DIY Project

I don't know what it is about a holiday weekend that inspires me to do projects around the home, but it always does.  I thought about doing the kitchen back splash this weekend, but then my car's radiator sprang a leak and had to go to the shop.  I knew the back splash would probably be a multi-Home Depot-trip project, so I put it off in favor of this quick and easy one.

Before and After

All you need is a lamp or two that don't quite match your style, some painters tape, a drop cloth and one can of spray paint (Rustoleum Textured Metallic silver).  I covered the electrical part on top with aluminum foil and stuffed the cord in a ziploc bag, then taped the little bit that was sticking out.  Once I got the lamps all prepped and dusted, it only took about 10 minutes to do this, which is good, since it was hot as all get out today.

I am going to change the harps from gold to silver and I need to get new shades for them, otherwise I'd show you a picture of them back in the bedroom.  The old shades are not the bright white I want, but I think the bases came out great. 

Three Day Weekend

I love me a three day weekend - it gives me a chance to do "projects." Today I was bound and determined to tackle the dining room chairs. I bought the material to recover the chairs on the last three day weekend, so it was time.

Altogether, it took me about 2 hours to do all six chairs, so this is definitely an easy project for an afternoon.

Here are the tools you'll need: Scissors, a screwdriver, a hammer, a heavy-duty stapler and staples. For the material, I got two yards of decorator fabric off the remnant table at the fabric store for $4.97/yd. I had more than enough to do six chairs. The amount you will need depends on the number and size of your chairs.
Turn the chair over and unscrew the seat from the frame. Say hi to Rex; he was helping.

Center the seat on your fabric and put one staple in one side. Pull the fabric tight to the opposite side and staple. Then you can add more staples to each side. I used about four or five staple to each side. Once you have done two opposite sides, then repeat with the other two sides. The only tricky bit is the corners and you just have to fiddle with it a little bit. This is what it looks like when it's done.Then you just have to screw the seat back on the frame and you are all done! Here is a before and after picture of the chairs.

Happy Halloween!

"New" Furniture

Look what I came home with from my trip to Georgia.

This is my grandmother's (great grandmother's? - help me out here, Mom) cherry dining room set. The table seats six and has two leaves that will expand it to hold ten. When I get a chance, I am going to reupholster the chairs to a less 80s fabric.

The sideboard has a crazy amount of storage. As a bonus, I also brought my Mom's good china and silver, which is in there along with my Lenox Christmas china.

It looks so good with the cherry cabinets in the kitchen and I don't care that it is really a tad too big for the room. I love, love, love it and am so happy to have it.

This is what happens when you don't have kids

We have a small media problem. We are working on unloading the boxes that we had stashed in the office-library-man cave, now that we have acquired some more bookcases. This is two IKEA Benno CD towers, two IKEA Billy bookcases with DVDs (the red boxes also contain CDs) and a bookcase full of VHS tapes (72 cassettes on each shelf).


You can't see it, but behind me is another five shelf bookcase full of books.

We might need an intervention.

More Color

We are almost done painting (for the time being). Please excuse my poor husband, who has passed out in the middle of the living room floor. This weekend we completely finished the living room and the entryway. The dining room needs a second coat on the top half and then we are adding a chair rail. All that's left to paint before we move in is both bathrooms.

I'll go back after work on Tuesday and paint the second coat in the dining room, take down tape and, hopefully, prime the bathrooms. I have new light fixtures that I also want to install, but that may have to wait until the weekend. In the meantime, we are furiously packing. Jim is moving boxes over each morning. Since we drive by the new place on the way to the Metro, he stops off on his way back home with whatever got packed the night before.

I did ask him before I put this picture up. He assures me that it does not embarrass him and it is the only one I took where you can also see the blue in the kitchen. He does say that he is not "passed out" but listening to the cd player. Whatever.

For those who are curious, the colors are Behr Toffee Crunch (living room accent wall), Freshaire Roof Top Garden (bottom of the dining room) and Gliden Water Chestnut (main wall color).

Let the Painting Begin

This is our kitchen with the first coat paint on it. I started painting on Friday afternoon after we closed. I did the first wall - awesome. I made the turn onto the second wall - not awesome. The kitchen was painted with semi-gloss paint, which I totally understand. However, new paint WILL NOT stick to semi-gloss because of the shine. Crap. After several trips to the Home Depot (because I refuse to sand the shine off), we final came up with a primer that would stick to the old paint and let us put up the new paint - Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3. So, we primed yesterday and painted the first coat today. I'll go back Tuesday and give it the second coat. This is a cell phone picture, so it's not the best, but it will give you an idea until I can get back with the digital camera.