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 :)

Show and Tell... Lanterns

After a follower left a comment asking about the light in our dining room, I thought I would tell you about the light and where I got it, along with the inspiration pictures that led me to it.

our cottage dining room

My inspiration:

These two were definite contenders...

...from Pottery Barn $299

... and from Ballard Designs $229




...but the one I decided on is from Overstock for $148.99 and it is wonderful.  It is heavy, with an antique copper finish that fits perfectly with our beachy, cottage style.  I am so happy with it!!

This light was also mentioned in an ideabook on Houzz by blogger Emily A. Clark.

I really just love it.  I had them hang it a little lower than the typical 36" clearance above a table.  Mine hangs 31 1/2" from our dining room table.  Just high enough that someone won't bang their head on it leaning over!

~  Kim :)

Inspiration Friday No.3 ~ Dining Rooms

 

  Hello everyone, Happy Friday!!!  I'm back with some beautiful pictures for your Friday eye candy.  Today I am onto dining rooms because my MIL has asked me to help her decorate her living room & dining room space.  You will see a reoccurring theme in these pictures (it's the color navy!).  I have been fixated on the color navy ever since we painted our hallway a dark color- more on that another day.  I don't think that I will use such a dark color on my MIL's walls, but I am really loving some navy walls right now!!

House Beautiful

I love this mirror and how it pops on the dark wall!

nauticalcottageblog.com

I adore everything about this space.  My MIL likes the breezy, white curtains and the overall look of the windows.

Her table is more like this style, but we will re-cover the dining room chair pads, not slipcover them.  I need to find a fabric...and a paint color that brings in the blue but that is not as dark as a navy.

Southern Living

House Beautiful

Sarah Richardson design

When I brought these pictures for her to look through to give me an idea of what look she was going for, she wrote on this picture that she loved "everything on this page".  This says to me that we are going with a "modern country" style, an updated version of country without all the fluff.

Something's Gotta Give dining room via Cote de Texas

We plan on incorporating a plate wall.  I think this look is simple, easy and timeless. 

So that is my starting point to an updated, modern country style dining room.

Have a great day!! :)