Changing up the seating

I could honestly kick myself for all of the times I didn't take before pictures! I am getting better, but it sure would have been nice to be able to show you our kitchen table before the Schraders got a hold of it. Well, this Schrader anyway. It was Ryan's college table, oh if tables could talk:) Anyway it was a light maple and very plain Jane, I gave it a quick frosting of espresso paint on the top and good ol' white coat for the base.

Not too bad for free, and really those chairs did the job for the last 3 years.  Which brings me to my sad sad story...

I was thriftin a few weeks ago and found 6 great chairs for $6 a piece!!!!! So why didn't I pay for them and load um up?  Well I got talked out of them by my loving husband.  You see sometimes he just doesn't see the potential in things, or maybe he just didn't feel like spray painting 6 chairs.  I don't know but again, there I was 3 days later kicking myself  at that same thrift store because they were GONE!  Tear:(





Well I got over it and began my search again.....

I found these last weekend, and I'm not sure if I was just desperate or what, but I picked them up for $24 total! That included 4 chairs and a table.  I left the table for someone else to re-do, and loaded up the chairs with help from my mom (who is the whole reason I am into resale shopping and being thrifty by the way)

Ryan laughed at me as I was unloading these babies from my car.  They were kinda gross.
We got started right away, I had some fabric from some DIY kitchen curtins I made this summer, it just so happens if was just enough to re-cover the seats.  I had to run to Hobby Lobby to get some new padding (you never know what road those chairs have traveled if you know what I'm saying)

Here is the end result, I feel the chairs gave the lovely old table a little face lift, what do you think?

Stickin with the downstairs

 I'm a little embarrased showing this picture, due to the nasty stains that came with this lovely brown/green carpet but I can assure you those CAME WITH THE HOUSE!  I was right behind the camera saying "I can't believe you are doing that with no gloves!!"  That was just the beginning of the nasty smell....

But we were sure to get rid of it, little by little that is.  Here are some DURING pictures so you can see the process:)



This is the beginning of the hardwood.  We went with hardwood because honestly my dad said he would help if we put hardwood in (he is not a fan of anything but).  So we said "OK!"  We were not in a rush so we were able to wait for it to go on sale at good ol' Home Depot and open up a 0% for 1 year credit card and saved another 10%.  With this savings and Ryan and my dad installing it, is really the only reason we were able to afford beautiful hardwood.  But it is true, once you go hardwood you never go back!! We love it!



Here is my amazing dad, working like a 25 year old!



It was a lot of hardwood!  (That's or fridge we got from a builder who was going out of business, we had to store it there until our kitchen was done)

Before the decorating began
This table was actually Ryan's in college, it was a light colored wood.  I believe this is when I truly fell in love with spray paint.  I wish I had before pictures....It was a really easy project a little sand paper to rough the table and chairs up and then we literally spray painted the whole thing.  We spray painted the bottom white last, but separately (the table comes apart)  I like the white because it goes with our cabinets, which ties the casual dining area to the kitchen.



And a little love for all his hard work (don't pay attention to the ugly chandelier behind us, that is long gone)







The finished product, it really is always a work in progress.  More like "as of right now".





Coffee

Yep, coffee my inspiration.  Maybe it's the smell, or the comfort of holding a warm cup...actually I know what it is!  It's the color!!!!  I love the different shades of browns you can get depending on how much cinnamon (that's my favorite flavor) cream you put in your cup.  I have used coffee for my inspiration in almost our whole home.  It started with the paint colors and moved on to part of our theme in our kitchen.  Let me stress that it is so important to have little touches of a theme, not in your face themes!

I know I love coffee not just for the warm relaxing feeling that comes from it, but also because you can put any color along with it and it looks fabulous!  Here are some things I have used "coffee" for in my kitchen. 

 



This was just a piece of wood, that I took a wood burner to and carved in the word CAFE, I then white washed it and went over the letters with a paper towel and some silver acrylic paint.  So easy and inexpensive, you could do this with any word (Love, Family, Your last name, etc.)





 

This was actually just a old piece of wood, that I white washed and added some "coffee/tea" themed hooks!  Walla!

Found this at HomeGoods, yep one of my favorite stores!! It was only 10 bucks and looks so cute above my kitchen pantry:)

Sorry for the odd view.  We did the whole cafe theme in our kitchen, so when I came across these at Hobby Lobby, I was in love.

The iron tea pot and cup came from the flea market, at first I just wanted the tea pot, but the seller talked me into the cut too for only 1 dollar more.  I'm glad he did, because where I have it is wasted space and looks perfect there.