Dining Room Sneak Peak

Sorry for the lengthy time between posts but I've been taking care of sick husband and planning a huge fundraiser event that you'll be happy to know went off without a hitch! Over $100K raised for our local autism center!

That being said, it's time for a new post. Not only have I not had time to post, but I haven't had much time to work on pending projects either! So, today, you'll just see the inspiration for my current project! I've been dreaming about a new dining room set up since my first Want It Wednesday post and the day of dining room redecorating is looming near! I found an antique dining table that needs a little refinishing (working on it people!) and slipcovered parson chairs that are awaiting their monogram. See my inspiration photo below.

via www.countryliving.com

The entire room is a little traditional for my taste. But this is literally my exact table. My parson chairs will have full length skirts instead of these slipcovered chairs, but the overall aesthetic is very similar. With a more contemporary drum shade pendant chandy, my vintage eclectic dining room will be complete. (Oh, and with the new sideboard that I will...fingers crossed...purchase this weekend!)

via www.paloma81.blogspot.com

via www.thethriftynester.blogspot.com

via www.decorpad.com

via www.decorpad.com

Hope you enjoyed these lovely images! Can't wait to reveal my new dining room to you soon!

~Katie

Southern Living in My Living Room

Ok, so the title of this post is a little misleading. Southern Living was not doing a photo shoot of my magnificent living room....in my dreams. But for those of you who don't know, the magazine has it's own line of home decor. It's set up a little like Mary Kay in that you can host a party in your own home. A rep/consultant will bring some samples of the product and it gives you and your friends an excuse to (in the case of my party) eat pasta, drink wine, and buy lots of pretty things! As a hostess you earn discounts and credits! I used mine to get a few new things.

Like this Santorini Urn for my living room....

The color is beautiful and really blends well with our Rocky Mountain Sky painted living room. And my husband is Greek, so I like the name.

I paired it on our TV console with some chippy candleholders I was given as a wedding gift...

And the verdict is....I love it!

I also found a few things to dress up my fireplace. You may remember that I've pointed this fireplace out as a major design dillema before. The mantle is too high and it just looks bare no matter what I do. Well, I got a beautiful firescreen to dress it up a bit.

The screen was a "hostess special" and you wouldn't believe the deal I got! It's got feet (which you can't see in the photo...should really pay more attention to detail when taking those), and the middle portion is actually a door that opens so you don't have to move the entire screen to poke the fire or throw on a log. I love love love the acorn finial on the top!

The hurricanes up top are new from the Southern Living at Home line as well. They're a coppery bronze color with a georgous turqoise patina on them. I used them to flank a bronze mirror I already owned and a "G" that plays musical rooms around our house...he just goes wherever I need him! I haven't decided what to put inside them yet. I'm thinking some creamy white candles on moss to bring some springtime cheeriness into the room...maybe easter eggs in April...and I can already see gold & silver ornaments for next December!

All in all, the SLAH party was a success! I got few more things for the house, but I'll save those for a later post!

~Katie

Want It Wednesdays

It seems like the only thing I can manage lately is the weekly Want It Wednesdays posts. I apologize for the sparsity in my blogging lately, but life has taken a turn for the busy if you know what I mean. Not only is it hard to find the time to post...it's hard to find the time to finish all of my projects to even post about! A vicious cycle, it tell you...

Now moving on to the wants! My last few "wants" have been pretty major things...new furniture and lighting. And let's just be honest with ourselves, those kind of large purhases just aren't a daily occurence in my house...if they are in your house...you're probably reading the wrong blog, honey. Either way, I decided to tone it down a little this week with a few smaller wants.

I've been dreaming of French toile lately. Now I firmly believe it can look outdated and stuffy if you put it on every chair, couch, and curtain rod you own...but in well proportioned doses, it is quite elegant and pretty. And where else do I want to put it but the LEAST elegant room in the house....THE BATHROOM! I know, I know- first the mirrors, now the toile! But take a look at this...via www.potterybarn.com

Pretty foliage and sweet little birds in my teeny tiny bathroom sounds delightful! So, yes please, Pottery Barn...I'll have that. K thanks.

And speaking of sweet little birds...I LOVE ALL THINGS BIRDS....nests? love 'em....eggs? love 'em... And check out this pretty Thomas Paul pillow from www.allmodern.com.

