Dining Room - Before & After

I'm so happy with how my dining room is coming together...

B E F O R E

The room was bright yellow when I moved in and one wall was unfinished wood panelling - at least it was real wood!!  I painted the room in BM Stone House, panelling and all, and I like the coffee cream look.  I'd like to install some crown molding also but need a few lessons on how to mitre corners before I take that monster on...  

There were no window treatments to speak of in this room and as it is a corner room facing East and South, it gets a LOT of light and heat through its little old windows.  I bought Ikea curtain rods and dark brown velvet drapes - a real bargain at $100 per window for both the rod and drapes.  

It's also a very small room, only 9' x 12' with a door and a closet (it was the original master bedroom) and  I didn't want to overcrowd it with furniture.  I took the door off & plan to use it as the new door for my bathroom (reno in progress).  That made the room seem huge.  I also have an electric wood stove heater, a small sofa table and 2 extra chairs as well as the table & chairs.  I didn't add a rug because I think keeping the floor bare makes the room look much larger.

I love this pot - from HomeSense :)

Welcome to my dining room!  be sure to stop by for tea & a chat sometime :)

UPDATE:  To see the dining room after the trim and table were painted, click HERE

Linking to:

Involving Colour Roomspiration

House Tour - My Last Home

I thought I would include a post showing what my last home looked like.  I helped to build it and I decorated it.  It was a very happy place :)

 

See the light beside the door?  I used the same ones inside in my stairwells.  Love the oiled bronze and the
old fashioned shape!

The closet doors are
just tongue&groove pine boards
with braces on one side & gate
hardware.  

This was actually designed to be my
laundry room but I wanted an office
on the main floor, so into
the basement went my laundry room!

and the other side of the office space.  Need to paint that wardrobe...

The kitchen backsplash is a slate tile and the frame of the mirror is barnwood.

My favourite space, I designed the layout and the cabinets and they worked out beautifully!

The candle chandelier is from Ikea.  The staircase wall is the same slate tile as in the kitchen.

The upstairs bathroom - I chose the tile and once it was installed, I hated it!  Painting the room Ben Moore's Mont Ste-Anne helped to minimize the impact of the tile.

The loft sitting room - my favourite spot!

The standard Ikea Poang chairs look a little more inviting when
dressed up in chunky blankets, don't you think?

 

 

the main floor bedroom,

and the back yard.

This is a store bought & assembled shed that I covered in old fence boards to make it look like
it had been here forever.

Many happy memories...

Creating an Open Closet in a Tiny Porch

Here is what I started with:

Cute but tiny front porch with no closet...




Next stage was this:
                                         Lots of storage but too "in your face"!!

I chose my inspiration from a website I stumbled on - so beautiful, neat & tidy with shelves AND hanging space.  Lots of room for all the things I want near the front door - hats, mitts, boots, shoes, coats, umbrellas, a flashlight or two, keys, etc.

                                                              

I love this look.  It has everything I'm looking for.  Looked fairly simple to build as well and I'm pretty handy with tools these days.  So I listed my wardrobe on Kijiji and tried to sell it.  As luck would have it, the very day that someone wanted to buy it from me I had an idea: why not just take the doors off the wardrobe???  duh!  It makes such a huge difference to the feeling of the space.

+                   

I had been looking for the clean, light look of white shelves to make the space feel more open and brighter,  but this is largely what I wanted and a lot less work to boot! Now I can use the doors for something else - maybe if I attached them all together with hinges, they'd look good as a screen. Hmmmm.  On to the next project!!!

Gorgeous Kitchens

Source: House Beautiful

Some days I just drool over pictures of beautiful kitchens.  Today is one of those days and these are some of those kitchens.  Lately I've been gravitating toward white kitchens, my own is in the center of the house with no source of natural light.  Right now I really wish I had gone for white cabinets! but I am actually very happy with the way the renovation has gone so far & with the look of my new cabinets. Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do. 

Source: The Savannah Cabinet Shop

Source: Country Living

Source: Southern Living

Source: Country Living

Source: Country Living

Source: Country Living

Source:  House Beautiful

Have a happy week!