Our Dining Room and Living Room Reveal

Hi all,

It's been quite awhile since I've posted an update on here. With travel for a friend's wedding in Seattle, bouts of pregnancy tiredness and a growing social life (which is most certainly not a chore), we have been keeping busy. Life is good and little by little, Joplin is feeling more like home.

I thought I'd take the time to show you an update of some of our space, here at the beloved new, old house. Part of the reason I haven't posted full photos of these rooms sooner is because they have come together relatively slowly. Without much of a budget for major renovations or new furnishings, I've focused on finding the style/look for our little hodge-podge of a home in thrifty ways aaand being thrifty means hunting down bargains and visiting thrift shops over and over until you happen upon treasures!

While all of our furniture and decor was mostly present in previous homes, there have been a few additions and makeovers that are helping to make our living spaces flow together. Furthermore, if you've followed this blog for a while, you'll notice I've taken some bolder approaches in some the decor-- pushing past what feels safe to what is fun and what I truly enjoy (color, texture, pattern, bold, fun, vintage, eclectic style). 

So, without further ado, here is our current dining room:

You may remember me saying we wanted to repaint this room. Well, the more and more I added, in the way of furnishings and color, the more I decided I actually liked having a black dining room. The trim/plate rails/box beams definitely need to be touched up with fresh white paint, but that will happen, I'm guessing, some time this fall.

This is the room that houses the majority of our new items in the house since we didn't have a dining room at our previous rentals. It's been great to have larger groups over and not have to crowd them around our kitchen table or eat off our laps, buffet-style in the living room.

Dining Room Trestle Table- Craigslist, Ethan Allen find for $150

Assorted Chairs- $5 a pop at a salvage yard

Chair Paint Color- Cool Lava by Behr

Curtains- Urban Outfitters

Light Fixture- School House Electric

Painting- Nick's Nana's artwork from the 50's

Candlesticks- Spray painted Ikea- here was a third one, but Collin broke it!

Indoor/Outdoor Rug- Ballard Designs (super-duper durable and easy to clean with kiddos)

Blue Lamp- $12 thrift store find

Then, we come to the second part of the room, the South wall, displaying my longtime pined after blue china cabinet! We found the cabinet in Arkansas at a barn sale for $80. There were several other cabinets on sale, but this is the only one Nick would, in good conscience, let me paint, since the wood wasn't anything special-- just your standard maple. I wish I had kept the paint swatch in order to share the color!

 Below is a shot before we put the glass doors on, in case you wanted a better look at my china and knick knacks:

View into kitchen from dining room.

This is our new mail station/key holder/ command central spot. Nick puts his cell phone and wallet in this basket when he gets home. It's helpful in keeping stuff off the dining room table. The magnetic board is just a sheet of metal (can be purchase at the Home Depot), nailed into a sturdy frame. Easy!

Then, our living room. Up until two days ago, this room was still feeling disjointed to me. I knew that it needed something to pull it all together and tie it in with the dining room, but couldn't figure out what that was. Turns out, an awesome, wool trellis rug in a sweet shade of coral/rhubarb was just the ticket!

You'll notice the chipping paint on the mantle, but we kind of forget it's there. Eventually this will get re-painted! ;)

All of our furniture remains the same and there are a few new decor items,

Sofa- CB2 from Craigslist in Atlanta

Patterned Chair- $5 from an Atlanta thrift shop

Blue Mid-Century Chair- $10 from an estate sale

Tufted Chair- Purchased by Nick at an estate sale when he was single and working in Fresno, CA

(Thinking I want to reupholster this chair and remove the skirt to expose its ankles)

Boomerang Coffee Table- Found on the side of the road (see story of makeover here)

TV Stand/Buffet Cabinet- Given to my in-laws by a neighbor

Mirror- Salvation Army for $8

Mid-Century Classroom Pull-Down Map- $85 on Ebay

 Further plans for this room? 

- Removing the odd box, vertical bookcases around the windows. Those were a 1970's addition, we think, and not original to the house.

- Repainting. Color suggestions? What would flow well with the gray entryway (see photos of entryway walls in this post) and black dining room? The olive green sometimes looks too much like the color of baby poop and we'll need to repaint anyways after we take out the window boxes.

So, that's where things are at right now. I'm sure we'll make changes, but I'd love your input and ideas. Old houses are full of charm, but they are sometimes harder to decorate because, due to quirks, you're not working with a blank canvas!

As Promised, the Reveal!

Last week I posted a picture of my sweet, albeit grungy, find from a local garage sale. I present to you, the transformation!

A HUGE thank you to the folks at Frugal Fabrics on Peachtree Industrial for having a super sale and carrying this delightful fabric and to Jose from Three Brother's Upholstery in John's Creek, who did this in record time without breaking the bank for me. They do quality work, for half the price of most upholsterers in the area (I did my footwork on this). If you live in the Atlanta area and would like their contact info, just let me know! I'm super pleased with our new living room chair:)

The patina is my favorite feature!

Secrets to an Effortless, Industrial Farmhouse Kitchen

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It's hard not to love the effortless look of an industrial farmhouse kitchen. In my tenure as a lover of said style, I've come up with a few common denominators that will help your kitchen evoke less of a cookie cutter and more of a "like butter (freshly churned)!" look. 

Disclaimer: This is my interpretation of the industrial chic/ farmhouse kitchen "look" and is therefore a bit more infused with color and vintage elements than other, more minimalist interpretations of the style.

