Dining Room Plan 5

I love this fabric! Thank you Gramma, it's the perfect Christmas gift!

So I have the patience of a bulldog. Whatever that means, I thought it was a fun thing to say!

I can't find the iron nor the staple gun, but I can't wait another minute! The trick is to decide WHERE TO CUT my $50 per yard fabric!!! I positioned the piece over the canvas using different sections of fabric. THEN. I. CUT. IT.

Gasp!

I gently wrapped and tucked the fabric around the canvas and propped it against the wall. There it sits until I find my tools! Once it is officially up, you'll get to see the photo.

On another note, some folks dig a 6-pack. Of beer. Me? Nope, I get excited over a 6-pack of COMMAND HOOKS! Seriously folks, what does that say about me!?

I've lost my marbles. Now that we painted the entire house, I can't bring myself to push a thumbtack into my beautiful walls! I'm seriously off my rocker, this has never bothered me before! It's a TINY hole, it's really okay.

Nope.

Not me. Enter fresh 6-pack of Command hooks. Yum yum.

No tiny holes in MY walls!

I have a lovely spot to hang my jammies and my clipboard, not to mention...

This hook is perfect on the side of my Expedit headboard, loving it!

...I've become a clipboard geek, but I'm NOT going to go into that here!

These little removable hooks have made me happy today.

PHOTO WALL DISCOVERY Dining Room Plan 4 Renter Friendly

This is IT! Finally figured out a way to cover the wall with photos!

This is NUTS.

I've wanted to do a photo wall for years. At the old house, I painted magnetic paint so I could put up the photos with magnets. And it looked awesome!

BUT

Daniel especially liked to "whoosh-run" down the narrow hallway, leaving photos flittering to the floor in his wake. No good.

When we moved, I started thinking about a new photo wall, and one that actually worked. I've searched pretty much every kind of photo wall out there, but haven't come upon one that will work for me. My requirements are: inexpensive and holds a ton of photos.

John took me to Lowe's and we looked at the sound board someone on Pinterest recommended. Uh, no, turned out it isn't for me.

We looked at everything we could think of and some things we didn't too! Nothing fit the bill. I was feeling dejected and questioned whether a solution existed for me or not.

We were standing at an end cap when John pulled out these long skinny white plastic things. Immediately, I thought, "photos would fit in here"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned, baby, stay tuned, you're going to LOVE my new photo wall! Details to come after installation! Yow! This is going to work!

Dining Room Plan 3

Looks great with the silver IKEA Capita legs

We had my sister over and I have to say it was really fun having them here! I'm liking entertaining again!

I can't remember if I wrote about this, but we found more than $40 in quarters while unpacking. Happily, we put that money to good use and bought this used Expedit from Craigslist. I planned to put the Capita legs on it so it looks like a tiny buffet. I LOVE IT! Can't believe we scored on the drawer inserts, it's already handy to have a couple drawers in the dining room!

Just what I was hoping for...it will be cuter when the fabric goes up

Next step is getting the fabric on the canvas (which means finding the iron and the staple gun, sigh).

Dining Room Plan 2

The previous photo with the taped out measurements,
allowed me to get a visual on my idea

Of course there's a plan for MORE decor.

I've been looking on and off at a new dining room light fixture/pendant/chandelier. Call me crazy, but the glass "button" on the ceiling doesn't speak to me.

I'm completely magnetized to this one. And surprise, even though it's a really great price, it's ON SALE right now! I love the semi flush mount because I really don't want to chop the view of the windows with a hanging pendant light. We also move our table around, so the shorter mount allows us to not have to center the table in the room.

Not to mention the south wall! At the old house, I attempted a photo wall which failed miserably. I painted with chalkboard paint and used magnets to hold the photos. But the kids (especially Daniel) would run down the hall which formed a wind tunnel, launching my photos into the air...and onto the floor. So after some Pinteresting, I have a solution! Terribly excited about this because not only is it CHEAP, it's going to look fabulous-at least to me.

The north wall, with the three windows, has a 30" blank wall in the right corner. I thought I'd want some circle art there, but after visualizing several ideas, I think I want a 3-piece "stacking"/vertical something. And squares, not circles. Stay tuned. :)

Dining Room Plan 1

Marking off placement of black shelf,
do I prefer 24" or 36" fabric canvas wall art?

Today, there was no unpacking done (she says shaking her head in shame).

Ever since we moved in, for some reason, I've had delightful inspirations about the east wall in the dining room. I've been thinking about what I'd like to look at and what might be functional too. But do I REALLY like my ideas enough to live with them for a long time? After much deliberation, I've been evaluating that very thing...and I've decided that, YES, my vision is something worth bringing into reality.

We are on a very strict budget and dining room decor in no way ranks in priority over needing some functional win-dow cover-ings! We have some of the windows budgeted, it's a matter of making my purchases in the next weeks or so. But...somehow...this project has come all together and fallen in my lap!

In an act of curiosity, I ventured over to Craigslist, and lo and behold, I found THE black shelf my heart desires! But not just the shelf, but the matching DRAWERS included! YAY! So would it be so bad to get it? John and I discussed it and we decided to make a move on it (he JUST picked it up!) and go for it. IKEA Expedit (now Kallax) furniture is my favorite thing so this won't disappoint. The drawers make it an even awesomer purchase! I like the idea of some black in this room for contrast and POP.

There's this Marimekko pattern (Unikko/poppies in red) that makes my heart flutter. Always has. I had no idea it is available by the yard! I don't quite know what it is about the print, but I just love it, despite its simplicity. Or maybe because of it. Bold and unpretentious.

Anyways, Unikko crossed my path recently, which made me do a little surfing online. Etsy has a large tablecloth, which led me to discover it being sold by the yard-in Finland. Wouldn't it be fun to have it on the WALL? Somehow found the Marimekko store in Seattle! Bingo!

When Gramma was here for Tree Day, I got telling her about my plan. She got all inspired over my excitement and decided to give me her Christmas gift early! I choose-FABRIC! :)

So I thought I'd check prices and sizes on the canvas so I can staple the fabric over it. Yep, 50% off right now! Yippee!!

So here's the plan:
1-Expedit in black/brown with matching drawers from Craigslist (60)
2-Capita legs (get from IKEA) (20)
3-Marimekko fabric (85 on sale!)
4-Joann sale canvas (30)

Since I found the Expedit on Craigslist, and Gramma gifted me the fabric, all I really need is the canvas...

and that's what I did today instead of unpack. :)