Category Archives: dining room

Recycling Old Frames

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I recently revealed to you my new dining room! What a difference a change of color can make! I still walk by the room and am surprised at how much brighter it is. 
If you are a follower of mine, you know that I love to renovate and re-decorate but I do not like to spend a lot of money! So my dining room renovation was no exception! The only major purchase I made in my dining room was the fabric for the curtains {which I made using my existing rods} which still cost WAY less than catalog or department store window treatments. I also bought the mirror, painting and floral arrangements from Kirklands, but  they were all on sale and I used a coupon for all of them! So they were a steal! As was most of the other decor in the room. Of course there was granny’s dresser that I refinished after  my SIL gave it to me for FREE! As badly as I wanted a new dining table, it wasn’t gonna happen, so I recovered my chairs and painted my table. And, of course, my “new” china handed down to me by my grandma. So what else did I create on a budget? Check out these prints.
I bought the pair from the Humane Society Thrift Store for $6! So was I about to pay big bucks to have them  matted and framed? 

HECK NO! I had my boys 6-month photos hung in these frames in the “old” dining room. Since I went from gold to silver, the frames were useless, right? NO!

I took the photos and matte out and took those babies outside . . .

and sprayed them with my favorite Krylon color, brushed nickel. 
But, they didn’t quite look right. Too “painted” looking. 
So I brought out my walnut distressing ink and went to town. 
It did a number on my fingers, but in the end. . . .

It looked perfectly antiqued! 

I still needed the matte in the frame {to make it look professional, of course}. so I removed the gold layer that was just stuck with glue. 

I took my prints,

 and put them in the frames with the ivory mattes. 

There you have it! Six dollar, matted, framed prints. That’s just $3 each! Am I doing a little happy dance? YES, I AM! 
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to renovate a room. Spend the money where it is necessary, then look around to see what can be recycled or re-invented into something else! 

My New Dining Room!

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I’m so excited to share with you my new dining room! It’s not completely finished. I still have a few things to do, but it’s so close, I couldn’t wait.
Are you ready for a sneak peak? Ok, just a peak. . .

Do you love it as much as I do? I guess I didn’t give you much to look at, huh? 
Before I show you more, let me remind you what it used to look like.

Not sayin’ that I didn’t like the red, because I did. But I was ready for something different and now that I’ve replaced the red with Seaside Villa {Valspar Seaside Retreat Series} I am in LOVE!
Are you ready to see more?  Here are some before and afters.
Before: 
After:

{chest: granny’s old dresser that I refinished, cherry blossom painting and peony arrangement: Kirklands, lamp and shade: had in another room, mercury glass candle sticks: pulled out from the Christmas decor, silver bowl: thrift store}

Before:
After:
{Chandelier: on clearance with an extra 10% off (because I asked) at Lowe’s. FIY, you can bargain with them. }

Before:

After:

{Curtain rods: extended and painted existing rods, rings: Wal-Mart, drapes: made by me using fabric from Hobby Lobby}

Before:
After:
{Mirror: Kirklands, centerpiece: Kirklands}
I haven’t found the right rug yet. It’s looking a little bare under there, isn’t it? On the sides of the china cabinet I currently have an oval mirror and two framed prints. Eventually I plan to have large framed paintings of the boys copied from their 2-year photos. Until then, I’m thinking about adding more mirrors surrounding the oval one in different sizes and shapes. I am also planning on re-finishing and recovering the chair sitting under the mirror. It will be covered in the same fabric as the drapes and painted the same color as the table legs. Oh yeah,  did you notice I painted and distressed the table legs to match granny’s dresser {see below}. My sister-in-law bought me a wooden highchair from a garage sale that I’m planning on finishing in the same paint and putting to the right of the cabinet.

Before:
After:
I packed up my red, ivory and gold china that we received as wedding gifts and unpacked my grandma’s white and platinum china. I know the silver needs to be polished, I told you I wasn’t quite finished. All the silver in the photos are from the thrift store or antique store.
Well, there you have it! My new {and definitely improved} dining room. I’ll keep you posted on the rug and furniture updates. Until then. . .

