Friday, March 16, 2012

Dining Room, From Order to Chaos to Order, for now....



I thought it might be kinda interesting to show ya'll the progression of my dining room, beginning with when i first moved in this house 5 years ago, until now...

mostly because i'm tired and BORING and have nothing else good to talk about

Here is the now....
well, except for the mirror..
 
Here is the actual now, because i stole the mirror and put it back in my bedroom
 
one of my signature blurry photos
from the dining room looking into the living room...


 ok, in the beginning....

here is a photo of the dining room of the former owner ... she had a black Target table and chairs.... and i liked them!  
She had the house so neat and tidy, and i was enchanted with that, since the house i had before was kind of chaos...
sorry for the crappy photo, this was when we were thinking about buying the house
 Sooooo, i copied her, and bought the exact same chairs and table!
I loved the color in here and the kitchen, it was so warm and cozy...
you can see i added curtains and made a few changes, but kept the same look overall...

Then i found some cute white chairs... and an old vintage mantel... 
couldn't afford to cover the chairs, so i draped fabric all over them... just dreaming of redoing them
i just propped the mantel up, cause i was thinking about it

...for 3 months... 

 we are now moving from order... to chaos!




This is when i discovered blogging, by accident!
Somehow i happened upon 
The Old Painted Cottage blog 
and saw the MOST AMAZING MAKEOVER EVER!
and Jennifer of The Old Painted Cottage, did design consultations


So i hired her!  
It was not that expensive at all
I sent her photos, and she gave me a plan
She said paint the living room dining room and kitchen all the same color,
get a seagrass rug and a chandelier 
and about a thousand other things 
like get some Ikea white slipcovered chairs 
she knew i was on a budget
she sent me links to stuff
it was soooo worth it...

She said the colors i had now looked Tuscan!
I was horrified!  I am so NOT Tuscan, not that there is anything wrong with Tuscan style, it's just not me!


 so i painted over my beloved Terra Cotta with this boring color
"Canvas Natural" by Ralph Lauren

It sure looked great in Jennifer's house, so i just did it, 
but i was sad to paint over that yummy warm color...

I  got a seagrass rug from good old Lowes 
glued some fabric on the chairs... yes, i did say i glued it... 
i'm such a ho for a quick fix

painting of hydrangeas in progress on the mantel


Here i took my gingham fabric and made pretend curtains...
  I just tacked them to the wall...





Next i painted the little Target table white, and got these gorgeous French chairs from my friend with the cute little shop

"Fetch"

  i got rid of the mantel
stole the mirror from my bedroom,
 (which was a plastic gold mirror i painted white)... 
and got a chandy online for around $150.00 bucks...not too bad for the price...


hmmmmm... i'm thinkin this is kinda pretty!
Jennifer's plan is all coming together, things are beginning to be more cohesive...
bottom line, it's worth it to pay for help !

Of course in the meantime i was pathologically reading all of your blogs and learning like crazy about great ways to do stuff!

and decided to start my own blog, because i was doing stuff too!



But Alas... my 24 year old son came to live with us for 

 SEVEN MONTHS... 
(that's another story for sure)

and well...... those sweet little french chairs, 
 you know how kids will just smush themselves into a chair without pulling it away from the table, because it's waaaaay too much work to pull the chair out! 

 and you know how i said "be sure an pull the chair out, before you sit in it, because these chairs are a little delicate" 

and you know how kids completely DON'T listen to anything you say???

and if you're talking to a 23 year old boy, and your sentence dosen't have some combination of the words,

food, beer, girls, pizza, or money in it

he sees your mouth moving, but that's about it?
RIP, TEAR, GASH... 
that would describe what happened to the cane in the chair

Whatever... i'm over it...
He's a person, and the chairs are things

In the meantime i found these other caned chairs at Habitat for Humanity, and wanted to use my gingham fabric that i love... 
cause i love me some big gingham checks
they were ugly brown, 
so i painted them and put the fabric on them
and found this table on craiglist, which was real wood, and not particle board,  
and sanded off the ugly brown top and painted the bottom white...
and hung my painting in an old chippy frame from the flea market...
and put my mirror back in the bedroom

and here is the dining room now... 
blurry photo and all

when i look at the photos in this post, i really like the room better with the pink chairs and the mirror
I still have the chairs, but have to repair the broken cane on the one... 

 did you know that the cane on these chairs is hand woven, 
and each of those little cane holes costs about $1.00 to fix, and that there are 8 million little cane hole knots there... 
what i always really wanted were some of those Rachael Ashwell dining chairs

can i afford them?  uhhhh...NO!  
$398.00 each

so this is where we are right now...


and ... of course you know, this will change again soon...

because i like the photo with the pink chairs and the mirror better

and...

that's the way we girls roll


...the end...


20 comments:

  1. What a beautiful and charming transformation! Things have evolved for you into a lovely and welcoming home that has real personality! Blogging changed my style as well! Have a wonderful weekend Cindy!

