Decorating Fun

Since we're in the remodeling mode, I have kind of started redecorating some of the other rooms in our home, too.

Our antique dining table, we gave to Mike's daughter, Nancy.  I'm so glad she wanted it.  I've always loved the table and we had many good meals with family and friends at it but honestly it was just too big for the space, that and it belonged to Nancy's grandmother, so it had sentimental value for her.  I'm really thrilled she could use it and now she can love and take care of it like I did.

We drove over to Petaluma last week and found the perfect 48 inch round table.  It's not an antique and it wasn't very much money so I painted it using chalk paint.  It was my second time using this product and I cannot tell you if I love it or hate it.  I need to practice on some other things first and just did one of our coffee tables in red.  They say it's a product that's easy for beginners but I think you should have some experience with painting and antiquing furniture before using it.  I didn't find the product all that user friendly.  Once the wax goes on, it sets up almost immediately and then if you have any areas that are uneven or you need to add to or change it up, it's a bitch to remove or loosen up the wax or paint.  So that's my two cents whatever that's worth.  It's also very, very expensive to use their products.  They want over $50- for one stinking paint brush.  My brushes worked just fine.  The paint costs roughly $45- per quart.  I'm beginning to think it's a lot of hype.  Honestly, I was really excited to try it out and one little round table I did turned out fantastic.  It's just not that easy to work with.  I'm still willing to give it a few more tries though.  Not throwing in the towel on it yet.  I'm sure I need to just gain experience working with it.

I can't tell you how pretty things are turning out.  We both love it and it's just our style.  Mike is really enjoying everything I do.  He keeps thanking me and telling me how beautiful the house is.  I'm so pleased he likes it.

This is the room you see when you first walk in the front door.  The door is situated near where I'm standing when I took the above photo.  As you can see, we have a small dining space.  My Auntie Yvonne painted the yellow abstract painting you see near the table and I did the smaller ones to each side of the large tree painting above the sofa.  Most of those small paintings are for sale in my Etsy shop: Honey's Colors.  Until the paintings sell, I'm going to enjoy them on my wall.

This is looking toward the front door where those two brightly colored paintings are that I painted.

The round dining table I painted with the chalk paint and the dark red coffee table I just finished painting with chalk paint.  I'm not sure yet if the rug under the coffee table will stay or go.  I wanted something light to make the table stand out.  The dark red picks up some dark red that's in the sofa and also in the braided rug under the dining table.

My two favorite red antiques in the room.

This is the site where I got my curtains and the cute pillows you see above.  Country Curtains.
I love pretty much everything on that site and I have my eye on a couple of lamps for the bedroom.  My lamp on my nightstand is not working and I like to read in bed before I sleep if I can.  It relaxes me.

The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore's governor's gold.  I love Benjamin Moore's historic colors.  They work well with my style.  Our kitchen and the living room and on down the hallway are painted with buxton blue.

The white chairs above are getting some pretty chair pads that I ordered and are on their way from Country Curtains.

We just sold all of our kitchen cabinets, sink and microwave this morning.  Looking at the floor you see here, is the kitchen, and that will be coming up soon and will be a new tile to match the room we just remodeled with the fireplace.  The table you see above is going to get a new coat of paint on the top.  The distressed black legs will stay as they are.  Mike made that table for us.  I might change the color on the chairs, too.  Not sure yet.  Waiting on some new chair pads to arrive for those as well.

The two books where I get a lot of good tips for decorating and my inspiration comes from cottage chic style magazines.  My style is sort of shabby chic and traditional combined.  A little eclectic I guess you'd say because I don't follow any rules and kind of just go with what I love and what works for me.

A little Italian tray I bought yesterday at an antique store in Petaluma.  I can spend a whole day antiquing in Petaluma and looking at all the beautiful homes there.  So many good restaurants, too.