Living Room Show Off

Here it is, as promised months ago, my living room. Every piece of furniture in here has been bought used on Craigslist or a thrift store. The couches,  I finished upholstering this summer and painted the frame. The piano I painted just this month, the stool was a pink vanity stool from a thrift store. The armoire was an orange oak color and was just $35 thrifted. The small chair in the corner I sewed my first ever slip cover in red toile. The checkered coffee table was an orange/brown oak. The only project that I am not 100 percent pleased with was painting the bookcases. The bookcases are a laminate, I tried Annie Sloan Chalk Paint first, it wouldn't stick. I've even painted plastic with this stuff but it just wasn't cutting it. I used a primer made for all surfaces and latex paint, it still scrapes off. I followed all those "painting laminate bookcase" tutorials and such, no luck. I'll have to find a replacement for the shelves at some point.

I have unintentionally started a vintage shoe collection in my living room. I have an old pair of English Riding boots on the bookcase, wooden shoes on the piano, and on the coffee table, a pair of wooden shoe inserts.

I added a boxwood wreath for the holidays but I love it so much I think I'll just keep it all year. The wood rocking "mule" my grandpa carved for my daughter as a Christmas gift. The man is very talented with wood.

I was inspired by my love of horses to do an equestrian look with a bit of Swedish spin. I love the sophisticated but country feel of it, the rustic plaids and checks, the warm red and blacks offset by the cool crisp whites.

The saddle in the corner is the one I use to ride, I thought I might as well put it to use when I'm not using it.
I took full advantage of the site Graphics Fairy and use her beautiful finds to print onto some scrapbook paper. The funky anatomical horse graphics tell a little about me and make it my home. I popped them into some cheap black walmart frames. I also used her graphics to print some vintage Christmas images for a rustic Christmas tree garland.

In the next six months my only plans to improve my living room will be to extend the laminate wood flooring from my kitchen you can see in the background. I think the whitewashed gray will be great against the red, whites and blacks.

Curious about what it looked like before? I'm embarassed to show you but I want you to realize that you are capable of changing anything with a little paint and a few DIY projects. You can see how much my style preferences have changed too.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Jenine

Linking back to...
kammyskorner.com
missmustardseed.com

Craft Fair Wrap Up

So I'm not going to lie to y'all and sugar coat things- the craft fair was a huge bust. No one showed up besides the 12 vendors and their families. I sold one stool. I think the only vendor who sold a thing was the balloon animal lady. I know she got a bit of my money after my daughter begged for what felt like hours. On the plus side, the school got some much-needed money during this PTA fundraiser and now my shop page and Etsy shop will be more full than ever before! Back to the daily grind, my house could sure use a good cleaning after weeks of neglect.

I still took pictures and I am not ashamed or embarrassed to show my beautiful work, hope you enjoy. I'll be working on getting all of these items on my shop page. Feel free to e-mail me if you have questions about an item or its price in the meantime.

Jenine

Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com

Arles Yellow Desk

Friday is the day of the craft fair and I jut have one more piece to paint, I'm in turbo mode now. Today I finished a fun desk. I love the long legs of the desk and the hardware is just something special. I went out of my comfort zone and painted it in Arles Chalk Paint, lightened a little with some tan.  I dark waxed this piece to tone down the brightness and add patina. If this desk is for you come on down Friday, I'd love to meet you. Here's the info:
Eva M Wolfe Elementary School
4027 West Washburn Road, North Las Vegas, NV 89031
December 14th 2012
5:30 pm- until closing

I almost forgot....... Here is another sneak peek of some more headbands I'll be selling as well. I can't pass up a chance to show cute pictures of my girl.

Jenine

Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com

Numbered Dresser

Here's another piece I finished for the craft fair. I've been wanting to do a numbered dresser for about a year now. I did a old white/duck egg blue wash to give the driftwood appearance. This was a great dresser for it,  the wood grain was dry and deep, the paint just settled into place.

Some of the original hardware was missing and I wanted to go for a rustic feel so I replaced the old with the new rope pulls. Each drawer has been lined with striped wallpaper.

If you would love to give this dresser a home come see me December 14th 6pm at Eva M. Wolfe Elementary School!

Jenine



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missmustardseed.com
www.bystephanielynn.com

Painting my Piano

I finally finished the last huge piece of furniture for my formal living room. Painting the piano! I've been thinking about it for along time but couldn't decide on the color until everything started to fall into place.

I got this piano as a gift for my birthday 2 yrs ago, my sweet husband surprised me with it, how fun. It is a very used piano off of Craigslist. I probably wouldn't recommend painting a brand new piano. The brown color was really weighing down my living room, it was almost making it feel like there were two separate spaces, one bright cheery side with reds and whites and the dark brown side that didn't fit in.
I had the usual concerns about painting a piano but it is pretty easy when you use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I left my piano in the very spot it always is in to paint it, no sanding or priming necessary with the chalk paint. I debating for along time between a Paris Grey or Old White. I finally settled on Old white, knowing secretly that I plan on replacing the carpet with a beautiful laminate whitewashed wood flooring that I already have in my kitchen. This will all take place when I have the money and my husband puts in the flooring himself ;)

 Anyways.....back to the piano, I still haven't decided if I'd like to use a dark wax over it, I have a huge armoire in the room that is heavily dark waxed and I just don't want everything looking super old.

When it came time to distress it, I used a neat distressing trick that you may or may not already be aware of. Since it was in my home, on the carpet, instead of sanding down the edges I used a damp wet rag to wipe the areas I wanted to distress. It takes a bit of elbow grease but it does a great job and looks very natural.
It is also a great technique if you have another paint color underneath that you'd like to show through.

Because of the- no sanding at any point in the process- I wasn't worried about ruining the important stuff on the inside of the piano and changing its main function, music. Not that I can play the piano really well, someday right?

I just love the little flower carving detail, it adds such character to the piece. I painted it in coco chalk paint to make it pop a bit and match with the stool. Do you recognize the stool, it's from one of my older posts?

 I'm almost ready to take final pictures of the entire room for the blog but I'd thought it would be so perfect to show it when it's all decorated for Christmas. It's like my living room was made just for Christmas, it's so perfect:).

Jenine



Linking back to...
missmustardseed.com