Granny’s Old Dresser

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My {amazing} sister-in-law, Ilke, gave me this dresser a couple of months ago. It belonged to my hubby’s grandma {we call her Granny}. She didn’t need it anymore and she asked if I wanted it. Ummm, yes please! 
It’s beautiful, and I loved it the way it was, but I knew I could make it so much more!  
So out came the mouse sander. 
Surprisingly, this varnish came off very easily.

There were a couple of places in the wood that needed repairing though. 

I’ve seen hubby use Elmer’s Wood Filler for several projects and thought it might work for this.
I globbed it on. Let it dry. Sanded it smooth. Then painted over it. It worked like a charm!
One coat of primer and two coats of Olympic Heavy Cream paint and it looked like this.

I decided to leave the top the natural wood color. It was pretty damaged to begin with.

So I sanded. 

and finished it with a coat of Minwax Polyurethane.

Of course I added a little bit of a distressed look by sanding the paint.
Same as always, I start with a low-grit paper and smooth it out with a very fine-grit sand block.
The knobs were an antique brass and my dining room is silver and nickel-finish so I sprayed the knobs in my favorite paint, Krylon Brushed Nickel.
And when it as all said and done. . .

I had a beautiful new piece of furniture in my almost-finished dining room!
Love it! Thanks Ilke!

How I Sew Drapes

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I’ve told y’all before, I’m not a professional seamstress! Pretty much the only things I’ve made with my sewing machine are pillows and curtains. I like to figure things out on my own. I do not like to read directions, I do not like to follow patterns, I just don’t have the patience for them. I am the kind of person that just has to try, possibly fail, and try again to figure things out on my own. So my sewing, it’s probably not the “right” way, but I do it my way and it works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? I had several inquiries asking how I made the drapes for Parker Reese’s nursery. I didn’t have a blog when I made those so I had no reason to photograph the process. However, I did make the new drapes for my new dining room {which, by the way, is just about finished}! So, if you dare continue, here is how I sew drapes. 
For me, the hardest part of this process is measuring and cutting the fabric. Seriously, I started to think maybe there was something wrong with my brain. It took me forever! I had to measure, and re-measure. Ugh! Basically, you want to measure your window and decide how long you want your drapes. I wanted to hang these high above the window and I wanted them to gather on the floor. {total length: 92 inches, width: 30 inches}
After cutting four equal pieces of fabric, I folded and pinned about one inch on each side of the fabric.
I do not iron my fold, I just secure with pins. The total width of the curtains after sewing was 28 inches. I do not add liner to my drapes. It’s an extra step that I don’t feel is necessary. I don’t use them to cover the windows, just to decorate. Plus, this fabric is thick enough that the light won’t shine through it and they won’t fade.
I used a sewing machine to stitch the sides of the panels. After the sides were sewn, I folded, pinned  and stitched the top {2 inches} and and bottom {1 inch} to make a length of 89 inches.

My original rods were in good condition and I really didn’t want to spend the money for new ones but I wanted them to be a little longer. So my genius hubby came up with a solution. He is really good at rigging things like this. He cut an old flag pole we had in the garage {which happened to be the exact thickness of the rod} and used a double-ended screw to fasten it to the existing rod. One problem – the color of the pieces didn’t match.

Two coats of my favorite spray paint, Krylon brushed nickel, and they were good as new. And I found drapery rings {Wal-mart for $6/pack} in the same color! Score!

Initially I wanted to sew pleats in the top of the panels, but I was afraid I would mess them up so I decided against it. Instead I created pleats by folding the fabric and securing with the drapery clips.

Yes, that is a chip clip helping to pleat my drapes! After I “pleated” and hung the drapes, I continued the folds down the fabric {securing with a chip clip} and I then used my steamer to press them.
Before:


After:

I am in love! I was a little worried that this fabric wouldn’t fit with the decor of the rest of my house, but I absolutely love it now that the drapes are up. LOVE it!  I hope to give you the dining room reveal next week!

