Our Dining Room and Painted Table

 

I am so happy to say that our dining room table is finally painted! If you follow me on Instagram you know it's been a bit of a process. I love following blogs like Miss Mustard Seed and admire those women for what they can do, but furniture painting is not my calling in life : ) I don't enjoy it much or feel I'm very good at it, so this was a big undertaking for me. Luckily one of my good friends Joey is incredible at redoing furniture so she graciously spent many hours with me in the garage sanding, priming, painting and "glazing."

 

Here you can see how the dining room flows into the living room - all one big space. 

Here is the table before we painted it. I purchased it on Craigslist for $175. I knew I wanted a French Provencial table with simple legs and cane backed chairs. This fit the bill and the budget!

 

 We painted it in Snowfall White by Benjamin Moore and then did a sort of glaze/wipe off of Stonington Gray over it to give it some depth.

 

I really should properly set the table for more interesting photos, but I don't feel the space is totally "done" yet so I simply shot it plain. For Christmas it will probably be much more dressed up! I definitely plan to add a mirror and maybe some ironstone plates on the big blank wall behind the table, but I'm saving up for the mirror (I feel like we've just been bleeding money haha!)

 

The view from the middle of the living room - I think it all ties together nicely. Definitely need something on that back wall though!

 

We replaced the light fixture with this French-inspired chandelier from World Market

 

The frame was an antique store find and I simply adore it. I bought it to sell but then couldn't let it go once I realized it would be great in this space. The boxwood wreath fills it in perfectly.

 

Here you can see the glazing a little better. It definitely reads white in person, but has gray glazing when you look closely. I plan to recover the chair seats in linen but haven't gotten that far yet. The current seats aren't terrible from far away or in photos, but they are really a yellow-y coarse canvas and very stained so they need to go.

 

I am in LOVE with these linen winged parsons chairs from Home Decorators. They are so beautiful and add so much elegance to the table. I can't recommend them enough. I paid just $200 each for them and they are custom made when you order. The upholstery is beautiful and there are lots of fabric choices. I do have two captains chairs that came with the set but we're using those elsewhere as I knew I wanted upholstered end chairs.

 

I had kept this chandelier from World Market in the back of my mind when it first came on the market because you can't beat the price. I searched high and low for something in the French vein at a decent price, but really couldn't find much for under $600. This one is just gorgeous and won't break the bank! I waited for a sale and I think I paid about $110 for it.

 

And lest anyone think my house is all frills and decorating all the time...here's a wider shot of the dining room and the usual activity happening around here : ) 

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

{live beautifully}

 Courtney

Sources

Paint color: Silver Fox by Benjamin Moore

Table Color: Snowfall White by Benjamin Moore with Stonington Gray wash

Chandelier: World Market

Linen Runner: Williams-Sonoma

Velvet Pumpkins: Love Feast Shop

Parsons Chairs: Home Decorators

Our Hearth Room: Before and Progress

Our hearth room is probably the room in the house I'm least happy with now visually, but the overall feeling is very cozy and homey. We spend quite a bit of time in here, and even though the accessories aren't quite where I want them to be, we're enjoying this room a lot.

 

Here is the real estate listing photo...

And after... We painted the walls the same color as the kitchen, Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore. Other than that the difference is only furniture/accessories.

 

 

I love the original stone fireplace and built ins. Just ignore the TV in the corner. Even though it's an eye sore we use it quite a bit, especially when I'm cooking so I can listen to HGTV and pop in for the reveals : ) I'm not really loving any of the accessories in here right now (except the arched window and urns) so I'm sure all that will change with time.

 

Here's the before of the other side of the room

 

We did use the idea of having a kitchen table in this corner near the built in hutch, and it has worked well. We tend to alternate eating at the bar, kitchen table and dining table, and it always surprises me how much we use all three eating spaces.

Before of the bar/kitchen pass-through...

 

And now with different paint and stools. I knew I wanted kubu wicker stools, and found some I loved with backs. However these were at TJ Maxx for $60 each, less than half the cost of the backed stools, so I went for it. I want to paint the stool legs gray, and also paint the bar trim white to match the rest of the house (it's the only unpainted trim and I'm not sure why they left it).

