A Break from Holiday Decorating...(Living Room Reveal!)

I am taking a break from all things Christmas to post our finished living room.  McG celebrated his 50th last weekend and we really didn't work on any projects...except adding a rug to our living room.

Well - last week you got the reveal of the dining room - this week the living room!  I don't want to say it's "finished" - cause we all know for a home decor junky like me, a room is hardly ever done!  But it's one step closer to feeling done...This is what our living room looked like before we started our renovation.

Pear green walls with aqua accents and that orangey railing...and beige carpet that was way past its prime!

Now we've got grey blue walls, autumn oak laminate floors and white trim...and that railing is outta-here!

And here's the carpet we got for a steal of a deal yesterday at Home Depot - a golden-y chenille rug (originally way too expensive for our budget at $449) but in the sale bin for just $79!!  WOO HOO!

McG and I couldn't believe our eyes when we found it in the sale bin.  We had the sales clerk double check and sure enough it was marked down!  We quickly paid for it and got out of there before they came to their senses and changed their minds...

It has a two toned look with a soft backing that won't harm our new floors.  It also has a border of gold-y carmel which is lovely with our curtains.  Here's a closer look...

Oh, and this is our new coffee table/ottoman - that we also got on sale at Home Depot.  It really shows up now on the new carpet.  And below is a close-up of the fabric on our pillows...It reminds me of bark-cloth.

It has a mix of greens and blues that go well in our new room.

And finally here's a picture of the new wall that is now in place of the railing.  Sloan loves the new wall and likes to greet everyone from here - its so much easier for him to climb on than the old railing.

Except for some artwork over the couch, this room is finished.  I hope you enjoyed the tour of our living room renovation.

Cheryl

Its Starting to Look a bit like Christmas...

Since I posted my kitchen tour this morning and you got a glimpse of some decorations going up - I thought I would go ahead and post about the wonderful arrangement I made for my kitchen "mantel"!

I started with an oblong metal planter that I already had.  It has an aqua tint to it which I love! Next I added faux pine boughs that I purchased 50% off at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago...We don't have Hobby Lobby stores here in Canada so I went cross-border shopping - actually McG and I do that quite often.

They were very realistic and came with small pine cones attached.  I also purchased some boughs from Garden Ridge - these types of things are much more affordable in the US.  I didn't even use oasis to complete the arrangement.  I just laid them into the planter, making sure to leave them hanging over the sides a bit.  I layered in large pine cones that I had here already.

I added silver sinemay ribbon around the edges of the container, tucking it in gently, to add some sparkle to the arrangement.  I also added some glittery brown ornaments and some silver glittered wicker balls that I purchased at Dollar Tree.  

I also purchased the silver berry branches and the silver reindeer at the Dollar Tree store.  I have been there about 5 times since they opened here in our city a few weeks ago - they are a great resource for budget decorating!

It makes a lovely holiday display on the ledge between my kitchen and dining room.  Here's a view from the dining room...

It's just the first of my decorations to go up.  I am hoping to get my Christmas tree up this weekend, as well as, finish up the last few projects in the entryway.

Are you decorating for the holidays too?  I'd love to hear from you!

Cheryl

Linking up @:  Debbiedoos, Beyond The Picket Fence,
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Kitchen Tour

Hey there!  Before we start breaking out the Christmas decorations around here, I thought I should give you a tour of the kitchen.  The living room/ dining room tour will be very soon - I'm so excited to show you!  Come on in and have a look around...

This is the view as you are walking into the kitchen from the dining room.  We have a raised ranch and as you enter the house you walk up 6 stairs to the open dining room and living room...then you travel this way to the kitchen.  Here you can see our new flooring as well...I love how it co-ordinates with the kitchen floor.

This is a better view of that bank of cabinets.  As I told you before we painted the kitchen Smoked Turquoise by CIL paints.  It really picks up the colours in our counter top and I love it! Before it was a pear green - you can see that colour on the island.

Here's a closer view of this wall.  The upper cabinets used to be on the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  When McG opened up the wall, we moved the remaining cabinets over to this wall and ordered more base cabinets to match.  We were very lucky to find them and a matching countertop since we didn't do this until seven years after the house was built.