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  2. How fun to see your evolution of the Dining Room. Documenting it in photos was a great idea. It looks wonderful! Love the painting of sheep on the side wall, Cindy!

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  3. I'm so glad you showed the shots of your other rooms. Your home really flows. It's so pretty! One of my sons plopped down on my LR couch and broke it. Crack! I think men of any age need reminders about "stuff". Whatayagonnado? What a lovely evolution your dining room has made!

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  4. Love the big ol' gingham checks, love your paintings and your table makes a great difference. Such a pretty room!

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  5. That was an interesting bit of time travel! Can't wait to see the next phase. ~ Maureen

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  6. Isn't it amazing how a room can look so different with someone else's furniture? I do like those original chairs you had but when you got kids...well, you know what I mean. It still looks pretty Cindy! You have a knack for decorating!~Hugs, Patti

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  7. Hi Cindy,
    I think your dining room looks beautiful. I love the big painting.

    Kathy

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  8. I love your dining room, I love your painting (ok, I love ALL your paintings) and I have to agree, I loved the pink chairs too. The ones from Habitat are nice but the cane/pink chairs rocked! So, being on a budget, how about removing the cane from the broken chair and fill the back in with upholstery? For now, until said kid becomes a high priced lawyer and can PAY to fix his Mother's beloved chair? Just a thought, that is how things should roll here but don't. Thought I'd try it out at your place first! Ha! Patty/BC

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  9. Your room looks great.I love your transformation.Funny how you came to blogging because of the old painted cottage.That is how I found out about blogging too.I think I saw her blog in a Romantic homes magazine?Any how that is how I found her.And all of the blogs I read came from reading her blog.And then I thought the same thing why not have my own blog about projects and things too.I LOVE your chandy.I don't have a blingy on yet.I am still waiting to stick a deal.I found my bedroom chandy for 5.00 crystals and all.

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    Replies
    1. That's cool that you found blogging from The Old Painted Cottage too! I used to think blogs were just like journals people kept for family and friends, I had no idea that there were so many like minded people redoing their homes and posting gorgeous pictures and incredible stories until i found her blog. It opened up a whole new world for me, so completely amazing the whole thing, and the friends i've made!

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  10. I so enjoyed the evolution of your dining room. It looks so much more "pretty" now than before..and I like things pretty. I don't read everyone's posts but I always read yours--love your sense of humor and your story telling ability. Your signature blurry pictures are fine with me:) TFS

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  11. You know, all the incarnations of this room had something(s) very special...a reflection of YOU. I too LOVE the mirror! The current chairs are beautiful but I understand if you prefer the other color. I just love your home! All of it flows so well from room to room and has such gorgeous furnishings. Your special touches are the frosting on the cake!

    xo
    Pat

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  12. Love your room but i don't want to stress you out but i love
    the pink chairs and the mirror photo the best! The mirror looks better than the pretty painting. It gives off more light or something...i just like it way better but so do you!
    Too bad what your son did that's something my husband would do. He breaks everything i own!!
    Pamela xo

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  13. Hi Cindy,
    Just when I was wondering where you've been....you suddenly appear. So, I have to hurry over here and see what you're up to.

    Love the evolving of your dining room decor. I'm liking it as is right now but I'm with you on liking the pink chairs and the mirror. Oops, I bet you change it.
    The painting is 2die4 and I love it!

    Love reading your posts Cindy. You are so real.

    hugs
    Sissie

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  14. I like the pink chairs better too , I just like the size better . But I love this new table ! And I like the painting better than the mirror. There you go, that's my opinion ! Not that you asked for it , but it's free ! I have made a lot of changes since I've been blogging too . So many ideas out there ...

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  15. Guess what Mr. Fractured will be helping me do this weekend??? Poor unsuspecting guy, sitting in his chair right now watching basketball... little does he know that there will be a, put chairs back upstairs, and drag pink chairs back downstairs episode on the agenda for Saturday...

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  16. I love your dining room, and love seeing its metamorphosis. I may use it as an inspiration when I work on my very boring dining room that I don't know what to do with. My DR furniture is borrowed, so I can't make any changes to it.

    Love that chandy!

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  17. Hi there....
    Lovley Post. :)
    and do not miss.....

    S
    A
    T
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    R
    D
    A
    Y

    S
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    W

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    It is FUN :)
    WELCOME
    Håkan ( The Roseman)

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  18. it's the changing and the always moving forward that is so fun to me! i love that you are constantly enhancing, taking risks, and having fun with decor. i am also hearin your pain about sons and our personal property. it's a funny dynamic in our house though. my kids get upset when they ruin something, and i am the one reassuring that it's just stuff and we'll all get over it.

    my favorite shot is that one looking into the living room from the dining room. keep up the creative free spirit!

    smiles.

    michele

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  19. Oh I love seeing all of the changes step by step along the way!!! I have to say I like the chairs you have now better than the pink ones. They look perfect.

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