interior design

Transformation Tuesday no. 3

| The Bee Life

Remember that post when I “designed” our future dining room? (In case you missed it see here: House Hunters – Dining Room Design)… I also mentioned that we were having a custom table built, well table is complete, and dining room is complete!  We ended up going with my original design, but ran into some problems with the chandelier.

WORDS OF ADVICE: Don’t fall in love with something “available online” only to find it’s no longer available online or in any of the stores… also try and find similar models from different sights, just as back-ups or comparison.

I could not find a replicated chandelier of the one in my original design post ANYWHERE. It was my mission, I was so determined, but found nothing! And I called almost every Home Depot asking for the Hampton Bay, Menlo Park 6-light chandelier… I even went as far as upstate NY near my parents searching for this bad boy. Sold. out.

So… I had to try and find something else, it was hard but we finally found a replacement that we both liked and played into the character of our 100-year old home. We also went with chairs from Target, not only are they durable (and beautiful) but getting two chairs for the price of one (if that) is unbeatable!  Our table was built by a friend’s friend who is a carpenter, we were able to pick the wood, customize the size (8-feet by 4-feet), legs, spacing, height…everything. We ended up staining and finishing the piece ourselves to save some money and it came out great.

Before

After

photo 2

Final touches; side table with table-top lamp, new blinds, decorative bowl for the center of the table and place mats, and I am sure about a million other things along the way! I am completely in love with this space and can’t wait to entertain and have many dinners, game nights, and parties around this table.

Happy Dining!

House Hunters – Living Room Digs

| The Bee Life

Even though we have moved into the house and are pretty settled, we still have future decorating plans (that’s a given, right?) and one that is going to make a huge impact is our living room. I feel like there are so many ways to go with our furniture and style.  Also not being a designer; I have a hard time describing my style. So if anyone out there wants to help this girl out, I would love that!

Ideally, I would love to start with neutral bases for our big furniture pieces – whites and beige’s or grey’s.  Then from there start bringing in the color with an area rug, ottoman, pillows, and light fixtures. Something like this;

Pulled from How to Decorate via Pinterest – Site linked to picture.

How to make this my own:

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This is still a work in progress – but a starting point. I have really struggled with my living room, I feel like there are so many possibilities, I am just focusing on staying patient and when I see it I’ll know! How do you help decide on your designs?

House Hunters – Bedroom Retreat

| The Bee Life

T-minus one week and 2-days until we get our house keys! Our dining room is slowly coming to life… the rug and chairs have arrived, plus we are having a custom table built that will end up being 8’x4′ – I can’t wait to see the finished product.

One of the other rooms that I have high hopes for…thanks to pinterest…. is our master bedroom.  We plan to turn our attic into our master retreat, which will have some logistical set backs (ie: heating and cooling) but the space is monstrous and has so many possibilities! Not to mention… two walk-in closets. I really want to go with a classic look with lots of neutrals and pops of color, the navy and white/grey color scheme is really catching my eye, it’s so timeless.

We will also have room for a seating area, that means fun chairs are a must! I love the chair below (04), plus they’re available in other colors. The pops of color will come into play with pillows, because let’s face it you can never have too many pillows, and other decorative accents throughout.  I also like the idea of having an upholstered headboard, it just gives a homey feeling… below is just a mess of ideas I’ve pulled together, definitely still a work in progress!

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Happy decorating!

House Hunters – Dining Room Design

| The Bee Life

Well it has been nearly 3-months since we began our house hunt, and we are happy to report that we got a house!  We probably also have the most lucky and unique story when it comes to our house. To give you the cliff notes version; we saw this house our second day looking at houses, B loved it – I was stuck on a house we lost. The house had an offer placed on the house, so we went back to look at the house and ended up placing an offer – we freaked out and pulled our offer. The house was gone – contingent with the other offer. A week or two later, the house was back on the market. Two weeks after that we went and looked at it again. Two weeks after that, we went back again with my contractor uncle and did a more technical walk-through (so in case your counting, we saw the same house 4x).  After that, we made a real offer, and after a bit of negotiations our offer was accepted!!

Now the fun part begins -decorating! Here are our plans for the dining room; I want a mix of patterns, modern and a classic look to tie into the bones of the house, (which will be 100 years in 2015)!  I am obsessed with the floral chairs (05) – I think these would look good  for the heads of the table. We are also looking into having our table made, so that is it a little more affordable – more details to come on that.

Dining Room Design
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While we wait to close on the house I have been doing plenty of on-line shopping and deal hunting – any suggestions for hidden online (or places) treasure troves for a great deal? I am always game for a good DIY project!