Mantel and Living Room

January is always a great time to do something new in the living room!

Once all the Christmas decorations and wrappings

are put away, and the room is cleaned,

I seem to want to move the furniture around!

With a new couch in the family room,

the old one moved in here right before the holidays.

I didn't have any time to play with arrangements then,

so now was my chance!

For Christmas, I put the couch facing the fireplace,

with the back facing the entry. This was so the Christmas tree

could still be in the window.

 It worked okay, but it really closed off the living room,

so I tried a new spot after the holidays.

I moved it under the front window and started moving

around the rest of the furniture that I was determined

would stay.

It was a little better, but still feeling pretty crowded,

and the two wing chairs were giving it that closed-off feeling again.

I knew something was going to have to go, whether I liked it or not!

As soon as I moved the table out of the corner by the bookcase,

the room made sense again!

It opened up and felt more spacious.

(I moved the table to the family room, which meant

something had to go in there, too, but that's another story!)

Once I had the furniture figured out, I was able to move on to the mantle,

which is where I usually like to start!

 I loved this new chalkboard so much, I brought it out again!

 This time, I paired it with the usual white pitchers,

as well as silver candlesticks and an ivy wreath.

The final product makes me happy!

Freshening Up The Dining Table

This is what the table looked like when

I bought it at a yard sale a few years ago

for $25.

All dark wood, but a really cute shape, 

just very hard to see the legs.

The first thing I did was stain the leaf

a darker color to match the table better.

The leaf didn't come with the table, I just had

it laying around (like so many things)

and I really needed more room.

I always had to keep the leaf covered,

otherwise it would drive me crazy!

It may not be perfect now, but it's

a whole lot better, not to mention it was free!

Next, I got out my can of good old

white paint! It's never let me down yet!

I love being able to see the shape of the legs now!

Just this one simple thing has totally changed the look 

of the dining room.

I think if I could only have one thing to decorate with,

it would have to be white paint!

Upcycling a Door Into Something Useful

This project used up a lot of old

useless things I had lieing around:

an old door from a neighbor's remodel,

a crate missing the bottom 

and falling apart, corbals and piece of wood, hooks, drawer pull and a piece

of decorative trim.

Money I have

 invested in this piece: $0!

I put a coat of white paint on everything

then distressed.

I just dry brushed the white over the crate

because I wanted to see the old crate,

but I also wanted it to blend in to become one piece.

To tie in the shelf, I did a grey wash over the stain, then a white wash.

Here it is at Roses and Rust

 Vintage Market. The crate not only stands the door up, it provides a

 useful shelf, in this case for display!

This was a really fun project and I was

able to clean out a lot of items to boot!