Our New Sideboard and Updated Dining Room

As I mentioned earlier this week during our Christmas house tour I am back now with the details on our new sideboard and lamps. I started looking for a sideboard and hutch pretty much as soon as we moved in this summer and for the last several months this room has been pretty much empty except for the table. I regularly checked craigslist and our local consignment and antique shops in hopes that something would turn up. Finally, after months of looking I saw this at one of the consignment shops. It's actually a media cabinet but it works perfectly for what we needed in here.

I originally pondered not painting it. In fact I left it unpainted for a couple of weeks trying to decide if I should paint it or not. In the end it was just a little too red (it's hard to tell that in the photo but it had a reddish/orange tinge to it) and didn't go with the wood of the table and chairs so I pulled the trigger and went ahead and painted it with Annie Sloan's French Linen from our sponsor Lady Butterbug. They ship their paint so quickly! It has arrived each time just two days after I ordered it. And I LOVE this color. I need to repaint our kitchen table and am pretty sure I am going to use this same color. I haven't waxed the sideboard yet but I do plan on doing that at some point. Once I got it painted I knew I wanted a set of lamps. I have always loved the look of two lamps on a buffet. We had that in our first house and I always kind of missed it in our last house. I ran into Home Goods hoping they might have something but honestly wasn't expecting to find anything. I first saw these ones but passed by them because I saw one that I fell completely in love with. Unfortunately though, there was only one so I went back over to these. I didn't think they were as pretty but for $25 I figured it couldn't hurt to try so I brought them home fully expecting to be returning them the next day. Well, once I put them on the sideboard I decided I loved them. YAY!

Here are a few before and afters of the piece and the dining room in general. 

Now I can continue my hunt for a hutch...

SOURCE LIST:

Wall Color - Gray Owl at 75% in Matte Finish
Trim Color - Simply White in Semi-gloss Finish
Beadboard Wallpaper - Allen and Roth from Lowe's
Chandelier - Savvy in Williamsburg, VA
Dinnerware - Mikasa, French Countryside Collection
Chargers - Pottery Barn (seven years ago)
Placemats - Target (probably nine years or so ago)
Slipcovered Chairs - IKEA
Side Chairs - Joss and Main
Farmhouse Table - We made it - more details here
Clock - Savvy in Williamsburg, VA (a couple of years ago)
Mirror - Restoration Hardware (six years ago but I think they still sell it)
Drapery Panels - IKEA Ritva Panels
Drapery Rods - Lowe's
Sideboard - The Velvet Shoestring (consignment shop - then painted with Annie Sloan's French Linen chalk paint from Lady Butterbug.
Lamps - Home Goods
Bowl with ornaments - wedding gift
Wreaths on Chairs - Savvy in Williamsburg, VA
Paperwhites - Savvy in Williamsburg, VA

And don't forget to enter our joint contest with Polyvore to win one of TWO $500 GIFT CARDS TO POTTERY BARN. Check out this post for more details.

And if you haven't already check out the Christmas House Walk hosted by Jennifer Rizzo - You can start here. We are house #12 on day 2.

 

Have a wonderful Friday! 

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Making Over a Chandelier with Chalk Paint

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! Tonight I wanted to show you a quick makeover we did on an outdated chandelier. We actually have ordered our new chandelier for our dining room which should be coming in the next week or two. When I was painting the dining room, though, we hadn't made a decision yet on what chandelier we were going to order and I knew once I got the walls painted staring at this brass chandelier was going to be distracting from the paint job so I figured it would be fun to give it a quick makeover so it didn't stand out so much in the newly painted room. I remembered that Amy from Maison Decor had updated a chandelier a while ago with chalk paint so figured it couldn't hurt to try it on this one. If it went awry it wouldn't matter too much seeing how we were taking it down anyway, and if it worked well then I would be able to possibly use this technique on the sconces in our powder room (the powder room is the next project after I finish up the entryway - we already have the new toilet installed and new vanity top, sink and faucet ordered so now I just have to make a decision on wallpaper and then paint the sconces, trim, door and current vanity base, and then switch out the mirror and do a little decorating).

Here is the chandelier we had to start with:

The first thing I did was paint on some of the Annie Sloan paint in Paris Gray from the lovely Karla at Lady Butterbug.  I figured it was going to go on fairly easily but I have to say it went on even easier than I anticipated. I added a second coat once it was dry just to ensure all of the brass was covered.

After that I just rubbed on the wax and switched out the bulbs for more delicate looking ones and that was it - so easy! I didn't even take it down from the ceiling! Because I knew it was just a temporary fix I didn't put a whole lot of effort into getting the detailed parts perfect. I have to say it was relatively quick and easy project and such an inexpensive way to modernize an older light fixture!

The girls wanted me to add some "sparkles" which was a fun little touch but I have to admit I took them down after a day and fortunately they didn't notice. =)

We've still got a lot to do in here but here's a little peek at the new paint on the walls and trim. I like the clock better in here than in the den although it may make one more move to the entry way when I am finished painting in there. Or it may end up staying in here but I will wait and see where it looks better once the walls in the entry way are painted - we shall see. More musical furniture. =)

 

If you are looking to purchase some Annie Sloan chalk paint I highly recommend ordering it through Karla at Lady Butterbug. She has been such a pleasure to work with and I am looking forward to ordering some more colors once I find some furniture pieces for the dining room and entryway! 

Have a fabulous week! I plan on being back tomorrow with lots of photos of the progress we've made so far on the kitchen.

Labor Day SALE and A Little Frame Makeover

I just wanted to pop in before Labor Day Weekend got into full swing to let you know we are having a big sale and to show you a quick project. Because I wanted to make sure our family room felt personal I wanted to add in lots of family photos. I put the chevron frames (I will probably eventually change those out for something a little bit nicer) above the sofa and then wanted to add some photos of Lillie and Lola on either side of the TV. I hunted through our stash of frames and couldn't find anything that worked so I decided to use some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint from Karla who owns Lady Butterbug to transform a couple of frames into something that would look better. I had two black ones that I liked the size of so decided to work with those.

 

The first thing I did was paint the frame in Paris Grey. I can't believe how nicely it coated the frame!

Then I rubbed some of the Dark Wax over the whole frame and ended up with kind of a rustic weathered wood look! 

I am so much happier now how these look. They blend much more nicely than the black frames did!

I had so much fun with the paint that I went ahead and painted my dining room chandelier! I'll show you that next week! Now I am dying to find a piece of furniture to paint with it. I highly recommend heading on over to Lady Butterbug and checking out all of the amazing Annie Sloan products that Karla carries! She is so wonderful about answering any questions you may have and even offers workshops.

And don't worry - I know you are probably sick of seeing the family room. Next week along with showing you the chandelier makeover in the dining room, I will be showing you Lillie and Lola's room and our kitchen island. And then after that the full kitchen! I finally photographed it and now I'm tackling all of that trim in our entryway and powder room.

I hope you all have a fabulous Labor Day Weekend!