One Room Challenge Week 4 - Brass & Glass Pagoda Chandelier Makeover

Okay so I missed posting my progress last week.  Rest assured that even though I didn't get a chance to post everything that went down over here, I have been making sweet progress in my living room/dining room makeovers. That DOES NOT mean that I still don't have major concerns about getting the room to full completion on time.  I'm at the mercy of my upholsterer for a few things and he's pretty covered up right now.

In any case I'm going to put my worries aside and share a little progress I've made in the dining room.  And there's a DIY involved that meets two major requirements.  It's quick and easy.

So I have your attention now?  Meet my circa 1970 something brass and glass chandelier that was practically free at my Habitat for Humanity store.

I'm sure it's no secret why I was drawn to this fixture. (Hint: It starts with a "p" and rhymes with "lagoda.")  Of course I love that! But what I wasn't crazy about was the highly lacquered brass finish. I wanted something warmer and softer, but still gold.

I'm sure you already know where we're going with this.

After removing the glass I quickly and not so carefully applied rub n buff to all brass parts that I could see well enough without my reading glasses on.

I'll give you that the change at this point is subtle.  But we're not done yet. I thought it might be fun to update the glass by doing an antique mirror finish on the glass panels.  I've seen a number of tutorials on Pinterest and then again on Little Green Notebook.  

So I laid the glass panels face side down on a tarp and sprinkled them with a mixture of water and vinegar.  I didn't measure how much of each.

Then I sprayed them with this stuff (found on the shelves of my local Wal-Mart)

See how the vinegar/water solution lays on top of the glass?  Just grab a paper towel and blot/lightly wipe it off. 

As a final step I  sprayed on a coat of black to "age" those bare spots.

And then it was just a matter of reassembling the chandelier.

And all put back together and lit up.

Told you it was quick and easy!!

Thanks for checking in on my progress! 

And 2 weeks to go!! Yikes! (x 2)

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to discover the joy of living in a well designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

Night Stand Makeover for a Good Cause

Who's ready for a three-day weekend?!?  Before we part ways for the Labor Day Holiday, I wanted to share a little furniture makeover I just finished up.  

A few weeks ago I got a call from Cynthia at  the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga  (HBAC).  The HBAC is putting on a remodeling show in September and she contacted me because they are including a charity auction to benefit Special Spaces Chattanooga.  What is Special Spaces?  They're a non-profit organization that helps children facing terminal illnesses by creating and implementing beautiful bedrooms for them. For such a worthy cause, I jumped at the chance to participate.  They even provided the furniture for me to re-create, which will be auctioned off for Special Spaces.  

Now this is where I hang my head in embarrassment a little.  I forgot to take the expected "before" photo.  Problem is, when I decide to tackle a new project it's usually while I have 3 other things going on at the time - like dinner, laundry, social media maintenance, and - oh yeah- I need to start that night stand project.

Here's the point at which I remembered to take a photo.

You guys are visual people, so I know you can imagine this piece in its original golden brown glory.

I honestly didn't know what I was going to do.  Just painting in a pretty color didn't seem like enough, and even though this piece is for charity, I wanted to do something with it that reflected my aesthetic, which is a little more embellished.

I started with a coat of gray paint (Benjamin Moore Gray Wisp) and taped off a big stripe down the middle.  I also painted the polished nickel hardware with gold leaf paint.

Better, but I'm a "more is more" kind of person.  Inspiration hit me in the aisle of Big Lots when I spotted these

Of course!  I was going to incorporate the sunburst design that's in my logo.  

More Gold Leaf paint was used.  I painted up a bunch of those bamboo skewers, set aside my fears and started gluing.  (Elmer's Wood Glue, if you're taking notes)

And here's the finished piece...

A big thank you to Cynthia and the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga and also to Special Spaces Chattanooga for giving me the opportunity to participate.

If you'd like to learn more about the HBAGC Home & Remodeling Expo Sept 14-15, click here.  I'll also have a booth at the Home & Remodeling Expo that weekend, so bring me those paint and fabric swatches you've been obsessing over for months.

Have a relaxing, happy Labor day weekend!

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to experience the joy of living in a well designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

Mirror Makeover

So in case you've been wondering what in the world I've been up to, I'll just tell you it's a lot of different stuff.  And I will be sharing more of it with you in the near future.

One of the little project-ettes I've completed is a mirror makeover for a client's nursery. If you follow The Green Room Interiors on Facebook, you may have already seen the inspiration board.

As you can see, our plan calls for a round mirror that will be placed on the wallpaper just above the crib.

Enter this little number I spotted at a local Antique Mall.  Nice, but I thought we could do better. So, after the sanding and priming, it got a coat of fresh white paint.

Better, but I still wanted to do more to bring out the stud detail of the mirror, which I think is its most interesting feature.

Familiar with Liquid Leaf?  It claims it's a one-step gold leaf finish in a bottle. And, it's only about $5 at Walmart.

