Dining Room Buffet Table Free Find - It's finished!

I am very excited that the buffet table for the dining room is finally painted!!  Okay so first we handy hubby did a light sanding, primed and we handy hubby actually sprayed the whole thing.  Spraying was a HUGE lifesaver.  Can't imagine having to paint all this detail by hand!

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I left the hardware the original color.  I went back and forth on this, but I really think it gives it more of an Old Worldly look.

And since everyone loves a good before and after...

Can you believe someone gave this away?? 

Kitchen Frame Wall

So, I've been working on a frame wall in the kitchen.  I'm sure I will be tweaking this for months to come, but here is what I have so far!

I didn't want the frames or pictures to be too matchy matchy or two symmetrical.  It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish.  Much easier than trying to get frames in a straight line!  I'm liking this!  I layed them out on the floor and started hammering away!

I found a mixture of prints from books, family photos, scrapbook paper, and printables.

This is one of my favorite printables from Danielle Oakey Interiors!  So cute!

The Dining Room So Far!

I'm starting to take one room at a time to tackle the new house!  I thought I would share a few pics from the dining room so far.

I am such a bargain shopper.  I love shopping but it's so much better when you know you got things for a steal!  Here is a breakdown of the dining accessories and the cost!

One of my favorite places to shop is from thrift stores.  Even better when you're in a small town!  The prices there are usually so much better than in the city.  I found these awesome vases for .25 cents each!!  When I unpacked them I took the price tag off and had to look a second time to make sure I didn't misread the tag!  I waited until the flowers were 50% off from Hobby Lobby. 

I found the candlesticks for .75 cents each!  Such a steal.  I spent a little more on the candles so I could get a package.  I figured I would actually use them if I knew I had package!

I absolutely LOVE these pillows!  They were originally $39!!  I got them for $9.95 on clearance.  I love having pillows on the chairs in the dining room.  It just makes it look more inviting and cozy!

Marshall's is one of my newest fav places to shop!  We moved right down the street from one and I am loving it!  I found these great lamps there for $29/each!  You can read more about the red mirror here.

This tray was originally $29 from Target.  I got it on clearance for $7.99!  I was ecstatic about that purchase! :) 

I found these frames from Marshall's for $9.99/each.  I went back and forth on artwork and found the Pattern Pieces series over at Sprik Space.  Check her out she is amazing!!

You can read more about the jute pear here.  It's still one of my favs!

We are so blessed to have had the curtains, table, antique dresser (buffet table) and antique chairs passed down from various family members. A HUGE thank you to all of you for helping to make our house a home.  And another big thanks to my parents who will be giving us their old dining room chairs!

Grand Total for all furniture and accessories $178.42!!!  Woo hoo!!  I love everything about this room, especially since it didn't break the bank!!

Red Dining Room Mirror

I am doing a lot of unpacking right now, but the hubby and I took a break to conquer a small project!

My mom had a lovely gold mirror that she graciously donated to our project.  I've heard that gold is making a comeback, but I decided the dining room needed a little bit of a bolder color!

The first thing we (actually handy hubby) did was tape and cover the mirror.  He's so awesome.  :)

All taped and ready for painting!

We primed...

And then painted it red with a satin finish spray paint.

I also purchased two lamps from Marshall's for $29/each!  Can't beat that!

Now for some other accessories...  I really like this planter box from Shanty 2 Chic.  Maybe in white??

Also, a big thanks to Whitney at Shanty for the red inspiration with her red photo wall.  Love!

I also really like this flower box from Thrifty Decor Chick:

But for now I am just enjoying the pop of color in the dining room!

Paint - Before and Afters

Painting is done!!  I can't believe how different the house looks!  I absolutely love the colors.  You can read more about the colors we chose and the inspiration here.

I wish I had true before and afters.  The before pics were done with a wide lens camera, but you get the idea!

Here is the before of the entry/dining area:

After - Behr River Rock 730E-3 and Behr Castle Path 730C-3:

Before Dining Room:

And After - Behr River Rock 730E-3:

Before Living Room:

And After - Behr Castle Path 730C-3:

One thing we did in Handy Hubby's office is update the moulding around the top.

They had already done the hard part for us - all we did was paint in between to give the illusion of really thick moulding!

I want to do this around some of our baseboards!  House of Smith's has a great tutorial for chunkier baseboards.

Here is a close up!

Also a quick painting tip!

Handy Hubby picked one of these up at the store.  I thought it was a waste of money... until I tried it.  I will never paint without this thing!  We did not tape one wall.  Let me repeat that - NO TAPING!  I meant to take a picture of one of the lines.  It is crisper than with taping and saves SO much time!  This product is well worth the money!  You do have to buy the refills. We found it best to replace with a refill after every room or two but definitely worth it for all the time you save and how easy it is to use!  Genius!

Updating Stair Baluster Spacing

This is the first of many home improvement posts!  We've closed on the house!!  We are so excited to get moved in before the end of the year.  There are a few things on our to do list before we move in.  The first project tackled was the stairs.  See the lovely popcorn on the ceiling?  That will be next!  And finally we will be painting (yes it really is that orange in person).

Here is a picture of the little man poking his head through part of the stairs.  Big problem! One of the first things we did was update the baluster spacing.  We opted to keep the majority of the existing wood to cut down on costs. 

This saved a ton of money.  They were able to only remove/replace the spindles.  The spindles were approximately $3/each for the straight and $5/each for the baskets.  Total cost was around $1,000.  Not too bad!  I was amazed at how much it updated the entry.  Love it!  And it sure beats the hubby's first suggestion of using netting around the entire entry! :)

One more time, here is the before:

 After:

 Before:

 After:

Popcorn removal starts Monday!!