Home Tour: Christmas Tree, Table, Mantle...sneak peek of new floor and kitchen

It's Christmas time in these parts and I hope to clean show you the rest of the Christmas decorations over the next week or so.  Plus, Mr. TSL and I (mainly me while he was at work) laid the floor in the kitchen and dining room over 3 days!  Pics of that in a sec.  We are hosting Christmas this year and I am super excited.  I almost alwasy do Thanksgiving and my sister in law does Christmas.  This year we switched!

I don't do "theme" stuff for Christmas.  Mainly because it would take entirely way too much planning on my part.  I often only buy Christmas stuff after Christmas, so I would essentially have to plan a year in advance. Not happening.  Plus, all the ornaments on our tree were mine and the mr's from childhood, or our kids picked them out.  We rock white and colored lights...I want white, mr and kids want colored lights. We hang both.  I am proud to say that other than picking up the brass candlesticks for the table ($10 for all of them on CL) I didn't buy anything for decorations!  I am planning to buy some napkins for dinner and maybe 3 disco balls to replace the silver ornaments on the table, but haven't done any of that yet.

As for now, here is our Christmas Dining Room tour.

Because we have so many stockings, we use a gold painted dowel rod hung with some Merry Christmas stocking holders.  This WILL NOT hold full stockings.  So, when Christmas comes Santa leaves the stockings filled on the floor!

I had been looking for a wool plaid blanket for a while to use as a tablecloth and had all but given up on finding one for cheap.  Then, I was helping my mom clean out some boxes and this was in one of them.  She told me to throw it away...I kept it.  

and that completes our Chistmas dining room tour....now on to some kitchen progress, new chairs, and new rugs.....

The pics are taken in really low light and the cabinets are more of an inky dark gray.  The pics are spot on for the fingerprints on the dishwasher though!

Pic of the newi-sh (I've had it for a while and not blogged about it) runner on the stairs.

 My new 8x10 Kilim Rug my friend was not diggin anymore, so we traded for a mirror I had from Hobby Lobby and a cake stand I hadn't used in forever!  I freakin' love it!  Thanks Erin! Plus, aren't those stools amazing....trash that Mr. TSL brought home for me.  He brought home 7 of them!  The Island is getting a makeover this weekend!

My new chairs I scored on Craigslist for $35 each.  The black one was originally bright yellow.  Couple coats of paint and the black is much better!  I originally thought they were Eames Chairs, but they are in fact vintage Krueger chairs and were advertised as "Fucky Little Chairs"  She meant funky, but now they are called fucky chairs.

xoxo

Linking to:

inspired by charm

SUNDAY: The DIY Showoff 

 MONDAY: Thrifty Decor Chick, Dittle Dattle,Between Naps On the Porch, Homemaker on a Dime
TUESDAY: Tip Junkie, Today's Creative Blog, Strictly Homemade
WEDNESDAY: Not Just A Housewife Sugar and Dots The Mommy Club  
THURSDAY:My Repurposed Life. House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Somewhat Simple 
FRIDAY: Fingerprints on the Fridge, Miss Mustard Seed, Remodelaholic, Chic on a Shoestring,  Shabby Nest
SATURDAY: Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello 

Barn Loot: Ugly Tin Makeover

I went to a barn sale months back and got a bunch of goodies.  One of which was this ugly ass tin box that had a flower on it.  The other was a fabulous coffee tin.

I spray painted the flower area with white,  taped it off when it dried completely and painted it red!

 Now they both hang out on my freshly painted kitchen shelves!

xoxo

Large Red Lantern for $15

Remember when I scored this lantern from a thrift store for $10.  It started out freaking fugly, but it had potential.  It was so damn heavy and I immediately got to work on it.  Yes, I had other crap going on, but come on.  

All the glass was in great shape and was beveled.  It was going to be a total bitch to tape it all off and try to get the spray paint in all the nooks and crannies.  So, with my super arm strength I held it above our dumpster and took a hammer to the glass.  I bet my neighbors think I'm nuts.  I was doing it and my mr. came running out of his garage to see what was wrong.  Nothing just breaking some glass.  He didn't even flinch, just nodded and went back to working.  It's not uncommon for me to do something crazy.

I haven't decided if I love it red or if it will eventually be black, but here she is:

Remember the before:

One more after for you from the other direction:

Yesterday I scrubbed the top cabinets, took the doors off, and taped the cabinets in preparation to paint the top cabinets white!  I also sprayed the hinges white.  Can't wait to show you pictures soon!

