Oh, how I agonized. What color to paint, and HOW to paint this beauty... an antique secretary that belonged to my aunt back in her girlhood. I've had the piece for over 20 years and it was time for some TLC and a makeover so she could really shine! Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to the rescue! I finally had to bite the bullet and start painting. :) And ended up with this... A custom paint color of Annie Sloan Paris Gray … [Read more...]
Ugly Duckling Dining Room No More! {Blogging Without Borders}
August 27, 2012 by · 30 Comments
I am sooo excited to share my Ugly Duckling Dining Room makeover with you!! This has been a project of stops and starts, but I am thrilled with the end result. I had to think outside the box AND try things I'd never done before... a challenge in every way! But I think you'll agree that the payoff is huge... and now I will have a fresh and FINISHED dining room for the holidays! Before I get to the big reveal, let me remind you where we … [Read more...]
Painted Lady {Inspiration for the Secretary}
August 20, 2012 by · 10 Comments
Monday already? We had a busy weekend around here and I continued to press on with my Ugly Duckling dining room projects... slowly. Lots of interruptions and a few stops and starts, but slow and steady wins the race! I'll be so excited to share the reveal here next Monday! The light fixture is hung. The mirror is in place. But the biggest project I tackled was painting my aunt's secretary. Here she is before... it's been the home … [Read more...]
Just for Fun Friday
August 17, 2012 by · 8 Comments
T.G.I.F! We made it through the first week of school... though both high schoolers slept though blaring alarms this morning and had to be rousted manually (i.e. by Mom) so they could get to school on time. Boo to early mornings. Yesterday I made some "Yippee!" kind of headway on the Ugly Duckling dining room, so I thought it would fun to share some little victories in what's turned out to be QUITE to undertaking. Remember my sad lamp on … [Read more...]
DIY Baby Spoon Display {Ugly Duckling Dining Room}
August 15, 2012 by · 15 Comments
I am totally in love with my baby spoon display in my dining room, so I thought I'd share the "how to!" It all started with these small racks I found thrifting with Charity a few weeks ago... They were $2 each and I got them for 20% off -- $6 for the four of them. :-) I've also gotten in the habit of trolling the hobby stores framing department for frames on clearance... especially open frames. Many were custom orders … [Read more...]
Ugly Duckling Dining Room: Wall Art {Blogging Without Borders}
August 13, 2012 by · 14 Comments
Time for another update on my Ugly Duckling Dining Room as part of our Blogging Without Borders challenge! And this dining room is indeed having its Season of Change! I'm in mid-stream on two major projects for the space, with a third about to ramp up this weekend -- yikes! But I'm so excited by how it's coming together... slowly but surely. :) Today you get to check out the wall art I've come up with for the room. Previously I had … [Read more...]
Ugly Duckling Dining Room {Blogging Without Borders}: Lighting
July 30, 2012 by · 14 Comments
I really need another day to update you fully on my Ugly Duckling Dining Room lighting. You know as part of our Blogging Without Borders project? If you're new around here, you might want to check out my project here and the progress here. It's fun to see it coming together! So you might actually get a bonus post later this week on more lighting! But there is definitely progress on this front, so I'll go ahead and share where I am … [Read more...]
The Quest for Lighting {Ugly Duckling Dining Room}
July 18, 2012 by · 14 Comments
Did you realize there is no ceiling light fixture in my ugly duckling dining room? Several years ago, I had an electrician look at this problem and we discovered there is no wiring in the ceiling of this room. It used to be a little-used living room before it was designated as my dining room, and apparently the builder (back in 1986) didn't think any overhead lighting was necessary. Clearly a man, no? The long and short of it was that … [Read more...]
Ugly Duckling Dining Room {Bloggers Without Borders}
July 16, 2012 by · 18 Comments
Ahhhh. Amazing what a fresh paint color will do! As promised, here's my progress on my Bloggers Without Borders project, my Ugly Duckling Dining room... This was in the midst of the chaos-- forgive the blur, I was a little weak from that dad gum stomach bug. :-) The paint color is Behr's Silver Sateen, the same color I used in my Mom Cave (which is adjacent). And because just painting isn't enough, I decided to reconfigure the … [Read more...]
Blogging Without Borders {Ugly Duckling Dining Room}
July 2, 2012 by · 28 Comments
It's here! Time to reveal my project for our Blogging Without Borders project! The idea behind this project was to encourage us decor DIYers to break out of our comfort zones when transforming a space in our homes. We can all paint a room, right? But what about those project ideas you pin but in the back of your mind you're thinking it's probably too complicated or over my head? I know you have those thoughts. Or maybe I'm the … [Read more...]
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