Finally

Well, it only took nine months but I have finally completed the redo on my Craig's List table and chairs!

Just as a refresher, here is what I started with ...

I painted the table back in May. That was the easy part ...

But, it was those chairs chairs that I kept putting off. You'll remember we fixed them so they were no longer wobbly, and we creatively came up with a new "topper" for the one that was missing. 

Well, three weekends ago, I set out to finish these chairs. The funniest thing is I thought I could get it done in one weekend. Ha! Not so much ...

First, I had to sand each chair down. When I sanded the table, it was easy, because I could use the electric sander. But the chairs needed to be done by hand because of the intricate details. Plus, as I started sanding, I realized a few chairs that needed a little more reinforcement to ensure their stability.

So, three hours later, the sanding and fixing was done. Next, it was time to wipe everything clean and start priming. 

I was clearly disillusioned with this entire process. I had no idea how long the priming would take. But, four hours later, I was done with one coat.

That was about all I had time for in one day. But, Sunday, after church, I started again with the first coat of paint. 

Four hours later, I had six of the eight chairs complete and was running out of daylight. I was realizing that the excitement of finding a table with eight chairs was no longer a good thing because it only meant more painting! 

At this point, I was pretty frustrated. Plus, I was sore from painting all day. I was really wanting to give up and spray paint the rest, but having hand painted the table, I didn't want the chairs to look different. So, I persevered.

The rest of the week, I rushed home from work to paint a chair or two before it got dark. By the next weekend, I was able to get the second coat and the sealant on, but it took all day Saturday and all day Sunday. 

So, with the chairs drying, it was time to tackle the cushions.

Landon's mom gave me a lot of good tips for this task. She suggested I starch the fabric before covering the chairs, so that's what I did first.

Then, I turned these ...

Into these ...

If you have never covered chairs, the key is to pull the fabric tight.

With the help of Landon screwing the cushions on the chairs, I'm proud to reveal the final product!

After nine months, I am so glad to have this project complete. Plus, Landon will let me move onto another project! 

Three Weeks and Counting

I have three weeks and counting to get my house ready for the "TX Visitor's Extravaganza"! That's right, we are prepping for lots of guests to come. First, will be my mom and dad Oct. 19-24. Then Landon's mom arrives Oct. 25, with his dad following close behind. They leave Oct. 31, but Landon's sister and brother-in-law join us Nov. 3-7! So, we are going to have a full house for nearly three weeks!

I am looking forward to every one of their visits. This will be the first time any of them have seen our home and our new neighborhood. I'm also excited because:

1. For three whole weeks during their visits, my house will be clean! This rarely happens, but I will make it a point since we have guests.
2. This gives me an excuse to try out some new recipes for dinner and eat at some of my favorite places around town.
3. And most of all ... this gives me great motivation to finish some projects on which I've been dragging my feet. 

So, here's the list of "must-do's" over the next few weeks:

1. Paint and recover my dining room chairs. Seriously ... how long have I been talking about doing this? Well, I'm procrastinating no more. The temps are supposed to drop over the weekend into the 80s (yes, it's currently still in the high 90s) so it will be a perfect time to get in the garage and get this done. Plus, we're going to need a table to eat at with all our guests!
2. Buy a shower curtain. Since I think everyone will want to shower while they are here and I removed the glass shower doors, this is really a necessity. I have found "the one" at Bed Bath & Beyond but the two stores I went to this week are both out of it. I'll hit up one more near my house (yes, we have one on every corner; that's the advantage of living in a large city). If they don't have it, I'll get the store to order it.
3. Paint my bedroom. The hideous "cotton candy blue" with various other "sample" colors on top is just not doing it for me. I have three more samples to throw on the wall tonight and then we are making a decision!

And, if there is time, I have a few other things on the "wish list" of to-do's including spray painting the entry way chandelier and painting a few other walls but we'll see if I get that done.

So, the next few weeks are going to be busy for me. What's on your to-do list?

P.S. I know that all my future guests read my blog, and I expect they will all say, "You don't need to do anything for me!" but please know I want to do this. All these things are tasks that need to be done. Consider yourself good motivation! :)

Creative Topper

I didn't get my dining room chairs painted last weekend, BUT I did get them all fixed. You might remember that when I bought them, they were a bit rickety and we have been slowly gluing them back together. 

Well, we finally fixed the last one over the weekend.

Also, one of the chairs was missing the "topper." I looked everywhere for something similar with which to replace it. 

Well, after thinking and thinking, it finally came to me! So, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and purchased these little wooden pieces - a toy wheel and a ball.

And when put together, it looks like a perfect fit!

I think once it's painted, you'll hardly be able to tell the difference!

Something Old, Something New

A few weeks ago, I was driving around town exploring when I found something that caught my eye ... Garden Ridge. I love this store because you can get great and inexpensive home furnishings. But finding Garden Ridge was only the beginning. See, the store was attached to a mall, which looked like it had once been thriving but now had a hodge podge of stores. As I walked in, I couldn't help but notice a sign that said "Antique Mall." Having seen many bloggers find amazing items antiquing, I just had to take a peek.

I probably spent a good hour in the store. It was made up of individual booths, so each corner had something new. To be honest, not everything could be classified "antique" to me. I mean, seriously, tupperware from the 70s that my mother has, doesn't count.

But, I did find many items that I loved. I thought these plates would be fun for a fancy party.

Or, how about a birdcage? Bird not included.

And, I loved this brightly colored desk.

I couldn't help but think of my co-worker and aspiring writer Monica when I saw this old-fashioned type writer.