So, what do you think black or red lantern.  If I leave the lantern red, do I repaint the back door black?  I am currently painting all the doors black room by room, so it would make sense.  

xoxo

old light made new with a neon pink duct tape & gold ceiling dots

My hilarious friend Jess moved in to a new apartment a while ago and she has been slowly been making it hers.  It's super cute guys.  Seriously.  So cute!

Anywho, she recruited me for my super good looks and mad skills....kidding I do have mad skills in making cool stuff for cheap!  So, we have been working on some stuff.

Scored this light from craigslist, it's brass and old and awesome.

I cleaned it up and it was lovely.  But, it needed to be a plug in light and the light bases were falling apart.  In steps some glorious neon pink duct tape.

Now, I am going to teach you how to rewire a chandelier to make it plug in.

It's super easy...I may be plotting to do this to a few lights. Don't judge.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrician. I did this myself.  I am telling you how I did it.  I am in no way responsible if you fuck yours up and burn down your house.  

REWIRING A CHANDELIER

1.  Collect your supplies: chandelier, wire strippers, needle nose pliers, a lamp kit from Lowe's (for the switch), electrical cord for your needed length, duct tape to cover the cord when finished, and electrical tape (it's must be electrical tape, no duct tape won't work for that part)

2. Cover the light bases with duct tape. 

3. Cut cord to decide where you need the switch.  You may skip this part if you don't need a switch.  Her plug was behind a bookcase and we needed it to be able to be turned on without having to plug it in every time.  Pull apart the wires with some pliers and wire strip the ends.

  4.  Join the ends together by twisting them like so, it doesn't matter which side you connect it to, just keep each side of the cord separate.

5.  Now tape each exposed wire with electrical tape.  You are going to be super excited at this point.  After each connection has been made, (I had to do it in 4 spots) and all the electrical tape is on PLUG IN THE LIGHT!!!  Do not wrap in duct tape until you have plugged it in.  If it doesn't work you are not going to want to undo all the duct tape.  I luckily thought of this ahead of time.  

6.  Sit back and realize how cool you are, text your friend pictures of her light.  Seriously. Awesome. 

Now recruit someone to assist you (I made Morgan and Hayley help hold it, child labor is free, woot woot!)

and cover the cord in duct tape.  I didn't get a pic of this step because all the hands were holding the cord so the tape didn't get covered in Harley's dog hair!

Before I show you the finished product, I have to show you one more addition to this light for her dining room.  My mom bought 2 packs of these dots at a garage sale, each pack had 4 sheets of dots.

I spray painted the dots gold and..............drum roll..................

It turned out so amazing!!  

Plus the Brass Folding Ghost Chairs I found on Craigslist found a home at her place.  They are perfect for her house!

We are also working on her bar cart and this gallery wall, she has to finish up her TV stand to make sure it doesn't conflict with the height of the art. :)

henry the pug wants you to know only you can prevent forest fires and he'll eat the rest of that if you are done with it.

xoxo

Faux Subway Tile Back Splash and Kitchen/Dining updates

So, our kitchen is slowly being redone.  We have been working on little projects here and there and it's coming along.  It's nearly impossible with a hubs who works full time, I babysit and spray paint things, we have 4 heathens and a plethora of other things going on, to completely tear apart our kitchen for the sake of aesthetics.   Slow and steady wins the race for us.  Plus, I lack funds to go much faster. Keepin' it real.

I am dying to have a subway tile back splash.  It will happen, but not until spring break.  So, I started out by painting the wall white.  It was already so much brighter.  I was going to patiently wait for subway tile.

One wild hair up my ass and a sharpie later and I drew on my subway tile.  I have had some people over and they went, "Hey you got subway tile, then I say nope just paint and a sharpie marker!! Plus Mr. TSL put up/made some shelves for the kitchen :)

Before we moved in:

                                Currently:

-ripped out the nasty ass crapet (yep tile looking disgustingly filthy carpet)
-painted the subfloor (temporary)
-moved the cabinets up and added a shelf underneath
-took out the cabinet above the sink and replaced with shelves
-put in above stove microwave
-changed all the appliances to black that we scored sweet deals on and/or got from craigslist
-took out weird pergola top off island and straightened the island.
-replaced the light with barn lights from upstairs
-replaced faucet
-painted walls, trim, pantry doors and shutter door medicine cabinet.


Now on to the dining room, the view from the kitchen when we moved in:

and now:

more dining room pics and some simple fall decorating:

my i will survive planter....i gently ease plants to their death, so i was hoping for a planter that encouraged survival!

xoxo