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Our Dining Room & Fall Decor

Part three of our home tour brings us to our "dining room". We bought a ranch, which means we do not have a formal separate dining room, as ours is connected to the living room. 

Here is the said dining room around the time we bought the house in 2007.

Of course I was uber excited to start decorating our first home and jumped right into bad paint colors. Most of the furniture you see is from our college days and has taken us some time to replace. 

Here is the after...or the in-the-process-now.

We painted the above the fireplace and shelves a light blue to offset the blueish gray walls in the rest of the space. We upgraded our table and chose a pub style for height. The mirror we got at a flea market mall for $30 buckaroos. We stained it and promptly put it on the mantel to open the space. Painted the fireplace a dark brown for a more cohesive look.

 

From there we purchased three bar stools for our shallow bar top. These have a new face lift...post to follow. The rest is decor in progress.

 I love having the built ins but I do not love the current look of ours. I take a "put up/out and give it a few weeks" approach to decorating. I plan to change these but I wait for the inspiration to strike.

 This "table runner" is actually some fabric I got at a yard sale over the summer. I loved the colors and they were great for the season so this became its home for a few months. I've already changed this...

In other news. I've begun to change the decor to add some fall flavor as we get start the season. We are a frugal family so it's a slow and cheap process. ;)


The ceramic vase I found at Goodwill for less than a dollar, I think around .75. Spray painted the limbs, framed some fabric from a recent barstool makeover and painted the J (Johnson), vase on candle (that works) filled with cinnamon sticks and acorns, (one is from nature, the other from Hobby Lobby-you decide), the candle tray holder thingy in the middle has to go. Again, I'm just waiting for something to replace it.

 I intend to paint these pumpkins but haven't gotten around to it yet. I have an idea similar to this. Another fabulous card from HB.

Pumpkin courtesy BL and candle from IKEA.
Digging the plum/purple for fall!

 I probably should not be showing this picture. There are about three things wrong with it. (The lamp shade that needs replacing/re purposing, the vase, and the vase on the candle holder. What can I say, I just play around till something works...and nothing works in this!) Love the ceramic squash I nabbed at Big Lots. Any ideas where to find a cute lampshade? Possibly infuse some color?

 Yes, it's a little early for Thanksgiving but the coloring in these cards is perfect. Could not pass up .99 each at Hobby Lobby. They have THE BEST cards.

The "table cloth" is a quarter yard of fabric from Joann's. Bought it a few months ago because it appealed to me, and I think it works great as a square tablecloth. Did you notice it's unfinished edges? Oh you did? Well you are good. Another to do...

 I plan to fill this bowl with pine cones, I just need to find them first!

 I have to show my new shutters. I got these at a yard sale for .25 total! One of those practically giving stuff away yard sales. Helps to stop on a Sunday when people are literally giving their stuff away. I initally was going to paint them, and still might, but I like the height and color on this shelf in our living room. The pictures beneath/in front of them are temporary.  Like I said, I usually leave stuff in once place until the right replacement comes along. I think these shutters are great on this shelf and we got lucky finding them. Another ceramic pumpkim from Hobby Lobby. Who doesn't love that place?!?

There you have our dining room with some fall infusion. 

Anyone else working fall decor into their home? 

Our Updated Kitchen

Here are some pictures of our kitchen shortly after we bought it in 2007. If you notice the dishwasher to the right of the stove, we added that cabinet to house the dishwasher. Gotta have a dishwasher! The cabinets were originally a tanish color, blah, so we immediately painted them a crisp clean white!

Here she is after. We made the latest round of changes March 2009. It was a long process if you count the total time from start to finish, and if you add in the changes I still want to make! Obviously we painted the cabinets, replaced the hardware, installed a tile counter top (granite tile we got incredibly cheap!), added more cabinets and counter space, opened the room to the dining and living room, installed recessed lighting and a decorative light in the center. Also, replaced the linoleum flooring with engineered hardwood.

One of our favorite changes was opening this wall to the dining/living room. It greatly opened the flow of our house. Notice all the paint and accessories on the fireplace? That is the usual around our casa. ;) Also, the wine rack never has wine in it!

We scored this door at a builder surplus store here in town for $80! We stained that sucker and put it up right away. Someday I plan to replace the storm door with a full length light. Right now it is a bit of an eye sore. FYI, This picture is before we did made a lot of the changes

There you have it. Our remodeled kitchen! I tried explaining the color scheme to a friend and it did not sound like it worked. I've been wondering if I should repaint the walls something more neutral and replace the curtain over the sink. I've considered going with a white color scheme and incorporating color with accessories. I also have played around with the thought of crown molding on top of the cabinets to give them some height. I HAVE NOT expressed this with the hubs as I do not wish to die in my sleep tonight!

What do you think?

I see a million things I can change. The rug, curtain, paint color, add a cabinet over the fridge, crown molding on the top of cabinets...

September 11

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in NYC, The Pentagon, and the hijacked plane in PA. A very sad day for those who lost their family and friends. They say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news.

I was in the my high school US History class when a facility member walked in and told our teacher to turn on the TV, and that a second plane had just flown into the World Trade Towers. Our whole class was frozen to the TV, and the rest of the school day was spent watching the news coverage. No one can ever forget where they were. On this day for as long as we live we will remember that moment and the fear that paralyzed our hearts.

 source

Where were you when you heard? 

