A dining room upcycle

Yesterday I showed you this picture....

And I know you have been hanging in suspense ever since.  Well, we finally finished re-doing our dining room chairs that were given to us by my mother.  These have been in her house my entire life and she decided to part ways with them.

Never one to turn down free stuff, plus a chance to upcycle, I gladly took them off her hands.

Before and After:

I am hardcore in love.  Completing these chairs brought us so much closer to having the dining room complete.  Or at least to a place that I feel I can step back and live with it for a while.  Like I have said, my home will never be "done".....much to my husband's chagrin.

Here is what the dining room looked like with the previous owners....

And here it is today...

We installed the new chandilier a few weeks ago and I adore it.  The Wall sconces on either side of the mirror will soon be replaced.  I am thinking some wall shelf sconces with some blue willow china ginger jars maybe?  My mother has a great collection of them packed away for a rainy day. 

Here are some inspiration pictures to give you an idea of what I am talking about...

The Enchanted Home

And maybe a few jars displayed on our yellow buffet table as well?  I am very excited about the idea.  What do you think?

Happy first day of Spring,

tbg

Guest room reveal

Did you have a good SPD on Monday?  Did you wear green?  Did you get pinched?

I have been sluggish on the blog  because I was having a hard time finding inspiration with the awful weather and bleak skies.  And then, once it turned a little warmer and a little brighter, I was overloaded with inspiration and couldn't make the time to update y'all on the changes around the house.

So here is a little photo-dump of the house lately and some of the changes that have happened.

First of all, my gallery wall used to have sconces that looked like this.....

And now they look like this....look to the upper right corner of the picture.  As you can see I added a new painting as well underneath the sconce.

I think I am about done with the gallery wall....except my tiny pair of antelope horns feel off the plaque hanging there and I need to glue them back on.  Other than that, I think it is good to go...

We also painted the big guest room and hung the art, now I just need to hang the light fixture.  This room is hard to shoot so I apologize for the bad lighting and angels.

 

 

Here are few more shots of small updates around the house...

Master Bedroom...

Small Guest Room....

We finally mounted our TV.  I guess it took the strength of two men to drill the holes.

Master...

There is one more big change we made which brought us one giant step closer to finishing the dining room.  Here is a sneak peek...

Reveal to come soon.

Have a happy hump day,

tbg

Fatty Tuesday

Like I needed an excuse to eat sugar covered icing slathered all over fried dough!

But damn it's good.

I am missing Nola so much right now and my husband was sweet enough to get me a King Cake to cheer me up.  Too bad I will hate myself after I eat it all. Just kidding.  I only ate half.  My office mates get the rest. 

I thought it may be fun to share with you my favorite piece of artwork in my home.

It is a hand painted scarf from Umberto Romano's Mardi Gras in Italy 1957 series...very apropos.

Isn't it dreamy???  It is on the wall next to my side of the bed.  I just lay there and stare at it because I love it so much.

Romano was a very cool artist and the coolest thing about him was that his aesthetic change constantly but without ever losing characteristics uniquely his own.  The Mardi Gras series was a very small part of who he was as an artist but it is a part that really resonates with me.  He was a celebrity at this particular time in his life.  He was commissioned to paint many murals one of which was in the restrooms of a hip, new restaurant in New York.

Here he is with Mr. High Noon himself, Gary Cooper, discussing his bathroom mural...

It cracks me up that they are standing among toilets. 

I hope you all have a great Fat Tuesday, drink some Abita and get to pinch some heads and suck some tails.  I know I will be doing just that this evening. 

Justice, power and faith,

tbg

 

This Old Giraffe

Hello strangers!  I have been MIA for a while.  I have been in one of those hermit, self-reflecting modes lately and haven' felt like coming out of my shell.

But I am here today to catch up with everyone and see how goes it.

I am 31 years and one day old today.  Yesterday was my birthday.  31.  How does that happen so fast?  I can still remember my 16th birthday and my 21st birthday like they were yesterday. 

Anyway, I didn't do much.  I didn't feel like making a big deal out of it.  Last year, for my 30th, the Fella took me to New Orleans.  Upon our arrival, I was surprised to find that he had rented a house and six of my besties were there to celebrate with me.  Best birthday ever.  I had a blast "Roaring out of My 20's.

So this year, I was content to lay low. 

Friday, I received this pretty package in the mail to kick start the bday weekend...

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL. 82 degrees.  So we took advantage of it and got some projects done.  I did some painting...

Before, primed, complete (sans recovered seats):

And the Fella did some sanding...

Please ignore the state of the garage. We plan to do some Spring cleaning in there soon. This table has been in the Fella's family for a long time and he really wanted to keep it but it was in bad shape.  It is amazing what a little sanding and a coat of paint can do...

 

And don't you love my styling???  Horrible. 

On Sunday I woke up to a card, flowers and a room full of balloons.

Peanut then showed up bearing gifts....

And mustaches....lots and lots of mustaches...

Look at this adorable "donut" cake she made me!

I couldn't be bothered with plates and fancy things like that...I just jumped right in.

She and the Fella then took me to brunch.  It may have been a beautiful 82 degrees on Saturday, but on Sunday it dropped into the 20s and snowed!!!  Gross.  So for the rest of the day, the Fella and I snoozed on the couch, caught up on the DVR and watched the Oscars.

A nice, relaxing weekend.  I couldn't ask for more for this ol' 31 year old.

Speaking of the Oscars...oh my geeze amiright???

 

#gorg

She's back and older than ever,
the baby giraffe