straight up dining room, part two

i’ll take it easy on ya today. less waxing poetic re: my dining room table, more straight home decor photos of the dining room.

talked about my plans for the dining room HERE, revealed the new table HERE

one of the biggest—okay, the BIGGEST eyesore in the old dining room was the unfinished fireplace. remember this?

EEEK! i hear scary stabby movie music every time i look at that. it was terrible looking, and we’d had the tile to finish it sitting in the shed for yeeeaaaars. i was pleasantly surprised to come home to this one day:

tile done. a basic slate from the home depot. it’s another spot where we like the interplay of something a bit more rustic (the tile) with something a bit more refined (the mantel + surround).
the firebox was painted with a high heat spray paint. we don’t light roaring fires in here, just the candles and the occasional wax firelog thingy. the candle holder was given to us as a hand me down. i may spray it black eventually, but for now it works.

the mantle itself is very simple. an open box on top mimics the open frames on the walls.

seriously. every stinkin’ time i look back at that ‘before’ shot i shudder. i can not believe we lived with it like that for so long. ugh. anyway, moving on.

(library picture--Home Goods clearance, $15, hotel sign—Home Goods, $5, schweppes plaque---yeah right i’ve had that since the year one. maybe $4?, motorcycle—Ross, $15, candle holder—Ross, $3)

this area above the mantel has given me hives since the wall frames and mantel were built. it’s not a big space—only 29” high from the bottom of the trim to the mantel, but it’s 65” wide. it needed something with PRESENCE, something worthy of being ABOVE THE MANTEL. but any mirror or picture i tried putting there was just too tall.

i’ve finally managed to cobble together this collection of things, and for now—i like it.

moving on around the room…

there she is. the frame that almost broke the camel’s back. or something like that.

(frames—IKEA ribba, $15 each, prints—IKEA, $12 for all 3)

in the end i decided three frames was fine…mainly because i found this set of three prints at IKEA and fell in love. i do kind of wish there was a fourth…maybe someday when i’m bored i’ll play around with photoshop and come up with a fourth. which city? hmmm….i’m thinking something like mumbai or pisa or something. suggestions?

i love these prints. probably more than any one girl should love three prints. i won’t apologize.

one of  the other major changes we made was moving the buffet from this wall to the window wall.

before:

after:

okay, yeah. that’s not the same buffet. the new one is much narrower, much lower, and in much better condition. and are you ready for this—it was $12. TWELVE. DOLLARS.

this is the photo i sent to jeremy when i found it at the thrift shop on half-off day:

how do you know it’s the right size? he asked.
i measured, i answered.
what do you mean “measured”?

he knows me so well.

i stood next to the window and figured out about how high up on my leg it could come and still be under the sill. don’t worry, it’s perfect. kiss kiss mwah mwah.

why is that a problem? i don’t always have a tape measure with me, but i always have my thighs with me.

probably i need a beard to really pull this off. but enjoy.

this is picture i instagrammed of myself bringing it home:

don’t worry—i took this while stopped. because clearly i’m concerned about safety.

a few coats of satin finish black spray paint, and some silver on the hardware, and there it is.

 

sideboard—thrifted, $12, spray paint—$9

oh—and some greasy kid fingerprints on the front to really make it feel at home.

the top got another collection of things…

(lamps—owned, $3 update for fabric paint on the shades, urn—home goods, $9, oyster—home goods, $12, candle—owned)

the lamps i discussed HERE. they got a cheap and dirty $3 makeover to fit into the new dining room. the blue urn has a chip in the back, so it was super cheap. and the oyster was my big splurge—12 whole dollars i paid for that. i really love that little thing. and the kids love making sure it always has a “pearl” in it. the wire candle holder is the misfit in this grouping—i feel like it needs something green and plantish. but i had this, so it’s a free placeholder for now.

the curtains were an easy DIY project, and they got their own post HERE. they were the first choice for the dining room, and the wall paint color was based off the birds.

curtain fabric + grommets—$49.50 total for the pair

the last major change in the room--

when we initially started this dining room makeover/finishing i was ready to write off this light. i was pretty much over it, and wanted something more modern…maybe rectangular to fit over the new table? the light was a $50 j.c. penny’s outlet purchase right after we bought the house. it hung in our kitchen first, then moved to the dining room when we built our addition. safe to say we got our $50 out of it.

but on a whim i decided to spray it black.

now this is where i tell you what it means to be my friend: it means when you find out your nincompoop of a friend is going to spray paint her ceiling light black—WHILE IT IS STILL HANGING IN THE ROOM, you drive yourself over and take on the unforgiving job of holding a board behind the light to catch most some of the overspray. it means you go home with black feet, because the board didn’t catch some most of the overspray, and then text photos of your blackened nostrils to me later in the evening.

anybody want to be my friend? because that’s all the stuff laura did. <3 you, girl. and i think it was worth it. because painting the base black and spraying the metal shades white took it from this:

to this:

and now i LUUURRRRVVE it. just like that. i’m calling it a free upgrade, since i used spray paint i already had.
the last addition to the light was these little crystals:

a friend made them for me a million years ago—they’re simple beads strung on wire and attached to magnets. there’s 8 of them, you can attach them around the edge of a lampshade for a little added bling. here they perform the function of hiding the little screw end that’s missing a cover (that’s why it was $50 in the first place).