Love it too! So that's it...I will not allow myself to want any large things this week (yeah right....I'm just not admitting them). So here are my watered-down Want Its! Hope you enjoy! What do you want????

~Katie

Want It Wednesdays (Even Though It's Thursday)

For this (late) installment of "Want It Wednesdays", I'll recap a little from last week's post and talk about what I'm lusting over this week!

So last week I posted about my burning desire for a new dining room table. Well, the round table didn't happen, BUT I did snag a large rectangular dining room table for a sweet deal. It seats 6 comfortably and could probably fit eight if I really tried. It needs to be sanded down and stained (as almost every piece of furniture I bring in does), but I was waiting until I decided on chairs befored I chose the stain. Well, I decided to go with white upholstered, skirted parsons chairs. They'll be coming in any day now and then the slipcovers will be off to get monogrammed. I should be able to post a whole new dining room in the next two weeks or so!

Now that I've got the furniture (and a newly redecorated wall and buffet that you will see in my next post), I'm moving on to....what else?! THE CEILING! Currently this thing is hanging above the table....

And for those of you who are giving it the benefit of the doubt thinking "oh, well that could be cute country cottage-ish"....no, not so much. This thing is straight up 1995 Home Depot clearance rack. I think the previous owner of the home "thought" they were updating by putting this in.

So isntead I would love to grace my ceiling with the presence of THIS BEAUTY!

via www.overstock.com

Just imagine it hanging over my new table and chairs (that you'll also need to imagine for the time being). Perfection.

I've also been thinking about what to put on the empty wall of my bathroom. I'm not really into the bathroom-themed stuff and our bathroom is very neautral...white and khaki. So at first I wanted to add something with a little color. But alas, bold colors just are really for me. Then I ran across this photo on www.inthefunlane.com and I think it's originally from Martha Stewart.

I love how bright and open the room looks with all of the mirrors. And I love the eclectic collection inthis photo....

And considering how small our bathroom is, all that reflection can only be a good thing!
So it looks like this week I'll be off scavenging for vintage, frameless mirrors to create a collection for the bathroom wall. And I'll be purchasing the dining room fixture in the next few weeks as well. (I'm still working on the patio furniture...using my birthday as an excuse to get it and I think it's starting to work on the husband)!

By the way, how do you like the new look for my blog? It's fun right?! Props to www.backgrounfairy.com for the design!

Go forth, followers, and WANT! (Even though it's Thursday...and wanting is only allowed on Wednsedays.....yeah right).

~Katie

Wow! That's a Green Wall: Pottery Barn Bedroom Makeover

Warning: There is not a final "after" of this Before & After post yet, but there will be soon.

I spend a good bit of the weekend making over a friends bedroom. It's been a while since I've done a major overhaul on a room and it was so fun to watch the progress! Here is her room before....

There is absolutely nothing wrong with it...she's got all the essentials: pretty bed, seating, night stand, dresser/mirror, even a media center (that you can partially see on the right side of the photo). The furniture is really pretty in a dark mahogany color and the cute chair adds a little vintage touch to the room. You almost can't tell in the photo but her bedding is a very, VERY light robin's egg blue. It's a very pretty color, but up against the almost empty beige wall, and the beige ceiling, and the beige carpet....well you get the point...it's a little, dare I say, drab.

Haley was looking forward to creating a bedroom she could really enjoy! Something bright, and cheerful! When she she told me she wanted me to help, I was definitely excited. But when she told me she wanted to paint an entire wall green.....well, that's when I really got into it.

This lovely Pottery Barn bedding was her inspiration...

via www.potterybarn.com

So, first stop was to order the bedding. Since she had a 10% discount for in-store purchases only, we went into the store and had them order it there. Even though it was ordered online, because we were "in the store", the discount still applied! YAY! Also, if you live in the Birmingham area and need assistance at the Summit Pottery Barn, ask for Holly...she was awesome!

Using the bedding as inspiration, we headed to Home Depot for paint. She chose Behr's "Granny Smith Apple Green".

With my super-fly paint rolling skills...

We really made some progress....

And it finally turned into this....

