A Tour of My Dining Room

While I'm still working away at my new job, it seems my time here is even more limited.

I'm rushing off again this morning, but before I do, I wanted to share pictures of my dining room with you.

I had it picture perfect right before Christmas.....and should've taken proper pictures then, but, I didn't. But here's one little snippet. Unfortunately there's a tablecloth on the table, but you can see those awesome chairs.

Right after Thanksgiving, I had placed my dining room set on Craigslist because I wanted to get a new one. The area I'm in now is weak for Craigslist, so I didn't receive any calls. In fact, I forgot I even put it on there.

So, having Christmas at my house this past year, I decided to deck out the dining room buffet style. I had everything in it's place, the table set, and all the decorations out.

It was definitely Christmas in the dining room!

Now fast forward to Christmas Eve. My family was all here. The table was all set. Everything was in it's place.

And then the phone rang.

Hello. I was wondering if there any chance you might still have that dining room set for sale.

(HUH??!!)

Umm, well, yes, I do.

Would you mind if I came to look at it. We are desperate to have something for Christmas dinner and we haven't been able to find anything. This looks perfect for us.

You mean today? You want to see it today?

Well yes, if I can. I want to be able to get it home and set it up for dinner.

Uhh, well, I guess you're in luck then cuz it's already set for Christmas dinner!

OMG, you're using it for your dinner?!!

Yes, I am.

I'm so sorry. I really need it though. Can I come and look at it?

(HUH?!)

I suppose. If you like it, do you need to take it away today?

(oh please God no, oh please God no...)

Unfortunately YES. Do you have something else you could use?

I suppose.

When would you like to come by?

Umm, I'm sitting down the road from your house!

Ma'am, my whole family is headed out to the mall to finsih our Christmas shopping. We were literally getting in the car when you called.

OMG, I'm sorry. Well, since I'm right here, can I just run over real quick?

I suppose.

FAST FORWARD 2 HOURS LATER!!

She's still at my house and has managed to work her way up into my home decor storage room to locate a few accessories for her new house. Which she did.

She claimed they lived only 20 minutes or so away and would go empty their truck and be back.

My husband, being aware that she had every intention of not letting us make it to the mall that day, suggested that he and my nephew load up our truck and follow them home.

Obviously, they jumped all over that.

So, they loaded up the table and chairs, and the rest of the family headed out to shop. It was already after 2 on Christmas Eve. And everything closed early of course.

Well...........

2 hours later I get a call from my husband saying that the couple lived about an HOUR away, and now he and my nephew were lost on their way back, out in country territory where they could see nothing  because it was getting dark, and there were no signs - and their GPS wouldn't pick up.

They were winging it "by feel".

After many wrong turns later, and a drive across the state line, they finally stumbled upon the way back home.

4 1/2 hours later!!

I'm sure he won't be offering to deliver anything again any time soon.

So now the shopping is all done and we all head back home.

UH OH. We need a table to eat on.

My mom said, "Surely you've got a spare table in your garage".

A "spare" table mom?

Ok, so she's right.

 I did have a spare table in my garage! And chairs too!

A coincidental backup plan. :)

Now we had to go dig it out!

And find the chairs!

And so we did.

I tell you all that, to tell you simply this.......

Here is my finished dining room:

(I just felt I need to explain why the table isn't painted. :)

That's because I was forced to use a table I wasn't planning to use, but now I've decided to keep and paint.)

The current table is a trestle table I picked up at a yard sale for $75 several years back.

For now, I just put my old runner on it.......................

BUT.......I'm going to paint the top in a black and cream large harlequin pattern and paint the base barn red with gold gilding............eventually.

"Eventually", meaning, AFTER I pull it back out of storage in a few months!

That's right, I'm packing my house away - AGAIN!

Moving - AGAIN!

More on that later................."later", meaning, when and if I find a new house near my new job.

Those extended stay hotels are looking better every single day. :)

Birds of a Feather - Wall Art

My latest project satisfies my love for birds and nests perfectly.