Some of the items were a little above my price range. I came upon this chair that I thought would have been fun to put in my sunroom until I looked at the price and realized it was $295!

So, in the end, I didn't walk away with much, but I did need a few items to complete a dining room project. Here is what I bought.

These two old bottles helped round out my dining room table centerpiece perfectly!

I've used a variety of old and new items, many of which were already around my house. For instance, the beautiful antique pitcher was a wedding gift from my grandmother.

I'll probably switch out the flowers but these were some I already had and since they worked, I thought I might as well use them.

I bought the lemons at Tuesday Morning. I knew they were a win when Landon said he liked them!

I'm also still in need of another flower to fill the little bud vase. I'd love to tell you that I would use real flowers, but I decided fake were a better bet. I can't kill them.

I'm so excited to have everything in this room complete. It's so close. The chairs are the only last part. I keep saying I'm going to do them, but considering we are on our 20-plus day of 100-degree weather, the thought of going into the garage to paint them makes me break out into a sweat. I just need to put a drop cloth down in the sunroom and get them done. I'll add that to my list ...

Oops!

I hope everyone had an amazing Memorial Day weekend! Landon and I officially opened up our pool for summer. It was still a little chilly but we spent most every day floating around the pool. While I enjoyed every minute of it, what I loved even more was that it was such a sweet time for us to just relax and discuss what's going on with life. I can't wait for more of that!

Also, I have a small little hiccup in my blogging. You see, I accidentally dropped my camera Monday on my tiled kitchen floor. Oops! Needless to say, it will no longer turn on. So, the camera that I've complained about so much now must officially be replaced. Luckily, I was able to put the SD card with all my pics into my computer so I could do a few posts. 

We did several projects over the weekend, including putting some finishing touches in the dining room. Matter of fact, it's actually starting to look like a room! I hung all the things I've been telling you about on the wall ...

And, we bought some curtains a few weeks ago at IKEA. What do you think?

It actually looks like a room now that everything is hung. It's amazing what a difference it makes.

Now if I can just get those chairs done ... I'll also soon show you some close ups of my table arrangement I've been working on. It just needs a few more little details added.

Inexpensive Wall Art

If you haven't noticed, I spent some time on Sunday redesigning my blog. I decided I wouldn't change the name after all, but I did feel it need a little face lift. So, I hope you like the new look!

This weekend, I finally finished a project I've been working on for about four weeks. It involves these frames I showed you a few weeks ago.

I bought four of these frames at IKEA with the intention of putting them in the dining room. I knew I wanted to do something very simple, so I took a trip to the craft store in search of some unique craft paper to use.

I first picked up this embossed paper in white, silver black and yellow, which I thought would work with the colors in my dining room.

But, when I put them together, I wasn't loving them. The silver was too gray for my gray wall. The white was too blah, and the black and gold reminded me too much of my high school colors.

Plus, they were just a tad bit boring, and I decided maybe I needed to add something to it. To help, I decided to take a trip back to the store for something else. I shopped around a lot and just couldn't find anything I wanted, until I took a trip to Joann's this last weekend and found a great black and silver paisley print.

So, now that I had my paper, it was time to pull out my Cricut and decide what graphic I would use. I originally had my heart set on a "robin." I thought I could use one on each and it would be a wonderful monochromatic look. I cut out several on white paper but in the end, I really wasn't feeling like it gave me the look for which I was hoping. 

So, I tried a "butterfly," but quickly decided against that. Next, I thought, "Perhaps we could spell a word?" But, after consulting with Landon, we couldn't decide on a word that made sense for the dining room. "Love" wasn't appropriate and "Cole" seemed a bit narcissistic. 

I decided to go back to the "robin" thinking perhaps the white was what bothered me, since it was a little too bright for the frame. I tried black, but didn't like that. I tried cream paper, which I liked for the coloring, but still didn't like the "robin." In the end, all I had left was a pile of die cuts.

Then, I found it -- a "corner" graphic. I cut four out, on cream paper and here is the final result.

What do you think? I'm excited to get them hung on the wall.

My Faith on the Wall

For those of you who are Christians (like me), you know what an exciting week this is as we get ready to celebrate Christ's resurrection on Sunday. 

Since our minds are already on the Cross, I thought I'd share some inspiration for my dining room wall. I decided a while back that I wanted to start a wall of crosses. I love the decorative crosses that many stores carry now, and I love that I can express my faith on my wall.

Last fall, I went to the sale of Rebecca Ellis, a local Dallas artist who just happens to be my boss' sister-in-law. Rebecca is beyond talented and every year right before Christmas, she hosts a sale with all of her product being sold at wholesale. Knowing I wanted to begin a cross collection, I picked this one up at the sale:

Rebecca was inspired by knitting when making this, because when I bought it she asked if I knit. I don't. I just thought it was interesting!

Then, for Christmas, my staff gave me this one, which was also bought from Rebecca:

This one is hand-embroidered leather. The detail is amazing. I love it!

I've been waiting to hang these on my dining room wall and  had looked at a few others here and there but decided I wouldn't buy anymore for a while. But, at church on Sunday, one of the Sunday School classes was selling baked goods and crafts. Landon pointed out a beautiful, blue beaded cross, but ironically, I only had one check left with me (because I never have cash), and knowing I was headed to the Estate Sale on the way home, so I told Landon we'd have to pass.

Well, imagine my surprise when Landon called me on Monday and said that one of the ladies at church had noticed us admiring it and decided to purchase it as a gift for us! I was shocked, and felt very blessed.

So now I have three crosses -- each unique in its own way and each handmade. I can't wait to get them hung in the dining room.