Who Has These In Their Home?

These are the cabinets in my bathroom. As a matter of fact, when I bought this house 15 years ago, ALL the cabinets in the house were this type. I'm not sure what they're called, but I know they were VERY popular about 20 years ago (which is when my kitchen was remodeled-before I owned it).
Not quite my style... I definately would have chosen something else. White laminate? Not me.

My entire kitchen had these beauties, too. (nothin' against those that have them and love them, mind you). But I really wanted something else. Luckily, the cabinets themselves are wood- it's just the doors that are faux. So about 12 years ago, I had someone come in to give me a quote on replacing the doors. An hour later and $7500 in debt looming, I picked myself up from the floor and thought again. Again, lucky for me, my Dad is an awesome carpenter. Self taught, just like me in most of the things I do (both of my parents are pretty awesome, come to think of it).

This is what I have in my kitchen now.... SOLID OAK.....and GORGEOUS. All I had to do was pay for the wood and buy a new router bit for my Dad (kinda' burned the other one up!) and I got all new cabinets for under $500 bucks! Love you, Dad-you're the best.

He even made the fake fronts for the drawers that really aren't. All I had to do is replace the hardware.

For the most part, my house has been on the "country" side for the past 20 years. After my divorce, my tastes started to change (in addition to lifestyle, money, blah blah blah). I re-designed my dining room a year ago like this; and just finished my home office here in styles that are kinda' out of my element. I know, just call me "rebel divorcee lookin' for a change" (sounds like an ad for the personals...NOT).

If my Dad were able, I know he'd be here tomorrow to hook me up. I'm just glad he's here period. So I'm thinkin' about making a few changes myself on the cheap. Look out master bath.

I'll be making friends with my new best bud... Kilz in a can. LOVE IT!

I'll let ya' know how it turns out.

Dining Room Re-Do

Okay...so I have taken the "after" photos of my Dining Room remodel. Unfortunately, I did not unearth the "before" photos from my album (see previous post... aka..diaper bag!) but if you can envision that everything shown with regard to the furniture was once a very dark, traditional mahogany, Victorian dining set, then maybe that can take place of the befores. The chairs were covered with a very worn, dark green crushed velvet! I much prefer the new fabric. I have used it in my bathroom (photos to follow in a later post) and I think they turned out great. Much brighter and more me.

As a personal aside, this set was purchased for me about 10 years ago by my now EX husband at a time when I was into the dark, heavy & ornate Victorian style. The walls were painted a dark green on the bottom, with a cream color above the chair railing and a cut work, wallpaper border around the top. Let me tell you, the wallpaper border was a BEAR to remove...never again!

My then husband left four years ago, and slowly but surely, room by room I have started to reclaim my house in a brighter, more open look that works better for me. In the past few years, I worked on the enclosed porch, the master bath, the gardens (although we CANNOT mention my backyard!)and the largest undertaking thus far... this room.
So onward.... I have gone from dark green & cream walls, dark green velvet curtains, and mahogany furniture to this! I LOVE the new look and feel it is truly reflective of who I am. It's amazing what paint, time, and inspiration can do... not only for a room, but your outlook on life. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed pulling it all together!

This is the view from the Great Room looking into the Dining Room.

This is the view on the opposite side looking in from the kitchen. At one time there were doors leading into the room on both sides- I took those down a long time ago and it really opened up the space.

My apologies for the weird angle on this one- the ceilings are 10 foot tall and getting a good shot is kinda' hard. One of the maintenance men I work with made the valance form for me, then I covered it in material to match the chairs. The hangings are done in a coordinating fabric (also used for the place mats I made) and have a glass bead fringe on the bottom that looks awesome when the morning light comes through. I was lucky enough to find the trim at 70% off when a fabric store was going out of business (gosh... will I miss them!!).

This is a better shot of the bottom of the front windows. The large stain glass piece I bought about 10 years ago at a local antique shop for $50 bucks (what a deal!). The two smaller pieces I bought on-line for half price at the Home Decorators site- $14 a piece, but the shipping blew that deal!

These are the chairs- I think they turned out great!

This is the "table scape" I leave set for the most part. I like to alternate some of my depression glass with my china pattern, and I just got the salt & pepper set from EBay last month! I made the place mats out of the same material used on the hangings on the valance.

This is the buffet wall with a part of my depression glass collection. I love the combination of the pinks and greens... it's a shame that I'm running out of room. However, I do have one more wall shelf for the top of the mirror that I'm saving. The shelves were purchased at Wal-Mart for $11 a piece. They were originally black, so I kilzed them, and applied 2 coats of paint to match the wall.

This is a close up of the buffet with some of my carnival glass collection. I "spruced up" the lamps by adding the same trim I used to trim out the mantel treatment.

This is the fireplace wall which opposes the buffet- it's looking a little stark due to the ceiling height...but my girlfriend is working on a watercolor for me to hang over the doorway to the great room (hey, Heide Marie...what's the status?)

And this is the china cabinet. Needless to say, this one piece took me the longest! I started out trying to tape around the fret-work on the front...JOKE. I ended up just slapping the paint on then scrapping the glass with a razor when it dried. A WHOLE lot easier!