New dining table!

Isn't it funny how we sometimes find something so perfect when we aren't even looking for it?  Ok perhaps that's a little overdramatic for furniture but one morning I was checking out some of my local Facebook groups, one that people sell furniture in and I found this awesome table and 6 chairs for....drumroll please...$100!  

Here is the before photo in the previous owners home:

I love the lines of the table and the ladder back chairs.  If I had room for the buffet and hutch I would have gotten that too but I didn't.

She was also selling a cute pine console table for $30 that I also bought (that makeover later) and I ended up with everything for $120!  Wahoo!

The set sat in my garage waiting for it's makeover and for me to sell my current one (which I ended up selling for $300!)

Finally last week I decided it was time to get this project underway since we were hosting Easter dinner! 

In the past I have made my own chalk paint but this time I decided to use the real stuff-Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, in graphite.  (at another time I'll go into detail about which one I prefer).

This is my inspiration photo for our dining room:

via

 

 

I love the wood table with the black chairs!  Plus the lanterns and the big windows are a huge bonus. 

 

One more time before it's makeover!

 

 

 

 

And after!

 



Vintage Train 3rd Birthday Party

My little guy is OBSESSED with trains so for his 3rd birthday party we decided to have his party at a local outdoor train park and amusement center.

I found the cutest printable set on Nellie Design on Etsy.  Her designs are so unique! 




Since I wanted to have an idea of how I was going to set things up I set out to hunt for a Jenny Lind changing table.  Very specific request! 

Thanks to several of the Facebook groups that I belong too I found one for $10!  I gave it a makeover with some red spray paint and it was good as new!





It then became the perfect dessert table. 

I ordered the polka dot cake and cupcakes from our local grocery store.  They are delicious and very inexpensive. 


The treats table was filled with some of his favorites:

Vanilla Yogurt Pretzels

 

 

 

Chocolate cake pops

 

As well as a few of his favorite cookies

 

 

 



For the favor bags we used a wooden train whistle and two red whirly pops and attached some of the cupcake toppers on the front of them. 

 

I then put two holes in the top of the bags and tied with some baker's twine and the thank you tag!

 

 

 

Despite the chilly weather and rain that appeared we all had a lot of fun! 

Printables by: Nellie Design
Favor bags & paper straws by: The TomKat Studio

 

 

Linking up to:

 

A to Zebra Celebrations
Thrifty Decor Chick

Selecting our perfect paint color

Is selecting a paint color not one of the biggest headaches when it comes to room design?  It is at least for me!

It seems that with "open concept" homes it is harder and harder to select colors that will flow from room to room especially since the colors of the room vary based on light exposure, furnishings etc etc.

The main part of our house is a yellow-tan color.  At some point this room will get repainted.  The super high ceilings makes it something that neither the hubby or I want to tackle. This room is open to the main hallway where 4 of our bedrooms are.  The lighting up here is completely different then on the main floor.  Ugh!  So I'm wondering if it would be okay to stop the paint line at the upper part of the wall?  Or if again I am making too much work for myself.

Our dining room is on it's 3rd paint color and this last one is an oops color from Lowes.  I get a lot of compliments on it so for now it will get to stick around.

My current main focus is on our playroom.  The room has west and south exposure so in the mornings the room is a little darker then in the afternoons however in the summer we can't really open the shades on the west side without letting in a ton of heat.

You can see above how dark it is!  Not bright and cheery like I'm looking for.

I have spent the last 5 months looking for the perfect paint color!  We started out with some of the similar yellow-tan tones.  Scraped those.  I then just started looking at other peoples favorite colors.

 Some of the colors we went through include:

Homestead Resort Parlor Taupe-too light

Cincinnatian Hotel Nicholas Taupe-too green

Gobi Desert-PERFECT however it's the color in our master bedroom which in there looks greige but in the playroom looks too tan for the hubby's taste.

So after a lot of discussion we decided that we would scrap the yellow-tans and jump on board with the greige bandwagon!  This means all the main areas in our home will have to get repainted.  That would be the playroom, entry and upstairs hallway, dining room and lastly the family room.  Since I am still hoping that our kitchen will have white cabinets (sooner then later) this will be the last room plus we have the red/gold color scheme from 6 years ago that is going to take some time to get rid of.

We did some more research and decided to pick up some samples at Sherwin Williams over the weekend.  I was really liking how Agreeable Gray looked on line!


Megan at Honey We're Home has it in most of her main living areas and it looks gorgeous!

My favorite thing that I found in store was their HGTV color cards!  All the work is done for you to make your whole home look cohesive!  The colors in the Neutral Nuance really caught my eye.

 

They have a lot of the same blue tones we have in some of our bedrooms and some of the golds that we have which will make it easier for when it comes time to repaint and decorate our family room!

Where has this thing been the last 5 months?!?!

Look what happens to Agreeable Gray when it goes up in our playroom:



It looks light tan!  The color next to it is Perfect Greige.  On the color card it looks brown.  But on my walls...perfect!  Since our rooms are very open I feel like I need to paint the entry to our playroom an accent wall like it is now.  If anyone thinks differently please let me know.  Perfect Greige compliments our current dining room color well and it will break up whatever color goes up in our foyer so it may just end up working!

 

Sherwin Williams even has a 30% off paint sale starting tomorrow!!  The timing of my project is perfect!  I'm very excited to get started!!  Wish me luck!
 

Blogging Hiatus & 2013 Home Goals

Wow I can't believe that it has been over two months since I have blogged about ANYTHING! I've been meaning to but with a full time job and 3 kids I haven't had the time. I even had completed projects from December that I never got around to posting about. Oh well-this year I will do it!

January was quiet around our house project wise. On the 20th I ran my 2nd half marathon and since I had not spent any amount of time training, all of my free time was spent doing just that! I had an amazing time in Orange County with two of my best friends and finished the Tinkerbell Half Marathon 15 mintues faster then I thought I would!

Feburary has always been busy with two birthdays! Once again I went with two seperate parties and it was exhausting but totally worth it! Photo overload about both parties will be up this week!

HOME GOALS

Now on to the fun stuff.  Another year filled with great ideas right?

We purchased our home 4 years ago and we are still trying to erase the "design" of the previous home owners.

My list of wishes is lengthy but with any luck we will make a good dent in it.

1.  Repaint our playroom.  This is a carryover from 2012 mainly because for 4 months we have had a rainbow of paint sample colors on the wall trying to figure out what color to paint.  I think we are getting closer.

2.  Remove the hideous grasscloth wallpaper from our guest bathroom.  Make it prettier and brighter! 

3.  Redesign of our backyard.  Our lot is small and our pool is big.  The area outside the pool fence is sad, muddy and unusable.  Let's make it pretty and functional!

4.  Repaint our entry way.  20 foot ceilings means we have to pay someone and that means $$$.  Let's not mention that picking the perfect color will be super tricky! 

5. Convince my husband that our kitchen cabients should be painted white.  I've actually already done this I just need to keep saving $ to get the job done!

6.  #5 will lead to repainting our family room/eat in kitchen/kitchen area.  I think #5 and #6 will be 2014 projects but with any luck they will get done! 

I have a lot of little projects I would like to finish up around the house too so stay tuned!


Lisa