No, not that kind of stripper.  I  mean the chemical kind.  I want to strip our mismatched nightstands so I can stain them to match our dresser, but I don’t want to do it in the house.  As it is still the middle of Winter and although it is unseasonably warm, it is not warm enough to do this whole process outside, I am putting the rest of the master bedroom redo (see, I repainted the wall behind the bed) on hold until Spring.

  I was looking through some old pictures on my computer and thought it would be fun to compare last year’s Christmas decorating to this year’s.  Above is last year’s “Jack Frost Christmas”.  Below is this year’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

     Quite a difference don’t you think?  I spent a week painting this room just after Christmas last year.  My husband made me the Reproduction Antique Warehouse Cart Coffee Table.  We just recently added the Ikea couch in here.  I changed the artwork and the moved the furniture around a bit.  And of course the decorations are completely different.  Our big Christmas tree is one of the pre-lit kinds.  We’ve had it for a while and much of it is burned out, that’s why we decided to not use it this year.  We went ahead and bought the little Grinch-y tree because I had my heart set on doing the “Roast Beast Feast“  and because in the future I want to put little trees in each room of the house.  I am not sure what we will do next year.  I might try to fix the burned out lights on our big tree or I just might get a fresh one.    I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas time!

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     This is the first time that I have liked this room enough to photograph it, ugly concrete floors and all.  I have been working on this room for over four years now.  It is a decorating challenge to say the least.  It is long and narrow but I only have a ten by ten area to fit in enough seating for our family of six and our visitors.  There isn’t much natural light.  There’s that weird little ceiling, jutting, thingy on the left (there’s one on the right side too but not visible in this post, click here to view).  The garage door opens into this room (pictures coming soon in Part Three).  And there is a closet across from the garage door that shaves about four by four chunk of usable space from the room. 

     Besides installing the wood floors, we are planning to make a coffee table.  Our current table is pretty beat.  It is also too big for the space.  You should have about eighteen inches of clearance from coffee table to couch, twelve minimum.  We have  maybe eight inches.  Building our own coffee table will allow us to have the look we want, the price we want and the size we want.

     I want to point out a couple of things I am especially happy with.  I love my drop cloth curtain.  It has a great texture, and drape.  It is opaque enough for privacy and blocking afternoon sun glare (it’s a west-facing sliding glass door) but translucent enough to allow adequate light in.  Best of all it was budget friendly at only $10.00.  I did have to hem it to fit the door but that only took 20 minutes start to finish.  I am also glad to say I found a permanent home for my thrift store finds.

     I originally had the wall on the right as an accent wall.  I changed it so the fireplace wall is the accent/focal wall now.  Not only does it make more sense to highlight the fireplace but it also makes the room appear more balanced.  When we moved in, this fireplace was walled over.  My handy hubby uncovered it and built this new one.   Plans for the near future in this spot  include building an entertainment system for the tv and possibly a bookshelf. 

     Goodness, it seems a little premature for a reveal after I just got done listing all the things we are still planning to do.  I guess I can only justify the reveal at this time because after all we have done, I am finally happy with this room and it feels cozy and family friendly now.

     I found this little wall hanging at my local thrift shop.  I was able to bring it home for only $3.00.  I liked it as it was and put it on my desk.  It has been there for 3-4 months.  Recently, I decided that it would look better up on one of my gallery walls.  However, the colors were not going to work with everything else. 

     Hello spray paint and scrap-book paper.  I had some glossy, black spray paint and some paper scraps leftover from other projects so this was a no-cost makeover.  It was a quick and easy makeover too, just what I need right now between trying to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I could have put pictures in the frames but I wanted to break up the photo gallery a little.

    I think this is the perfect home for this hanging.  Now all I have to do is find something to fill the void left on my desk

My dear Handy Hubby has been very busy this weekend. 

      He’s going so fast on this project that I’m not sure if I’ll have time to finish up my side projects before he turns this project over to me.  I only have to prime and paint (again) so my part is pretty easy.  Oh well,  we are getting close to being done with this room.  I’m really liking the way its coming together and can’t wait to share the finished room with you.