Dining Room
November 17, 2009 at 12:19 pm | In After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 2 CommentsI realized I haven’t shared any photos of the dining room. I had my excuses. First, I was waiting for the new light fixture and dining table/chairs, then the wine bar, then items for the wine bar, and then something I haven’t even thought of yet. Here’s our dining room as it looks today (It still drives me nuts that the pictures don’t show the color very well. Darn my photography skills.):
I’m not crazy about the table setting and the drapes, but I’m not sure what to do differently with either of those things. Wait. I do know what to do about the drape situation, but the ones I want gave me sticker shock. Maybe they’ll go on sale…
A Picture-Free Update
October 26, 2009 at 2:24 pm | In Gardening, Sewing, South Florida living, The Joys of Decorating | 2 CommentsIt’s too bad I don’t have any pics to share, but I’ll sum it all up and hopefully take some decent pics to share soon. (I really need to amp up my photography skills. It’s sad, people.)
Gardening
My Aurora pepper is doing fabulously. There are a couple peppers growing already, but the one that’s been around the longest doubled in size over the past day. I’m excited to be getting to this point of gardening; I feel like there’s a little treat waiting for me each time I check my plants for new developments.
My two tomato plants are doing quite well, too. No flower buds yet, but I keep scrutinizing daily and will let out a little “woot!” as soon as I see them. Maybe I’m being naive, but I’m thinking I’ll have better luck on my open-air patio.
I had a minor run in with powdery mildew on all my plants a few weeks ago, but I spritzed the undersides of the affected leaves with my mixture of baking soda and water and brushed off the mildew. I haven’t seen any of that sneaky stuff since, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Again, I’m hoping less humidity + open-air patio = bountiful results.
Home decor
Our dining room is almost done has taken one step backwards, as of last night. First, the good news: We have our beautiful dining room table, complete the table runner, placements, and pumpkin centerpiece. We have our light fixture (which a couple strangers said they loved last weekend, so score!), and a whole leaning bookcase/wine bar unit. We’d like to add a few more accessories to that piece of furniture (a white initial for our last name, a white vase/bowl/sculpture thingy), but that will come in time. We had custom-made curtains, sewn by yours truly, that I was really digging. Until last night.
It was rainy the other night and we followed our usual routine of carrying Peanut inside so we can wipe off her paws. One curtain panel had a minor run in with a muddy paw. No biggie. The panels are all 100% cotton, so I just threw the one panel in the wash (cold water, gentle cycle) and let it air dry. Paw print out. All good. We hung the panel back up last night. It’s a good 6 inches shorter.
&$%*@!
I am still mad. I can’t even talk about it anymore.
Moving on.
We finally found an entryway table. We had such a hard time with this because our space isn’t large enough to allow a typical entryway table generally sold in furniture stores. We were starting to give up, but then stumbled upon a tall, square table for $50. Score! It was originally oak, which does not fly with our style, so we got out our trusty power sander and went to town. Then we painted it black. It’s perfect. We’re still looking for the perfect accessory to place on top of it, but it works in the meantime. We hung a piece of artwork above it that we already had but weren’t using, but decided we prefer a mirror. So, we’re on the quest for the perfect, budget-friendly mirror. I have spray paint and I’m not afraid to use it, so I’m keeping my eyes open.
We’re saving for a couple bucket chairs to add to the living room. They’ll fill our open space sorta behind our main TV viewing area. The open space will serve us nicely by providing a reading nook, guitar display area (gotta keep the husband happy), and board game nook. Plus, we’ll gain more seating. I can’t wait to get those chairs. They swivel, and I swoon.
Crafty projects
I’ve been doing a little bit of sewing and trying to get back into it on a regular basis. Besides the curtain panel customization I did for the living and dining rooms, I did manage to finish one skirt that’s wearable. I’m planning on wearing it to church next Sunday, and I’ll try to get a good picture posted. I started on a second skirt with some minor adjustments, but I lost steam. I did sew a baby blanket for my good friend who is having a baby boy in December. That was a fun, meaningful project, but what I’ve been hankering for is something to keep my hands busy when I’m otherwise being a couch potato. I did some digging and found a site that gives easy crochet patterns for some really, really cute animals. They’re supposed to be baby toys, but I worry they’re too small (any mom readers who want to weigh in?). At the very least, they’re cute, out-of-baby’s-reach decoration for a nursery, so I’m going to try my hand at it. I could stare at the penguin all day:
Check out the Web site to see the patterns and other pictures. If you never hear from me again, you’ll know I wasn’t successful with crocheting these cute little guys. And if you’re my friend in real life and pregnant, forget you saw this post. 
