Dining room painted and flooring installed

I think this is the longest it’s ever taken me to get through a project. I finished painting two weekends ago and after living with exposed subfloor for two weeks, I had had enough.

I continued the flooring that I used in the kitchen, Allure Vinyl plank in Hickory.  Now this level looks cohesive.

 

I still have to install the quarter round, but that’s nothing in comparison to all the work I have done in here. It is so much fresher and the dark grey had started to depress me.

 

 

 

I used Dulux diamond paint in a flat finish, to help hide the lumps and bumps in my walls.  The colour is Fine Silver; I keep saying it looks blue, but everyone else says it looks grey.

I hope that next weekend it’s warm enough to get outside and paint the set of 6 faux bamboo chairs. They’ve been waiting patiently since November. 

Soon I will muster up the energy to paint the living room, but I’m not looking forward to it.

Blue and White–and getting closer to painting

My vacation in Jamaica was exactly what I needed for a fresh start. I feel inspired and invigorated.

I’ve finally decided on a paint colour for the walls, but am still contemplating the colour for the ceiling.

After searching for a decent price on a garden stool, I finally found one at half price at Bombay Co., it was the floor model and the only one in the province! 

While I was there, all of their blue and white ceramics were on sale for 30% off, so I picked up a box of 6 to add to my one measly one. I added them to my big cloche and love the look.

The sofa and loveseat combo takes up too much room in my awkward to arrange living room, so I found these two chairs on Kijiji for a decent price. My plan is to recover them since the linen has seen better days.

This little trinket box was $8 at HomeSense, perfect for storing my smaller remote controls.

 

The green throw and cushions have come out to remind me that at some point things will start turning green instead of the gloomy brown that is outside, hopefully.

So here’s the plan so far:

Paint the walls the light grey that is in the smallest sample. The ceiling and down the wall about 3 feet will be two paint colours up on the same chip, a darker blue/grey. This will have a band of white separating the two colours. 

The drapes will be replaced and hung at a traditional height instead of up to the 15’ ceiling.

The floor will be painted a dark brown in a high gloss finish.

I am going to frame out above the fireplace and paint it white, which is where my tv will go. I realize that it will be rather high, but I have nowhere else to put it that makes sense.

I really wish my living room weren’t so awkward. With the traffic pattern in such an odd configuration it’s difficult to place furniture.

If I find time this weekend, the dining room will get painted in the light grey/blue that the living room bottom portion will be.

I finished painting the bookcase railing before I left for vacation, but I still have to style it with some books and get rid of some of the temporary knick knacks.

So much to do, so little time.

Chilling in Jamaica

I'm into day five of a week long vacation,  a much needed break from the same old same old

There are a few pieces of furniture I wish I could bring back with me,  like two of these chairs.

Back to. Reality soon.

Bookcase Railing DIY

I have had dreams of removing my ugly wrought iron railing in my dining room for eons. I knew what I wanted, but had no clue how to go about getting it done. That is until I read a post by Carol at Elephant Buffet!

Using her simple method, I was ensured that this would be solid and never move, even if sat upon, but why would anyone do that?   I have left it open to allow the light to pass through. It does make my small dining room appear smaller, but that’s the price I had to pay to realize my dream.

It is primed and ready for paint. The build itself took me a couple of weekends. I tend to move a little slower these days. Menopause sucks, ladies! take it from me.

 

 

I used mdf because it was more affordable. I found the most amazing guy at Rona that cut everything down for me without a whimper, unlike the guys at HD who refuse to cut anything smaller than 7” in width. Pffttt to you HD!

My entire house was topsy turvy for 2 weeks. I don’t understand how working in one room makes the entire house a mess?

It was caulked and the nail holes were filled with wood filler. Painting underneath is so frickin hard, probably why it’s still not completed. Maybe tonight.

A huge thank you to Carol, for posting her method and for the great advice (some of which I didn’t take, like painting before adding the shelves). Next up is installing the new flooring. At least I was smart enough to remove the old flooring before the install of this. LOL

Creating DIY art

Sometimes you just have to wait patiently for inspiration to hit. As was the case with this large frame that I’ve had for a long time.

A while ago when I was feeling less than inspired, I painted this with diy chalkboard paint, and there it sat, unadorned and bland. Last night while drifting into sleep, I pictured an impressionist painting, with blues and greens and copper.

I used paints that I had in the house and a 3.5” sash brush, that’s it.  It’s just the right amount of colour and depth for my taste.

 

And of course, a before and after. Happy Valentine’s day to me.

Starting a collection – Blue and White ceramics

Thrift stores provide an abundance of items that allow you to start a collection at little cost. All of these pieces were found within a two week span, the most expensive at $6 and the least expensive at $1, if found on 50% off day at the GW Boutique.

