01/01/09

It was weird putting 2009... :)

Here is what I have been doing the last few days! I even cleaned out a few more areas today: laundry room, pantry, under the sink in the kitchen and "medicine area" in our cabinets in the kitchen. That felt SO GOOD to do... been too long in coming. I am glad to have a lot of this accomplished before going back into the rat race of school.

We updated our dining room and bought two "new" antique pieces the other day. Got great deals on them. We moved the antique I had in the dining room into our kitchen/breakfast area and changed some things around in there. I was so tickled to be getting things going that I didn't take any before and after shots! I did manage to remember on part of it and then I scrambled up a couple of shots I had taken in those rooms previously.

Here is my first project of taking what I had and making it into something "new." I knew my budget was not overflowing so I changed things up a bit with some black acrylic paint! I re-did some candle holders and 2 picture frames.

Before:

After.... they turned out beautifully. I wish I had a picture of my mantle before Christmas. You would really see a big change! (I've still got to buy a large cream colored pillar candle for my large candle holder.... it's coming!) lol

All of the frames I used to have on the TV area were all different colors, etc.. I decided they all now have to be black. Notice the ivy looking frames I painted... now look like rod iron! :)

This is our kitchen/breakfast area. The antique piece at the end is what we moved from the dining room. I am thrilled with this piece in the kitchen. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure at first, but Steve convinced me! I bought a new lamp and moved around a plate I had in my dining room previously. I also was finally able to show off my grandmother's bread bowl... it even still has residue of flour/biscuit from her making biscuits all of those years. My kitchen feels even more cozy and I just love it. We had to move our large kitchen trashcan since the antique piece is now in its former area. Steve and Wesley found me one of those "contraptions" that you slide out the trashcan from under your sink by attaching it to your existing cabinet door. I have fallen in love with that thing... wow, it is so nice to have that convenient to the cooking/cleaning area!

This is the photograph I entered into the fair this year. I had to put it some place to show it off without it getting messed up with food and such. It is an "odd" size and didn't fit right on the walls. I got an easel, added my lamp I used to have in my foyer and "voila!" ... beautiful area on my counter.

Here is a picture of our den I took almost a year ago when we did some updating when we got our new couch.

Here is what it looks like now that I have re-arranged pictures and added new ones. That big one behind the couch was 12 years old and that area just needed a fresh look. I moved the barn picture into our hallway just beyond the den opening. It is still in the den...sortof. :) The wall behind the couch is a wall in the making. I will be adding as I get the chance. The picture to the left of the clock is a collage of photographs of Wesley and Mikayla I have taken in B&W. They are some that I have always loved and wanted to display. In the middle I put colored photos of some of my flower pics.

This wall excites me the most. I used to have the barn picture above the mantle. I wanted to show it off differently so I got the help of my best friend and she and I looked through design magazines to figure out what would work.

I bought the iron designs a year or so ago and have just been waiting to use them. When we went antique shopping the other day, I bought five antique skeleton keys, a pair of old glasses, 3 old books dated the early 1900's, and an old glass milk bottle to put on the shelf I bought at Michael's. I also bought that shadow box frame and "hung" the keys with some red/black ribbon and some decorative tacks.

This probably isn't the best quality pic because I took all of these handheld, but you can click on the picture to see the keys larger... and the shelf.

That is my Mom's Bible she got when she was a little girl sitting on the left of the shelf.

This is the only picture I could find of our dining room. Unfortunately, you can't see the piece that is now in our kitchen because the family is blocking it. lol Anyway... gives you a viewpoint you didn't have. This was taken this past August when we celebrated Steve's Mom's birthday.

New antique corner china cabinet. I love this so much. It brings such warmth to the dining room. I used to have this piece of furniture that was made out of pressed board (I think that is what Steve said it was) and it looked alright, but that piece was more for a kitchen area, but it was all we had and it served its purpose.

I bought this antique table that reminded me of one my Mom has in her house. It is oak and really pretty. It is a nice addition to that area. I used to have a ficus tree here... my best friend told me to get rid of that dust catcher. lol Those three pictures used to hang in our bedroom. They are the old prints for the months of the year. The top left is August for Steve, June is beside it for me, and May is underneath signifying the month we were married. :)

This piece is just beautiful and adds SO much to the dining room as well. It has a marble top and drawers. I bought that lamp at one of the antique shops, too. Mom had made that arrangement for me earlier. I think it all looks so nice together.

I really wish I had taken before pics so you could really see, but that is not to be. Just know that I am amazed at the transformation of my home. Wesley and Mikayla love it, too, and have asked me to make sure our dining room stays a dining room and not a storage area. lol I'll work on that.

Thanks for looking. :) It was a great start to a new year for me!