Making a old table and chairs look new

I wanted to share how easy it was to bring an old breakfast table back to life. I have had this table for 5 years. It was still in good shape, but in need of some updating. I decided to re-cover the seats to give it a new look. 

Old breakfast table from Big Lots

I chose a modern gray and white pattern from joanne.com. I ordered 2 yards and it was just enough to cover all four chairs with some left over to maybe do a pillow cover or a table runner.

It was my first time ever doing anything like this, so I went a bought a staple gun from Lowes. I thought maybe I would have a hard time figuring out what I needed, but I grabbed the staple gun that had a picture of a lady reupholstering a chair on the package and I was set. It doesn't get much easier than that. I was ready to start stapling. It was so simple. I just unscrewed the seat bottoms, covered with the new fabric, pulled it tight and stapled the new fabric to the seat bottom.

Love my new table

Painting always sounds so fun ...

Bare with me as I play catch up documenting the last couple months. It is truly my goal to be posting on current projects and ideas. I had to push myself and my daughter's father to the limit trying to get the house to a place where we could move in and it was extremely hard to find the time to take pictures and document like I should have. We both work full time, have a toddler and every spare minute for the last two months was spent painting, putting in fixtures or cleaning. Many of my first pictures are from my phone and are not the best quality. I do have a Cannon EOS Rebel T3 that I love, but it was not always with me and honestly, most of the time I was on auto pilot and I was lucky to even remember my phone.

Breakfast area in kitchen (omg, not my most flattering pic)

Living room from the hallway

Dining Room (here I am, again)

The house was painted with a neutral beige and the walls were in fairly good shape. The gold fixtures and the contractor carpet had to go.  The house was built in 2005 and had been empty for a couple years. It was dirty and dusty, but really just needed some TLC. Its a 3 bedroom, two bath and just shy of 1500 sq feet.

I decided to give these main areas of the house some color. The last couple years I had been living in brown, mocha, beige and more brown. It's a whole new me and a whole new chapter, so it was time for some color. I knew I wanted light pastel colors and I wanted to work in gray somewhere. I went through many samples before finally deciding on Weeping Willow from Olympic as a accent wall in the kitchen. The plan was for a chair rail in the dining room and I wanted to add a color to the bottom of the chair rail line that would also be the accent wall color in the living room, since it was an open floor plan I hoped it would bring the rooms together. I searched for a blue-ish gray and decided on Shark Loop from Valspar. I went with Gray Beige from Olympic for the neutral through the house. I decided to leave the gray for the master bedroom.

The above picture is the living room and the opposite wall to the dining room. The door leads to the master bedroom. It's an open floor plan and the dining room and the living room are really just one big room. The challenge I have is making the color work for both, but trying to create a distinct look for each room. Please, please follow the professional painter recommendations and start with the edge when painting.  As you can see in the above picture, the edge was not completed and I ended up making the job harder. I had to stand near the top of the ladder with a paint brush in one hand and a roller in another and I would paint the edge and then go back with a roller to blend. Not worth it! Do all your edging first and then fill in. Painting always seems like so much fun until you get started and realize the work involved to get a good looking wall. Trying to take short cuts with painting rarely save you time.

Shark Loop by Valspar ended up being a little more blue then I thought it would be, but when I was done I really liked it.

Here is Weeping Willow by Olympic in the breakfast nook. Excuse the dead broom in the middle of the floor. It is very hard to capture the true color. Most pictures come out like the top photo and it almost looks like a pea green, but its really a softer green like the below. I'm still working on finding the best natural light to capture it.

I painted just the lower 35 inches of the dining room wall to get it ready for the chair rail.

All the respect to every one out there painting themselves, We painted the entire house and it was like having a second  job for two months. We spent every day off, every weekend and every spare minute painting. I had so much mommy guilt as my daughter was with me most of the time. I had many people that had to remind me that this is for her. I just wanted everything done at once, but we all know it's about the journey and that you have to put in the work.

Below is my baby girl relaxing as I worked on the house.

Turning this House into a Home!

Hello Blogosphere! My name is Mandy and I have decided to join the world of blogging to capture my journey of taking my house and creating a home. Since closing on my first house last summer, I have put love, sweat and yes, some tears into painting, new carpet and fixtures. Now, that the paint brushes are put away, it's time to start having some fun decorating!

I love decorating, but it wasn't until I bought this house that I felt inspired to create a home that showcases my decorating muscle. Now, what I feel inspired to do and what I have the talent to do is two different things. I know I can match colors together, but putting a home together that looks beautifully decorated is another matter. I am challenging myself to create a stunning home, but what is really important to me, whether I find I am the next Martha Stewart or just ordinary Mandy, is when you walk into my home you feel the love that runs through it.

I really wanted to create this blog to share my new house with family and friends that I don't see often enough, but mostly for my my two year old daughter. She is truly the love that runs through our home. This house was because of her and for her. I grew up with polaroid pictures and it's truly exciting that we live in a time where we can now document our lives so up close and personal. Lets start at the very beginning 7/27/2012 closing day.