SUYL- Dining Rooms

If you're new here, my name is Heather and I'm 24 years old! (But I'll be 25 in 16 days!!!) I just bought my first HOME in April! I am looooving being a homeowner! When I saw that Kelly from Kelly's Korner was doing a home tour this summer, I decided to wait and show off my new HOUSE on my blog during the home tour!

If you missed the earlier weeks of my house, you should check them out!...
Three weeks ago was the den!
Two weeks ago was the kitchen!
Last week was the guest bedroom & master bedroom!
I finally finished my living room, so I did a post on that last week as well!

This week is the dining room! Sadly, I'm not too excited about showing this one off. This is the one room I have yet to decorate!! My twin sister is getting married in August, so my dining room table has become invitation central!.... Here is a shot looking in from the kitchen.
                                              
           (Purple invitations galore. Coming to a house near you... maybe. If I actually know you...)

I love the space of the dining room, but have no idea what I want to do with it. I love the chandelier! I love the yellow walls. I love the curtains.  But it needs to be DECORATED! I'm thinking of recovering the fabric on the chairs once I decide how I want to decorate it. Here are some more pictures...

 BIG OPEN WALL. AHHHHHH.

SO, here's where I need YOUR help! I'm going to be looking at all of your dining rooms to get inspiration for this room!! If any of you have any ideas on what I could do with this space, I'd love to hear it in a comment!! This room needs YOUR help so badly!!! I want this room to be done by the end of summer, so any and all suggestions are more than welcome!!!

My new buffet!!

So I had this big empty wall in my den. See the white wall behind the couch? It just looked so bare. I couldn't decide what to put there. But after painting loads of furniture, I decided I would buy an old buffet and paint it RED! and then put it on that wall!

 This is the buffet I bought off craigslist. It was only $100, and the guy even delivered it for me! And let me tell ya-- it was UGLY! Right???

My least favorite part of this buffet were these hideous lion handles. I mean, seriously? Were these really in style?! I think they are hideous. I knew right away I would have to go buy new hardware to make this piece really shine!

                                               
I went to Lowe's andpicked out new handles. I painted it with Annie Sloan's chalk paint in Emperor's Silk. This paint is like, FIRE ENGINE red when it's red. That made me so nervous. But it dried this beautiful red color. Whew! Here's the after shot....
                           
It kind of looks orange in this next shot, but I promise it's red! Ha! I still want to buy like a large mirror or something to hang above it.

 Doesn't that big white wall look so much better now that it has a beautiful red buffet on it??! I love it!

 I currently have no more furniture to paint, and my heart is a little sad about that!! I'm seriously considering just buying random furniture off craigslist, painting it, and then trying to sale it. We will see! Ha!

My NEW and improved living room!

Well, my summer project turned into a week project. In the past week, I painted my cabinet, piano, and side table. I bought a new rug and two new chairs. (Holly is taking our moms chair to Oklahoma now.) And I am in love with this new room! I haven't spent any time in this room since I bought the house. Now? You will more than likely find me sitting in one of those chairs either reading a book or playing on the computer. I love love love the bright colors! It just automatically puts me in a better mood!

Here's the before... Can we say drab and booooooooring!!!

But now??

 I went with white, turquoise, and coral. As you can see, I painted the piano and my china cabinet. I bought two new chairs from IKEA and white covers for them. I also got the white rug from IKEA. I still want something to hang on the wall above the chairs! Not sure what yet. Mirror? Art? Who knows!

 If you look on the piano, I have pictures of my siblings. I also have a coral lamp and a yellow canvas I painted that has my monogram on it!

 My chairs from IKEA! I love them! That side table use to be black, but I painted it yellow. I got the turquoise lamp from Target!

 I love love love this pillow. I got it from Uptown Country in dallas and it has ALL the colors from the room!

It is possible to love every single room in your house? Because I'm pretty sure I love this one too!

Things to finish in this room: Hang something above the chairs. Finish making the cushion for the piano. (It is going to be coral!)

Random sappy post...

Tonight, I miss my momma.

