A GREAT BEFORE & AFTER

This is the way my friend Sally's dining room began its transformation.  Oh, she had it very nicely decorated before this picture was snapped, but how this is where the story begins.  She had a fabulous old door from a family home that she wanted to feature it in a new design she had configured in her head, so she called her carpenter and the process started...

Can you tell where the door will fit into this design?

There's the door, center stage and back lit!  What's cool about her planning is when you open the door, there are shelves behind the solid portion that house computer gear!  Smart!  Her dining room table now serves the biggest portion of the year as a desk but can still be used for family dinners too!

I thought you might enjoy seeing how she accessorized those gorgeous bookcases.

Here's the other side with a great close-up of the sconce.

Love the recessed panel detail too!

No need for lots of words today.  This pictures speak volumes and I soooo  love a great before and after.  

Thanks for looking in today.  I have another before and after to show you next week!  Come again, same time, same place.

Robin

Linking Up With
A Stroll Thru Life
Cedar Hill Ranch 
Coastal Charm
Homemaker on a Dime
Ivy and Elephants
No Minimalist Here
The Brambleberry Cottage 
What-About Co.
From the Farm Blog Hop
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
French Country Cottage

A Little Reveal

Do you remember in a blog post far, far away that I showed you this little beauty that my sweet sis "loaned" me?  If you'd love to go back and read that inspiring post, it is here.  Wow, I really left you hanging in suspense for a long time on this one.  Sorry!  I know you all have just been dying to know how this project turned out, NOT!  But, alas, I'll show it to you anyway--just to keep my word. 

Drumroll, please, here it is--

Wow, isn't that just amazing--no, it is not and that little bugger was harder than I ever expected, hence the wrinkles gathers.  I had trouble with the staple gun I borrowed from my wonderful brother-in-law, and the whole project was just hard, but I got it done.  Sometimes when things get hard, I get more determined.  Can I hear an amen?

To finish it off and hide the staples I cut a piece of fabric, folded under the raw edges and ironed it.  It looked like bias tape, but I did not cut it on the bias-- I avoid that like the plague.  Then I hot glued it over the staple row.  I was thinking I would like it simple so as not to draw attention to the poor reupholstering job but I had the gimp, so I hot glued it on top of the fake bias piece to finish the whole thing off.  I am happy enough with it and the best part of the whole project is it was my mother's.  It goes well with my chair and I sometimes like the imperfect a lot.  Hope this inspires you to let yourself be creative and less than perfect too. 

Just because I really appreciate you reading, I adding some eye candy as a treat.  Sorry this picture  was ripped out of a catalog--that just how I roll sometimes.  I just love this collection of hand mirrors and will be trying to duplicate this soon.  They look like antiques and they were not for sale in this catalog, they were a prop.  Enjoy.  Till next time, Robin

Image from Anthropologie

I'm linking up with

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2011/08/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no75.html
http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/

Which Chair is Which?

Yesterday morning started off with a phone call from my upholsterer saying my chairs were ready and could they bring them right out to me.  Of course, I said no.  Just kidding!  I was excited, but holding my breath hoping they had turned out the way I had invisioned them.  I do that with all my projects.  I get a vision, set about creating what I see in my mind's eye, and then get a little frightened that I got it wrong.  Can you relate? 

Here's  a little background on this project.  I had been looking for a coordinating chair to one I already had and the one I had had great sentimental value to me.  That chair was a gift from my husband the day we brought home our first baby.  The chair has been recovered three times, plus its original covering.  Our first baby will be thirty years old in October, just for the record.  Here is how it looked for the last twelve or so years.

Before

This picture was taken at the upholstery shop--I forgot to take one at home.  The back of the chair was upholstered in a different semi-floral print.  This all went with a plaid wallpaper that was on the part of the wall in the basement that was underground--chair rail height.  Lots of prints, lots of color, red color.  I have to remind myself that I liked it all and had copied a Ralph Lauren ad about twelve years ago.  Now the house is neutral and feels much more calm.

