Good morning!
     We have been busy little beavers this weekend.  I'm exhausted.  If I never have to paint a single thing ever again it'll be too soon.  My hands were practically arthritic at the end of the day, yesterday.  Once you start loading those rollers with paint they get heavy, man!  But it was worth it... I guess. ;)

Since moving in, 9 years ago this month actually (I just realized that as I was typing), we've done some things to the house: new flooring throughout, baseboards downstairs, got the interior painted, built our stone fireplace surround, etc.  But we haven't really decorated... like, at all.  Especially in our T.V. room though.  Well enough must have been enough for us because we finally did something to it.

"Before"

"After"

Transition to the kitchen.  Nice clean line!

 We'll be painting *sigh* the kitchen a bright green color next weekend... maybe.  Who wants to come help??

Got a rug at Home Depot and stole that art from our bedroom.

I am in LOVE with the new look.  So much character.  Daniel was so excited he got to buy a compressor and a nail gun.  He loves his new toy.  If it wasn't for that expense we prolly spent about $300 for paint, chair rail and accessories.  We got 5 cans of paint, two for this room, one for the kitchen, one can of white to touch up the baseboards and chair rail and one can of flat white for the ceiling (to be painted later). 

Remember that one time I made an ottoman?  Well it goes perfectly in the room (I think anyway).  It's still tufted but it only has one button left due to my dogs being a pack of jerks.  It's an easy fix but I need to get new button maker thingys and I keep forgetting about it.  Gonna get a bigger tray for the ottoman too and new side tables.  Just need one piece of art or something above the big chair, but we're in no rush.  I feel like a real-live grown-up now with my fancy living room!

Speaking of the kitchen (remember I mentioned it under that one pic above), we decided to make our own counter tops using wood.  We used Douglas boards.  The guy at Home Depot thought we were nuts.  Tried to talk us out of it.  We nodded our heads and said, "Uh huh" at the right places then promptly ignored his advice. LOL  We're such rebels. ;)  Saturday morning we took a hammer to the section next to the fridge.

"Before"

Bye bye.  We're going to complete this section fully, cabinets to be painted white, back splash added, etc.  Then move on to the rest of the kitchen.  We used two 4x10's and one 4x8'.  Had to cut about an inch off one of the 10's so it hangs over just about an inch.  Glued those puppies together with Liquid Nails, filled the joints with stainable wood filler and installed.  We screwed thin boards underneath as well to hold them together and also so it wouldn't move once in there.  Then Daniel put a screw up under that triangle section to add extra security.

This is the thorn in our side. I'll explain below.

Tada!

I looooove the way it came out.  Love, love, love.  Stained it with a stain that has poly mixed in.  Used "Early American" color.  We'll probably add some more clear coat just to be safe.  The "thorn" in our sides is where the wood filler is.  Looked amazing yesterday.  This morning, I guess after it fully dried, it has cracks in it.  Dang it!  We're gonna try using silicone or caulking instead to see if it comes out better.  So I'll update on that when we get it nailed down.

Found our backsplash today too!!!

Also found at Home Depot. (I got a Home Depot credit card so EVERYTHING  will be from there LOL)

Aaaand another thing. 

 Have I mentioned how much I LOVE spray paint??  Well I DO! ;)  I have hated this table since we bought it at Big Lots 10 years ago.  I was so ready to throw it out and get new side tables for this room.  Then I thought, "Hmm, maybe I'll try painting it.  It couldn't be any worse than it is now..."  Boom!  Transformed into an adorable beach cottage table.  I'm in love with it now so it can stay.

Busy, busy but I'm so happy with how everything turned out.  Until next time... Byeeee!

<3 Holly