i’m not gonna lie—it wasn’t the easiest job, or my brightest (ha!) idea. but the difference it makes is amazing.

and that’s it. the dining room in toto.

one more time for the people in the back…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

cleaner, lighter, brighter. that’s what my goals were when i started this. i’d say it’s a check, check, check.

my other goal? CHEAP. let’s see how we did:

DINING ROOM COST BREAKDOWN
paint – free (had an HD credit)
table – $30 for misc. supplies (screws, glue, etc.), labor, wood & finishing were freeeee!
chairs – had
pictures + frames – $57
fireplace – free (already had the tile, grout & supplies)
fireplace decor* – $38
buffet + spray paint – $21
buffet decor* – $21
curtains – $49.50
lamp upgrade – $3
chandy upgrade – freeeeee!
---------------------------------------------------
TOTAL: $198.50

*i only included the new items i bought, not the things i already had

looks like another checkmark to me. just squeezed under the $200 mark for my room upgrade.

there you have it. dining room done.

googiemomma out.

sweater to cardigan upcycle

remember this dress?



guinevere’s vintage pattern dress from a couple of months ago. we decided while working on it that some pops of yellow—a belt, buttons, and cardigan—would look super cute.
finding the perfect yellow cardi, however? not so easy. after trying one or two stores i just gave up and headed to the thrift shop, where we found this:



a basic lightweight short sleeve sweater in a pretty pale yellow. done. i think it was maybe $2?
next we headed to joann’s, where i grabbed 1/4 yard of matching yellow cotton, and a $1 pack of yellow buttons.

i used the fabric to make some bias tape…



next--take a deep breath and go for it…



slice that baby right up the middle, top to bottom, just through the front (obviously)
i did a tight zigzag stitch on the raw edges, just as a preventative measure, then sewed the bias tape on to the raw edges, folding the excess under at the top and bottom to make a clean edge…



for closure (and i mean literal closure, not some existential relationship-gone-sour type of closure) i just tacked the buttons on the top, and then sewed some hook and eye pair underneath. that way i o1) didn’t have to mess with making all those buttonholes and o2) didn’t have to worry about the sweater unraveling on me.

so the buttons themselves are just decorative, and the hooks and eyes are what do the heavy lifting.





you can see the hooks and eyes a bit in these photos…i probably should have sewn them over just a smidge further, but…meh. ;)



i also took in the side seams just a bit—simply sewing a new seam from the armpit down. just to make a fit a little better.

and the belt was made with the same cotton used for the sweater binding.

easy!

harlequin painted dresser tutorial

i never even got the chance to share this.

i bought this dresser at the thrift shop, refinished it and put it in the girls’ room. and before i even showed it on the blog we changed gears and redid the girls’ room…rendering my hard work unnecessary.

you know why i never showed it on the blog? because the room was never CLEAN enough for me to take good pictures of it! sad, but true.

and as we cleaned the rooms out on day 1 of construction, it STILL wasn’t clean enough for me to take pictures.

i still love it though, and wanted to share. so i pushed things to the side and snapped a couple of shots quickly.

some really, really lousy pictures.

sorry about that.

but i still love how this dresser turned out, and couldn’t part with it. so i gave it a new home in my sewing corner, holding thread and ribbon and fabrics and lace and interfacing.

somewhere i lost my photo of the untouched dresser. it has good bones, and was just a sad off-white color. the top was a stained laminate, and the knobs are wood. basically it was a deal i couldn’t pass up—especially not for $19!

i started by removing all the drawers and cleaning the whole thing, inside and out.

i took the knobs off the drawers…

and was super proud of my handy knob painter that i made up:

you may see this as a box with wooden skewers…

i see it as a time and finger saver.

(i also see it as a strange modern art installation. anyone?)

anyway, everything got three coats of spray paint: the first two white

and then i veerrry lightly misted it with a cream color, just to tone down the white a touch.

then two good coats of clear protectant.

once it was all dry i replaced the drawers.

and began lightly marking a diamond pattern across the front. i started from the center, since i wanted the diamonds centered on the drawers and it was easier that way.

you can barrrrely see the lines i drew in this shot:

then i mixed these two paints 50/50:

(decorart metallics in champagne gold, and jo-ann craft paint in ivory)

and brushed the paint in my diamond shapes:

 

then i dabbed all over with a dry rag to get rid of the paint marks and lighten it all up.

next i took a gold paint pen and filled in all the little routed details on the drawers and base.

 

i didn’t tape off anything, i wanted to keep it loose and organic. not perfect.

i let that all dry…

(this picture is most accurate in terms of color, versus the ones taken in the house which have a pink cast i couldn’t fully erase)

and then gave it a very light sanding to further break up the painting and smooth the whole thing.

initially i thought the knobs would be cute with pink centers.

i did about 5 before i realized it was no good.

so i switched to black centers and edges.

muuuch better. :)

and when it was all dry and back together and in their room it looked really cute.

for about 2 months.

 

it’s okay though. because i have plenty of use for it in my sewing area! and at $19 for the dresser, plus 2 cans of spray paint (i had all the rest), it was totally worth it for less than $30!