Bamboo Chairs

I can't even tell you how long I've searched for a pair of Chinese Chippendale bamboo chairs at estate and garage sales, kijiji, and Craig's List. I know there are some areas where furniture in this style is easy to find, but here in Southwestern Ontario, they were pretty elusive.

So, when this ad came up on a my local kijiji site, I emailed instantly.  The chairs are rattan, and they've certainly seen better days.  Some of the wicker wrapping at the joints is missing but they're sturdy. 

Our dining area has a banquette (which I loooove)

obviously unfinished: missing toekicks, crown molding, etc.

The banquette seat will be upholstered and so will the chair seats. Here's the fabric I've selected:

Robin's Egg Herringbone along with my existing Chiang Mai Dragon pillows.

I'm trying to decide how I want this chair makeover to look.  I know (think?) I want to paint the chair frames because they will need some repairs that would be obvious if I leave them natural. I'm thinking about colour options for the paint. 

White frames:

via

Black frames:

via

Navy Frames:

via - I would probably go more like BM's Hale Navy than this blue

Still working things out.... feel free to weigh in!

xo Meg

Scenes From a Renovation

I mean, who doesn't love a dirty, messy, ripped apart home?

view from living room into kitchen

These shots are from our first day of tear out.  We've ripped out the cheap hardwood flooring, down to the original hardwood, only to discover peel and stick vinyl tile in the front entrance and the entire kitchen area. We were hoping that the hardwood ran throughout the main floor, so that we could just refinish it.

Once we discovered the problem, I considered  tiling those areas, but because the original hardwood is 3/8", and the tile would be thicker, we would have to incorporate an angled transition, which I don't like.

kitchen, right side

view from left side of kitchen into dining room

 Now we are considering installing a pre-finished hardwood floor versus installing an unfinished floor and having it stained and finished on site.  Our decision will depend largely on price (!) since this has added to our budget considerably.

view from living room towards dining room

I'll post a few of the samples we got in the space so that you can weigh in on the decision.

Meg

Dining Room: Before and After

     I'm so excited to share the progress we made on the dining room this weekend!  While we complete the basement renovation (more on that progress later this week), many of our things are still in storage.  This weekend, I took stock of our artwork and came up with some pieces that will work in the dining area.  If you recall, first it looked like this:

Then we changed out the light fixture, painted the walls, and painted the sideboard green.  This weekend, we installed some artwork in a gallery.  Here's the after:

Here are a few more detail shots of the room:

I love the green patina on the light.

The pieces in the gallery wall all have meaning to us.
Two of them were created by friends of ours.

And just for reference, here's the before and after comparison:

We still have some things we'd like to do in here.  I don't love our walnut dining set.  I really liked it in our old house, where things were decidedly more antique. But it certainly serves it's purpose and we have 8 of the press-back chairs for entertaining.  I will probably also do some styling on the buffet.

For now, I'm enjoying looking at the gallery.

Happy Monday!

xo Meg

On Blogging... And the House So Far

I'm not sure what has happened around here for the last little while.  I haven't been feeling very inspired to write.  I also haven't been finishing many projects lately.  I really can't say why.  I've certainly been working on lots of projects lately.

   Everything in the new house seems overwhelming to me.  There is so much to do in so many areas that I almost feel paralyzed! I thought I'd make a couple of lists here to help get me moving on some of the little projects.  I started this blog to chronicle the work we were doing on our last home and I'm hoping to get back to that as the focus of what I blog about.  You know, instead of my propensity to attempt to keep up with the blogging Jones'.

Here is an update of the changes we've made to our new house, and the stuff that still needs to get done in each.

before, obviously

Audrey's Room

Prep walls for Paint

Paint walls purple (yuck! but it's her room!)

Install curtain rod

Hem and trim turquoise curtains (pompoms? rickrack?)

Find bedskirt and add trim (pompoms? rickrack?)  OR

Make bedskirt out of striped fabric or co-ordinating fabric

Sew long pillow for her bed

Paint dingy trim

Closet Makeover - paint or wallpaper and organization

Gallery Wall / Art Installation

Find or Make a desk that fits!

Find a desk organization system that works for her  Thank you Ikea Raskog!

Install shelving above desk for books and treasures

Install mirror on back of door

Re-vamp and install chandy I found on the side of the road

perfect for organizing my little girl's odds and ends!

sneak peek of the purple walls and turquoise curtains

Dining Room

Lay out all artwork possible for the space above the sideboard

Choose art and frames from existing

Hang the darn things up!!!

