Dining Room Hutch Before & After

I finally finished painting my hutch!  Come on and say it with me...Hip Hip Hooray!  Hip Hip Hooray!!

This hutch was a hand-me-down from the same friend who gave me this side table:

I madeover the side table back in April, but held off on starting the hutch because the thought of sanding and prepping a piece this large was just too overwhelming for me.  After re-painting my vanity with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and seeing how easy the process was, I knew I wanted to re-do my hutch using Chalk Paint too!

This is what the hutch looked like before I put any paint on it:

I don't have a "before" picture of the top piece of the hutch, but you basically get the idea of how dark the wood was.  Overall, the piece was in pretty good condition.  There were only a few dings on the edges of the hutch, but that's to be expected for a piece that's over 20 years old!

Before I applied any paint, I made sure to remove as much of the hardware as I could.  I used goo gone to remove any sticky residue, then wiped down the hutch with a 1:1 alcohol:water mixture to remove any dust and residual dirt.

I started painting in the garage, but when it started raining, we moved the piece into the house and I painted the hutch in my dining room.  If you have ever used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint before, you would know that it is a water-based paint and it doesn't have the typical "paint smell" you would expect from latex paints.

This is a picture of the hutch in progress:

3 coats of paint and 2 coats of wax later...

Here's a close up of the distressing details on the hutch:

The handles were originally more of a brass-y finish, but I dry-brushed Rub 'n Buff in Gold Leaf to get the finish that you see in the pictures above.

Here are some more shots:

I know, I know...I hate my ceiling fan too, but this room is a work in progress...

And just because I started decorating my Christmas tree, I wanted to include those pictures too...you know, just for funsies!

Isn't she gorgeous?  I love this hutch to pieces and, again, I am so thankful to my friend Ben and his family for thinking of me when they wanted to get rid of their hutch and side table.  I feel like this piece adds so much character to an otherwise bare dining room!  Let me know what you think!


This post is linked up to:  A Bowl Full of Lemons Blog, One Project at a Time: 12/2/2014

My Favorite Design Rule to Break

Modani.com contacted me a few months ago to see if I was interested in creating a post about breaking design rules.  Naturally, I said yes because I'd like to believe that I don't strictly follow any design rules and I really like creating mood boards for rooms that I would create if I had a ba-jillion dollars (is that a real number?) and unlimited space!  

Before I show you what I came up with, I want to keep it real and say that Modani is not paying me for this post or any of my opinions.

Modani sent me this graphic as a starting point for rules that they have mentioned on their blog and I must have to agree that the #1 design rule that I love to break is sticking to one style!

I like putting my spaces together organically and accumulating pieces of furniture and decor over time.  I choose pieces that I like and pieces that have character.  I try not to rush into decorating spaces and buying pieces from one place because I don't want my house to look like it came out of so-and-so magazine or look like so-and-so's house.  I want the decor in my home to reflect me and my style.  Isn't that what styling and decorating a home is all about anyways?

Since the holiday season has started and Thanksgiving is only a few days away, I wanted to put together a dining room.

This dining room has traditional and contemporary pieces.  For the most part, the color palette is simple, but the bright kilim rug adds pops of color and breaks up the simplicity of the room.  As far as the hutch goes, I would decorate it with brighter accessories to accentuate the colors of the rug.  I also added gold accents because I looovveee goooolllldddd...Austin Powers anyone?  This dining room incorporates pieces that reflect different design styles but I love that it all goes together and works for me and my personality.  

The next time you put a room together, I recommend not worrying about the "style" of the piece.  Instead, ask yourself if you like the piece and then ask yourself if the piece is "you".  If the answer to both questions is yes, then add it to your collection! What is your favorite design rule to break?

What Are You Thankful For? Part 2

Well folks, this is going to be my second post of things I'm thankful for.  Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away! Time is flying by so quickly and I feel like I should start decorating for Christmas now because it'll be here before we know it.  But before Christmas comes, I just wanted to take a little more time to reflect on some of the little things I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for...

1.  My drive and motivation.  I'm not sure where I get it or where the energy comes from, but I'm so thankful that I always feel like I "have to" succeed.  Yes, this can be tiring sometimes and can also be a self-defeating trait of mine, but I'm so thankful that I have that innate drive to constantly want to be and do better.

2.  My closest friends.  They are real and they are honest.  They are a huge part of my support system and I'm so glad to have met each and everyone of them in the last 7-8 years of my life.

3.  Weekends.  I'm not off of work every weekend, but on the weekends that I'm off I am able to relax and re-charge for the next work-week.  I don't have to worry about time constraints on weekends.  I can spend time with my dogs and my boyfriend without having to worry about work obligations or any deadlines.  I looooovvvveee weekends!

