Work in Progress...

When we first moved into our new home back in May, I promised you guys that I would give you photos and updates about all the makeovers and projects we'd have going on. I can't believe we've already been here six months and I haven't given you a whole lot of peeks into what we've got going on. And mostly it's because what we've got going on is taking much longer than I had hoped!
Now that our wedding is over, we've been concentrating on getting the house up to snuff and in any spare moments we've found, we've been knee deep in paint, hardware, tools, and clutter that has yet to find a place in the house. We've got a couple of rooms that are in progress right now, including the "culture room" as Ben calls it, or the "living room" as my mom calls it (which is different than the gray living room I showed you a few months ago). It was a gold yellow color before...not terrible, just not what we wanted. I painted it a nice warm blue, just one shade darker than our dining room, which is the next room over and it really changed the feel of the space. Here are two before photos:

Not bad...but clashed with our belongings and the other rooms. These photos were taken when we first bought the house...now that I'm looking at it...it looks so good empty!

The first and only vignette I set up in the room so far is on my Grandmother's china cabinet. It has a natural history feel (which I love), that features apothecary jars and cloches with birds nests, a bees nest (plucked from the window when we first moved in), old frames and a deer skull that I bought for ten bucks from a guy on the side of the road who said he found it in an Adirondack stream. I also built a shadow box from an old frame and some wood that I plain to pin insects into for a cool insect collection - found dead of course, I'm not a killer! I even have a really great stag beetle that was inside of a vintage glass pitcher I bought at a garage sale. Call me crazy!

I used several of these vintage cake toppers on our cakes at our wedding...although one bride came home without her groom... :(

And this fabulous piece of furniture I just picked up the other day from Craigslist. I was so excited about it that I overlooked the little worn spot in the middle. It's ok for now but eventually I might get the seat reupholstered in a matching but sturdier fabric. Lots of tufted buttons! I love love love it!


Some pretty candle sconces scooped up at a town wide garage sale for a dollar each. The upholstered bench was from Ben's Great Aunt and Uncle's house. It's so pretty and matches the room perfectly.

This was a thrift store find in Boston. We didn't have room for it in our apartment, but knowing we were moving soon...I scooped it right up! I have a thing for china cabinets. I have four already and had to refrain from buying more beautiful ones at the auction up the street.

I got this standing lamp for a dollar several years ago. Recently I bought one of those shop lights with the long lead cords that mechanics use at a yard sale for another dollar and used the bulb protecting cage as a shade for the lamp. The cord for the mechanic light was so frayed I didn't feel bad throwing it away. Now I just need to get one of those cool old school Edison bulbs to replace the coil bulb to complete the look.

This chair was also from the town wide sale for $4. I rolled that baby away before anyone else could! The cats loved it just as much as I did, so I covered it in tape to train them away from using it as their scratching post. Their new favorite is the new sofa (eeek!!), so I was able to take the ugle tape off the pretty chair. Squirt bottles, a stern voice, and other nearby scratching posts are helping save the couch now.

There's still lots of work to be done on the room...mostly involving fun stuff like adding pictures to the walls and filling the cabinets. But I still need to move my big fish tank, which will be where the new couch goes, and I need to find a pair of matching chairs to make a chess playing area for Ben...oh...and make a chess board table for in between the two chairs. And then I have to deal with this awkward as all heck area:

Ta da! Two out of three fire places are beautiful as is...but this one is a train wreck. The ugly mantel...the huge, deep and super weird cubby space above the mantel, and the single, asymmetrical skinny, shallow cubby next to it. I've got some ideas...stay tuned.
A side note though...if you're painting a room that has no crown molding...I really like to paint a white stripe across the top of the walls. It makes the room look more polished without actually adding real crown...a trick of the eye I guess. :)

Room in progress! I'm not sure when it will be done...we're also working on the kitchen...but hopefully soon and I'll show you DONE photos! :)