Recovering the Dining Room Chairs

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Part of redecorating my dining room included recovering the dining chairs. Hubby and I purchased this set back when we bought our first house and I recovered them then with gold curtains I found at a discount store. Two panels were much cheaper than three yards of fabric so I thought, “Why not?” But over the past six years the fabric has become picked and snagged. Plus, it didn’t really match the new decor. What I would really like is a new dining table but I can’t really justify that since there is nothing wrong with the one I have. 
Solution? Recover the cushions for a like-new dining set.
This is really a very easy fix for any chair. All you need is fabric and a heavy duty staple gun. Here is what the chairs have been covered in for the past six years. The original fabric was like a twill or tweed. Not really sure to be honest. But it was odd for dining chairs and very informal which is why I re-covered them immediately after purchasing the set.

First you flip the chairs upside down and remove the screws securing the seat cushion to the wood. 
The cushion should easily pop out after the screws have been removed. {Some older chairs might need extra pressure applied if screws have rusted or corroded}.

Measure and cut your fabric about three inches longer on all sides than the cushion. {Longer if your cushion is  super thick.} Start with the front and back edges tightly wrapping fabric around the seat cushion and securing with heavy duty staples every couple of inches. Once the front and back have been secured, fold all four corners in a fashion similar to how  you would wrap a present, securing with staples. The hardest part is just pulling, folding and tucking to make sure it is tight and that there are no {or very few} obvious wrinkles and/or folds on the upper-side of the seat cushion. After you’ve finished you can pull and tug some of these wrinkles out.
Put the cushions back in the chair the same way you took them out.

And there ya go!
Okay, so this one has a few wrinkles which I have since gone back and smoothed out a little better. I was just trying to get a photo before it got too dark. 
There you have it. An easy fix for any old chair. 
I know I already showed you a picture of the paint color, but here it is finished!
LOVE! So bright, so fresh! I’m in the process of making the drapes, so stay tuned. . .

OH, one more thing!
Look what arrived on my doorstep this morning. . .

My new Silhouette SD package {cutting machine, heat transfer materials and a gift card for Silhouette downloads} that I won from Kim at Today’s Creative Blog!!!!! I’ve been watching out the window for this delivery for almost two weeks now. Like a kid at Christmas! Eeeeeek! Thanks Kim and the Silhouette team!

Come See Me, Color Reveal and a Winner!

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Good morning! We have a winner of the custom photo charm from Sodderbug! I know you are dying to find out if it’s you, but a couple of things first. . .
Today I’m a guest over at Remodelaholic.


If you’ve never been, this site has some fantastic ideas and tutorials for remodeling, refinishing, recycling, etc. If it starts with “re” you’ll find it here! So stop by to see what I’m recycling and refinishing over there!

Next up. . .

Many of you have been asking about the new color of the dining room. I finished one coat of paint yesterday and I guess I’ll give you a peek. 


Isn’t it beautiful?! I absolutely love it! The room is so much brighter! Stay tuned to see what else is in store for this room!

Okay, and finally, we have a winner of the giveaway!
Thanks Janelle of Sodderbug and thanks to everyone who entered. The winner via random.org is. . . 

#63 Anonymous said…
Love the Mum Rings all colors especially the Black. This is my first visit to Scissors & Spatulas and I love the Hubby’s Boy Bed Bench! Angela Thomas Hale on FB

Congratulations Angela! Please get in touch with me within 24 hours with your contact information.

Hard to believe another week is just about over! Happy Thursday!

Bye-Bye Red: Project Dining Room

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Yesterday my dining room looked like this. . . .

and today it looks like this. . . .
Did you notice the difference? Besides all the junk piled in the middle of the room, the walls have gone from red to gray. Yes, project dining room is in full swing! Hopefully it won’t take me quite as long as the kitchen cabinet makeover! Let me show you what this room looked like when we bought the house.

Green walls {which were fine, just not for me}, carpet and a shiny gold chandelier. At least the chair rail and molding were done!
Of course when we moved in {four years ago} we we started the changes. . .
red paint and hardwood floors,

a new light fixture

and of course, furniture and decor.
But today I said good-bye to that red. But it wasn’t easy. I don’t mean that I had a hard time parting with it, I had a hard time covering it up! 
Along with the paint {not telling you what color yet} I got primer which they tinted gray. 

This stuff was thick! But, in the end, it really covered the red well. 

Bye-bye red and gold dining room! I can’t wait to show you the new color. I LOVE it!be back soon!