Dining room turned…

Hey all! I shared some of my home plans for 2012 with you here, but there’s one I held off on mentioning. It’s one I’m kind of sort of really excited nervous anxious about. :)

There’s actually two drastic changes for the house I have going on in my noggin – both are HUGE projects. One I’m still hashing out in my head. This one I’m more ready to move forward on. It’s a bit of an usual makeover idea though and I’m wondering if I’m losin’ it. ;)

If you’ve been around for a while, you saw how I changed up our dining room a few years ago by painting, hanging a new fixture, adding new drapes and recovering the chairs.

Here’s what it looked like before:

I went DARK with the walls and the ceiling (I love a dramatic look in a dining room), but wow, the new floors certainly changed the look even more. 

Here’s what it looks like now:

(Ignore the one white chair…more on that in a bit.)

WAY too dark for my taste. I am loving brighter looks now anyway, but if we had had these floors years ago, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have gone this dark with the paint.

Now every surface in the room is the same dark color, and me no likey:

I know painting the ceiling would help, and so would a light rug, but I’ve been itching to rework this room over the past few months anyway, so I’ve held off on those (not easy or cheap) projects.

(Not sure I want a light rug in the dining room anyway!)

There’s a few things I know I want to change, and one is the molding on the wall. I just want something more elaborate and different, but I put this up a LONG time ago, way before I had  a compound miter saw or a nail gun. Here’s the reason I always tell you to use nails to install molding – cause you can remove it if you want down the line.

Guess what I used on this stuff, pre-nail gun? Liquid Nails baby. That stuff is going NOWHERE.

Sooo…I’ve been considering my options. One is to rip it down and have the drywall fixed. Honestly I don’t know if it could be patched. I mean, it could, but it would take an incredible drywaller for that to not be noticeable.

The other option is to just cover them. And that’s when I came up with my slightly unorthodox idea. (That I’m one really excited/nervous about.)

Here’s the deal…we never, I repeat, NEVER use this room. Ever, ever, ever. I think in the almost eight years we’ve lived here, we have used it maybe five times. Probably more like four.

The last time we used it was the Christmas dinner of 2009.

And I still remember how completely uncomfortable I was sitting on those awful chairs. They were the hardest upholstered chairs my tooshy has ever graced.

So about a year ago (YES. A YEAR.), I found a set of chairs at Goodwill that I planned to recover and paint. They were way more comfortable, and I liked that the open backs opened up the space a bit.

You can see one white chair in the pics that I spray painted:

I stalled out though, and usually when I stall out on something like this it’s because I know there’s something deep down making me hesitate.

And now I think I like my new idea way better than recovering the chairs.

I want to get rid of the “dining room” and make it a useable space. This room is open to our living room, and we spend quite a bit of time out there. I know most don’t use the more formal area like that, but because our house is so open, it just lends itself to hanging and playing. Thing is, the living and dining rooms are bigger and more open then our kitchen/family room space.

At least they feel like they are, I’ve never taken measurements. :)

So because we use our living room so often and it’s open to this space that we never use, I’m toying around with not having a dining room table at all.

Instead, I’m envisioning a library-type space. One day…some day…I’d love to make the living room a music room, complete with a Baby Grand Piano for my musician hubby.

That’s a LONG way off, but the library idea in here could be a reality.

I’m thinking floor to ceiling bookcases on this wall:

Like in my friend Emily’s office:

Isn’t that fantastic?

In our room, I’d make the bottom level of the whole thing cabinets, so I could use it for storage of all of our serving dishes. (And loads of other stuff!)

Are you starting to see it? :)

And then, I would do away with the table and chairs, and go with a different type of table and chairs, like this:

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Or this:

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Or this:

One of my girlfriends has this set up in their sunroom, and every time I’ve been there, that’s where we end up. I love that idea!

That last photo with the low table is more of what I’m thinking. Or maybe a long, narrow coffee table, with two chairs on either side, facing each other over the table. (Instead of in a circle, it would be more like a square shape.)

I’m also thinking very comfy chairs for lounging. Reading. Visiting. Talking. Whatever.

I think it could be amazing!!

Here are my hesitations and my own rebuttal to those. ;)

1. The furniture. The current stuff wasn’t cheap, but we’ve had it for seven years now. I’m not in love with it though, and wouldn’t mind selling it. I could even take the leaf out of the dining table and move it to the basement in my craft area instead. (I can see it painted out in a fun color! It’s just a veneer, not solid wood, so don’t hate on me.)

New furniture and built ins certainly wouldn’t be cheap. But the built ins I could DIY, and four new chairs wouldn’t be awful if I really took my time looking for a great deal. Otherwise the only expense is a table and a rug, and the rug was coming anyway.

2. The light fixture. I LOVE our dining room light. LOVE. I don’t know if I would try to lower it a bit and keep it in the room or not. It may be too fancy for the look I’m thinking up. I love it so much though and can’t think of where else I would put it.

