Hello, hello!

Hi guys! 

It is so good to be back here writing. I enjoy writing and the connections I have made with you lovely readers, but I really needed some time to miss it, (the writing that is...not you)! I hope you all had a wonderful August and soaked up the remains of summer. While my break away from the blog was full of both rest and play with my family, I also used some much needed time to focus on some home projects that have been on hold since...well, since we moved in and planned on doing them!

Over the upcoming weeks I will be diving into our dining room makeover, kitchen transformation, living room re-order, a new refinishing technique, a new shop stop, and of course some furniture makeovers, (one of which includes a couple of bedside tables made from a leather suitcase)! On top of all that, what I'm the most excited about is introducing you to a new face. A very beautiful, talented and creative face that I have the pleasure of calling a dear friend and soon to be sister in law. More on that soon. :)

It's a joy to be back in this cozy corner of the world wide web and I so appreciate you joining me.

Enjoying some time away together at Deep Creek Lake in MD

~Chelsea

This post was originally featured under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Gallery wall refreshed, (and a temporary peace out)

Hi friends! In my last post I talked about our upcoming dining room overhaul. We're working on getting rid of {almost} everything and starting afresh. 

While the process of selling what we have and accumulating what we'd like may take some time, the first step I've already checked off the list is giving our gallery wall a little face lift. 

I love a good gallery wall. They're intimate, personal, whimsical and a wonderful statement of one's past and their hopes and dreams. They act as a large piece of art that sparks wonderful conversation. As I spent some time image browsing various gallery walls, I started pinpointing commonalities that appealed to me:

-Scattered frames as opposed to perfect, straight rows and columns.
-Gallery walls in spaces that are not too heavily decorated
-Monochromatic frames for a clean, crisp look
Here is our gallery wall before I tweaked it

 And after a few coats of glossy white spray paint

This project was as easy as it was satisfying!

1. Take all the frames down and remove the photos/objects
2. Lay out a couple large pieces of cardboard outside and place the frames on top, face up
3. Thoroughly shake a can of high gloss white spray paint
4. Evenly spray each frame, including the insides and along the outer edges
5. Let dry
6. Replace all the photos/objects back into the frames
7. Hang and enjoy!

I know this isn't for everyone - but it's a great first step in getting our dining room headed in the right direction for us! Next up: painting under the chair rail, (after settling on a color, I'd say the hardest part is done)!

This may be my last post for a few weeks. It's time to take some time. I'll be stealing a small portion over the remainder of August to enjoy some time away with my family, and the rest to explore some new and exciting business opportunities which I look forward to sharing with you soon! And of course, I'll come back with a few fun projects that I'll finally have some time to complete!

Au revoir mon amis!

~Chelsea

This post was originally featured under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Dining room mood board

Well! So much for lazy, summer days...my feet are hot from chasing around my kids and working on projects when they're asleep! Aside from several recently dropped off custom orders, Matt and I also have some home projects going on. Some big, (I'm an eighth the way done with painting our kitchen cabinets. An eighth people. After a month.), and some not as big.

We've recently had some discussions about redirecting some areas of our home closer to what our style truly is. I think it is hard to stay true to ones style when you're making some living off of painting furniture. The feel of painted, distressed furniture tends to lend itself to a cozy, cottage-y style. I love painted, distressed, rustic looking furniture. But I think for us, pieces like that look best when surrounded by slightly more modern, industrial elements.

We have been chipping away at achieving that balance in our home and have made our next stop at our dining room:

I don't hate this; in fact, I think the various elements going on here are individually beautiful! Together, they just don't represent who we are very well. So, we're selling it all. The distressed cream pedestal table, 6 matching chairs, (you can see one in the corner in the picture, the rest are in protected storage), and the 4 solid oak chairs. Whew!   If you are interested, please contact me!  Alas, we've been dreaming up what our ideal dining room would be within our budget, (and we're hoping that the profit from the current dining set covers most of it)! And since I just figured out how to create a mood board, I just couldn't resist...

(I love Picasa for creating mood boards - for anyone interested in trying it out!)

The breakdown:
China cabinet that I refinished last year in Duck Egg - currently in our dining room and staying!

Garner Extension dining table from World Market

Reidar black metal chair from IKEA

Refresh all the frames on the gallery wall in glossy white, (sorry so fuzzy!?)

Spray paint our current chandelier in flat black, (similar style to this one)

Repaint under the chair rail in a French Linen latex color match

And that's it!

No telling when this project will be complete but it's fun to have the final look organized. I'm looking forward to some of the simpler projects within the vision that I can work on until the table and chairs switcharoo is complete.

Thank you for reading!

~Chelsea

This post was originally featured under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.