Archive for February 2010

did i mention that we also installed a dimmer switch?

i was going to build the suspense with our light fixture and show you our inspiration, and then a tutorial of how we made it, followed by the big reveal... but i am just too excited to share it with all of you, so you're getting the reveal first! i'll post our diy steps and background information later in the week.

i will tell you that this was my inspiration light, found here.
but i do not have $3700 to spend on a light. i do not even have $370 to spend on a light.

as i mentioned in my last post, (and over the summer in this post) mike and i have been thinking about/working on our dining room light for awhile now. i had it designed in my head, and we actually starting buying parts for it over a year ago... and then everything just sat in our basement. our only excuse was that we weren't sure how to do the electrical portion, and, we were having a hard time finding the last couple of necessary pieces. but friday night we were able to find everything we needed, and we decided to just jump in and see what happened. by the end of sunday night, we had this:













i love how it turned out. love it. and hopefully i can use it as motivation to continue to work on the dining room - we still need to get new blinds (going to ikea in march, can't wait!) and i'd like to get some kind of buffet or other storage furniture for the room. right now the room only has the table, chairs, and large mirror. i also need to get some more art on the walls but i'm having a hard time finding something that does not compete with the painting. oh, and the floors... someday.

since our shelving unit project is on hold due to financial reason (thanks taxes!!) we have moved on and have decided to try to finish up some of the other projects that we have half started, bought supplies for, or gave up on at some point. ones that shouldn't have much, if any, additional costs. i'm sure all of you doing home renovations know what i'm talking about. lots of people strip a bathroom door and then hang it back up without actually finishing it. cause bathrooms need doors, and well, i got bored with that project.

moving on...

i'll give you a hint on what project we're working on first:


we do need a couple of more supplies for this new lighting project but i'm hoping to be thrify and use some non-conventional lighthing items to save some money. we'll see if that actually works. stay tuned...

after waking up to yet another day of this:

and this:


i am ready for some more of this:




















all photos taken in june of 2009 in maui, mentioned here.

this weekend we cut, stained, polyed, and installed the quarter round in the den. it's amazing how such a small detail can really complete a room.



looks like it might be a little while before we make the shelves - we started our taxes this weekend and i think we actually owe money this year. booooo...

how about this:

with this shelf design?

i feel like i'm getting closer...

the room is completely painted and i'm loving the gray color and the chalkboard wall. i went with wet pavement by valspar for the gray - i loved the slate color by restoration hardware but it was pretty dark and looked almost purple in some light. the other two gray colors i also liked but thought they were too light with the black chalkboard. wet pavement was a good balance. i really like how both colors look with the woodwork. mike used restor-a-finish on the woodwork and it looks fantastic. we have this product in a few different shades for the woodwork throughout our house and i highly recommend it. we still need to install the quarteround along the bottom of the baseboards, so ignore that part.

the problem is, i still have no idea how to arrange this room. no idea. we tried several different arrangements over the weekend and ended up with all of the furniture back in the middle of the room.


above is the desk and desk chair that i have that i've been thinking of painting. it doesn't look all that bad against the chalkboard wall but it does make it difficult to reach most of the wall then.

we have decided that we are going to make a shelf, we went and bought a few pieces yesterday and have been working on a layout. we're actually designing it using the chalkboard wall to sketch/plan, love it! one thought is to try to incorporate some type of large work surface into this shelf. i have a few thoughts on how to make that work, but i'm not sure about it. i really like this unit as is and i'm afraid that it might not look right with a work surface built in. plus i tried to make a table once before and it was a big giant fail. we would probably build this shelf on the wall opposite the door (the wall with the desk on it in the second picture above) and we would make it so that it would hold a flat screen tv. the shelf will take up most of that blank space so nothing else would fit on the wall. and then you'd want to chair to be opposite the tv...

so that's where we're at... still a work in progress. any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated... i wish that i could just start over with all new furniture, but that's just not in the budget for now. i think the chair and ottoman needs to stay. i'm not against the desk and/or table going away - but i do need some kind of desk/work surface.

reese decided he likes the sunshine in this room, but does not like it when we keep re-arranging the furniture.