Wait a minute…hot DANG, I could put it in our bedroom!! Just thought of that just now. Well…now that one doesn’t bother me as much. (See how I talk myself into things?)

3. The whole losing a dining room thing. Uhh…why is it I’m worrying about this even though we NEVER EVER use it? And we’ve thrown a sit down dinner party uh, NEVER. I doubt we’ll start any time soon. (Our parties are more stand around the island mowing on food.) And if we do finish the basement this year, the chance of anyone sitting in the dining room lessens even more.

Party in the basement! Whoo HOO!

I’ve already come up with a possible solution if we need a huge table for an event, and that would be just to have folding tables that I could cover with tablecloths. I think that would do the trick.

4. Resale. Well, we’re not moving. No plan to. Don’t wanna. And when we do, I think the built ins would only enhance the look of the room, not take away from it. We could take out the chairs and throw a table in the room when selling it to make sure potential buyers knew what the space was supposed to be. It’s not anything crazy permanent that couldn’t be changed around in the future.

Soooo…what do you think? Have you ever changed up a room so drastically? Made it something it wasn’t supposed to be? I’d love to hear! I’m really anxious about this potential change, but it’s a FUN, I-think-I-really-want-to-do-this anxious.

I’m linking this up to my girl Nester’s Home Goals Party…cause it’s a goal I think I’m going to try to meet. If I can get up the courage. ;)

Anticipation

Welcome to the second most wonderful time of the year people. At least I think it is. Next to the Christmas season, the beginning of the year is absolutely my favorite time. I just get plain giddy about all the possibilities…mostly for my house. ;)

Beyond just that new year feeling, it’s the first time in months that I can focus on more DIY again, instead of holiday decor. And that holiday decor is all down (except for outside – it’s been too dang cold!) so the house feels fresh and new and bigger and brighter and…SIGH.

I just love the new start the new year brings. It’s this time of year that I can’t turn off my brain – I laid in bed last night with visions of sugarplums…err, built ins, new paint colors and board and batten dancing in my head. ;)

I have some big plans for the blog and the house this year, but let’s start with the house, shall we?

I won’t bore you with more pics of undone projects again, but the one of the biggies is to get that office finished (for real, planning to have that post up next week).

The chocolate powder room (that I showed you in my last post) is getting a complete redo. I’ve already put a first coat of a bluish grey on the walls and the ceiling, and for awhile now (it’s been torn apart for MONTHS) I have been planning on doing tall beadboard around the room, like our laundry room.

But then I saw this the horizontal look instead, and am kind of smitten with it:

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I’m thinking all white though, with the blue walls above.

We currently have a pedestal sink in there, but because it’s a pretty big powder room, we have the space to add something like a small dresser with a sink instead:

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I LOVE that!

I’m already scoping out Craigslist and have my measurements ready in case I find something that works at Goodwill or Habitat Restore.

My plan is to move the light from above the mirror down to one on either side of the mirror – something like this:

Can you see it? The new bathroom in my head? ;)

I have big build plans in mind for a few rooms in the house. I’m calling this year The Year of the Built In. Dun dun dun...

I have thoughts roaming around in my head (told you it’s keeping me up at night!) for some in the living room, maybe the dining room (I have a whole idea in mind for the dining room that is a bit out there), and for sure in the playroom:

This space is more a game room space now, because most of the toys are down in the basement. The problem is I know we’ll need a bit more game storage space as the Bub gets older. Right now we only have a few board games that he plays, but my hope is that he’ll enjoy a rousing game of Clue as much as I did someday. (Without the fierce competitiveness and sulking when someone beats me.)

I’ve had plans to build something like this:

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Along this wall:

Isn’t it perfect for those? I’ve actually been planning them for years and my Dad and I have it mostly figured out. It’s just a matter of DOING it. :)

One of the biggest projects I’d like to complete this year is to move the washer and dryer and make the laundry/mud room a true mud room. Cause it drives me total bonkers to have the piles of laundry in there.

When my lovely, evil plan is all done – this space:

Will look something like this:

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Ohhh yeah.

This wouldn’t suck either:

You know. Just saying.

You have NO idea how happy it would make me to see this every time I walked in. I know it will be covered with shoes and coats and dog leashes but I so. don’t. care. Anything is better than what we’ve got going now. It ain’t workin’.

There are SO many other projects running through my noggin – I’m loving the look of bright spaces with neutral pieces but lots of pops of color:

(This designer does some beautiful work!)

Because I couldn’t sleep last night, I pulled out my phone and made a list a mile long, just get to get the ideas out of my brain. Do you ever need to do that?

So, there’s the very short list for the coming year – I’ll share what I have planned for the blog soon as well!

