My little Rustic Modern Mash Up

Well hello out there!  We have an internet connection!  I can now take real pictures, download them to computer and show you a little about what is going on in "house world" with us.

To be honest we are taking it really slowly.  The house is still not complete and we have had subs here every now and then trying to knock out the list.  We also got a not so great call from the bank saying we have 12 days to roll the loan into a conventional loan or we have to refinance.  Of course that's only several thousand dollars you know.  Anyway, they are calling the builder today to say finish it or we are hiring someone to finish it and you loose more $$.  If only they would have been involved in the struggle sooner...

Anywho onto more fun things.  We have been selling things here and there on craigslist for the last year so we could buy these chairs and we finally bit the bullet!

Meet the Ronnie Wire Base Chair from Overstock

So far I love him!  They haven't had much use so I can't vouch for their longevity but they are fun to look at.  

Do you remember the table I scored at my favorite warehouse store Four Hands a few years ago?

Isn't it gorgeous....Oh wait you can't see it under all the move in chaos?  

I have pictured it with sleek modern chairs from the day I saw it.  

Ah so much better in so many ways...the clutter has been eating my lunch.

Now don't go thinking we broke the bank with these puppies.   I believe they came out to around $60 or less a piece!  They were selling them in sets of two.  That is not easy to find ya'll!  I just went to Overstock's site and now I can only find them at 1 for $139.00 and they aren't called Ronnie chairs either?  I think I totally lucked out!  

If you've been reading for a while you may remember we kinda sorta design our house based on this area and the tables deminsions.  That sounds crazy right?  I just envisioned standing at the kitchen sink seeing this and all other floorplan bets were off!

 When you first step out of our little entry way you are greeted with the main hub of the house which is my fav!

I went photo crazy this morning so here are some other views.  

I can't wait to fill this table with friends and food!

Linking to:
Chic on A Shoestring
Shabby Nest
Be Different Act Normal
Thrifty Decor Chick
Remodelaholic

With legs like these....

who could resist?  Apparently not me..Much to the hubby's dismay(only because we don't have room for it right now) I just couldn't resist this baby when she popped up in my inbox as part of a clearance sale.  This is one of the legs to a 10 foot table! Wohoo!  Can you say dinner party?!  I always want to have people over for dinner but we rarely get around to actually doing it so maybe out of pressure to use this puppy we will make more of an effort!

It looks blue next to the sofa but it is a nice gray tone..Isn't she pretty?

The plan was to build a super long table out of really rustic boards and find some old pedestals to mount it to but when I saw this baby and saw the price(tables in general are pricey as far as I'm concerned but especially this size) I knew it would be hard to beat. Plus there is the whole we would have to find time to search for old rustic pieces of wood and boards and then the time to build it thing.  So I just went for it.  Can you picture some modern or mid century modern chairs around it..maybe clear, white, silver, or even some bright colors?  

I think I can!

Meet the Living Room

You met the outside of our first home here last week.  Now come inside it's fun inside(couldn't help myself..the kid's are watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as I type).  Here is the view of the front door from the living room.  Here's what we got rid of: screen door, half wall dividing the dining, vertical blinds, peel and stick "wood look" flooring, you can't see much of it but the thin non insulated door that went into the garage there to the left of the breakfast area, brass chandelier and every bit of trim and door in the house was replaced.  See that entry to the hall there on the right?  We decided to round that off and add more interest(see pic below for in progress shot..not sure if we would do that again but that is where we were in our design style in 2003).  Oh and we scraped the popcorn ceilings throughout the whole house, sanded every wall with a belt sander because they had a prickly texture(I am now not a big fan of the belt sander..that was rough!), and you see that back wall in the breakfast nook?  That was a faux brick pattern made out of joint compound.  Its was about an inch thick..I sure wish I could find the pictures of me sanding that off. The air was so thick with dust we couldn't see each other and mid sanding we ended up bubbling off the area..Live and learn through home reno for sure!

Below is what you first saw when you walked into the house.  Hubby built a new mantle one day while I was at work(better than flowers!), we of course got rid of the vertical blinds, we also scraped every window in the house because they had a film of something all over, replaced the sliding door with double french doors that both opened out towards the one day to be deck(does every girl love the thought of pushing open double doors to her veranda..or is it just me?), replaced the the fan, painted the beam white to make the room more airy.  I scrubbed most of the smoke stains around the fireplace off with a wire brush, removed the rusty fireplace screen and painted the inside of the fireplace with an appropriate heat and fireproof  paint.   Those are the same peel and stick vinyl "wood look" planks mentioned in the bath reno that were of course replaced with the tile that we put everywhere except the bedrooms.

So here is how it all eventually looked. There was a time in between these before and afters where we had a dinky tv cabinet, and none of this furniture.  See that large armoire for the t.v?  I am a lucky woman...hubby built that too.  We saw one at a large furniture store..took a picture and he eventually whipped one up that fit our space.   All the trim in the house was done with MDF boards that we ripped down to size and routed the top edge of. Otherwise there was no way a tallish baseboard was going to be in the budget.

Here is the armoire almost done..I wasn't so good at taking In Progress pics..or I have lost them(it's a little bit of both I'm sure)

Here is the other side:from standing near the breakfast nook.

The view from the front door.  That's the master bedroom to the left of the credenza.  

Just another shot of the same area.  I had apparently changed up the stuff on the credenza a bit at this point.  

If you look at the pictures below you see how much the room progressed over time.  I tried to go with a yellow color(shown below..yellow is tough for me to figure out) but felt like we were going to get a sunburn just walking into the room. Then I  tried a faux finish look that was just all wrong.  Eventually we landed on a paint color called "winter wheat" but I can't remember the brand..I can say that it was from home depot though:) (that was our home away from home) A lot of this look is thanks to new furniture and just collecting some fun stuff to decorate with.

Isn't it amazing what some paint and new furniture can do for the feel of a home?  We bought that little chair for $5 when we were first dating(probably our very first project together) and I am embarrassed to say we first covered it in fuzzy leopard print(I mean the super fuzzy classy stuff..that was a long time ago friends) and then this lovely little faux leather number.  It now resides in storage because we just can't let it go;)

So there it is! We loved this warm and cozy room!

Linked up to: 

Houseography

Between naps on the porch

The Shabby Chic Cottage

Somewhat Simple

 Savvy Southern Style,Blue Cricket Design

At The Picket Fence, Fingerprints On The Fridge, Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, Sumos Sweet Stuff,

Skip To My Lou,makin cute blogs, Tater Tots and Jello