Dining Room Project

One of my current projects is updating my dining room. Other than a table and chair set, the room is bare. I am working on a nonexistent budget, so it is a bit of a challenge. Here is the before shot:

Pretty boring, right? As you can see, I have two paintings and a mirror on the floor. I am planning to use these in the room.

I would like this room to have more color than any of the others. The rest of my house is done in a very neutral palette. (Think greys, taupes, tans, browns, and whites.) I decided to liven this room up a little bit, but still make it flow with the rest of the house.

I am still in the progress of finding the right console table for this room. I am looking for one that I can fix up myself and is pretty cheap. A white rug would lighten up the room and provide a nice break between the color of the table and the color of the wood floors. The canvas paintings are also the same color, so they may not stay in this room for long.

So far, all that is finished is the tabletop. Here is a sneak preview:

New Finds

My favorite store, Gray Living, was having a sale on lighting. I have been wanting to get matching lamps for my nightstands. I had driven to the store three times(!) at the last 30 minutes before the store closes, but could never make up my mind, and couldn't get much input from D on which lamps he liked (they will someday be his too!). Finally, I saw this beauty:

This ties in perfectly with my metal storage trunk, taupe trimmed duvet, and black iron bed. I love lamps. In fact, I could easily get carried away with lamps, but I have been able to keep it under wraps. Here are a few other lamps that caught my eye from Pinterest.

Here are a few from Anthropologie:

And Pottery Barn:

And Horchow:

I love them all! What lamps do you like?

I found a few other items I couldn't leave without while there. I have had some dark wicker baskets for years that I wanted to give some life to by adding labels. I got the idea from Pottery Barn:





One of my finds worked perfectly. I added wire to secure it to the basket.




Lastly, I couldn't leave without this little guy.

Those were my finds of the day! Don't you just love finding cute things?!


P.S. D thinks this stuff is unnecessary and would much rather live without anything. Seriously, anything. His favorite picture of Steve Jobs is one where he is sitting on the floor of his first(?) house, with no furniture (see below). He once told me that we wanted to live that way. His exact quote after I purchased my little artichoke was "That's exactly what I need- more choking." Good thing I have a good sense of humor! ;)

Sneak Peek

Since moving into the new house, the decorating process has been very slow. I have a picture in my mind (actually several) of what I would like it to look like in the end, but actually finding the pieces is the difficult part. Here is a little sneak peek of what I have so far. I will post more pictures after the room is complete.

Lamp: Gourmet Pantry

Turquoise Picture Frame: Ribbit Ribbit

Wood Objects: Gray Living

Framed Pictures: Frames and mats from Michael's Arts & Crafts, horse drawings by my hubs-to-be, floral print- scrapbook paper from Michael's

Miscellaneous books from college and leisure reading

Glitter jewelry box: The Gypsy Wagon

Silver bowl: Target

Apples: I've had them forever and can't remember where I got them

Wood box: a gift given to me

Silver Initial: Target

I Heart Apartment Therapy

Apartment Therapy really is like therapy for the decorator's soul. I found this before and after on their website today. Just had to share it.

They did a great job updating this home office! The white-on-white looks clean, fresh, and beautiful! The punch of color adds interest to the room. If only my office looked like this...

Curtain Project

September 21, 2011

I wanted to spruce up a boring window, but curtains are so expensive, and I knew as soon as I invested in a pair, I would find another pair that I liked better or I would already be tired of them. So I set out to create my own on a budget. Here is a picture of my window before:
(Keep in mind, I took this picture after I put up the curtains, so I took them down and set them on the desk. Looks messy!)

I plan on moving soon and wasn't totally set on the curtain idea, so I didn't want to put holes in my walls for the curtain rod. Rather than drilling big holes in my walls, I hung lightweight curtains on a wire with pushpins. Here is a close- up of the pushpin/wire thing:

Looks terrible, right? Don't worry. . .I have a plan! This part will be covered.


Here is the final product: