As always there is tons going on over here in Happily Ever After! Today I thought I would share our little house to-do list aka the projects I currently want to work on (until I get sidetracked by something shiny!).
Let’s start in the Kitchen shall we? I am planning to add glass to the three upper doors of the blue pie safe… soon. The hubby is really pressing for this one as he is convinced that one of the kit cats will find their way through the openings and destroy all of our china… really it could happen!
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Then it’s onto fabric! The bench under the window is our old TV cabinet… when it got kicked out of the living room we found a new home for it as part of our dining set. Without a kitchen pantry we were at a loss for storage ideas, so the bench gives us needed (concealed) storage! However without a cushion it’s not so comfy cozy. I’m planning to add a tufted bench cushion to the top to spruce it up a bit. While we’re at it I thought I would sew new (matching) slipcovers for our chairs. The off white ones we are using now have been through the mill and are looking a little dingy… time to make them pretty again! The hubs relocated the light fixture from it’s spastic location (several feet to the left) to hang directly over the kitchen table (isn’t he great?). So while I have the fabric out, I’ll sew a little matching slouchy light chain cover to tie the ceiling in as well.
I’ve been looking at fabrics all week, I checked out at JoAnn’s, I hit up Michaels, I even looked at Wal-Mart… there was just too many options! Each store had fabulous fabric but it just wasn’t matching the picture I had in my head… so I’m trying to decide which one would be perfect for my space! I’ve narrowed the search down to the three sample fabrics pictured below. I love the 1st option, the light blue would look lovely against the pie safe… but the little birdy in the second option is calling my name! Eeek! I’ve ordered samples so HOPEFULLY once they get here I will have a better idea of which one I’d like.
Update: I finally picked a fabric!! If you want to see the finished slipcovers click here!
To top the whole room off I’d like to place an outdoor rug under the kitchen table. Mom is firmly anti-rugs-in-the-kitchen so she’s fighting me tooth and nail but I think I’m going to go for it :)!
While I understand that food + rugs = bad I’m hoping that an outdoor rug will be easy to clean… and if it isn’t I’ll just move it somewhere else like… outside! I’m looking for something similar to this french script rug from Home Decorators. I love the pattern but I’m not sold on the color or the price tag: $251 for a 5×7, ouch!
The final ticket will be painting the kitchen cabinets, and perhaps the counter-top… but since we live in a rental that will be absolutely last. I’d like to work on projects we can take with us first!
As I shared last week the Office is almost completely finished, in fact I really only have 2 projects left! My desk chair and the hubs!
My chair is a gorgeous re-upholstered french chair with a teal Parisian feel, I absolutely love it BUT (you knew there was a but coming right?) it’s not meant to be a desk chair. For the moment it’s serving its purpose but really it’s too low and hurts my back, not fun. I definitely need a new one!
The hubby is using the old hand-me-down chair that came with his desk, it actually works great but it isn’t so pretty. You can’t tell from the picture but it’s bright green, The hubs put a blue blanket over it because it doesn’t match our “style” (he’s so funny when he says that!).
I’d love to replace both chairs with this beauty from PBTeen, but at $339 a chair they’re even worse than the rug! Yikes! One day I will be able to afford things like a gorgeous desk chairs but until then I’ll work with what I have… and what I have is a staple gun.
I am going to relocate my teal chair to our bedroom and bring in an old desk chair from my great-grandma. The new chair is nothing fancy but since she had like 12 desk chairs (no one knows why but they were all over her house) I feel no remorse when I plan to rip that baby up and salvage her for parts.
I plan to paint both chairs white (mine and the hubbs) and recover them in something like this blue and white chevron. I love chevron print but it’s a little too trendy for me, I’m worried that if I use it in a big way I’ll regret it down the road. A desk chair remodel sounds just right to me, it’ll look fabulous now and when I’m tired of it I’ll re-upholster them with something else… or convince someone to buy me 2 very expensive PBTeen chairs! Come on y’all, you know you love me!
The Master Bedroom looks great from the doorway, but this corner needs a little love. With a new TV over the dresser (new being an operative word, Grandpa is generously giving us an old one) the only thing left to do is hang pictures on the large wall to the left. Of course if you’ve ever hung a wall mural you know it’s not so simple as all that… but that’s a different story entirely! The small bench in the corner is just kind of hanging out until I decide where it really belongs. I will probably place the french teal chair from the office in that particular corner. Don’t worry y’all, I’ll let you know when the mural is done… I’m working on it!
Update: I finally bought a great new desk chair for me… and frankenstined a chair for the hubs! I don’t know which chair I like more… y’all will have to let me know which one is your favorite!
Speaking of wall murals, our long blank hallway is just screaming for one! Do you remember the small canvas I bought at TJMaxx the other day? There’s a 99.9% chance it will end up on this wall.
Update: It totally ended up on the wall! Check it out here: Hallway Wall Mural!
The Living Room also needs a bit of work. First off we need to hang the TV ON the wall. I need the hubs for this one so I’m sitting on my haunches waiting patiently for him to have free time… did any of you believe me? Naughty, naughty!
You know I’m chomping at the bit and the moment he has a free second that puppy’s going up! The second after that he’s going to build me a gorgeous reclaimed wood ladder to display throw blankets on. Luckily the man has mad skills!
After the TV goes on the wall, the globe (on the floor to the left) will go onto the white console, and the ladder will go to the left. The globe itself is our wedding guest book, so I love being able to see it every day!
We’re getting close on this side of the room, Just some organizing left to do! The canvas from the wedding will eventually be hung on a wall, and several of the tchotchkes will find new homes… it’s looking a bit cluttered over here. The final step will be painting the fireplace… I’d love to whitewash all of those bricks and stain the mantle a darker color. Something along the lines of this:
The final makeover will be the Guest Room but since that particular room is still covered in boxes I’ll save those ideas for later. The only thing I know for sure is that I need to get a bed in there… and quick! The boxes are driving me crazy!
Thanks for paying attention y’all. I’ll let you know as we check all of these projects off our to do list… until then let me know what you think! Which fabric swatch is your favorite for the kitchen? Are you pro-rug like me, or anti-rug like Mom? How do you think the chevron will look with my fabulous zebra print rug? Let me know, I’d love your feedback!
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Hi Betsy, I really like your style! I hope you don’t mind me commenting on your blog post about a comment you left me. Thanks so much for visiting my bedroom makeover post. You had asked a question about the rug and I wanted to make sure you saw my response that I posted over on the blog, here it is:
Thank you so much Betsy! I really like this rug. I also was on the fence for quite awhile after reading the reviews you read. The rug is on the blue side of gray, but it is still gray (I wouldn’t call it straight out blue like some reviewers did) and I love it. It goes well with our wall color, which is also on the bluer side of gray. You may also want to know that the white in the rug is actually a creamy off white color, not white-white. It works really well with our existing carpet. Hope that helps! Thanks for taking the time to comment. Sharon
Sharon, You probably already saw my response over on your blog but I didn’t want to leave this unanswered. Thanks for the visit and responding to my question so quickly! That definitely helps, I love that rug and think it will look great in our master bedroom. Thanks so much for stopping by!