Maybe it's because of all of this wedding planning.

Maybe it's because of Kevin having baby.

Maybe it's because of watching "We bought a zoo". (Great movie, but if you're mom is dead... don't watch it.)

Maybe it's because I need to hear her boy advice.

Maybe it's because it's been six years, six months, and one day since I held her hand and kissed it goodbye.

Maybe it's because she was the most amazing woman I've ever met.

I miss you, momma.

SUYL- Guest & Master Bedroom

If you're new to my blog, my name is Heather and I live in Dallas, Texas! I bought my FIRST house in April of this year. I have sooo enjoyed decorating it and making it mine since! When I found out Kelly from Kelly's Korner was doing a SUYL Home Tour this summer, I decided to wait and showcase my house each week through her tour!

Two weeks ago was the den, last week was the kitchen, and this week is the BEDROOMS! I'm so excited about this week!!!

I am going to showcase both my room and my guest room. My house has three bedrooms, but my sister is currently renting the third room until she gets married in August. I will wait and show that one off once I get my hands on it after she has moved out. :)

I will start with the guest room. In my old apartment, I had a TON of Alabama art! (I went to the University of Alabama- roll tide!) My dad also owns an art company (ActionSportsArt- check it out! They have SO many schools and their art is BEAUTIFUL!). Anyway, the combination of being an Alabama fan AND having  a dad who owns an art company means that I had a TON of Alabama art! I knew that I didn't want to display it all over my house, so I decided to go with my guest room as my "alabama" room! I love how it turned out!

I love love love the brown houndstooth comforter that I found on Overstock.com. I think it fits perfectly with the colors in the art pieces. The bed frame is beautiful too, isn't it?? It belongs to my sister in law. They had it in their master bedroom but recently upgraded, so I'm storing it in my house until they need it again years down the road! I was super thankful for a FREE bed!

The bookshelf was purchased from Target with a gift card that my sweet friend Sarah's mom, Nancy, gave me. (Hey Ms. Nancy! I've heard you read my blog! :) ) I store all of my craft stuff in those baskets, which I love! Mainly because those baskets are so messy on the inside, but no one knows it by looking at it!

On the shelves, I put more Alabama decor.
                           
The football was signed by the 2009 national championship team!

The coke bottles are the Bear Bryant ones and belonged to my late uncle, who was a HUGE alabama fan! The houndstooth picture frames were given to me by a "second mom", Becky! She made them. I love them!
                           
The little tiger has a shirt on that says "I wish I was Big Al" :) The hat belonged to an ex of mine... he was an Auburn fan, so I inherited it after the break up. I actually didn't even realize I had it... apparently it's been in a box since I moved out of Tuscaloosa three years ago... so it just now got added to the shelf. :)
                           
The plate at the top with the cheerleader outfit is signed by my best friends in college, the six! I got the lamp at Target. The (ugly) flower bouquet belonged to my mom... my friends lovingly referred to it as "Botanical Gardens"... it's hideous, but it reminds me so much of Lala that I just can't get rid of it!

And of course, here is all of my dad's art around the room! :)

The big piece is from the 2009 National Championship. The frames on either side have our tickets and programs from the game and one says "Remember the Rose Bowl...." and the other says "... we'll win then!" I love how those turned out :)

SO, that's my guest room! I love how it turned out! (I also love that 2 people that have stayed there recently are HUGE Auburn fans. I'm hoping they dreamed in Crimson. ;))

And now on to my FAVORITE place in the house... the MASTER BEDROOM!!!....

First off, I don't think I can say enough that I love these double doors to my room....

And my room is just huge! I loooove it! The color of the walls came with the house, and I loved the color. I couldn't find anything to match it, and I wanted to keep it. I love the chevron pattern, so I decided to keep the walls and go for black and white with chevron accents! This is the view from the door!
                           

I got the chair and ottoman from target.com. They were on sale, which I love! I got the black rug from IKEA. I looooove their rugs! (Excuse my laundry basket... I need to wash clothes!)
                           