I can’t wait to get started on the first project though – and it’s none of the above. It involves the pantry and making it work a little more efficiently (and a tiny bit prettier maybe). I think I have it all figured out – it’s just going to take a TON of work.

So do you love this time of year too? Have you taken all your Christmas decor down yet? Do you think your home feels new and fresh right now or drab and boring? Any fun projects planned for your house this year?

Farmhouse Industrial Modern?

Last year I told you about my Suburban style. “Real” decorators – especially those on TV –- seem to think “Suburban” is a bad word. I happen to think it’s lovely and warm and so ME.

Oh, the horrors! ;)

Over the past year or so, I’m drawn to different styles and feel like mine is changing a bit. I just have no clue what to call it now. I don’t know if it’s all the lovely blogs out there or just the natural ebb and flow of my decor taste, but things, they are a changin’. 

The other day I was looking around at some of my purchases over the past few months and they just showcase my decorating confusion. I thought I’d share a few of them with you. :)

I visited one of my favorite spots in Indy a couple of months ago – a salvage and architectural shop that I don’t think I’ve blogged about yet. (I will soon cause it’s amazing!)

We were in a bit of a hurry, (it’s the kind of place you need at least an hour to look through) but I did find this old crock:

I’ve always been drawn to all things old and full of character. I absolutely LOVE it and the light blue “6” on the front. The price was crazy good too – only $20!

It sits next to the sofa and I fill it with blankets:

Score one for the antiques! Or farmhouse style? Cottage? I have no idea.

For months and months I’ve been trying to figure out what to put on the wall to the left of our stairs. I can’t find a good picture of the scrolly iron thing that I had up there, but you can see a smidge of it here:

I’ve used those iron jobbies forever and a day to fill wall space, but I’m trying to move on and change it up a bit.

The iron piece was way too small for this wall anyway – but figuring out what to use instead was stumping me big time. I didn’t want a gallery wall, cause it would be too busy with the one on the stairs. I didn’t want to do a mirror, cause I have one over the foyer table. So what the heck else do you do?

Well…a find at a small town antique shop nearby solved that problem…at least for now:

(Yes. The Halloween mice are still out. I’m throwing in some spooky style into the mix.)

I found a few old antique windows, cleaned them up and hung them on the wall. I love the colors – they came in the white, blue and brown – perfect for our house! And I love how they fill up that large wall. I may do some adjusting but I’ve already got eleventy billion holes in that wall as it is.

Sooo…old stuff, two points.

Over the summer I found this little beauty at HomeGoods:

It’s the cutest little stool I ever did see! The grey color and metal legs lean more toward an industrial look, but the cute little number on the top is more farmhouse style:

Half point industrial, half farmhouse. I’m so confused. ;)

Finally, I totally blame blogland for this one. My friend Chris made my multiple decor personalities issue even worse. She found a lovely table at World Market and I was smitten.

I was sitting in a waiting room when I read her post, and it just so happened I was about 50 yards from a World Market. Curses!!!

So I went. And I got it:

(Yes. Those are seashells still on display. In November. I told you I’m all over the place.)

Dang her and her awesome taste!! I got it for a great price because I found a coupon online (they took it off my phone – hurrah!). You can find the table here.

I’m IN LOVE with it’s modern look – the shape, the design, the glass top. I swoon every time I walk by it. I’m still thinking about taking some Rub n Buff to it to change up the color a bit, but we’ll see about that.

Sooo…score one for modern style.

That leaves us with…uh. Major design confusion. ;)

I wouldn’t even call my home eclectic cause I when I hear eclectic I think funky – maybe I’m wrong? Who knows what’s going on in my head and house. All I know is I LIKE IT!

I love the different pieces throughout our home and that they change up the look up around here. I’m just more confused than ever on what to call my style.

Modern farmhouse industrial old stuff suburban? It’s got a certain ring to it.

Has blogland influenced your style? What would you call yours? I hope it’s easier than  mine. For your sake. ;)

Our new backyard!

Well, I’m kind of cheating. I’m not really showing a fall mantel for Layla’s party. Just a fall fireplace.

An outdoor fireplace. ;)

I figured I can show you the indoor mantel any time – but the final touches on the backyard and the new patio were made today, so I just couldn’t wait to show you!!

Is this allowed Lay? :)

I hope so! Cause it rocks my world!!!

OK, there are a serious amount of pics on this one, so bear with me. (And I thought the deck post had a lot – HA!)

Let’s start with the piece de resistance – the outdoor fireplace:

We almost didn’t add this – at first it was just going to cost too much. But our landscaper worked with us and we figured out a way to make it happen.

And we are SO GLAD we did. It just makes the whole space – it’s the focal point, no doubt!

They used a travertine stone on the hearth and for the details on the front, instead of the brick on the sample we saw. He wanted to pull the colors from our house, and it does just that!

