Hey there! Hope your weekend was great! We finally got some winter here -- I'm not too bothered by it just yet. I quite like the snow and don't mind the cold till about mid-February. Then I'm DONE. But since it took so long to show this year I may be able to hold out a little longer.
I'm continuing my no spend month by finishing up a project I started last month in the dining room-turned-library. If you are new around these parts, years ago (actually four years ago to the day almost exactly) I decided to change our rarely used dining room into a library. It's morphed into a really functional and cozy space over time and we love it! This been one of my longest transformations ever though -- now that this latest project is done I think I'm officially calling this room done. For real! (I've said that before but I mean it this time.)
I shared the new beaded light fixture, that I think is perfect for this space, back in November:
There were two more things I had been wanting to address for some time, but I was waiting for the time and a sale. :)
First up, the rug in the space was lovely, but I felt like it was too small for the room. The big chairs dwarfed it. And the dog had destroyed it years ago (thankfully most of it was hidden by the chairs but not all). Here's a better look at the size of the old rug:
So when black Friday came around I watched for the annual sale Rugs USA has -- they do a few great sales throughout the year that are around 70 percent off. The black Friday sale is 80 percent which is a killer deal.
I found this one, called the Treasures Vintage Abstract Rug and loved it:
I thought the colors would work really well with the gray-blue chairs and accents.
I got a huge rug (mine is 8x11) for about $180. Incredible! Watch for these sales if you need one -- I've gotten a couple rugs from them and have been happy both times. It completely changed the feel of the space! It's funny but a bigger rug makes the room feel so much larger. I think a tiny rug draws your eye in and makes it feel smaller. Or something. I have no idea. :)
Next up was to take down the drapes I've had in the room. I love the fabric but they were too short (I try to hang the curtains higher) and the color and pattern was too much with the built ins. I took them down and was left with my last trim-less window on the main floor of our house.
I've slowly but surely been adding some thick trim to our windows and I LOVE the look. I go into detail on how I do it here, but here's an idea of the trim I use:
I've done this so many times that it's become a fairly simple and quick project for me. This one was NOT. I installed the trim back in December and the whole thing was a major pain in the butt. Everything that could go wrong did -- numerous holes in the wall, drywall peeled off, I found mold on the drywall near the window, measured trim wrong over and over…literally the most annoying project I've done in a long time. Fun times!
A project that usually takes me two hours at the most took five. GoodNESS. I was so fed up with it I put off the painting and just got to it this weekend. Thankfully it looks really beautiful, as always -- other than some drywall fixes I'm not touching it again!:
Just like with our front living room windows (actually most of our main floor windows) I'm leaving these without window treatments, at least for now. The trim is so pretty I hate to hide it. And with all of the items on the built ins I think a simpler look is needed in here. Who knows, I may add treatments again later, but I doubt it. :)
With the rug the trim finished up, I can really, officially call this room DONE. I mean it this time! Whoot!:
Told you I was finishing things this year! :) Because I'm so happy and we love this room so much, here's some more COMPLETED photos. Did I mention I'm done?:
I know it looks like I pose Peanut, but I don't. Sweet baby dog. He HATES the cold so the sweater is a must when he goes out.
The animals love to get their pictures taken (on their terms of course):
The chandelier and rug finish up this room so beautifully!
I've worked so hard on this space over the years and I am so thrilled with this transformation!:
If you missed how I made the bookcases, you can see a full post about those (with more links) here. I used kitchen cabinets as bases. Because I wanted to keep floor space in here, I used upper cabinets (they are only 12 inches deep) and beefed them up a bit.
IKEA butcher block sits on top of those and my Dad and I built the bookcases on top:
The storage space is incredible!
The only small thing I may still do in here is add some more crown along the header:
The builder installed it on the columns and I added in in the room years ago. I stopped it on that wall because I don't know how to cope crown -- (meet up the the crown on the columns and around the room). Eventually I'd like to finish that up, but I'm not worrying about it any time soon.
The before and afters of this space are some of my favorites! I loved playing around with dramatic ideas in this room back in the day. Man, I loved that gold ceiling!:
I know many of you have been with me since these days! I'm heading into my ninth year of blogging in a few months -- crazy!
Then I went even more dramatic with a dark brown. Everywhere. Literally, everywhere:
Told you. When we got the hardwoods installed the room was brown on every surface.
Now? It's a much brighter, prettier, more functional and useful space for us:
I know many of you have considered doing the same with your dining spaces. Since we have a large kitchen table we just don't need the dining area and I hated not using so much of our home. This has been a great solution for us! If I've said it once I've said it a million times -- make your home work for how you use it, not what it's "supposed" to be.
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