The two dressers are also from IKEA. They aren't my favorite, but they work!
                           

I love my big black mirror. It came with my old dresser (that broke) that I bought in Alabama. I kept the mirror and just hung it on the wall! My side table and bed are also from Alabama.
                                              
The bookshelf is from Target! I love that I have a place to show off my favorite books. :)
                                              
I sewed the chevron accent pillows for my bed. I loooooove the way they look!
                           
I made the chevron picture frames and chevron H with extra chevron fabric. Most of the pictures in my room are also black and white. I decided to just go with the black and white theme and I love how elegant it all looks!
                             
                             
I ordered Julio's chevron bed from etsy and loooove it. However, Julio does not. In fact, he's never once laid in it. I've seen Gus in it a few times, so at least someone is getting good use of it! Ha!
                             
I love the shelf above my bed! It has a picture of some of my favorite people. One is a picture of me, Lacey, and Charlie bear... one is of my mom and me... one of my sister and me... and one of me and some of my best friends from college at Tiff's wedding.
                           
I also splurged and bought a big TV for my room! I'm not a big TV person, but I love watching shows on DVD. The wall is so far from my bed that I just knew I had to go big in order to see anything! So I splurged and bought it. I love it!
                           

Basically, I love these two rooms of my house! I think they are both very "me". I hope you liked them too! Can't wait to see everyone else's!

Funny how a melody sounds like a memory...

I have a piano in my house that has belonged in my family for a loooong time. It originally belonged to my grandmother's Aunt Lilli Jo Partin Witt. Her and her husband, Jack, lived in Omaha, Texas... which is a small town in East Texas. They had no children. After Aunt Lilli Jo died, my grandmother's cousin, Mona, went to Omaha and brought the piano back to Gadsden, Alabama. (Where my mom is from.)


Mona kept the piano for several years, but eventually decided she wanted it out of her way. She thought of my sister and I and thought that we might want to take piano lessons.


My grandmother and grandfather went to look at it. They had Gadsden Music Company pick it up, take it to their store to tune it, and then deliver it to my mom's house in Trussville, Alabama.


I was a pretty little girl then... maybe fourth or fifth grade. My mom made us start taking piano lessons. I wasn't very good at it, but Holly definitely was. I ended up quitting before Holly did. It's been years since I played the piano!


My mom passed away when I was 18, and when we were having the estate sale I decided I did not want to get rid of the piano. My dad volunteered to store it in his garage, and it's been there, under a blanket, for six years.


When I bought my house in Dallas, I convinced my dad to drive it back to Dallas for me. I remember my grandmother saying she was "glad the piano is going back home to Texas", so that's where it started all of those years ago.


When it finally arrived in Dallas, it was banged up. Missing chunks. My dad spent an afternoon repairing the holes, but it still looked awful. I couldn't stand the sight of it. I thought my beautiful piano looked awful in my house! Here are some before pictures:

 (See all the dings on the side?? YIKES!)

(Please ignore the purple envelopes. Those are my sister's wedding invitations and they are currently all over my house!)


I painted my other grandmother's china cabinet last week. I knew I wanted the piano to be the focal point in the room, which would be hard with a white and blue china cabinet! I sat on the floor yesterday afternoon for five minutes trying to convince myself to just paint the piano. I started with the piano bench... here it was after one coat.

 Then I moved on to the piano, and here it is after one coat....

Ah! I was so nervous! But I kept going! I painted another coat. Then I waxed it and distressed it, and waxed it again! And I'm in love with it. Are you ready??? Here it is!....

AH! I'm in love. You can't really see the distressed parts, but I didn't distress it tooooo much. I may go back and add more. Here is a shot of the piano and the cabinet together...
                           
I love love love it! Next up is finding chairs to match. Originally I was going to recover my mom's chair, but now my sister is going to be taking it to Oklahoma. So I'm on the search for chairs to match! If any of you have any ideas, let me know! Also, I want to find a white mirror to hang above the piano. I think it will look perfect!


Here's a side by side comparison:





What do you think? Do you love it as much as I do???