The stone works with the house too, and has some bits of grey and red tones that work with the patio:

It’s been raining on and off for days, and finally today it was just beautiful! As soon as I pulled out the camera, the sun went behind the clouds, again. (Some of the stones on the patio are wet – that’s why they are darker.)

Let’s check out the before and after shall we?:

  

AWESOMESAUCE!!! ;)

We got all of the furniture on clearance at Menards and I LOVE IT:

I think it looks SO much more expensive than it was – all four chairs and the sofa (we have a outdoor SOFA?!), were less than $800:

We got the fire pit at Menards as well (on clearance – notice a trend here?) a couple years ago.

All of the pillows are placemats from World Market – I also used them as placemats (who would have thunk it?) on the table set on the deck:

I adore the colors and the designs – and that I can flip them around for a different look.

Here’s a little tour of the backyard – the before on the left, the after now:

 

We are trying to bring the grass back – it was covered with the deck furniture (while they stained) for so long, it pooped out. We had the drain spout put under the ground – which makes hubby VERY happy. He moved that thing every single time he mowed. ;)

They planted a winding row of burning bushes, which I LOVE, between our trees, and then a couple large arborvitae at the end for privacy. They are so tall and thick – I love them!

You can see how the patio looks from the yard from this angle:

I love all the thought they put into the design of the walls – it could have easily been a plain wall and we would have been happy. But they look so custom with the bullnosed detail around the bottom.

We planned all along to put the grill down on the patio, but in the end hubs wanted to keep it up on the deck. So I put the DIY potting bench there instead and now I think it’s the perfect spot!:

That big black bucket is actually for fireplace ashes, but I keep my potting soil in it. :) Hopefully it will hold up outside – I may spray it with some kind of sealer.

Have the potting bench there couldn’t work better, because my plan all along was to use it for entertaining as well – now it will be a great spot for food, drinks, ice buckets, whatever.

You can see the fireplace from the back here:

It’s hard to see, but on each side of the fireplace are pee gee hydrangea trees. I got them for half off at my local True Value and I’m SO excited about them. Hopefully they will look something like this eventually:

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Isn’t that gorgeous??

Next summer they will frame out the fireplace perfectly. Can’t wait! :)

We especially love how the landscaper used the natural stone throughout the space – like in the landscaping above, and the stepping stones through the mulch:

And the “steps” up to the patio are large stones:

They make it feel like everything has been there forever!

Here’s a before and after from the other side:

You’ll notice the garden is gone. It was a very, very sad day. I’m not kidding. They had to rip the cucumbers from my clutched fists.

OK, OK, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was hard.  ;) I don’t know yet where I will put it next year, but I have a couple spots in mind.

You’ll also notice that there’s not many plants in the ground. That is simply because we just had to stop! (Our bank account was starting to freak out a little. OK, a lot. ;) ) We’ll budget for that next year. I can’t wait to plan all of the landscaping – I think the plants will make it even more of an oasis!

At first I wasn’t sure how to set up all the furniture on the patio, but I searched “outdoor fireplace” online and noticed most of them had the chairs set up like this:

I didn’t want the back of anything to be facing out, so this works great. 

And there’s still plenty of room to get around them, to the potting bench on one side, the firewood on the other:

The lovely folks at Wuslu.com sent these baskets too me, and this one was the largest. It’s just LOVELY as a firewood holder. :)

The massive mums were a STEAL – my BFF and I found out one of the local fruit farms offers $5 mums if you dig them up yourself. We got HUGE plants for so cheap – usually this size would cost (at least) $30! I plan to plant them later and we’ll see how they do next year.

I just love mums. I just love fall. Sigh. :)

Today the landscaper came out and cleared out a TON of the brush in the back – we didn’t think he would do that till next year, and it opened up our backyard SO MUCH:

I mentioned here that our next phase will be to clear all of this out, plant more trees along the back and mulch most of it.

This land is why we built our house here and it’s one of our very favorite parts of our home – if not our favorite. We have been so spoiled by all the green space and privacy. I absolutely love it, and now we have another 20 feet of yard to explore, now that we can get back there!

Since the last minute touches were finished up today, we celebrated by lighting a fire this evening:

It’s no surprise that the evening is the best time to enjoy this space. :)

We grab cold drinks, warm blankets, light the fire, listen to the crickets and look up at the stars:

And it really does not get any better than this.

I feel so lucky I could burst. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I sure do appreciate it. :)

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our new backyard! And I need to give a HUGE shout out to our landscaper and his staff – Bill at Eagleson Landscape did an incredible job. They did such an amazing job and took such pride in everything they did – especially the guys who put the stone on the fireplace. We were so pleased with every bit of it! If you are in the Indy area and need anything done outdoors – give them a call!

Be sure to link up your fall fireplace (mantels?!) at Layla’s – I can’t wait to see all the goodies! 

I’m such a rebel. :)

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.