 

You'll recognize this little dining set from our last house, but I did dress her up with chair pads from World Market and a round sisal rug from TJ Maxx.

 

The built in hutch is very, very simple for now, displaying all my white ware. It's probably a bit sparse but I like it for now. 

 

This is the couch and coffee table from our old house, and the leather chair was a Craigslist find. I paid $125 for it, compared to its twin from Pottery Barn that is $800. It is super comfy and I tend to spend lots of time here.

 

My favorite spot!

{live beautifully}
Courtney

Sources

Rug: Ikea

Stools: TJ Maxx

Striped Bench: TJ Maxx

Leather Chair: Craigslist

Round Rug: TJ Maxx

Paint Color: Coventry Gray

Our Kitchen: Before and After

At long last, I finally have pictures of our kitchen to share today, and photos of our hearth room and dining room coming later this week! One thing we noticed before even seeing our house in person was that it was hard to tell about the layout from pictures. I'll try my best to explain the layout as we go so you can tell about the flow of things.

The kitchen was one of the things that sold us on this house...it is huge! It's an incredibly long galley kitchen, but it's not your typical narrow galley as it's extra wide as well. You can have four or five people in it at once and it really doesn't feel cramped! Plus there is so. much. counter. space. And storage! We were thrilled to find this much kitchen space in an older home.

Here are the before photos from the real estate listing and from the day we moved in. Nothing wrong with it, but it felt rather dark.

 

Here is the space after. Really the only changes we made were to paint the walls Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore and replace the hardware. The doors you see at the end of the hall hide the laundry room. Just to the left of that is a powder room and the right is the garage door. There is a very, very large space past the fridge that I am working on furnishing. It acts sort of as a mud room since we go in and out of the garage. The former owners had a hall bench and hooks here, but I think I'm going to add a table and wall shelves to create sort of an office/catch-all space. It's a work in progress : )

The day we moved in...

And after. Here you can see how it opens onto our hearth room through both a doorway (right corner of the picture) and a large pass through with a bar. We love how open it feels!

 The sink and fridge side, before

 

And after. Amazing what paint and accessories can do! The doorway you see here leads to the dining, living and entertainment rooms.

 

We did replace the light fixture above the sink with a pendant from Ballard Designs. We also removed some tired, dirty cafe curtains to let in more light. The kitchen windows face the fenced yard, so I doubt I'll put up another window treatment since privacy isn't an issue. Maybe a faux roman shade to add some softness. I would LOVE to remove the gingerbread trim, but I'm not totally sure how to do it without damaging the cabinetry so that project is on hold.

 

Before...

 

 And after... My only minor complaint is that I wish the counter tops and back splash weren't so "taup-y." I really shouldn't complain because all the updating work has been done for us, but the materials they chose are very taupe/beige. Oh well, first-time-homebuyers can't be choosers : )

 

We did remove the cabinet doors to the left of the sink. I still need to patch and paint the holes from the hardware, but I love the way it makes it look like open shelving.

 

 

 Here is the before of the other side of the kitchen. You can see that we have double ovens, which is wonderful. All the appliances came with the house and are Jenn Air, so we were blessed by that. I can't figure out why they chose black appliances for a white kitchen though. It's not at all worth the cost to switch them out for stainless, but I think that would have looked so much better with the white!

And a little sneak peek into our hearth room in this shot...

 

And you know I had to share some detail shots...

 

Of course my favorite old street sign made the move to the new kitchen

 

This little locker basket stole my heart at an antiques show. It holds kitchen towels and I love the little number tag and wonky wire.

 

Bin pulls make such a difference!

 

There it is! Our wonderful new kitchen! It's probably not my "dream" kitchen but we really have been incredible blessed by the size, space and upgrades in this first home. I hope to share our hearth and dining room with you later this week, because after that it's time to decorate for Christmas! I figured my first before/after shots shouldn't be holiday ones, so I'm squeezing these in right before Thanksgiving. Stay tuned!

{live beautifully}

Courtney

Sources

Bin Pulls: Martha Stewart line at Home Depot

Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray

Pendant: Ballard Designs

Topiaries: One King's Lane

Runner: Overstock.com