Dining Room Revealed!

I thought I'd never get pictures of my dining room posted! I had jury duty ALL last week....can't believe I got picked, knew all the attorneys, knew the judge, been a legal secretary 20+ years, but I still got picked!

Enough of that...

I don't know if it's my monitor or what but I finally got some pictures that didn't look either (1) washed out or (2) too yellow-ish). The dining room is awash in soothing neutrals but for whatever reason, it doesn't translate too well in these pictures.

I painted the lower half of the wall, under the chair rail, Pearl White. Bought the pre-made picture molding at Lowe's cause I just didn't have enough confidence (not to mention time) to try and attempt to make them myself, so I guess you could say I cheated a little! The color above the chair rail is Antique White. There's just enough contrast between the two to see a little difference.

I had two mahogany ledges I got at Ross that I was going to put on the wall adjacent to my sideboard but when hubby saw what I wanted to do, he said he'd hit his head and knock stuff off them if I put them on that wall, plus I really don't think I had enough room. The ledges are 36" long and the wall I wanted to use really could not have worked with two ledges that long....so, next to the sideboard they went. Previously I had a couple of sconces on either side of my mirror and since they went so well with my furniture, I hung them under the ledges and put a little cup and saucer on them. Use what you got, right?

Okay, now, without further ado, here's the dining room! I have not put up drapes yet, just a roman shade. There are two chairs waiting for slipcovers, and we are installing crown molding, but other than that, I think I'm done. I just go in there and sit and look around, I'm so pleased with it. When my daughter came by the other day, she said she could not believe I had painted a room "white"! She knows how I love color, and maybe it's my "old age" but I have been gravitating toward more calming colors lately.

I'm still loving these Ballard slipcovers and seagrass rug we ordered last year

A closer look at the picture molding

I love how delicate this cup looks

With the exception of a few pieces of cremeware, all other pieces came from flea markets or Goodwill! The most expensive piece in here is the tureen you see on the dining room table, and I paid $40 for it.....more than I normally would consider but I believe it really sets the tone and is such a statement piece.

I have had some great suggestions on drapes, the best one coming from Joni at Cote de Texas, who suggested I use creme colored silk, 2-3 times the width of the window, heavily lined. However, I have not found anything like that thus far, and I really do not want to have them custom made. If any of you know where I might find some really pretty, ready-made drapes for this room, please let me know.

I think the laundry room is next on my list to get a little face-lift! Stay tuned.....

Met Monday (a/k/a Let The Changes Begin)

While this is not the typical "before and after" Metamorphosis Monday post, I'm still joining in and posting before pics of my dining room in it's current stage. My header picture shows how it looks now....nothing wrong with it, but I'm still on my mission for a more neutral palette here at home. Please check out Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for some fabulous before and after posts.


Inspired by many other bloggers out there who've been adding that gorgeous picture molding under the chair rail in their dining rooms, I decided that it was time I did the same. I knew I would never have the patience or skills to cut, measure and install my own so I cheated and got these pre-made ones at Lowes. I got 10 of the largest ones they sold (14 x 23) for about $12.00 each. It was well worth the price not to have to buy the molding and try and cut them myself, just to have to have them redone by a pro - - so here they are "eye balled" in an arrangment I liked.



Painter guy and I will start around 8:00 a.m. Monday morning with the ceiling in the dining room and foyer and work out way down to the walls, ending up with the picture molding installation. I'm hoping by the end of the day I'll have my new dining room and I can start the decorating process. I'll be using all of my cremeware and tureens and I can't wait to see the new paint color with my hardwood floors, seagrass rug and dark furniture!


Here are some pictures showing where I leaned them against the walls trying to get an idea of where they will be installed on the walls. I think they will add a touch of elegance to plain boring walls....

See the water stains on the next two pictures? I promise I don't know how that happened!!!! Obviously something got placed on there (probably at Christmas) that was wet and left this water mark. I'm hoping some of you wonderful folks out there can give me some idea of what I can do to get the stain out, i.e. is there some kind of product that will "erase" it? H-E-L-P!!!!

I'm Lovin' Slipcovers!

Please tell me I'm not the only one that decides to make a few "little changes" and it ends up being practically a whole house makeover ! Let me give ya'll a little background. For sometime now, I've been craving a makeover of my kitchen. Hubby wants all new cabinets but that will have to wait until next year. So we decided to just paint the cabinets and walls. Right now my kitchen is red with a lot of rooster stuff going on....and while it has been a great look, I'm ready to retire those roosters! Don't be surprised if some of my stuff doesn't end up for sale on this blog!