#1. A Reclaimed Barnwood Table and/or Kitchen Island (or something similarly rustic)

You are looking for something that can handle wear and tear with grace. The more scratching, smudging and scuffing, the better! 

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2. Mismatched Chairs! Go for various shapes, sizes, colors and materials. An option would be to do mismatched chairs on one side, and a wooden bench on the other. If it feels too disjointed for your sensibilities, consider matching, neutral chair pads.

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3. Utilitarian Lighting. Consider bringing outdoor light fixtures inside! You could spend some serious money at places like here and here, but check out this sweet Home Depot option for a fraction of the price!

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4. A farmhouse sink! Lovely, lovely, lovely. Perfect to roll up your sleeves and scrub a pot or get a painting project off your hands.

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5. A a vintage statement piece. This could be a vintage fridge, a salvaged sign or galvanized storage shelves. The sky is the limit. Many of these items seem impossibly expensive, but I'm convinced that a bit of yard saleing, thrifting, rummage sale sifting, and craiglisting will soon yield me a statement piece without breaking the bank!

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I've come very close... I found an awesome vintage refrigerator a few months back, through word of mouth. A lady was trying to get rid of her mother's old appliances and was willing to sell it to me for $70. It was aqua and chrome and super charming... Only problem, it worked for about 10 minutes and then went kaput, at which point she was willing to give it to me for $40. As swoony as it was, I just couldn't justify bringing home a broken fridge!

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6. The right accessories. I, for one, love to fill spaces with junk! When accessorizing an industrial farmhouse kitchen, however, excessive tschotskes are to be avoided. The key is for everything to feel useful, gathered over time, and interesting. These are the items that will warm up, an otherwise sterile style.

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From Cookie Cutter to Like Butter- Room Makeovers on the Cheap {1}

Welcome to the start of a new series of posts called "From Cookie Cutter to Like Butter." These posts are designed for folks who have identified their space as needing help, but don't quite now where to start and fear taking risks. 


Each week, I will use a photo of a vanilla room and give it a virtual makeover, of sorts, by suggesting changes that would take the room from bland to grand?


Now, there have to be rules because the goal is for people who identify their space as being blah and are on a budget, to be able to take these ideas and run with them, if they so choose.


Rule #1. No makeover will amount to more than $1,000 (before tax and shipping)


Rule#2. All suggested changes will be easy to find online or in a local store


Rule#3. Is more of a request. In order for this series to grow, I need you, dear readers, to send me photos of rooms in need to help. You can send them to: mostazaseeddesign@gmail.com. Thanks!


So, we'll kick things off today with a room in need of a little help:

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Walls:

The color of the walls is a bit blah, let's kick it up a notch by painting it this color:

Persian Mellon (117) by Benjamin Moore, $33.99 a gallon.

Measure your square footage before heading to the hardware store to buy paint and pick up primer if you don't already have some in the garage. For the sake of this example, we are going to use two gallons of the interior paint, bringing our total, so far, to $67.98.

Floor:

Seeing as how the floor is tile, rugs are key in warming up the room and defining a space in an open-floor concept home. The rug we have now is nice, but it could be bolder.

3x5 Festival Rug from Anthropologie, $268

A little splurge goes a long way in bringing life and comfort into a once dull room.

Total spent so far: $335.98

Furniture:

I love the Chesterfield sofa and the rocker, nearest to us, is decent. Let's swap out the easy chair and ottoman, whose floral pattern is a bit dated, with this:

Ikea Solsta Olarp Chair, $69 

What a steal!

Metal Accordion Side Table, $49 from Urban Outfitters

Adorable Danish Modern Coffee Table from Etsy seller andrew908, $100

The modern lines of this chair and coffee table balance out the curves of the Chesterfield sofa.

Total spent so far: $553.98

Accessories and Art:

Now the fun part begins! Our goal is to give this room a lived in feel and to choose pieces that look as if they have been collected over time, not in one shopping trip. I'm partial to vintage, but a few vintage inspired pieces in the mix will do the trick as well.

Pom Pom Cord Drapes, $69 each from PB Teen

Since we already have so much going on with the wall color and rug, I wanted to stay light with the curtains and keep the room airy and bright. The pom pom fringe is delightful!

Birdcage Hanging Lamp from Urban Outfitters, $98

The sidetable is small and we want to leave space for a drink or a knick knack, so a hanging light is a great way to light up the room without taking up table space.

Now, on to the walls!

Above the sofa:

Vintage Pulldown Map of the USA from Etsy seller atouchofvintage, $125

Off to the right side of the room:

Industrial Salvage Building Letter from Etsy seller monikersincorporated, $9.75

Scour flea markets of Etsy for large letters. Spell something out or just use one! This "O" would be great for the Osbourne family.

Illustrations from Vintage Magazines from Etsy seller TotallyOldAdds, $4.95

Hit up Etsy or a local antique shop for vintage books and magazines. Frame the pages

for a super cheap and super cute piece of art for the walls.

And let's not forget pillows for the sofa!

Round Pintuck Pillow from Urban Outfitters, $32

Take your current pillows and give them new life with cushion covers:

Volumes in Rose Pillow Cover from Etsy seller MintDesign, $18

Love the Anna Maria Horner Fabric on this one!

Square Tiles Glacier Blue Modern Pillow Cover from Etsy seller ModDiva, $12.95

Grand total: $992.63

So, for about $1000 you can take a room from cookie cutter to like butter!

If you would like your room to be featured and made over in the next "From Cookie Cutter to Like Butter," please email me photos at sbradac@mostazaseed.com

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Steph