One Room…Many Ways

This little room right off of the dining room really doesn’t have a function and gets a makeover more often than any other room in our home. As in…made over on a nearly monthly basis…since I like to re-arrange and move things around so often. Here’s a look at this room’s decorating history…

It started off looking like this when we bough our home:

sitting room before

We installed French doors, slate tile and a rescued a giant mirror…

entryway

Sometimes it displays my latest thrifty treasures…

sitting room

thrifty sitting room

Or acts as an extension to our dining space…

dining nook

Or a rarely used sitting room…

sitting-room

sitting-room 

At Christmas time, it’s my favorite space to decorate…

christmas sitting room

And currently it’s a little work space…

DIY script drop cloth drapes

DIY no sew drop cloth {script} curtains.

office space

with a cute DIY globe light fixture cover

globe light cover

Here’s what the other side of the room currently looks like: {wall mounted pallet shelf}

eclectic hallway

It’s like playing with a life sized doll house. Do you switch it up routinely? 

I’m joining in the party:

restyled space link party

Christmas in the sitting room

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the DIY Show Off home! We have an odd room we often label the sitting room that sits right off of our dining room. It’s probably the room that gets rearranged most in our home, as I’ve shared in the past…

sitting room makeover

Now that I’ve shared some projects for a new sitting room look this week, I wanted to put it all in one post to show the entire area.

I’ve been snapping pictures every day for about two weeks, different times of the day, different manual settings, with a tripod…photography is hard work when the lighting is tricky and the French doors have been making it a challenge. But here goes the best I could do…

Be prepared, there are a LOT of pictures.

  •  table is made from a small cushioned stool and an old window

  • candle ring with chalkboard message makes for a nice festive door knob

  • Christmas vignette:

DIY tomato cage Christmas tree tutorial

Every time I decorate this little area, it’s my favorite space. I can’t decide what my favorite part is:  painted chairs, His & Hers pillows, barrel side table, window coffee table, eclectic vignette…the entire room is comfortable and cozy. What do you think? Do you have a small area for quiet conversations or reading?

I’m sharing a bit of my Christmas home tour over at Unskinny Boppy today kicking off her Home for the Holidays series.

Don’t forget to Show Off your Christmas tree!

Christmas Tree Contest
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Sharing here:

His & Hers painted pillow covers

His & Hers Pillow Covers

I shared my painted upholstered chairs

Christmas sitting room with painted striped chairs

I also liked that the Serena & Lily chair {my inspiration for the stripe} had matching accent pillows.

Serena and Lily Bark Miramar Racing Stripe Chair

I just so happened to have 2 matching pillow cases on hand. What are the chances? I have had them just sitting in a basket in my craft room along with the other supplies. I love when DIY project was meant to be! {Chairs are actually a light grey and the pillows are a linen color…but they look so well together!}

His and Hers Pillow Covers tutorial

Materials:

  • FrogTape
  • two pillow covers
  • latex paint
  • acrylic craft paint
  • stencils

FrogTape-stripe-pillow-cover-tutorial

I measured the width of the stripes on the chairs and using FrogTape,I created the same stripe on the front of my pillow covers. I did insert a piece of cardboard to prevent paint from soaking through the back side. I filled in my stripe with the brown latex paint that I used on the chairs. I removed the FrogTape and let them dry. Then simply used stencils to spell out “His” and “Hers” (using an acrylic craft paint). I’ve read that you can set the paint with a warm iron.

I also liked that some of the fabric shows through for a worn look.

painted pillow cover

Awe…His & Hers

FrogTape painted striped Hers pillow

Now my chairs are complete! Christmas in the sitting room coming soon! 🙂

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*This is a sponsored post brought to you by FrogTape. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience. Results may vary. 

FrogTape Blog Squad

Decorating dilemma. Advice appreciated!

I’m having a bit of a DIY dilemma, a DIY moment if you will. I need your help and advice. History of this odd little room: I know I just shared a sitting room makeover with you. I painted the walls then decorated for Christmas. This room is right off of our dining room. The short hall to the right in the picture leads down the basement stairs.

I’ve un-Christmas-ed it and de-cluttering feels so good!  But now I’m re-thinking things. I’m so indecisive.  DIY is a disease, I tell ya. 😉 But friends, it’s a room without a real purpose. It deserves a real name and meaning in our home. It’s actually one of my favorite spaces. Small, lots of light and easy to clean.

When we bought our house, it looked like this: (GASP!  Hey…what was it even back then? I have no clue…no one needs 3 back doors/back entryways, do they?) Maybe everyone inside really needed to escape to the outside because it was in poor condition?

We installed French doors to bring in some light.

Much better!

Looking from the dining room:

We added a closet to a corner that housed a cubby area running beside the basement stairs.

 

Mr. DIY installed the slate tile…

We call it the mudroom…but we don’t enter the house here. We don’t exit the house here either. Maybe sometimes in the summer if we’re entertaining on the patio. But it does have a twin sister on the back side of the house…(into the kitchen which is where we enter/exit):

(Oh…how I miss summer!)

So, anyway, it became the sitting room and it’s had a lot of different looks:

to this:

to this…

to this…

then this…

But, the only one who sits there is Lalka. DON’T sit in that seat! Your backside will be covered in fluff.

I just painted the walls last month and I love the drop cloth script curtains (tutorial here) so they’re staying. I also like the mirror (recycled). But other than that, I’m indecisive.