Here's a view of  the island (and the pear green paint) and a view of the other side of the kitchen.  McG built this island out of a spare base cabinet.  He clad it in bead board and painted it.  The newel post legs were a garbage find that we re-purposed.  He tiled the top for an easy clean surface.  We eat most of our everyday meals here in the kitchen. Here are a few more photos of this side of the kitchen...

This view shows you how McG opened up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.  Here too is our coffee station.  McG loves his Tassimo and this little cabinet holds all his coffee options quite nicely.

Here's a little sneak peek of some Christmas decorating...I am just itching to get going on it.  I have been seeing some pretty creative stuff out there in blogland lately.  There will be a post later this week on this beauty!  The majority of our decorations don't go up until after the 1st of December.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoyed this tour of our kitchen!

Cheryl
Linking up @:
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Updating the Dining Room Chairs

Earlier this week I shared with you our "new to us" dining room furniture...

At that time I also shared with you the two fabric choices we were considering for the chairs.  Don't you just love that blue vinyl they are pictured in above? Y-U-C-K!!!

Both of these fabrics I purchased from Walmart for just $9.97 - they are upholstery grade fabric and each remnant was almost 2 yards of fabric 56 inches in width - can you say SCORE!!!

Although some thought that one of the patterns was too modern to go with the style of the furniture, that is the one that McG and I both liked the best, so we went ahead and started reupholstering the chairs last night.

First McG removed the seat from the chair and we removed the staples, and took off the ugly blue vinyl.  

Then we laid out the fabric (right side down) on our kitchen island.  We reused an old quilt for padding and the cut the fabric 2 inches bigger than the chair seat.  McG then stapled the quilt fabric on first, making sure to pull it very tight as he went.  Once that was completed he did the same for the fabric, trimming the excess off when he was done.

Then he re-attached the chair seats using new screws.  McG had to add some toothpicks to the screw holes to help re-inforce them as the previous screws were stripped and wouldn't go back in.  It took about a half an hour in total to complete one chair.

This is a closer view of the fabric.  It is a grey/taupe background with blue, aqua, yellow and chartreuse wavy stripes.  I can't wait for them all to be done - then we will be ready for the big living room/dining room reveal!

I think this fabric ties in well with the rest of the colours we have in the room and updates the chairs into the 21st century...ALL FOR LESS THAN $10!!

Cheryl

Linking up @:   The Ironstone Nest, Not Just a Housewife,
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Weekend Fun Turns to Weekday Work!

Well, as you all know we are in the midst of a big renovation here - it's exciting times!  And this is what the excitement was about this past weekend...

I know this doesn't seem too exciting to some...but let me tell you - I was excited as H - E - double L - about getting rid of that carpet! Woo Hoo - it's outta here! - Why the excitement you ask???  That's because  it was followed by this...

Now ain't  she pretty?! All shiny and new - I love this new floor - and McG will too once the work is done...but for now, we've got a few more days of this before it's all done...and even then, is it ever really done? No, because then there is baseboards to do and some other trim work, bringing back in the furniture and then of course the stairs will need to be done...and then all the good stuff, like fluffing and nesting...I am hoping it keeps moving along at a fast pace, but I am sure that other things will get in the way,  like this...

Yes - it seems that other work is piling up, so today I guess my job is to work on this while McG is at his day-job...so that he doesn't have to contend with this when he gets home...and he will have nothing to do but to work on the floor again...ain't that sweet of me!  Oh well, its a beautiful sunny day here, might as well get me some fresh air and get to work.

Are you working outside today?  I'd love to know what you are working on today!

Cheryl

My Fall Mantel

I'm taking a break from my own DIY projects to read and catch up with all the blogs I follow...you can find some of them under my Blog Roll - I also follow many through Facebook...and Pinterest!  That's a crazy addictive place and where I get caught up for hours at a time, dreaming of new ideas for our home.

This is what my mantel in the basement family room has looked like for the better part of this year...a yard sale mirror ($10), a deer candle holder from Homesense ($14) which I spray painted a rusty brown.  It was originally painted red - I got in on clearance after Christmas last year...one of McG's old duck decoys, along with some old photos of the kids...and a garland with rusty bells on it...I went to the Dollarama and picked up a few faux pumpkins and also added some small gourds from the grocery store...it now looks like this...

and here's a closer view...

A simple change that cost me less than $10...and it brings the fall colours to my home!

Cheryl

Linking up at Debbiedoos, The Inspired Room, Beyond the Picket Fence