gallery walls

i've loved this photo for years
I still have gallery walls on my mind. In a new decorating mag I recently bought, they showed a room makeover where they made a gallery wall with thrifted frames spray painted white for continuity. Spray adhesive was used to make new custom mats using bristle board and linen. I don't know if I'd be so inclined to have it be that "predictable" since I'm an eclectic girl at heart. Somehow I need to start amassing a collection of cool little images to scatter all over a wall.

It's actually pretty difficult to find gallery walls that are well done. Here are a few over at Flickr that are interesting (beware-o flickr...I nearly got "lost" in a sea of decorating groups I could barely resist joining...like I need another reason to get online more than I should!):

here @ flickr

here @ flickr

cool!

another neat idea

hmmmm?

LOVE this image!!

Okay, I MUST step away from the 'puter and do something more productive than drool over interior shots at Flickr!

shutters headboard

I sooo do not have time to be checking out decorating blogs today, let alone be online at all, but here I go. Over at A Soft Place to Land they have compiled over 100 links to people's latest DIY projects! The first one I clicked on led me to a blog called Shanty 2 Chic that has this great idea posted below! They even include a tutorial. Though mine would probably end up being white and not have a scrolly frou frou thingy (t'is cute but not me!), I love that I have hope of having a headboard some day. Now to track down some shutters!

photos of benches

Though none of these are necessarily "me", I thought I'd post some inspiration pics of the very few benches with pillows that I could find.

The last photo is a window seat. Though I've tried, I don't think I can incorporate that into our house. Whaaaaa!

dining room makeover progress & pondering over a bench makeover

I'm ashamed to say this, but almost one year ago I removed the original hum drum trim from my dining room and never put up any new trim. It was great for the purpose of repainting the room (no trim to worry about getting wall paint on), but that's as far as I got. I'm am determined to now remedy this situation. I decided to trim it up "Chris style", Chris being my amazing decorator sister. You can find her here (click on the photo). Prepare to be met by pages and pages of eye candy:


Here's the style of trim it used to have and that still exists in every other room:

yes I have 2 blinds up...one looks good, the other cuts out the light when you're trying to watch TV, and I have yet to make a final choice!
Here's our progress so far:




Here's my sister's dining room's faux recessed paneling which serves as inspiration for my own dining room makeover:



a previous era in the same room
On another note, I was down in the storage room pre-drilling holes in the half-round molding and saw this bench below. I thought, "hmmmm, we have a bench. we have a little bench. hmmmm." This bench is actually one that was my mother-in-law's but I've really come to dislike most unpainted wooden furniture. Besides, it's style is, well, a little meh. I know for her, she has an admirable love for stained wood and I can appreciate that. I have the notion to paint it black, perhaps distressing the edges, and making a long seat cushion for it along with 3 varying small pillows. I like the set up I have in the front entry now, but I really desperately need lamps in other rooms and wouldn't mind having the Pier 1 one below for another room!


this space is currently housing some stuff while my daughter's bedroom is it's own state of makeoverness
how the front entry usually looks...I need that lamp in my family room I think!

inspiration for dining room makeover

dining room inspiration by lilibethsgarden on Polyvore.com

This is my first polyvore, so don't laugh. My dining room walls are about that colour, and we're in the process of doing DIY recessed paneling. That's what the "thing" is behind the dresser, in case you were wondering. I already have a grey'ish dresser in there too. I'd want wicker chairs that are a leeetle more subtle in colour, but I do like the punch of happy green. The thing that scares me the most is securing a decent sized area rug that isn't hundreds of dollars, let alone ONE hundred dollars. I have a table I need to paint black, and I'll need to track down 4 chairs as I no longer like the ones that came with the table.

It's fun to create a vision for what I want to accomplish, even though it'll be a slow process.

gallery walls

I adore this wall done by sfgirlbyday.

I'm going to do this behind my couch in the living room, though I'm sure it'll take some time to collect enough framed art to start something. Time to start scrounging, thrifting, and painting.

retro record album holder finally has a place

We've had this piece of furniture for a couple of years now. It was in Jon's parent's family room when I first met him. It must have been an old piece back then. It's never found a place of it own other than being put into a spare room. I dragged it out of the den the other night and plunked it down in the front entry. Voila! It makes this space feel like it's a room all on it's own.

Now I need to thrift/buy something cool to sit on it besides the lamp and a few shells.