bit of pop to the side. I spray painted two old wooden racquets - I have a collection of about 50 and it was hard to choose which two to ruin. But I love them white.

I ripped out the shark lagoon, buried the blue sand with dirt and mulch and threw some New Guinea impatiens there - I love how clean it looks. On the right side, I had that urn at my front door but I love it in the backyard so much better. I received the clock for my birthday from my sister so I was looking for the perfect place to enjoy it. I cut out about a 3 foot circle used a shovel and straight edge to remove the grass. I really like how it enhanced the shed. Note to self - if I ever do this again - try to pick a day when the heat index is not 115! :-)

*** UPDATE*****  Here is the tutorial for the awning:

http://generalsplendour.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-my-10-shed-awning-tutorial.html        





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I was also featured at http://www.thediyspot.com/2011/08/diy-that-caught-my-eye/ by Joselyn and I cannot get her button to work - just wanted to say go visit her charming blog - www.thediyspot.com and thank you!

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REVEAL My 40 Shed Makeover