Edited to add: Shoot. I guess my title doesn’t work anymore, but what I really meant was pictures I took myself.
::Swoon::
October 23, 2009 at 5:01 pm | In The Joys of Decorating | 2 CommentsI’m starting to get into the holiday spirit, and think some sort of party in December is warranted. (‘Cause I really need an excuse to buy these and so many other things, right?)
Kitchen nook
September 4, 2009 at 9:18 am | In After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 1 CommentExcept for a new window treatment of some kind, the breakfast nook area of the kitchen is finished.
Note: I’m not a good photographer, so the paint color looks quite off in the second picture. 
Here’s our new artwork from Ikea:
And, on the opposite wall, our chalkboard/herb garden project:
The rod and herb pots came from Ikea. We used chalkboard paint from Lowe’s to paint a rectangle on the wall. We also used some unfinished molding from Lowe’s that we cut to size with a miter saw, nailed together to assemble, painted white, and nailed to the wall.
Now I’m just hoping I can keep the herbs thriving. Fingers crossed!
It can’t all be easy…
August 28, 2009 at 4:55 pm | In The Joys of Decorating | 1 CommentThree or so weeks ago, I ordered some lovely grommet drapes for the dining room from JCPenney (love them for curtains–great styles, economical, and speedy). I ordered the drapes 95″ long, realizing I’d have to shorten them 6″ to fit my room the way I want them to. I ordered my four panels, hemmed and hung them, then realized I wanted two more panels. The four panels didn’t give me quite enough fullness, especially when drawing the drapes closed. So, back to jcpenney.com I went and happily ordered two more panels. They arrived today and I even more happily set about hemming them 6″. This time around, I didn’t bother hanging them first because I knew from the other panels to hem them that much. I hung them, stepped back to admire my handiwork, and realized that one of the two new panels is too short. By quite a bit! I looked back at the packaging and I think the package was just mismarked or mispackaged or something. So, now I have five panels that are the right length and one that is too short. Ha.
There’s no despairing in my house, though, because the one too-short curtain confirms the plan I’ve been toying with all along. I’ll add a band of contrasting fabric to the bottom of all the panels. Wahlah! (Is that how you spell that word?) More custom (almost) curtains for me. Woot!
Next up: a trip to the fabric store. Gosh, I just hate that.
Kitchen
August 9, 2009 at 3:22 pm | In After pics, The Joys of Decorating | 1 CommentThe kitchen feels much more put together after the fresh paint. A couple more accessories, a black and white valence for the window, and a small arrangement of red flowers on the table will complete the look! I’m digging my new kitchen.
Happy day!
August 7, 2009 at 11:34 am | In The Joys of Decorating | 3 CommentsI just ordered the new light fixture for the dining room:
*happy sigh*
Moodboards are fun!
August 5, 2009 at 3:50 pm | In The Joys of Decorating | Leave a CommentThe dining room is painted; we’re planning on painting the kitchen this weekend. I want to hold off on posting pics of the rooms until they’re more or less finished. I decided a moodboard would be a fun way to show our progress! Here’s a reminder of what the paint color looks like (it’s growing on me, and I call it Granny Smith Apple even though Valspar calls it Bella Mint):
Now, for the fun part. I created this moodboard on www.mydeco.com. I was a moodboard virgin, so this took some work, but I think I’ve got it. The furniture pictured is actual furniture we either already have, will be delivered soon, or will be purchased at some point. The light fixture is the real deal! I found it online and it is my pride and joy. It makes me happy. It will take awhile to arrive because the company makes each fixture to order, but it will be so worth it. The accessories shown are just ideas. The drapes shown are really in white and fabric shown is a possibility for the kitchen window valence. I haven’t made up my mind yet.
Well, shoot. Now I realize the moodboard is too small to see anything very well, but I can’t figure out how to make the file bigger.
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