Making our house a home.

Since the economy has quickly gone south, we've realized that our 3-year plan for our 'investment' house  is no longer a reality. With that comes the realization that not only are we going to be here indefinitely, our house is not really a home to us because we have never invested time or effort into making it so. Clearly, it is time to feel like this place is more permanent for us and that includes re-decorating room by room to suit our style and to make our house more homey.

In the past two months we have worked on our living room and we are now starting the dining room. Here are some photos of our progress so far. 

Before

After

I love how open it is now, we even had space to add in a new chair for an additional little reading nook!! You can kind of see it at the bottom right of this picture. I love the blue and red. It's such a nice change from the light green and it gives the room a much cozier feel. We moved the piano over in front of the window and it's a great way to keep our dog from breaking our blinds every time he hears something outside ;)

So now we are moving on to the dining room. You can see how it looked before in the second picture above, but below you can see our old table. Although it looks really nice, it's actually too big for the space and the square shape made it very difficult to get around it. Additionally, the chairs were so large, we could not have additional seating even if the table allowed for it. 

We gave the table away and bought this one!

This is the finished product. Originally it was the oak color which was ok, except that it had a lot of scuffs and stains on the surface and it smelled weird. Haha!! We painted it to suit our decor and it turned out into a fabulous find for only $25!!

Next on the agenda is our kitchen, which I like, however I don't love it. Things I don't love are the lack of cabinet and counter space (I think everyone has this problem.) I also don't like the look of the cabinets. I eventually would like cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling and that look a little more modern and 'expensive'. However, my immediate need is for space. I'm currently using my dishwasher as a storage cabinet and would like to be able to use it to actually do dishes in. ;) 

This is our kitchen.

It's cute and very open, so it's perfect for an island!! This is what I'm on the hunt for now. I've been looking for an island for about a month. However, they are VERY pricey and don't offer a lot of style or space. So I've decided to make my own :)

I'm using this dresser, which I found on Craigslist for $50. It's the Ikea Hemnes 3-drawer dresser in black and it's actually the perfect dimensions for a kitchen island! I'm removing the top and placing a butcher block top as a counter that I'm getting off of a coffee table I also found on Craigslist for $40.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20067829/#/90159571

Here's a picture of the coffee table. 

To the back of the dresser I'm adding some wainscoting and painting it black. So at the end of this project I should have a wonderful kitchen island, customized and personally created to suit my taste and needs for under $100!!  I can't wait to have it done!