"Grown-Up Glam Dining Reveal: Part 2"

I'm back to reveal Part 2 of my last client project.  Believe it or not, I actually haven't had the opportunity to do many formal dining rooms.  I think it speaks to the way we leave these days.  There's likely not a lot of formal entertaining going on in most homes.  Unfortunately, my home doesn't have a formal dining room.  If it did, I'd totally use it. 

So the plan was to update the existing dining room with a few key accents, including a new rug, drapery, wallpaper and chairs.  This is where we began....

 

An awesome sale on this trellis style rug took us in a bit of a different direction from the start, but it worked out for the best. 

 

I'm really pleased with how things turned out.  So here goes...

 

 

 

 

We needed to spruce up the seating but didn't want to get rid of eight perfectly good dining chairs, so we opted for reupholstery. 

 

For maximum impact and minimal costs, we used this black animal print to dress things up a bit.  We kept the head chairs as is. 

 

 

Once again, Baity's Custom Upholstery knocked it out of the park. 

 

 

I was dead set on adding a bar cart to this space.  There wasn't an over abundance of floor space so I knew I needed something small and round.  Thanks goodness for antique shows, but I scored this baby for a song!

 

Needless to say, one of my favorite things was outfitting this cart with barware.  Drinks anyone?

 

 

So, what do you think?  The client love it so much.  The front entry opens into a foyer that's connected to this space so it really does make a great first impression.

 

There's just one more component to this three part reveal and I'll give you a hint.....it includes another amazing Craigslist furniture transformation.  Until then....

 

Photo Credit:  Cam Richards Photography



"Birthday Backyard Movie Night"

Hope you guys had an awesome weekend.  I did!  It was my birthday weekend after all.  It was so great spending time with my friends, so I had to share the weekend's happenings with you. 

So, I decided to host a backyard movie night.  My backyard has been looking so inviting that I decided why not invite others to take in the serene environment.  I'll admit, I tend to go overboard when it comes to entertaining, but these days I just don't have the time or energy for that.  I was bound and determined to keep it simple. 

So with the invites sent...

...I began planning a simple no-stress, event appropriate menu.  I included traditional movie theater fare.

I was a little worried that it wouldn't be enough, but a wise friend reminded me that no one will starve to death if we happened to run out of an offering. So very true.

I knew it would be super warm, even in the evening this time of year, so hydration was key.  I ordered this small cart from Wal-Mart.com to use as an outdoor bar cart.

Although it was a little small (I may upgrade to something larger), it was perfect for styling and holding the Sangria and cold beverages.  I picked up the bust planter on sale at Hobby Lobby for 80% off.  It was originally royal blue.  I'm convinced that there's nothing a coat of gold spray paint can't fix.

The tablescape began with this $4.99 vinyl tablecloth I picked up at Ross.  I was drawn to it simple because of the color and floral design and was surprised how nice it looked for vinyl.  No surprise it was made by Waverly. 

I love when I get to pull out my Grandma's Fiesta Ware.  If you've ever been to my home you know I do NOT do paper products.  I figure, if I have dishes and cloth napkins, they we're designed to be used. 

 

 After we had our snacks in hand, we moved outside to the backyard.  I will admit it was HOTT and ideally speaking we would've started much later so that it would've been completely dark.  However, it was a Sunday night and I wanted to be mindful of the fact that most people had to get up and go to work the next day. By about 8:30 the projection was perfect. 

Honestly the most difficult part was selecting a movie that was a crowd pleaser.  I wanted something that was not too long, engaging from the very beginning, a blockbuster type (mass appeal and a happy ending), no racial or political undertones and not too heavy (deep) it was a celebration after all.  I chose Unstoppable starring Denzel Washington and given the applause at the end, I'd say it was a hit.

There's just nothing better than having a house full of friends.  We all had a blast!

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday and I'm so blessed to have been able to celebrate it with friends.

"Breaking in the Bar Cart"

While working with Jennifer on our little edible gifts collaboration, I took the opportunity to break in my bar cart. 

