dining room Archives - Real Life Notes

The Road Quickly Traveled or Painting Canvas Quote Art

April 8, 2013 by Jill 2 Comments

After taking down our Christmas decorations, my DIY rustic modern open shelving in the dining room started looking pretty sad. Like really sad. Crap started piling up (e.g. bubble solution, blood pressure machine, mail, placemats, and more) So I decided it was time to clear them off and properly accessorize, starting with a (fairly) fast and easy canvas quote art I made. I started with a quote I liked and a big blank canvas. I'd bought the canvas for super cheap ($4.99 and it's 18 x 24!) from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: crafts, home, home decor Tagged With: accessorizing shelves, dining room, lorrie house, projects, tutorial, wall art

Living Room, Two Ways

March 7, 2013 by Jill 3 Comments

While I was doing our taxes the other day (UGH.) I had to look up the current market value of our rental home (DOUBLE UGH DEPRESSING.), but while I was doing that depressing, onerous task, I came across pictures of our rental home as the renters had decorated it. It was really fun to see what they'd done with the place. And fun to see the different ways that two different people would decorate the same space. So let's compare: That was how the living room looked when we moved out. And … [Read more...]

Filed Under: before and after, home, home decor, home tour Tagged With: dining room, landlords, living room, nokomis house

HOHOHO! A Santa Figurine Makeover

December 18, 2012 by Jill 4 Comments

I found these tacky little porcelain Santa figurines at a thrift shop and decided to give them an uplift. I brought them home, spread them out on a cardboard box in the backyard and gave them a good coat of white spray primer. Then I used a shiny white acrylic paint from Michaels and brushed on two coats. I like the shiny, snowy sheen it gives them. White spray paint would have been faster, but I was working with what I had on hand already. Once they dried, they joined my Christmas tree … [Read more...]

Filed Under: before and after, holiday decorating, home, life Tagged With: Christmas, dining room, holidays, projects

DIY Rustic Modern Open Shelving

November 30, 2012 by Jill 5 Comments

When we first moved in, I wasn't sure what to do with this big expanse of open wall in our dining room. Now that we've gotten settled in a little bit more, it became clear that I needed more baby-safe display space. So I decided to construct some awesome rustic, yet modern open shelving for this wall. I was inspired by some cool stainless steel modern brackets I found at Ikea. But I decided to DIY the shelves to give them a rustic look. The modern brackets with more rustic shelves gives … [Read more...]

Filed Under: before and after, home, home decor Tagged With: cozy modern, dining room, lorrie house, open shelving, projects, tutorial