4.  Bloggers and blogs!   I am thankful that blogs exist and there are awesome bloggers out there who are willing to share their passion, thoughts, and pictures.  Reading DIY and home improvement blogs inspired me to attempt the DIY projects I've done on my own house.  Reading A Beautiful Mess's blog post about photography and another about blogging inspired me to start my own blog.

What are you thankful for?  I would love to know!

A Quick DIY Recipe Binder

What do I do when I have a day-off from work and I happen to have a terrible migraine?  I lay on my couch, in the dark, and organize my recipe binder, of course!  This is how I quickly put my binder together. 

My recipe binder is a regular A5-sized binder I got from Staples.

I thought about making my own recipe binder cover, but...nah...I mean, I had a migraine, remember?  I had a lot of time to search the web for free, printable recipe binder covers, so I used this one from Paging Supermom.  

I also thought these sites had cool recipe covers too:

Prudent Baby (I used this as my old recipe binder cover)

My Frugal Home

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Although I don't have that many recipes, I organize them into specific sections in this binder so that they are easy to find when I want to reference them.  I also keep my take-out menus in the back pocket of the binder.  This thing is like my "one-stop shop" for food, which is why I love it!

I have my recipe binder divided into 5 different sections:

• Main Dishes
• Sides
• Desserts
• Slow cooker meals
• Soups/Salads

I made my own dividers by cutting decorative card stock down to size and using Semikolon sticky tabs as my divider labels.  I laminated the dividers to make sure that they would be easier to clean if I ever spilled anything on them.  

I also use page protectors for each recipe so that I can wipe off any spills.  I don't want to have to re-print a recipe every time one gets dirty or wet.

Most of the recipes in this binder are ones I've found online.  I also have a couple of cookbooks with recipes I really like, but I don't see the point in typing those recipes and placing them in this binder.  To me, the purpose of this binder wasn't to put ALL of my favorite recipes into one spot.  I just wanted to organize my "loose" recipes (recipes I printed from the world wide web) and take-out menus so that I didn't have to go on a hunt every time I wanted to make a certain dish.

If you have a little bit of time in your day and you have recipes in a drawer in your kitchen, I encourage you to put a binder together too!  This project was really simple and quick.  It also didn't cost me a single penny because I already had everything I needed.  With the holidays rolling around, this would also be an awesome way to plan and organize your holiday dinner recipes!  Through my search today, I also found a lot of inspirational recipe binder pictures on Pinterest that would be cool to check out.  Let me know if you put one together!

What Are You Thankful For?!

Oh!  Well, hello November! Where did you come from?

I feel like November just popped up out of nowhere!  With Thanksgiving coming in less than 3 weeks, I wanted to start a mini series of posts about what I'm thankful for.  With a full-time job, a new (to me) house, multiple dogs, and a blog, it's easy for me to lose sight of what I have.  I don't take enough time out of my everyday to reflect and appreciate my life for what it is.  This is also a way for me to share a little more of me with you!

I'm Thankful for...

1.  My 9-5.  I often end up working more than 40 hours a week and my "9-5" isn't always 9 a.m. to 5 p.m..  Sometimes I work from 12:45 p.m. -9:15 p.m. and there was this one time when I worked 22. hours. straight.  I am a health-professional in a retail setting.  I get to deal with insurance issues, angry guests, complaints, addicts...the list goes on and on, but still, I am grateful to have a job.  My job has allowed me to buy every materialistic thing I have.  My job allows me to have a hobby like Life on Elizabeth.  My job allows me to go on vacations.  My job allows me to buy food and pay bills.  So even with all the hectic things that may go on in a pharmacy on a daily basis, I am so very grateful for my job.

2.  My family.  Even though all of my family members live more than a few hours away from me, we are all still very close.  My 2 younger sisters just "get" me.  Their love is truly unconditional and I know they always have my back.  We look out for one another and provide each other with the support and feedback that we all need.

3.  Healthy dogs.  My dogs and I have made numerous vet visits this year for surgeries, allergies, and check-ups.  I am happy and grateful that every member of my pack of 4 is healthy!

4.  Where I live.  For those of you who know where I live, you may be appalled that I actually appreciate the city that I live in, but I do.  I love that I'm not constantly surrounded by the hustle and bustle of typical city-life.  I rarely have to fight traffic, I am not surrounded by high-risers, and I don't have to go on the freeway to commute to work.  These are all little things, but it's always the little things that count.  Right?

5.  My planners.  My planners help keep me on-track and sane.  I use one planner to organize my finances and another planner to organize events, appointments, and blog ideas.  Without my 2 simple planners, I'd totally be lost.  So for that, I am grateful!

That's my list for this week!  What are you grateful for?  Let me know!