 

For starters, I needed to make things a little more festive for the season. Several months ago, I picked up this awesome frame at Goodwill for $4.  I had no idea what I would end up doing with it, but I was drawn to the natural wood frame. 

 

After sitting in my garage for a while, upon closer inspection I realized that the wood backing would be perfect for a chalkboard.  I simply removed the glass and sprayed the back panel with my chalkboard spray paint. 


via Pinterest

A little "Pinspiration" and I had a great holiday message.  Jennifer was a great helper when it came to bar tending. 

I really like the idea of having a serving area in the living space.  I think it has application beyond beverages. 

 

Have you noticed, bar carts have been popping up everywhere?  The most popular seems to be the Target version. 

 



Target



While it's not a horrible price ($129.00), I've recently seen some great options on Craigslist that offer the same functionality.  And let's face it, once you have it all decked out, you can barely even see the cart.  Check out what a search for "Metal Cart" and "Bar Cart" yield on Craigslist in my area...

 



via Craigslist ($45)



via Craigslist ($50)





via Craigslist ($75)

No matter what option you choose, the addition of a bar cart in your living space is a great idea.

Glad I finally had the chance to break mine in.  Have a great weekend!!!

"A Few Updates"

I’ve been busy working on several clients this week and honestly haven’t had a lot of time to thing about the blog. I did want to post a couple of updates and share some exciting news.

First, several of you asked about the full view of my bar cart.  It actually wasn’t an oversight; I purposely didn’t include a frontal view.  You see, when I removed the drop leaf sides, I had to remove the screws that held it in place.  Unfortunately, that meant that I would be exposing the unfinished (unstained) wood underneath.  Urgh!  The best laid plans…

 

I did my best to stain it to match, but to no avail.  However, you asked for it, you got it.  Here’s a true before and after. 

 

 

In other news, AThoughtful Place blog regularly features a Friday Eye Candy post on her blog.  She hosts contest on Instagram and selects the featured photos from among the submissions.  Last week she asked her followers to submit their favorite Home Goods finds, so I posted this recent client project as my entry.
 

 

 Lo and behold, guess who made the Friday Eye Candy feature? 

 





  

Click HERE to see the others featured (I'm in great company)

Yep. And it gets better. Apparently Home Goods picked it up and decided to post the picture on their Instagram account for their 72,000 followers to view.  Whoa!! Needless to say I was (am) speechless. 

  

Wow! That’s a whole lotta "likes".  And these days, I could use a little....

 

 

"Project Bar Cart Complete"

 

 

I mentioned a few weeks ago, that I was bound and determined to fill the empty space in my living room with a bar cart.

 

. 

I searched high and low, thinking I wanted something that looked like this, but I ended up scoring this much more traditional option on Craigslist.  

 

 

I'm pretty sure it's a tea cart, and I wasn't sure about it at first. I knew I'd want to remove the drop leaf sides so that I could display items underneath.  However, having the option to add them back when entertaining is an added bonus.  

 

Once I had the construction right, it was on to styling. 

 

  

 

Here's the thing, I'm actually not a big liquor drinker, so I wanted my bar accessories to be conducive for what I actually drink; wine.  I found a number of great really affordable accessories at the Metrolina Expo Antique and Collectibles Show, including this framed "cork board", gold rimmed cordial glasses and a fabulous Italian tray. 

 

 

 

I also picked up this gold bar tools set for $10.  I was SO EXCITED that it was gold. 

 

 

My favorite, without a doubt, was this $3.00 brass picture with a duck spout.  I couldn't resist.

 

 

I needed a place to store my wine glasses and preferred that they hang from underneath.  I found these gold under the cabinet wine glass holders for $3.50 on Ebay. Each holds 2-3 glasses and they were narrow enough for me to mount two behind the drawer on the underside of the cart. 

 

 

I also added some decorative paper to the drawer as liner. 

 

Go figure, Target had the perfect ice bucket and wine bottle rack for this project.  

 

 

And with that, project bar cart is a wrap, except maybe for the addition of a little liquor.

 

 

 

One project down, so many to go....