The photo shows the wall looking a little on the lime side, but the paint dried to be a nice mossy, peridot color. And remember, that the new bedding will be here in just a few days. Then I will post the final "after"! Once the bedding is on, the room is going to have a fun, cohesive look! I'll post the final results soon!

Cheers to Haley and her almost made-over, cheerful bedroom!

~Katie

Weekend Finds!

I spent a good bit of time this weekend getting rid of home décor. I took a few of my things to a friend's yard sale and managed to clear some space in the basement. But you know that doesn't mean I didn't find a few new (or old) things to replace them! My first find this weekend developed from a trade off. My friend hosting the yard sale gave me this great huge seagrass tray in exchange for a couple of items of mine.

Since the addition of the larger coffee table , I've been looking for something to put on top that didn't obstruct views at eye level. I hate a tall piece in the middle of a table that people have to look across…it just doesn't make any sense! I also wanted something that served a functional purpose like holding the remotes, magazines, etc. This tray is the perfect size for the table, adds great texture, and looks great with the rest of the room. Now, I'm on the hunt for similar baskets to put underneath the table to hold blanket and dog toys!

After the yard sale, I hit up a few antique stores and scored a few small things like this vintage apothecary jar to store cotton balls in the bathroom.

I'd like to find another, larger one to display my monogrammed soap collection. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I also found some great vintage plates.

One is white with scallop detailed edges and the small blue one has a greek key and clover design. I especially like the blue one. My husband is Greek so I love most anything with the greek key motif. These will go with the rest of the small, but growing collection that will eventually adorn one of the walls in my dining room. I foresee a lot of plate arranging in my future before I'll be able to commit and actually hang them!

So there you have it! My finds for this weekend!

~ Katie

Want It Wednesdays

Welcome to the first Want It Wednesdays post. I'm contantly thinking of projects I want to do and pieces I want to add to my home. So why not designate an entire day/post of the week to some of the things I'm dying to have? And believe me, at one day a week, this could take yyyeeeaarrrsss.

1. Round Dining Room Table: I love a round dining room table. It just feels so inviting! Our home isn't really a "head of the table" type of environment so the idea that everyone is included and facing each other during a meal is very appealing to me. Currently, we have a bar height four top table with matching bar height chairs that serves it's purpose.






I like the dark wood and clean lines, but it's a little modern (and dull) compared to the rest of the house which has a more vintage cottage vibe. It was a gift from my parents for my first apartment, which it fit perfectly, but we now have a dining room that could host a larger table like this beauty.

via http://www.restorationhardware.com/ (duh)

I'd love to have this table or a DIY project that garnered similar results...with some cream slip covered chars and a silver bowl of fresh fruit in the center. Done. My ideal dining set.

2. New Patio Furniture: The second item(s) on what my husband considers an endless list is new outdoor furniture for our front deck/patio. It's a large...almost as large as our living room actually, and can handle several different seating/dining areas in it's space. It currently looks like this:

Please don't judge to harshly as it's been wet and freezing here for week, my flowers are dead dead dead, and the entire deck just isn't up to it's spring time par. What you see in the picture is a mixture of old and new. The antique white rod iron benches were a fairly recent purchase from Garden Ridge. The chimanea was a recent gift from my parents for my husband's birthday, the black rod iron table and chairs were given to us by my mother in law, and the planters were left here when we purchased the house. I couldn't fit it all in the photo but just two the right are two teak arm chairs with a small rod iron and wicker table between them. Altogether, it's just a little hodge podge. Neither Gusty nor I had a large outdoor space before we got married and just weren't prepared to fully furnish this huge deck. It saddens me that we've neglected it because it's truly the first part of the house people see and it was our favorite part and a large factor when we bought the house. So what I'd loooove to see out there is.....

and

Both images from www.potterybarn.com

I definitely want to include a dining table as Gusty and I love to have people over to cook out and enjoy the outdoors, our charming bamboo, and the view. But I also want a relaxing seating area that really gives it the feel of not just a patio, but an outdoor room. I think these pieces all tie in well together, but jointly have a pretty large price tag. So between now and spring, I'll be on hte lookout for a budget friendlier alternative....or I'll be sweet talking the hubby.

So that's it fearless readers, my first Want It Wednesday posts. I'm constantly adding things to my "long term, but I wish it was short term" wish list and I look forward to sharing them with you each week! Feel free to share yours as well!

~Katie