This is the largest piece and the most expensive (ha ha) at $6. It measures 16" tall and is one of my favourites.



Plates in all sizes are usually a buck or two. My hope is to find enough to create an organic wall display someday.



I found a set a five pieces with the same pattern, originally from Pier1. I thought it was a little unusual that there were two canisters, one with a mismatched lid, a bowl, a soap dish and a bathroom cup all in one set; not sure why you would have matching items in your kitchen AND bathroom.




There are some vases, plant pots and other pieces that were  few dollars each, but nothing too special. They will serve as filler pieces in the future. What I need are some bigger pieces, like large urns, an umbrella stand and I would love to find a pair of ceramic garden stools.

 
For less than 40 dollars, it’s a good beginning. A trip into Chinatown in Toronto is planned for the spring. Until then, I keep my eyes open when I troll the isles of thrift stores.

The ceiling that nearly killed me

I am not exaggerating when I say that I will never, as long as I live, scrape popcorn off a ceiling. It was a disaster from the minute I started, but once you start you CANNOT GO BACK! It did not remove easily as my darling friend told me it would, the ceiling ending up being gouged, ripped and some parts didn’t come off at all.

 

Now what the heck was I going to do with this mess? I got a quote to have it skim coated and it was way out of my budget. Then I remembered about bead board wall paper. A perfect solution, nope, but I’m going to make it work.

I am quite sure I have have spent at least 10 solid hours of work on this crap. I wanted to cry when I was taking the popcorn off and my arms were burning. I wanted to cry when I put the wallpaper up (have you ever wallpapered a ceiling? Don’t do it).  And then, I decided that I was going to tackle crown moulding. Major failure. Wasted money, wasted time, frustration, anger and feeling like a failure.

So I am now stuck, because I don’t have the money to hire someone to install the crown moulding for me.  I am just going to move on and start the painting, if I can ever decide on a colour. I have gone through several paint samples, a ton of paint chips and still am no closer to a decision.

I did do something that made a nice difference, the one bright spot to two entire weeks of hard work; I put up an electric fireplace (albeit a tiny one, but hey, I’m working with a tiny budget).

 

Before

After

 

That is all I have to show for my hard work. C’est la vie.

amaryllis and freezing rain

I managed to kill my amaryllis after 3 years of managing it; I transferred it to a new pot and it did not like it, not one little bit. I bought a new one and it has five blooms!

 

 

For the last few days we have had freezing rain and while it is difficult to drive in, it sure makes for a pretty picture.

Baby name art and my Christmas decor

I have wanted to try the split letter names on coloured card stock for a while. The opportunity arose to make a gift for a baby boy’s nursery. I love how it turned out.

The frame is the Virserum from Ikea, the cardstock is a beautiful blue which may not show up well on the screen; not too dark and not typical baby blue. In the white frame it’s stunning.

 

 

This is the entire extent of my Christmas decorations. Bah Humbug.  I have to let myself be ok with not being able to do everything. I don’t get to spend all of my time being crafty and decorating how I would like to, so I have to let it go, take a deep breath and let it go.

Gilt faux bamboo tables

Earlier this year I went back and forth, emailing a woman that had some vintage gilt faux bamboo tables for sale. She ended up selling them to someone else and I was so disappointed. 

Lucky for me, I've found another set, this one is even better!  The set was in a city about 250 km away, but I thought it was worth asking if they would be willing to meet me halfway for some money to cover their gas.  Well, they brought them all the way to a neighbourhood in Toronto that I used to live in. The moral of this story is, if you don't ask, you don't get. The couple were asking $75 for the set of three, with delivery they were $135. I am still pinching myself.

 

The coffee table is the perfect size for my long and narrow living room. 

There are two side tables.

I did some online searching and found one of the end tables at Chair Table Lamp for $495 (eek!) and a set of 2 side side tables att  Sheelin Wilson Gilding Studio for $2400 (what!). Some other stores like CircaWho have had them but they have sold already.

When the weather warms up, which will be several months from now, I am going to paint my Chippendale faux bamboo chairs for the dining room. Since I have a few pieces of faux bamboo, I thought that blue and white accents would be a wonderful addition.

In one week I was able to find several pieces of pottery. Although nothing to write home about, they will look fabulous in a collection. I'll be keeping an eye out on my thrifting adventures for more pieces.

Christmas is just around the corner and I am not prepared, at all!  I decorated my mantle, but that's the extent of my decor. I am so put off by the commercialism of the whole thing. I would prefer to spend time eating and enjoying friends and families company than spend my hard earned money on presents. What a huge marketing ploy!