Updated Staircase

So, I have pretty much hated our staircase since the day we moved in. I didn't like the mix of orangey wood with the white and I just hung frames we had from our last home going up the stairs. They looked nice in our teeny tiny hallway in our last place but looked so tiny and dull here but I figured I would change them as soon as I could afford the large frames I had in mind for the space. I finally painted the banister and railing last fall and it helped but I still needed to update the frames.

Here it is from a while ago:

And here it is now:

 

I have to admit I don't really love how they turned out. They are too bold for my taste so I am planning on painting over the boards at some point but for now I think they are at least better than what was there before!  And I can't complain because I made all five for less than cost of one of the large frames I had been wanting to purchase.

 

I removed the "Lola's Fence" as Lillie calls it for the pictures but this is what the bottom of our staircase actually looks like! I have to admit, baby gates are one of my least favorite items. Not just because they are so unattractive but because they are such a paint to climb over... (I have to admit I feel like it is quite an athletic accomplishment when I successfully make it over with one girl on each hip - haha!)

Also, we finally have our Jane Austen cutouts for sale!

If you are new to our blog you can find our whole Jane Austen inspired party here:

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

A Little French Cabinet Makeover

We pretty much have zero storage space in our home. Because of this I am always on the lookout for pieces of furniture that can be used as storage. Upstairs we just have one teeny tiny linen closet and then each bedroom has a small closet. Neither of the bathrooms have one so trying to find space for towels, washcloths, and bed linens has always been a challenge. I have been on the lookout for either a tall dresser or cabinet/armoire that would fit in the little space in the hall upstairs. I have found a few things over the years but they have always been too wide and would not have fit. I had pretty much given up until I saw this piece in a used furniture shop here in Williamsburg. It was a good price and I loved the lines of it and it looked like it just might be narrow enough. After measuring the wall again at home to make sure it would indeed fit I got pretty excited about it and my mom and dad bought it for me for my birthday. Last week I finally got around to painting it!

Here is what it looked like to start with:

For this project, I simply added some tape to the wire to avoid getting paint on it and then started right in painting it. I used Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl for this piece. I wish I had of gone one shade darker but other than that I LOVE the color of it. It's a great gray, although I think it's kind of hard to see the true color in any of these pictures. =(

Once the whole outside of the piece was painted I sanded it down in some areas to give it more of a distressed feel. After that I painted the inside with a darker grayish blue by Benjamin Moore called Cobblestone Path (I think....I will have to check that one to make sure). I did choose the Gray Owl intentionally but for the inside I just went out to the garage and looked through my stash of extra paint and I thought this color complimented the Gray Owl best. If I had been able to just pick any color I would have gone for a slightly lighter less blue color but I am still happy with how this turned out.

After the inside dried completely I got really torn on what to do with it. I had been wanting to paint something chevron for a few months now but really didn't have the right place/piece to do it. I thought it might work but then realized how much work it was going to be so I kept talking myself out of it. Plus I was worried it might look a little too modern for this particular piece. Eventually, though, I knew I would be disappointed if I didn't at least give the chevron a chance so I started taping it out. Ugh! It was a total pain and I have to say I don't plan on doing it again any time soon! In fact, I almost gave up midway through. I wanted my chevron stripes to all be the same width, but in order to do that I had to tape accordingly, which makes some of the lines look skinnier (although once you pull the tape off it will make them even back out). It was a hair confusing to start with but not too bad once I got going.

Once it was FINALLY all taped off (I will make a mental note to NEVER attempt to do a wall) I painted every other chevron stripe with the Gray Owl I used on the outside of the piece and went to bed (sorry for the grainy phone pics for these shots).

The next morning Lillie helped me take all of the tape off and yay! It was worth it! It was far from perfect but seeing how it was the back of a piece that was going to have shelves and things on the shelves I knew it didn't have to be perfect.

Now that it is over with, I am so glad I did go ahead with the chevron. I think it adds a little quirky touch to this otherwise traditional piece. And when I get sick of it, it will take about two minutes to just paint over the back and then try something new (I had thought about wallpapering it or doing a damask stencil originally). For now, though, I love the chevron!

 

As usual, Lillie likes helping and for this piece she got to do the back all by herself! =) Believe it or not, it actually took her a really long time to do this.

Now we just have to get it back upstairs. These pictures were taken down in our entryway area because it hasn't made it's way back upstairs yet. I can move it from room to room but can't get it up stairs - it's heavy and rather awkward to lift. A few of Jon's players originally helped us get it up stairs when we first got it back in early January, then our friends Austin and Kelly came over and Austin helped Jon get it back downstairs last week so I could paint it...now we just need to rope one of the players into coming back over and helping us get it back upstairs.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday!
and The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday!

Our Family Room

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful here yesterday and we had a wonderful afternoon with the girls at the playground. It was the first time we had really taken Lola and she loved it. I also got a few more projects finished up including painting an armoire. I haven't photographed it yet but hopefully will at some point this week. Anyway, I thought I would show you the coffee table that I painted last week. It really lightens up the room!

Here is a photo of the coffee table from this fall. You can't really tell in this photo but the top of it was all scratched up. I had things strategically placed on the top of it to hide all the damaged spots.

I also switched the rug and placed it going the other way. Before it was running in length from the sofa to the opposite wall.

And now the length goes from the chairs to the kitchen area. I have no idea why I didn't do that years ago. It's hard to tell in photos but it looks so much better! I nagged the boys (Jon, Jason and Jason's best friend Jake who was here visiting) for days to help me switch it but they were not interested at all in helping. I am pretty sure they categorized this as one of my "projects" that did not seem worth it. So, finally the other morning Lillie, Lola and I did it. Well, actually Lola wasn't a whole lot of help but Lillie is turning into quite the little helper. I was quite proud of the fact that the girls and I got all of the furniture off (the coffee table weighs a TON) and got the rug moved and then everything put back on again. Especially because I think it looks so much better now. However, Jon didn't even notice it after I changed it and tried to get him to guess what was different in the room when he got home from work was so I can see why the boys weren't too keen on moving it. I think I may be alone in thinking it made that much of a difference. Oh well! I do have to say, although he may not have noticed the rug change he does love the new look of the coffee table!

 

We often get e-mails asking if we have a TV and if so where is it? Well, yes, we most definitely do have a TV, and here is a picture of where it is. I never show this side of the wall because it is so boring but I have promised a few people I would try to take a picture of it next time I took photos of our family room so here it is. I really want to paint the TV console too but it will probably be a while before I get to that. I have several other projects ahead of that on my list.

 

And yes, one of the knobs is missing on the coffee table. I knew it was around somewhere and I finally found it last night in Lillie's closet. I have no idea how it ended up there but at least now I can put it back on!

I also wanted to introduce another new Reagan Pillow! This one is made from a summery plaid fabric and has a cream ruffle. It has just been fully stocked in our shop!

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! I will be back tomorrow with a step by step on how I transformed the coffee table.