{Creating the Ultimate Dining Room}

Whether your traditional or cottage, farmhouse or industrial creating the ultimate dining room is easy if you follow these simple tips. (don't forget that Thanksgiving will be here before you know it!)

The table - every dining room should have one.

My favorite type of table is a big hunkin' farmhouse one.  I love the aged wood from the reclaimed lumber tops, mixed with all kinds of legs. My friend John Duffy, from Stable Tables specializes in making custom tables with all kinds of wood, mixed with all kinds of bases and legs.
He recently made this round table with a iron knitting base for the bottom. Awesome!

My dining room table was made by John about 2 years ago, and it is my favorite thing in the whole wide house!

The Chairs  - lot's of them.

The whole point of using my living room as a dining room was so I could have a giant room, with a giant table, and have tons of people over, and hopefully have giant plates of food (that's edible).

So, I needed chairs, chairs, and more chairs.

I find them everywhere. People leave them at my back door. I find them in the trash and at yard sales. I might even purchase some from time to time. And I almost always spray paint them. Seasonally.

When not in use in the dining room, I place them around the house. Bedrooms, hallways, even my powder room has a chair in it.

Dishes - pretty much anything goes.

I mix and match. I buy sets, partial sets, half sets, broken sets, one of a kinds, pairs, WHATEVER I like.

Then I throw them all together on the table, and voila. Dinner for 72.

Fun, quirky, cute, and nobody gets the impression that they need to be on their best behavior, or that anything near fancy is coming out of the kitchen.

In other words, it sets the mood for the whole night. It's eclectic, just like the people there. And that's how I like it.

A place to put all your stuff - a buffet.

If you're like me, your not serving each person individually and plating the food like your some fancy smanchie chef. Nope. Your throwin' it all in one spot and telling everyone to get up, cause it's time to eat.

But I will put in on/in something cool. So, while my cooking is not so hot. I can put together a mean display.

Yes. I found this buffet in the trash. I know. Crazy.

And don't forget the drinks.

Slap those bad boys somewhere interesting, and you'll have your guest ewwing and ahhing all night. 'Cause the bar of course is the most crowded part of the house when you're entertaining.

So, all in all these are the basic parts you'll need to create your own "ultimate dining room". 

Want more dining room ideas?  You'll have to wait for my Flea Market Dining e-zine, which will be coming to you very soon. FREE. You're welcome.

Or, you can peek into my boards on Pinterest.

Here for Thanksgiving ideas. And, here for dining rooms.

{Easy Paper craft project}

Hopefully, this craft project will ease the pain of an empty house after all your children have returned to school. (snort)

It's simple and easy and can be made with stuff laying around your house. It's nothing you haven't seem before, and I highly doubt you need a tutorial for it, but, I love PicMonkey, so your stuck with a bunch of photos walking you through this terribly intricate craft that I'm sure you can't live with out.

Start with some paper (wrapping, map, construction, etc..., Mod Podge, and an initial letter (which you can sometimes find in the dollar bin at Target).

Trace the letter.

Cut it out.

Rub it in place.

Ta-da!
Place it on the mantel and continue to arrange your "back to school" mantel - COMING SOON.
(A ONE on the scale of 1-10 difficulty)

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{Sponsor Love}

Let's just jump right to the point...

Recently I've started accepting sponsors on my blog.

The sponsors enable me to do what I love and share it with you.

A big thanks to the sponsors!! Yeah!

Consign It Furniture is the perfect spots for DIYer's like us.

It's a great second hand furniture store and recently became an Annie Sloan retailer. 

Hooray for Consign it!

We all need a local spot to grab a quart of Annie Sloan and a new-to-us piece of furniture.

So, if you haven't tried this paint yet, what are you waiting for?

If your nervous about painting, or would like to learn more about the Annie Sloan Paint try a workshop offered at Consign it Furniture.

Consign it Furniture is in Kennett Square, PA.

But, don't worry. They'll ship the ASCP to you if you'd like.

You can connect with Consign it through Facebook too.

You'll be kept up to date on their incoming stock and any sales.

So, send them some love and give them a visit, either in person or on facebook.

They are located at

345 Scarlet Rd

New Garden Shopping Center, Ste. 12

Kennett Square, PA 

610-444-9290

Breakfast Nook & a Second Season

Every time I finish a new project I always get so excited.  My design projects are like babies to me. I love and nurture them until they are all grown up.  Well…not exactly (raising a little one is way harder) but you get the idea.  I think any designer that is passionate about what they do becomes very attached to their projects.  Especially when the clients are awesome to work with and have great style.  This was the case with my latest project.  I’ve been working with these clients for the last few months, and it has been a total joy.  They came to me asking if I would design their breakfast nook in their new home.  They moved to Atlanta from Houston and didn’t have anything that they wanted to keep in their new breakfast nook.  It was so much fun to literally start from scratch on their design.

I built their design around this fabric from Kravet.

I love using botanical posters from The Evolution Store in my designs.  They make such a statement in a room.

To give the room that warm and fuzzy feeling I shopped at local antique stores for accessories and one of a kind finds.

I found the cute little footstool at Target.  I’ll be reupholstering the top with plain burlap, but in honor of the London Olympics I left it in my photos.

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SEASON 2

On another note, Elbow Room got picked up for a second season on HGTV!!!!  I’ve already started designing with Chip and the rest of the team.  I’m looking forward to another fun season.  Last year I was so bad about taking behind the scenes pictures while we were on set.  I’m going to try to make a point to capture more of the good stuff on camera this year.  We have so much fun on the sets and I’d love to be able to share that with everyone.  We start filming in mid-October.  We are still accepting applications so if you live in the Atlanta area and need a renovation please apply.  You can apply here.  Good luck if you apply. 

LiveJournal Tags: my design,elbow Room,breakfast nook,kravet,the evolution store,target

{Ideas for transforming ordinary objects}

A lot of how I decorate is based on what I find laying around the house, at my local thrift store, or yard sales. I try to keep it useful so I don't add clutter, I add function and fun.

If something draws my eye, I buy it. I figure I'll find out what to do with it later.

And I always do...

Whether it a vintage yard stick, or a tomato can, I can find a place for it. And, with a little inspiration, you can too. Some items can be altered to be transformed into something other than their original use, and they're the best ones. They add life, personality and uniqueness to your home.

I put together some images of items I have used around my own house to inspire you to do the same.

  

Places to be inspired...

I love Pinterest and I find a TON of inspiration there. If you'd like to peek and see what I'm pinning, you can follow me here.

I like to share many of the good ideas I find on the web on The Painted Home's facebook page.

There's tons of creative ideas floating around the internet, so follow along!

Recently, I starting using instagram for all the photos I take on my phone. I'd be happy to have you check out some of my inspiration. Click here to follow.

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