95% done!

I spent the weekend caulking, sanding, filling holes and painting. I went through 2 tubes of caulk JUST yesterday. The good news is, it shows. Thanks to devoting 95% of my weekend to the dining room, it is now 95% done.

Check 'er out:

As you can see, I need to do another coat on the molding around the frenchies. Maybe I can finish that tonight if Snowpacolypse '11 doesn't hinder me from getting home from work. Painting the french doors is a whooooole other monster. I just realized yesterday how messy it is to take that painted plasticy stuff off the windows. I have 60 lites to take it off of .... vundabar. Check out my $35 clearance chandelier.

Who wants to see a before picture? I DO!

http://www.decorchick.com/molding/molding-link-party/

It's Electric..

I had a little fun this morning. I know I'm not the only one who has tan/bisque colored outlets and light switches. So if you're cheap like me, pay attention. Recently when we had a painter come and do our foyer, we had a serious conversation about my outlets and switches that didnt match. So what did I do? I did exactly what he said.....minus the cardboard safety net that I planned on taping to the wall.

Check it out:

This is what I started with, beige outlets and a can of rustoleum gloss protective enamel in white. Sooo it's not like I used a cheapy can of spray paint from the dollar store. Hopefully this stuff will hold up. If I have to do it yearly, I'm okay with that. I'm fully prepared for the consequences....if electric shock is not one of them. Been there. Done that.

After two quick bursts on each outlet, this is what I ended up with.

Looks good to me. Now I just have to splurge while I'm grocery shopping today and pick up new .39 cent covers in a crisp white. Unless I want to go fancy, in which case, I'll stop by Lowe's.

As I mentioned, I also did a light switch that was in the room.

Regretfully, I took this picture after it was already painted. I wanted to show off the fancy template I made for this switch since it was on a wall of woodlawn colonial gray. Annnd again:

Last night I sprayed the top of the switch and then first thing this morning I flipped it and did the bottom.

So what do you guys think? I'm sure there are some people out there shaking their pointer fingers at me. I'm happy with the result. I'll let you know in a day or two if my outlets still work. Ha!

Anyone doing and DIY projects this weekend? I'd <3 to hear about it!

Oh, I almost forgot. Everyone loves a sidy-by-side comparison.....

I'm partying here:

dirty little secret..

Um, I need to come clean to all of the people who actually follow my blog. I hope you don't feel misled when you see the following picture.

Here goes.

Gulp.

This is what we lived with for.......quite a long time.......and called our dining room.

I just laughed out loud.

Houston, we have boxes.

It's time for another update on the dining room!

Look for a tutorial soon on how to update outlets. Hint: it involves spray paint (I know you're shocked), cardboard and tape! I just can't live with those pesky things in their current state.

doing the happy dance!

I hit.....half of one hundred followers...and then passed it by one two three four!

You made me this happy:

I've so been enjoying all the linky parties and making new friends from blog hops. Can't wait to meet more blogstresses/bloghims just like you guys.

Cheers! Here's to us. No, here's to YOU!

last minute decision....

Well, I decided to burn the midnight oil this evening, er, morning. After recently stumbling upon the fantabulous blog, Our Humble A{Bow}ed, and spying on their dining room, I knew I had to have it. I decided to scale back on the details and make it fit with our house. Check it out! I call it: Fauxscotting!

Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the iPhone photo quality. My camera card is in my desk at work (picture me making a sad face here). I'll update the after photos with "real photos" later.

If you can read that, you would know that I only spent $44.10 and that even included an extra tube of paintable caulk. Are you kidding me? No, I'm not kidding me.

My original idea was to sit some neutral plates on the ledge, but I got so anxious I hung this mirror...

...annnnd immediately regretted it. I'm so mad at myself for making that hole.

There is one final touch that I will add tomorrow. I'm adding a simple piece of trim to the bottom of each horizontal piece. This will cover my mistakes perfect cuts and look pretty. I angled the bottom of the vertical slats so they would work with the current baseboard.

Quick recap:

My friend Amy recently introduced me to s4s after she used it on a project of her own. I'm in love. I bought three pieces of the smaller stuff and one piece of the big, chunky stuff. I used liquid nails and less than two dozen finish nails. The bottom four vertical slats are about 3.5 feet long. The top vertical slats are 2 feet long.

This project cost $44 and took 5 hours. Can't beat it. It changed my life.



linking up to:




http://www.somewhatsimple.com/
http://lifeaslori.blogspot.com/
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://www.yesterdayontuesday.typepad.com/
http://lbratina.blogspot.com/
http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/


thegirlcreativepartyblog.blogspot.com
thediyshowoff.blogspot.com
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/2011/01/feature-yourself-friday_27.html
betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com
takeitfrom-me.blogspot.comhttp://www.decorchick.com/molding/molding-link-party/

RECAP! Personal Faves...

So last night as I was sitting on my couch at 11:50 p.m. eating botched and melted homemade ice cream that tasted like eggs and vanilla, I thought to myself, it would be fun to do a little post that mentioned my favorite projects all in the same place. Then, by the grace of God, I checked the reader on my iPhone and saw that Thrifty Decor Chick was reaching into the depth of her heart and finding some time to share some new blogs with her wonderful readers.

Here are snaps of my top projects that we've accomplished in just the last 3 months:

This addition of old school, but new school wainscotting only set me back $44 smackaroos and took only 5 precious hours of an evening. Somebody's fabuuuulous!

This oak dining table used to be briiiight oak and had country spindles between the pedestals, but I took care of that with my hand saw and a quart of black paint....which turned out to be grey/black. They weren't kidding when they named the paint Black Magic...it is magical black paint that turns to grey when you're done. Har har.

I found this lovely smoking stand in my grandma's basement on the day of our yard sale last summer. I didn't get around to painting it at that time, but I'm so glad I found it while rummaging through her basement for crap to sell. I took out the wonky drawer and we keep Lily's leash and a little towel to wipe her pawsies off in there. I think the spray paint cost me $1.25. That's how I roll.

We took this boring, builder grade powder room from bland to grand with just some lattice strips, door casing, and some paint I had on hand. Buh-bye yellowy white walls, see you never again!

Well, if you're reading this, that means you took the time to stop bye. For that, I thank you, friend. Please come back. I promise to never recover from my DADD (design ADD), which means many more projects to come. Special shout out and thank you to Sarah at TDC for doing this for so many new blogstresses. I heart you and I've never even met you.

If you like what you see, become a homegirl/boy and let me try to entertain you on an almost daily basis.