Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Dining Room Before and After

When we bought our house,
it was in such a disarray.

The house walls were covered in dark paneling
and square gold marbled mirrors, and fake brick paneling.

I was a sight to behold.
We worked together as a family to get 
walls stripped and torn out to make the rooms
bigger and make the kitchen much larger.



Such a lovely sight really.
I had lots of imagination when I first saw this house.
I went home and with graph paper and pencil I drew out the 
proposed plans for the kitchen.

The bar that you see here we pulled out.
There also was a jutted out section in the wall next to this
bar, you can see it framed in next to the bar on the wall.
I decided that we needed to take the 
jutted out section off the wall and make the wall completely
flat, like all walls should be.

We discovered as we pulled the section off
there was a flue at the top of this.
It jutted out in this room we now call the dining room,
and the room next to it, that is now our guest house.

We pulled all this off,
and started pulling the bricks off one by one.
I never thought of the fact that at the bottom of the
bricks were lots of soot.
We pulled brick by brick, and all of a sudden there was a big
SWOOSH
 there was soot everywhere.
And especially all over us.

Each day as we came to work on the house,
we brought lots of soot back with us.
Our photos show this,
I couldn't get things clean fast enough.

Our dining room is such a fun room now.
I could never have imagined that it could be this nice
after knowing what it looked like when we bought it.


We took the floors down to the original wood floors.
Pulling up one layer of indoor/outdoor carpet,
then two layers of very old linoleum,
then a layer of pressed wood, nailed down with
16 penny nails.
It was a chore for sure, and
weeks for me to get the floor to this point.


The room has had many looks over the years,
I first wallpapered the dark paneling
with a white and pink stripe
but then as time has passed, we sheet rocked
and I faux painted the walls to look like
Venetian plaster.


I have liked these walls the best,
and this is how it will stay until
I either die or move away.


I love to decorated my walls with pictures that
we have purchased on our travels.
these are from Italy.


And these are a combination of Paris, London,
 Venice, and Rome.
Here is the wall that had the flue on it.
So glad we pulled it out
even though the mess took me a while to
clean up. Lots of soap and water.


This is the dining room looking from the
kitchen.  I so love how cozy it feels.  It isn't
a big room, but it does have that
come in and enjoy feel.


Well for now this is our dining room.
I will add another post on how it got to this point.

Ciao,

Robin

Saturday, February 1, 2014

I love Valentines Day!

All my life
Valentines Day has always been special.

My mother always greeted us in the morning with
pink pancakes for breakfast.

She always made valentines cards for us,
and we of course would
make and sign our own valentines for school.

Our evening always started with
Pink Casserole. 
I still can taste it in my mind as I
remember these foods.

I took these traditions with me when
I left home, married, and had a family.
  Our kids too ate 
pink pancakes 
for breakfast and 
pink casserole for dinner.

Here are some of the things I do in my house
to decorate for 
Valentines Day.

It is a special day in our home.

Here is our sign we
sit on the mantle of our fireplace.

I used Robin's Nest Products
which are glued on a long brown matboard.
Glitter Valentine Cardstock
Valentine Stripe Cardstock
Brown Glitter Classic Swirl Cardstock
Red Dew Drops


This is a side view of the Love Sign.


 Here is a Be Mine 12x12 love note
as I like to call these signs.
All products used are 
Retired Robin's Nest Products.


Our kitchen table
Valentines and Love!


Kiss me Table setting.
I have a wonderful set of pink dishes
from my Victorian Decorating Days.


I added a few straws to the table setting.


From our store years ago, 
I made this Valentines tree.  
The hearts are brads, and at the beginning
of the month I added dew drops.

I love the metal heart on the pink block
couldn't resist it years ago.
And the little girl she came to my home
years ago.  She has cute hearts on her,
and for Winter in Utah February,
she is dressed for the winter cold days,
she just fits like a glove.
I love her.


The mushroom came from my mother's boxes.
I remember as a child, she would
have these mushrooms all around.
She grew up in Germany, 
and this was just part of our home,
mushrooms!


I made this medallion for Crafts Magazine.
I'm not sure what they did with it.
But I did take one picture of it,
and here it is.
Maybe we will see it on their Facebook.


I sure love the Robin's Nest products for Valentines.
The basics are so perfect to
make projects with.  It is a great red!

Robin's Nest Products used:
Glitter Chipboard in Red and Silver
Glitter Red Paisley Cardstock
Classic Roses Cardstock
Pink Glitter Chipboard
Pearl dew drops
White and Red tear drops
Pearl diamond drops
Heart Clippies
Glitter Lips Cardstock

Find all these products on our website
under Wild About You.
www.robinsnest-scrap.com

I hope you have a great Valentines Day.

Enjoy these fun ideas!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hugs and Ciao,

Robin