Happy Friday & Dining Room Tweaks

It's Friday!  Wanna sing the Friday song with me?  You'll have to make up your own tune since you can't hear my voice (and I must say, you're missing out because it is lovely!) :-)  Here we go:  "Friday, Friday, Friday is my favorite day.  Friday, Friday, Friday is my favorite day.  Monday is a bummer.  Tuesday's only fair.  Wednesday's getting better. Thursday's almost there.  But Friday, Friday...Friday is my favorite, Friday is my favorite, Friday is my favorite daayaayy!" Now give yourself a round of applause--yay Friday! Yay you!

I want to take just a moment to thank you all for hanging in there with me.  Between the camera issues and other things I won't bore you with, I know my content has been kind of sparse lately, and I see that I've lost some followers.  So I really want to express my appreciation for those of you who have stuck around!

Today I wanted to share a few little tweaks I've made to my money-making dining room redo that I showed to you all in December.  It actually turned out a little bit more formal-looking than I was going for--I wanted more of an old, French country manor mix.  At first I was worried it was the Famous Butt chairs.  I didn't want move them out because I just love them.  I thought of making some simple slipcovers for them, which I will do down the road to change out the look (which should be interesting since I don't really sew!).  But then I realized I just needed to change up the accessories.

First I took out most of the silver candle holders I had on the side table.  I put my mother's old copper tub below it and an old shutter I bought at Lucketts years ago behind it.

I brought in a wrought iron architectural element that I most recently had on the foyer table, a couple of urns and an iron fleur de leis.  

I just love the rusted iron against the old, peeling paint of the shutter! I know some people just do not get this style, but I love to have things that show their history around my house.

I didn't do anything much to the buffet wall, other than add a white iron wire candle holder.

On the china cabinet wall I put an antique harvest basket on top of the cabinet.  I took the more formal-looking centerpiece off the table and added a white iron wire bowl filled with (faux) green apples. 

I like the touch of green in the room with the apples and the moss in the urn, so I'll be looking for some other ways to add more in.

So that's it for now.  I think the tweaks added more of the French country vibe I was going for. The other wall still needs work.  The shelves that are currently there holding my bud vase collection just don't work with the rest of the room.  I have an idea for them though.  And I have the mate to the shutter I could work in somewhere too ...  Nothing's ever really "done" around here--there's always more tweaking that can be done!

Have a great weekend!



Sharing at French Country Cottage:  Feathered Nest Fridays

Tweaking, Twiddling, & Camera Issues

How's your weekend going?  So far mine has been productive and frustrating!  I spent today tweaking some rooms in our house, de-cluttering, and organizing.  I was all excited to show you some of the changes I made, but I'm having camera issues.  I took a bunch of photos, and they all turned out blurry.  Of course there is the possibility that I had too much coffee this morning and my hands were shaking--but I'm pretty sure it's the camera.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. (Another excuse for a new camera!)

However, I figured if I didn't get something posted you all would be thinking I'm just sitting around twiddling my thumbs, reading People magazine and neglecting my blogging duties. Not me!  I take my blogging very seriously. (Actually, twiddling my thumbs while reading a magazine would be quite a feat--how would I turn the pages?)

So I decided to chose a couple of the least blurry shots to show you what I did in our family room (and these really are the only ones that semi came out, out of about 40 photos).

Here it is before.

I just wasn't feeling the blue pillows and the rug anymore.  And I decided the coffee table had to go.  I've had that table since I was in my 20's.  I had the legs cut down to make it coffee table height, and painted the bottom white.  I still love the table, but I haven't done anything to it since then and it needs a little TLC. It also takes up a lot of room.

So I bought this rug from Ballard Design.  This one, like the blue and cream one, is an indoor/outdoor rug.  I've decided with three dogs it's the best way to go in this room, especially since I like light, neutral colors in here.  Otherwise we'd be spending a fortune at the rug cleaners.

And here it is after.  I switched out the blue pillows with a couple of nubby texture beigey-brown ones I had. I'm using the ottomans for a coffee table for now, while I hunt for a smaller scale replacement. I think the room looks much more open and spacious, and I love the neutral colors with the white.

I'll share more of my tweaking endeavors once I figure out my camera issues.  In the meantime, don't forget to enter my Shabby Chic book giveaway!


Sharing at French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday