Before and After... (almost)

  Today was a busy day, lots of updating at my mother-in-law's house for her living room and dining room makeover.  First, I will show you some before pictures and what has been updated so far.

This is what we started with.  A once loved floral print sofa that no longer fit into my mother-in-law's desire for a more light and modern look.  Luckily she was able to find it a good home at her mom's house!

The walls were white and missing personality!!

New addition...the sofa was found for $175 at a garage sale.  

It is Storehouse brand and is in great condition... (she did attempt to use a slipcover on the floral sofa from http://uglysofa.com/, but that was quickly forgotten when she found this sofa at such a good deal!)

The coffee table was $25 found on Craigslist.  

Yep, I said $25!!! This is a heavy, REAL wood table.  You can not beat it!!!

...the room with new paint from Martha Stewart, Myrtle Blossom.  

Such a pretty blue, it immediately gave the room new life.

...and today the windows looked like this.  There was no visual separation from this room and the sunroom on the back of the house.  So I ran around all day putting the pieces together to give the two windows in this room a new life.

...and the new and improved windows in this living room and dining room.  Thanks to my husband and father-in-law that so happily put up two bamboo shades, two curtain rods, and two pictures!

Oh and the crown molding was installed today!  My father-in-law has been very busy.  I love that the men in our lives are happy to help us!!

(pictures were taken with my iPhone, I apologize for the poor quality)

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out, and more importantly my mother-in-law is happy with it!

The break down of where the new items were purchased from is:

Curtain rods-  already owned and spray painted black

Bamboo shades-  Home Depot

White curtains-  B. Smith at Bed Bath and Beyond

Curtain rings-  Bed Bath and Beyond

Floral prints-  TJ Maxx

Thanks for looking!!

~  Kim :)

Inspiration Friday No.11 ~ Chair Rail & Trim

Today I am showing a little of what I've been up to and mixing in an Inspiration Friday because they go together, my mother-in-law's living room & dining room makeover.  I put together an Olioboard here and we are loosely trying to follow that as our inspiration.  Things changed up a bit when I found this Liliana Pier 1 armchair on Craigslist...

The lady had it listed for $100 and my mother-in-law talked her down to $60.  Score!!!

The chair kind of changed the direction of the colors we were planning on using, and then she found a wheat color Storehouse sofa that was barely used, and wrapped in plastic at a yard sale for $175 (pictures to come)... DOUBLE SCORE!!!  So my light, bright, and white furniture design idea kind of went out the window.  

I wrapped her dining room chair pads a few nights ago, this is the old...

...and the new.  

I was a little disappointed when I opened up the box because I was expecting this color fabric...

ummm, it's much brighter on the screen than it is in person.  But the fabric is still gorgeous and it just so happens to match the Pier 1 chair fabric perfectly.  So it works even though it's not what I first imagined, but that's okay, sometimes you just have to roll with it!

I am really loving this design though!!!

I just had the chair pads at my house, I will get pictures of the new pads on the chairs soon!

So now onto the Inspiration Friday part.

  We picked out this Martha Stewart paint color in Myrtle Blossom for the walls.

She painted the top of the wall the blue and then the chair rail and bottom half of the wall is painted Decorators White.  The blue is fantastic AND just so happens to match the stitching in the Pier 1 chair PERFECTLY.  Oh yeah, I like how it's all comin' together!!!

But...the bottom half of the wall is WHITE.  I mean really in-your-face-white in contrast to the dark, wide planked wood floors.  I kept thinking maybe we needed to repaint a darker color on the bottom and then it hit me one night...the problem is it's just too plain and flat looking.  So I thought about possibly having her add a shadow box molding.  Today's inspiration pictures came from that idea.  The two pictures below show what a difference a molding treatment can make in a room.

This is from the Drab to Fab Design blog before of their dining room:

...and the after:

Do you see what a difference just adding molding makes???  It's like the bottom half of the walls are popping out at you, it's amazing!  It has life and character now.

Some other pictures that show how great adding a shadow box molding can look:

www.littlemisspennywenny.blogspot.com

 (all other pictures are from Google images)

I am dying for this molding.  So pretty!

Hoping it looks more like this picture when it's done... I think this looks really sharp.  Obviously this room design is not the same style as our room, but it has that same pulled together look that will be the base of the room.

  On a side note, I am sad to say that my computer crashed the other night and I unfortunately lost all of my pictures.  Thank goodness I keep all of my memory cards from my camera so I still have most of my personal pictures, but I lost a lot of pictures from my design inspiration files.  Which makes me really sad.

  But on a happier note, I got a nice little surprise when I was pulling together the pictures for this post.  I did  a Google search for the paint swatch (because that was one of the pictures I lost), and found that my little 'ol blog is on the first page of Google when you search for "Martha Stewart paint Myrtle Blossom".  So exciting!!!  I know it's by keyword searches and not popularity but I don't care, it is still so exciting to see your blog on the front page!!!

Happy Friday!

~  Kim :)

Blue and Orange (Terracotta) Room

  Blue and Orange, there isn't a combination that makes me happier when the summer days are approaching.  Especially when you add in a white, it just makes the other colors pop!

Beautiful idea for a wedding.

Tobi Fairley via decorpad

Angie Hranowski via decorpad

HGTV

  I have been working on a concept for my mother-in-law's living room and dining room.  The floor is a dark, large planked, rustic wood that they just recently installed.  It is gorgeous but most of her furniture is also dark so the room has an overall dark feeling.  We looked through paint samples and decided on Martha Stewart Myrtle Blossom from Home Depot. 

  That was my starting point and I have been at the fabric store like 4 times in a week looking for her room (and mine..still undecided!).  I finally found a Annie Selke fabric that I thought was really pretty for her room and I have been working on finding coordinating fabrics.  The key is color... we want the space to feel lighter and brighter.  Another major improvement will be that she is covering her traditional floral sofa with a natural twill slipcover from http://uglysofa.com/.  I've done some research on slipcovers awhile ago and saw some good reviews from other bloggers on this company.  I'll let you know how it works out!  

Here are the starting pieces: 

Martha Stewart Myrtle Blossom

Pine Cone Hill pillow $144

The fabric is by Annie Selke and is called Shalini Terracotta Slate, we plan on buying the fabric and making the pillows ourselves for the sofa.

Annie Selke Pearls Slate that will be used as an accent pillow.

Waverly Chippendale Fretwork Quartz that will cover the dining room chairs and used as an accent pillow.  I love, love, LOVE this fabric.  The design is pretty, the color is pretty, it's just the "Wow" factor I was looking for in this space!

...and the whole concept done loosely on Olioboard.   She's happy with it, so now it's time to get started!