The story of finding another chair similar to my beloved chair above happened about two months ago.  I had been looking for at least a couple of years at  estate sales.  I had checked with the manufacturer and they were no longer making the model of chair I had.  But, really, with the bedbug thing lurking in my mind, I wasn't too keen on the idea  of buying a used chair until I found a pleather fake leather chair that was the cousin to my favorite chair and it was only $30!  I talked them down from $35 because of a tear in the pleather, even though I had no intention of ever letting that chair in the house until it was reupholstered.  They probably felt sorry for me having such bad taste--the chair was horribly ugly.  It took some determination on my part to have to carry this heavy chair up basement stairs with my son!  Yes, it was  a hot day too.  But here are the final results.  I didn't get the beautiful pleather covering photographed, I mean, really what was I thinking not to want a picture?

Original Chair After

The fabric is a wonderful linen that is commercial strength fabric and, according to the upholsterer, should wear like cast iron.  The last of the big red pieces in my house are gone!  Happy dance! 

Cousin chair After

Linking to http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/, http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/2011/07/feathered-nest-friday_28.html,

http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/
http://www.homemakeronadime.com/
http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/

An UGLY Bathroom Gets Worse

To refresh your mind on what the title of this post is talking about, yesterday was the "before" of a master bathroom remodel and today is the demo.  This project gets a little worse before it gets better.

Mike, the fantastic contractor, came and began demolition and had the bathroom totally gutted the first day.   And we all know that tearing something up is the easy part.  The tricky part is when what is torn up has to be put back together again, but that's tomorrow's post.   So, without further ado, here are some lovely demolition pictures to enjoy.

Here's a lovely view of the bathroom without the postage-stamp-sized shower stall and the always-cold-on-the-bum-no-matter-how-hot-the-water-is bathtub.  Now let's move around the nicely gutted room and notice the other changes.

Where the ladder stands used to be one of the closets--it looks like a nice size here because you are looking at the long wall that was wasted space in the prior life of the room.  The new closet will go back into this space BUT it will utilize the long walls and borrow a little space from the entryway.  When Mike, the fabulous contractor, was tearing this space out, he noticed that the ceiling could be raise to allow for the triple racks!  Hallelujah! 

The next picture reveals a little bit of the entryway and the other closet space, blue in the picture (that lovely color looked like a bad bruise and the whole master bedroom was the same color with a rose border when we moved in.  Gosh, why did we change it?).  The reason the entryway is visible during this part of the demo was the removal of the entry closet and a hallway.  This was done to enlarge the remodeled closet and to remove one of the doorways into this bedroom--it had two.  Why?  It remains a mystery to us too.

The next shot is of the extra large patch to the wall in the entryway when we removed one of the two doorways that led to the bedroom.  The thermostat, the humidifier controls and the doorbell all had to be moved and we were without heat when the wrong wire was cut.  We were cccold for a few days.

And the final picture today is the inspiration photo that launched all of the decisions I  made for this bathroom.  This was the largest, most expensive project I had ever been in charge of and it was exciting and scary.  My friends and family knew I was eating, sleeping and dreaming about this bathroom for months before anything happened.  It became my obsession for a while but it was worth it-- it is my favorite room in the entire house.  So here's the inspiration, remember, it does not take much for me to start designing and I love the process--and the stomach aches.

Until tomorrow, thanks for reading.  Robin

The Little Red Lantern

Here's my first project to report on.  I luckily found this adorable little red lantern at a garage sale last Thursday for $2!!!!  I could hardly believe my luck.  I thought it was cute red, but would not fit into my color scheme, so I will be redoing it when the crazy Kansas wind gives me a break.  (I did sneek out in my pj's this morning during a windy lull to give it a base coat....only to have it blow over while drying).  Stay tuned to see how the little red lantern turns out.