Make and install barn door with slider or pocket door for closet

Re-Organize closet and maximize space in there

Make built-in bench with cushion for under window

Find dining chairs we like that are comfy

Find a fabric for short curtains

Install curtain rod

Master Bedroom

Paint walls and trim

Sew pillows

Edit Closet

Organize closet, under-bed storage

Find a bedskirt

Hang up some art

Hang mirror

   Currently, we are in the ugly phase of basement renovations.  I don't even want to think about the list for this one.  To be honest, I think we expected to have this project completed already.  We are no where near done.  In fact, Jay is taking advantage of his Monday off to complete a little more of the drywall work so that he can tape and mud the rooms.  As soon as that is complete, I can get out the primer.  We are making progress but it's sure slow going.

I'm hoping to share a couple of finished projects that I've been working on while Jay has been busy in the basement. I appreciate it that you're still reading.

 xo Meg

Before & After: Sideboard

Things got a bit crazy around here this weekend.

Sometimes, I get tired of being neutral.  I love the look of my new warm charcoal grey wall, but that wasn't enough. It was far too 'wood-y' in here. Plus,  I wanted to add some energy to the room.  Big time.

I was really loving the colour of the demijohn sitting on top of my sideboard.  And things have been moving in a more 'green' direction in our house.  So I decided to paint it green.  Now, this sideboard is actually a converted chest of drawers.  It's nothing too precious but it holds all our napkins, tablecloths, etc. and is really functional.  Perhaps my favourite thing about it is the brass hardware.

So I sanded it down, primed it and painted it.  I will spare you the bunch of photos I took of this process.  Here's the before:

And here it is now:

This colour thing is totally all it's cracked up to be.  I love how the hardware stands out and the way the paint sort of modernizes the piece.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

Check back later in the week for some photos of the gallery wall I'm working on for over the sideboard. Think antique brass frames and dark botanical prints...

xo Meg

Dining Room Before and After

   I did some work on the main floor of our house this weekend.  And man, it's amazing what a little paint can do.  We are in the process of re-thinking and re-purposing all of our furniture for use in the new house.  It's tricky to move our 'style' from vintage traditional to something that will work in our 60's ranch. 

The existing yellow walls weren't helping.  Neither was having a boob light as our dining fixture.  So first, we corrected that little problem.

I decided to use my all time favourite white, Benjamin Moore's White Down (CC-50) for most of the space.  I was thinking that the addition of a little black and white to our scheme would make our wood furniture look a little edgier.  

This is where things got tricky for me.

If you've been reading for a while, you know I'm a colour chicken.  Neutral Nelly.  Plain Jane.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. 

We decided to paint the back wall of the dining area in an almost black grey colour.  Whaaat? We went with Sherwin William's Urbane Bronze, partly cause everybody always raves about this colour.  I painted the little swatch on the wall from the gallon Jay so boldly purchased, stepping out onto the limb with me.  I was totally nervous about it and, we lived with the swatch for a few days, like you're supposed to.  After much discussion we decided not to do it.  

I know.  What a chicken, right?

And then I looked at the collection of accessories for the room that was sitting on the table (see above picture for the swatch and collection).  And Jay said, "Look how good all that crap looks together!"

And I thought... yeah... let's see this plan through and decide what we think when it's all put together.

And I LOVE it.

The computer isn't staying here or anything.  There's just some construction going on in the office and our kids can't live without it for long.  Accessories need to move in, art needs to be hung.  So I guess this isn't a true before and after.  

Also, I'm thinking of painting the sideboard green.  It's not precious or anything.  In fact, we don't even like it as it is.  If I do paint it, I'll move the demijohn to another space.

What do you think? 

xo Meg

Progress

Ok people, let's talk progress.  I can only talk progress because nothing is anywhere near an 'after' shot yet.  We are in process, but some of the changes have already made a huge difference to me.  

Take for instance, this boob light that hung over my dining room table.  

Why a boob light over a dining room table??? 

I have no idea.

     This is the light I grabbed on sale at Wisteria.  The scale is really great for the small dining room and it has a really pretty patina that you can't really see in these iphone shots.  In the above photo, you will also see a white paint sample painted next to the window.  I can't wait to paint out the entire room in BM White Dove, my all time fave white.  

     Next up, the front window.  This one is really hard to photograph, since it is a 10 foot window with tons of sunlight streaming in.  There were *fugly* vertical blinds hung here.  These blinds were a serious kind of gross:  dirty, greasy, dusty and disgusting.  