I've had so many nests just laying around in various places throughout the house, and realized I had never tried to pull them together in a single collection.

Well, we all know that ideas can pop out of nowhere when we least expect them.

I was in the Habitat Restore one day and found 2 of those french door inserts.

You know, the flimsy plastic kind that snap into the frames around the glass.

It hit me immediately that I could hang it on the wall and pull a lot of my bird collection together to fill it.

And, since I had to get my living room finished before my VIP Guest arrived, it was a really quick alternative for wall art with a minimal amount of effort.

I had everything I needed to make this project happen, so I only had to spend the $5 it costs for the frame itself. Can't beat that!

I took the stark white frame and dry brushed on a bit of brown glaze to age it, then laid out my plan on the floor to get it the way I wanted before I committed to it on the wall.

I was in a rush to get it finished, so there are no pictures of the process, but it's such an easy-peasy project that I know you can decifer it from the pictures.

Once I got it the way I wanted it, I simply hung nails to hold the nests, and used double sticky tape to hold the pictures.

I hung it above the small desk that I have in the corner of my living room.

A large piece of art for that small piece of furniture I know, but it gives me the impact I was hoping for.

Oh yeah, I also jazzed up another lamp. I found the shade at a thrift store for about 2 bucks, and I added one of my flower embellishments to the center and eyelash trim to the bottom.

(Trim from Hobby Lobby, Fabric Flower from my shop)

(I found my graphics for the wall piece at The Graphics Fairy, and purchased

a few more from Masterpiece Designs on Etsy.)

 

I love the way it warms up an otherwise drab corner!

I'm linking up to Saturday Night Special over at Funky Junk.

Tea Staining Project - From Tablecloth to Lampshade

I've been digging through the early days of my blog and discovered something.

It appears that I've posted several projects that were in progress, promised to come back with the finished pictures.........and never did. oh so sorry

In my defense, I didn't forget - I just never finished the projects!

Needless to say there are plenty of unfinished things in my house.

I try to complete them, they just never seem to make it to the top of my priority list anymore.

However, I did come across one that I finished that I can share with you now.

You all know my love of all things tea stained.

In my very second blog post, I showed you how to tea stain for yourself.

In that post, I showed you a beautiful tablecloth I found at an antique store.

My intent was simply to tea stain it and use it on a table. Unfortunately, after I put it in the tea to soak, I realized that the previous owner had bleached it heavily. The smell was unmistakeable once it got wet, and I noticed that it was becoming more brittle the longer it soaked.

My heart sank when I pulled it out of the sink and it started coming apart.

Well, not being one to waste anything, I set it aside until I could decide what to use it for.

I decided on a lampshade.
-

And meant to do it right away.
-

But didn't.
-

Story of my life.

But I DID finally make it, and here it is.

This is the tablecloth before - crisp white, but on it's way to pure shabby creamy color.

And here's what I turned it into:

(sorry for the picture quality. took these a while back and my camera battery was going dead)

I raided my craft closet of bird items, keys, and ACEO tags. I made individual fabric embellishments, and then hot glued them to the shade. I then added lots of fun buttons (my signature go-to accessory) and keys, nests, and ribbons.

I made 3 of these and sold 2 of them right away. I love the way they turned out so I thought I'd take one home with me. But, after trying it out in every room of my home, I just can't find the perfect spot for it. Or the perfect lamp base for me. As lovely as it is, it's not fitting the look of my home.

So........

Maybe you love it. And maybe you have the perfect place for it. And maybe you want it for yourself.

:)

I'm selling this one!

If you're interested, let me know.

I sold these in the shop for $69, but I'm selling this last one for $42, plus $8 shipping.

If you want it, I'll load it up on etsy and send you the link.

It's ready to mailed out!

What projects have you started, meant to finish, and never have?

It's time to get those projects completed!

Marianne over at Songbird is hosting her Gitter Done party every week now, so we have a reason to get busy and Gitter DONE!

Doesn't matter how big or small the project as long it's been on your list for a while and you've FINALLY got it done!