The first thing that needed to be done was to get the tile and grout cleaned. Okay, I called this company to come out this week for an "estimate". Whoa, daddy...they wanted $700+ just to clean the grout and tile plus another $175 per year to "maintain" it! Does that mean they would be here every week to mop and drop by when the grandkids have been here to clean up that mess? I doubt it. So I called another company.....they came in at $200 so I said go ahead. But wait, they said that I had the only grout they'd ever come across that could not be cleaned because the installers had mixed two colors together and some grit that makes it impossible to get them cleaned. They said they put 1,500 pounds of pressure on the tile/grout and still could not clean it. So I spent 3 hours yesterday on my hands and knees scrubbing and guess what? I sure didn't put 1,500 pounds of pressure on those tiles but they looked better than when company "b" left. I called hubby crying and whining and so now looks like I'll be getting a new kitchen floor (yay!).


Next is the wall and cabinet colors. I am still undecided but I do have an idea of where I'm going with that. The table and chairs in there will be changed out too (I have a nice pedestal and glass top I'll be using with some slipcovered parsons chairs).

Just so happens my dining room is right next to the soon-to-be spruced up kitchen and the chairs were in desperate need of recovering. Flipping through the good ol' Ballards catalog I came across these darling slipcovers so I ordered some to see how I liked them. Kinda gives the room a coastal feel. They look great with my seagrass rug. If I keep them, I will have them monogrammed in black since the border on the rug is black. They are a little big so I tucked in the top portion. I will have to cut out the top part and sew it to fit my chairs a little more snug. I really like the natural linen color of them.

I ironed the heck out of these babies, but being linen, they are supposed to look wrinkled

Cute little flounced skirt....see how good they look with the rug?

Big generous bow in the back

You can see where I've tucked in the top here...

...and here

View from kitchen into dining room. I'm sure that I will "have" to eventually change out the wall color which is a soft gold glazed with brown . I love my drapes but not sure if I'll keep them up. I may do another type of drape in here in keeping with the linen slipcovers. I think I will just cover the other 3 chair seats in a matching linen and not slipcover them. Sometimes you can overdo it.

The brown slipcovered parsons chairs with the initial you see I got at Target. These will be the chairs I will use in the kitchen. I am ordering another set of slipcovers in a natural or off-white color with monogram for the kitchen so I'll have two sets.

Just for the heck of it, what do ya'll think of these dining slips?

Peek Inside....

I'm so sick and tired of this cold! Today I decided to get off the sofa and take a few pictures to post. Of course, after I loaded them, I accidently deleted the one below of my son and myself so it's out of order.

The little picture in the middle is of me and Shane when he was 2 1/2 months old (I can't believe I'm posting this one!) The one to the right of that is me and Shane at a birthday celebration a couple of years ago.

I love decorating with books, especially old ones. The pictures above and below are just a few I have on the bookcase in the den.

Some of you real observant girls can see that a couple of my "books" are faux ones from Kirklands but they look good!

On the other bookcase, I have groupings of family photos. I hate these turned out so dark because they span quite a few years of my children's lives. On the far left is Shannon as a little girl, the middle one is a senior pictures and of course the far right one is her wedding picture. (Well, I just deleted the ones of Shane when he was little so they will go at the top of this post)

Sideboard in den behind sofa

The "old world plate" is a $1.87 charger from Hobby Lobby!

Oops! Please disregard the cords in the name of modern technology!

This is the neatest chair...it really is much prettier in person. We got it at auction and had it recovered in one of my favorite fabrics.


Now for some of the things on my mantle (or is it mantel - I can never remember). As you can see, I am not a believer in "less is more"!

Yes, that's a fake topiary that has seen better days - I see that I need to do something about that

My husband picked out the picture above and I have a much nicer one to go over the mantle/mantel but it stays there for him! (More cords and picture light crooked - but that's real life)

Of course, this is the dining room which ya'll have seen a lot lately

Looking out of the dining room you can see the kitchen and den

I love this mirror!

I tried to change out the paper "placemats" and table setting but hubby likes it so I'll leave it for now.

I hope ya'll enjoyed your little visit. Right now my sunroom is a holding place for stuff for a yard sale so once I get that back in shape, I'll post pics of that room. It's like a 2nd den for me. I'm hoping to get kitchen and kitchen cabinets done soon and can't wait to see how that turns out. It seems I never get my entire house "done" at one time....I know that a lot of you feel my "pain" in that regard!

Blessings to you all!