There she is...

... okay so my dining room can't stand a chance in the running for Miss America but she sure is just as pretty!

Yesterday I gave you the run down on how I hung the board and batten - today you get to see the final project!

I love the purple against the white and the shelf and the ceiling and the... well EVERYTHING

The table will get a face lift sooner or later and the chairs are going to change the day I get some mulla in my pocket.

I have this gallery wall - a la Pottery Barn - idea for the ledge and I am thinking all silver/gold frames. So, what you see up on the ledge now wont be there in a month (hopefully)

The ceiling is paintable wallpaper from Lowes that my mother and I adhered to the ceiling (while saying more expletives that I have said in my life time). I then painted it with "Precious Metals - Mirrored Glass" by Martha Stewart.

I love that it looks like an old tin ceiling while also looking updated and fresh. The color also plays off my chandelier and wall color really nicely.

My biggest fear during the ceiling work was that my neck would never straighten back out and I would be stuck looking at the ceiling for the rest of my life. Good for me I'm holding my head upright and I have a banging ceiling to boot!

And because its fun here is another before and after:

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Purple Overnight

Taking time and writing out a "how to" of sorts for the board and batten would be nice but I am too tired to even remember my name - so you'll get a lot more pictures than words today.

** fair warning: majority of the "I's" you can replace with "my mom" NO WAY could I have ever done this on my own

Of all the projects I have done this is the lowest cost project that gave the biggest bang. My dinning room does not look anything like this anymore

I cant even belive that is from the same house!

Three sheets of 1/2" MDF, wood glue, nail gun, and a level was all I really used for this entire transformation.

Granted I did paint the wall that would be exposed first - so add paint to that list.

My Dad pre cut the MDF sheets for me in 2 1/2", 3", and 7 1/2" strips that I used and then cut to the wall length needed. I made sure to sand all the edges before hanging them and if I would have had the space I would have primed them before. There are lots of blogs that stress the importance of priming before, but I didnt think it was all that awful priming the boards after they were hung.

I did a 7 1/2" floor trim with quarter round and then 2 1/2" vertical slats hung 12" apart and topped it off with 3" horizontal trim and a 2 1/2" shelf.

Personally, I think the shelf is what really makes it. Its small enough so that you wont run into it constantly but extended enough that you can put pictures and what not on it to display.

I don't have final pictures to show today but I do have progress pictures but don't fret I will have those tomorrow for your viewing pleasure.

the biggest life saver EVER

before spackling

after spackling

late night dinner of champions

because primer looks so awesome

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Up and Coming

My momma is coming into town tomorrow and there are sooo many projects in the que. Lots of painting, nailing, decorating, organizing, and refurbishing - its going to be glooooorious I tell yah.

Not more glorious than this awesome find my momma picked up

What's that you see??? Yes, that is 8 separate wooden window blinds. All different sizes, some usable and some not but the best part about all of this... they were FREE. I swear that woman can find a deal with her eyes closed and hands tied behind her back.

Here is the kicker... those blinds retail for (at minimum) $40 for one window. Now lets do some math and multiply that times 8... That's $320 in binds. Say whaaaa?

Even better... the ones I don't use I can craigslist and get a few bucks outta the deal.

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On a completely opposite note - my washer flooded my laundry room on Sunday night. Panic ensued but after the plumbers came yesterday I was able to rest easy knowing it was just a clogged drain. I don't have a penny to my name after this moving in stuff, so knowing at this moment it wouldn't cost me a dime was very nice.

Okay - I am off to do more laundry (now that I can and all...)

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Lounge Time

I have spent the past three weeks "lounging" on a small pink chair circa 1982 and stretching my legs into its chair sibling. Needless to say, I haven't had the most comfortable "lounging" experiences as of late.

Friday was my day. The day this beautiful hunk of microfiber landed in my living room.

Ain't she grand? Maggie thinks so...

Seriously, though, this couch is the bee's knees. (I guess if bee's really did have knees - weird saying)

These pictures don't really show the correct color its more of a navy meets silver meet grey. Beautiful.

How many more angle would you like to see? How about the zoomed in angle?

Look at all that tufting! You'll notice there are no buttons inside the tufts - I like it this way because I dont have to worry about the jabbing button syndrome or the too plush tuft causing a button to loose its grip.

Now... "how does it fit in the room" angle?

The past two nights (yes Saturday and Sunday night) I have fallen asleep on the couch only to awake two hours later - yes, I am a paaaaartaaaay girl.  

All that to say I am smitten with the tufted beauty this little lady adds to the living room!

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Patio

This hunk of concrete is done!

I can't say that I put a ton of "design" thought into this portion of the renovation. There wasn't just this huge itch to have the perfect patio... a patio in general works for me.

So enough chatting lets take a look at the back yard on closing day

Then the tractor came and so did a lot of dirt. Next thing I knew there was a large slab of concrete in my backyard. It hasnt completely cured yet, so you'll see the variation in the colors. Maybe some day down the road I will get around to staining it - but I dont mind the "original" color... thoughts?



 Now for a "lets get real" picture. My yard is full of TRASH! I need a serious date with the dump in the near future.

and again for the before and somewhat after

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