If you recall, I have some beautifully sewn, amazing curtains that I was planning to use here.  I knew they weren't wide enough for the 10 foot window, but I was hoping to add a plain white linen curtain panel to each side to fill it out and cover the window.

I tried it and it looked terrible.  

You know, like I cheaped out on the curtains.  Not the look I was going for.  So I had to revise my plan. I'm going to find a new home for the patterned curtains that I love so much and just use white linen panels in the living room.  This also frees us up to use a new colour palate in there as the fabric was pretty bossy.  

So, I'm left with a single white panel on each side of the large window.  It doesn't have the fullness that I'm looking for, and isn't even hemmed yet, but it offers some privacy until I can add two more panels.

Basement work is also progressing.  Elliott's room and the family room are framed, insulated and vapor barrier has been installed.  Next up:  drywall.   My hubby rocks.

xo Meg

Informal Dining: Nook-Style

I love a dining nook.

via

I really feel like this is the way to go for us.  We wouldn't use a formal dining room and a nook though.  It would be a waste of space in our tight-on-space home. So I'm trying to come up with a design for a banquette nook area that is a little more formal looking, like the picture above.

I bought a new light for our dining room yesterday.  I think I need to get over my paralyzing fear of online purchasing.  I know, you all think that's crazy, but I have so much trouble actually pulling the trigger on a purchase online.  I like to be able to touch the item and see the scale, etc.

my new light from wisteria

I'm hoping it's the right size for the banquette we're going to build in the dining room.  This is the dining room:

real estate photo, not my stuff

It's quite a small room and it's open to the kitchen so I think the scale of the light will be right.  I have posted about banquettes before so if you've been a reader for a while, you know it's my longtime dream to have one.  We are casual people and there is no one who would ever come to my house for a meal and expect a formal dining experience.  We like good food, shared family style.  

On a side note, there is currently a  'boob' light in the dining room.  I know, how fancy!  We'll be removingit and the closet door at the back.  We are trying to determine if the bench seat for the banquette will be in an 'L' shape or just across the wall under the window.  

the dining room in one of our previous homes

curtain fabric close-up

Unfortunately, these are the best photos I have of the curtains fabric we will be using, since they are currently in storage. We will be using these curtains on the large front window in the new house. The living room is open to the dining room so things have to flow.  Seems like a lot of color for me, doesn't it?  I know!  I'm totally out on a limb here!

I don't think the curtain fabric is available any longer but there is a co-ordinating stripe that I love.  I already have pillows in this fabric and am thinking about using it on the window over the banquette.

via

(It doesn't look much like it co-ordinates in these pictures, but I promise, it does).

So, I'm on the hunt for some fabrics that will work for the banquette cushions and pillows, as well as the living room area, which is open to the dining space and kitchen.  That's a lot of co-ordinating for me.  We will see how this goes.  

Just for reference, here's a picture of the new light from the Wisteria site:

patina!

I'm open to any suggestions you might have for fabrics.  In fact, I'd love your help!  Also, what do you think of the light?

xo Meg

Eating on Your Lap

We are smack dab in the middle of this renovation and it seems like every time we feel like we've made a bit of progress, I look around at the sheer bedlam and feel discouraged again.

I'm not gonna lie.  I'm sick to death of eating on my lap.  I want to be able to use my table again.  And look my people in the face when we're eating dinner.  Currently, my kids are sitting at the office desk to eat and Jay and I are carrying our plates out to the living room and attempting to balance them on our knees whilst eating.  This is fine for a party but for every day living???

And do not get me started on what constitutes dinner around here lately.  We are tired, overworked, underfunded and simply exhausted.

You can see our pantry in the above shot.  You know, all the bins of food on top of the table?  You might also notice the cabinet doors ready to be installed once the boxes are complete.  If the boxes area ever completed...

It's cereal for dinner again!  Just kidding.  Sort of.

Check out the size of that crazy French door propped up against the wall.  It wasn't working, as it was so heavy it warped the doorframe it was installed in.  We had to remove it.  I'm taking suggestions if you have any ideas about how to repurpose it.  Headboard perhaps?  

Since my dining room is a sham, here's what I'm dreaming about.  I wouldn't want to leave you with those terrible pictures burned into your brain...

Look!  This one even has wine!!!!

You can find all these images on my Dining Pinterest board.

Happy Tuesday!  Anyone want to have us over for dinner tonight??

xo Meg