God Bless,

 Sara 

CSA Week #3

In an effort to eat better and support local farmers I talked my husband into purchasing a share in a CSA. For those of you not familiar with CSA's, Community Supported Agriculture, they serve as the middle man between local farmers and the community. Instead of purchasing out of season produce, which is sometimes trucked or flown miles to the nearest supermarket, one can pay up front for a CSA share and receive a weekly amount of produce from local farms around the state. We went with the company Grasshoppers Distribution and are too early in to accurately reflect upon the program, although unofficially I'm satisfied and content.

I must mention when you buy local and usually organic you are paying a higher price, so although it does not look like a lot, the peace of mind of what we are putting into our bodies far outweighs the cost. I also feel we are preventing possible health issues down the line. Read here on more about pesticides, hormones in meat, and generically altered food.

Without further ado, here is our week #3 share with 13 more weeks to go. 

Pears (Shelby Co)

Basil-(Palmyra, IN)

Winter Squash (Acorn Squash-Allen Co)

Spaghetti Squash

Garlic (Jefferson Co)

Arkansas Black Apples (Casey Co)

There is our produce for two share. If I sign up next year I will sign up for the full produce. I would have gotten tomatoes & sweet peppers as well. You can get almost everything this type of program. Dairy, honey, etc. I'm just not ready to pay the prices for real organic dairy.


Here is most of our share from last week. We are behind in the eating and preparing b/c we were out of town for labor day. We have a multitude of apples, squash, peppers, potatoes, and pears.

We got these cute little Patty Pan Squash last week.

This is not from the CSA but a tomato I have sitting in the window. I love tomatoes and will miss them dearly in a few months!

Two banana peppers I received from a co-worker. Can't wait to make some veggie burgers and include these puppies!

We have a lot of produce right now so I better get to cooking! Happy Friday. We are off to the watch high school football!

Living Room...So Far

Way back here I told you I was planning on changing the design of our living room. Well here it is...so far. It is completely different from when we bought the house in 2007. Everything was white, every inch of every room was completely white. Even the carpet was off white, albiet new, still something in the white family. Being our first house I wanted color and quick! In my haste I picked some awful paint colors numerous times. You will hear more about that when I post about our bedroom.

So here is our humble abode in 2007 shortly after we moved in. This main wall looks into the kitchen and closed off the living room & dining room.

 

Enter yellow green! In the past I have mistakingly designed a room around a paint color. Never again! We were working with a lot of "college" furniture at this time. The bookcase against the wall my dad made me for my first apartment. This view shows you the dining room looking into the kitchen.

 

First we opened the wall from the kitchen to dining room and expanded the kitchen counters/cabinets immensely. I'll go more into the kitchen project later. As you can see, just opening that wall made a huge difference in "feel" of the three rooms.

Here you see that wall opened. Then we added a bar and tiled counters. We mistakenly made this counter/bar too shallow and it haunts us every day. We also still have the yellow green walls and look to the right, dark olive green starting down the hallways.

 Here is our living room 2010. It still needs a lot of work but I am loving the color scheme and the pieces we currently have. 

Feburary 2009 we had a pipe burst (again) and since we had to gut and replace everything, we saw this as opportunity to make some much needed changes. We replaced the carpet with engineered hardwood purchased at Lumber Liquidators on clearance, removed all the wood paneling, replaced drywall in spots, and repainted the walls. We also removed the whole popcorn/textured ceiling and replaced with drywall for a smoother appearance. I love this paint color much more! Something in the blue gray family by Porter.
It is more me. Whatever that means.

I had these wing back chairs from my first apartment so we decided to cover them with slip-covers from Overstock, and yes they are hard to keep wrinkle free, but much better than the chairs looked on their own. As you know, we already had the curtain panels (Target) and purchased the blinds from IKEA. 

My beautiful rug purchased from Meijer for $100!! It fits perfectly with our colors. The coffee table I got off Craigslist for $85 and repainted; it was originally black. I love glass coffee tables. They really open a space. The dog is real and not a statue. Its our bully Wrigs!

 We also got this couch off Craigslist for $90, although I love the style and structure it provides, it was an impulse purchase and I will never own microfiber suede ever again. It also is dirty so I cover it with this soft luxurious blanket we got as a wedding gift. Yes, I was deflecting from the fact that I bought a dirty couch. It's a long story. The pillows are also from overstock and I love them! Another not-so-sneaky pup lingering about. Hey, Maggie!

Originally I wanted a new TV Stand, as this is a desk, and I thought it was too high, but I really love the structure and color of it too much to move it. So I've since decided I need to figure out a solution to hide the cords. I've considered fabric along the back and a small piece for the top part that is a different color; we removed a piece and behind it wasn't stained to match.

This is our "mud room"/entry closet. This was originally a closet with an accordian door YUCK. We removed that, sand and painted, then added some hooks for coats. I want to get a leather storage piece and a different mirror or something else on the wall. Maybe a floor length mirror?

Our $100 door found at a home thirft store! We simply painted it white and we love it!!! 

Here are our main walls. I plan to repaint the painting on the left with similar colors and possibly place on the left side of the TV.

 

So, here is where I stand in this room. I would like to get some more pillows for the couch. Just one or two for some pops of color. We need something on those walls, mainly the wall to the left of the TV, and the wall opposite of the TV. To the right are some shelves with set-ups that I'm still playing with. More pillows, wall decor, and something to hide the cords on our TV stand.

Any suggestions would much appreciated!!