So I was thinking…maybe keep it a sitting room because I love rearranging and decorating in there. It gives me my monthly (maybe even bi-weekly decorating fix!) I’d love to add a settee. I’ve been searching Craig’s List for months to give an old piece a little DIY love but no luck so far. How cute is this one from Frou FruGal?

I’d love to DIY a thrifty treasure to look like this…

{via pinterest}

And then my mind wanders and I think maybe a little more dining area seating would be a nice option? We do entertain on occasion and although our dining room table can seat 8 (10 if we squeeze in), it might be nice to have a little extra dining/seating, especially with nieces and nephews. Something like this…

{via Restoration Hardware}

The views of the back yard under snow or the barn and grape arbor in summer would be pretty at dinner scene. It’d also be an option that works with something else, but that’s a secret. 😉

Or a photography studio? (I take pictures for my family/nieces/nephews.) It might be a challenge to keep it looking nice and a little odd off the dining area (although if I can talk my cook into starting a blog, it might be handy!).

{via pinterest}

Or an office area? Love this the changing ‘studio’ at WhisperWood Cottage (I’m not the only one who loves to rearrange a room!):

 But we do have two other “office”/desk areas in our home and I actually sit on the couch in the living room with my laptop. lol Go figure! I should sit in the “sitting room”, huh?

I did warn you that I’m indecisive, didn’t I? What do you think?  What would you do? I may have already decided but I’m curious about your input and advice. And with the right idea, I could change my mind…again.  Thanks!

DIY 2011 Recap Party

Happy New Year, DIY friends! 
Do you have the habit of looking at all that needs done with little regard to all that has been accomplished? Me too! Always looking ahead to what’s up next on transforming this old house. Who does that?  DIY crazed much? So, this time of year (here’s last year’s post), I love looking back to the year’s DIY and all that we finished up and tackled. Mr. DIY says we get tons done in odd years and that on even years, we’re allowed to sit around and be lazy. Um, he’d be wrong. This DIY girl isn’t going to let that happen! There’s so much to be done, I don’t know where to begin!  Let’s start with reflecting on 2011 for some DIY motivation.
Here is a recap of what went on (DIY and otherwise) at the DIY Show Off home in 2011 according to my picture files:
We adopted Lalka…
Kitchen cabinets were painted, marble backsplash installed, walls painted, new granite countertops and bamboo flooring.

Before/In progress

After:
How to Install a Tile Backsplash
Helloooo beautiful bamboo!
Pantry removed.

Before:

After, the fridge is closer to the work area instead of trying to run out the door…
Love this new-to-me piece of furniture:
Before…
Guest Bedroom Now…
Sitting Room Makeover
Before
After
Before
After
Dining Room Sliding Door 
Before
After…
{opened}
{closed}

Dressing Room Closet Before…

Bi-fold turned French Door tutorial…
 

Craft Room Before

Craft Room After (still tweaking)

Some favorite projects:
Shaw/HGTV Home Design Challenge…How to get this Beach Cottage Look
Whew – what a great year!
Let’s see a recap of your DIY productivity in 2011!  Link up, then visit the links for some motivation to get moving this year!

(Sorry I don’t have the code – the previous didn’t work…making/pasting code into wordpress is a little different so I’m working on it. Please copy/paste picture above and linkt to this post or just link to this post in your 2011 DIY Recap. Thanks!)

  1. Write a post about your top 2011 DIY Projects.
  2. Add the Looking Back button by copying/pasting the code shown above into your blog post.
  3. Leave a comment and visit some of the other links.
  4. If you noticed your link has disappeared, please edit your post to include the link back to this post and try linking again (double checking that you’re linking up a 2011 recap. Here’s the link:  https://diyshowoff.com/2012/01/diy-2011-recap-party.html
  5. Be sure to follow along on G+ or subscribe via email (right side bar) so you catch the latest at the DIY Show Off in 2012.
  6. Thanks so much for sharing your 2011 recap!

If you haven’t already, after linking here, visit and link up at these awesome parties too:  

 

Special thanks to YOU for making 2011 so much fun! Your support, encouragement and comments mean so much to me…for real. I look forward to us all having a productive 2012 and can’t wait to see what you have planned!  I also want to thank these companies for their support and amazing and super fun opportunities this past year and look forward to an opportunity to work with them again this year…

 

 Click below to see our participation with...  

 

 

 

 

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DIY Show Off – Mudroom/Back Entry Way Makeover

My Mudroom/Back Entry Way:
Niski welcomes you to our home. {We lost our sweet doxie girl 12/10.}
Entryway to the back yard before we bought the house with single door and blue carpeting (standing in dining room).
Installation of French doors:
New slate tile floor:
*My chair was featured in Better Homes & Gardens 100 Decorating Ideas Under $100!
Key keeper for those who LOSE everything!. Key Keeper Tutorial
We decided to repurpose this mirror that was hanging over the fireplace when we purchased our home (picture of living room before we bought the house). Remove very carefully. Luckily ours was only held in place by brackets. No glue.
This is the room that I decorate (and I’m not exaggerating) at least once of month, sometimes more.
Ready for summer:

Then it looked like this for a while:
Then a holding room for the wingbacks…
then this..

Christmas 2011: New paint, curtains

No sew drop cloth script curtain tutorial.

Custom Chalkboard Paint Tutorial {and edging tips}

The sitting room is now a special dining space for two:

no sew drop cloth script curtains

valentine's day, dining nook

Sitting room December 2012:

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