I'm pretty happy with the results.  The gold is warm and soft, and I love it against the white paint. I used one of Shelby's small artists brushes to apply the paint to the studs.

This mirror is a surprise/gift that I plan to deliver to my client Friday afternoon.  I  hope she likes it! 

How is your to-do list coming?

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The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to discover the joy of living in a well-designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

Two Steps Back

When you walk through the front door of my house, there's a stairway that leads to the only room we have upstairs.  It's a big bedroom with a full bathroom attached and two nice sized closets.

It's prime real estate for teenagers!  And I have 2, so when we moved in to this house, we let the oldest daughter choose her bedroom first.  Naturally she chose the penthouse suite upstairs.

But things have changed - and quickly.  My oldest daughter moved out a month or so ago as she is just finishing up Cosmetology School and has left our little nest. 

Which means the upstairs private bedroom and bathroom is up for grabs, and my 14 year-old is eager to claim this space as her own.  And that's fine, but there's a glitch.  She doesn't like anything girly - particularly the hot pink walls chosen by daughter #1.

And that means this big  room that I painted pink for the oldest daughter now has to be repainted - in white - for the youngest daughter.  And that's not the only project we have going down.  

There is furniture painting involved.  Mostly inherited pieces that are getting freshened up.

And all of this means that the new flooring project I had hoped to to work in our living room, dining room and foyer is moving a little farther down the list.

BUT, there's a silver lining to this musical rooms situation.  I plan to claim the soon to be vacant bedroom on the main level for my office!!!   As soon as the upstairs bedroom gets repainted, the living room and dining room get repainted, and the new flooring gets installed. 

Yeah, that shouldn't take long, right?

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to discover the joy of living in a well designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

Five Yards

Okay, so it's really 5 1/4 yards.

  Of this business.

Pretty gorgeous, no?  I found it here in town (Associated Fabrics for you locals).  I had seen this fabric on the 50% off rack time after time thinking it would still be there if I ever decided I couldn't live without it.  But when I went in there last week the roll was noticeably thinner. 

And the print is discontinued.  So what was I to do?!?!??  This was a purchasing situation if I've ever had one. And I have. 

And so I find myself with a bit of a conundrum.  What to do with 5 yards of this fabric.  5 yards is a challenging amount.  It's too much for doing just the seat cushions for my dining room chairs. And the print is big and I don't think you could appreciate the beauty and the fabulous movement of the fabric.  

Observe.

See what I mean?

And it's not enough to recover a pair of these chairs I got for my living room.

So for now, I'm thinking about making a showstopper kind of wall treatment with it.  

Maybe one enormous framed panel as a backdrop for my dining room buffet?  Something like this...

Erin Williamson

Or even two smaller framed panels flanking each side of my dining room buffet. Like this. (Insert my buffet for the french doors in the photo below)

Kelie Grosso in House Beautiful

That's the direction for this week, anyway.

Do you have any other ideas for my 5 yards of fabric?

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services in Chattanooga, TN.  Contact Kim Lemmon and find out how a well-designed home can improve the quality of your life!  423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

Hand Painted Walls

Are you like me and love the look of wallpaper but dread the expense/task of putting it up - and worse- one day having to remove it? Well, I've found some smart and courageous folks who have found a way around the heartache of wallpaper installation and removal. They created their own wallpaper with a little paint and a lot of talent.

Shannon Berry Designs

Exhibit "A".  North Carolina designer Shannon Berry recreated Schumacher's "Birds and Butterflies" with a Sharpie.  And some paint.  Inspired?  The link below the photo will take you to the tutorial. 

Mrs Blandings

Who could resist Patricia Shackleford's interpretation of her favorite Gracie paper in 2011?

Krystin at Lil Luna

I absolutely adore this rendition of Oh Joy!'s Petal Pusher.  

My friend Cris was inspired by the papers of de Gournay when she designed her new dining room.

Cris Angsten Interiors

Gorgeous Shiny Things

And of course, the mother of all hand-painted walls that launched a bizillion blogger "swoons", Danika Herrick's recreation of Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon.

I started a little hand-painted wallpaper project of my own but it fell by the wayside about an eighth of way through because of a little "Challenge" I was participating in.  I chose a pattern that I think might be foolproof.

Meredith Heron

I'll let you know when that project is back on track.  

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to experience the joy of living in a well-designed home, contact Kim Lemmon at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

New Shop Items and Finds

Good Thursday!  I hope you're having a good and productive week so far.  Today I want to share some new things I'm adding to my booth at Merchants On Main, and a few things I might be keeping here at Project Dollhouse.  Ready?

I'm kind of proud of myself for getting this one done.  I had only a yard & a half of fabric and the first cut I made was for the back of the chair and I cut the fabric a little too small.  Since the pattern has such a big repeat I had a hard time finding another part of the pattern that would fill the space properly. Luckily, the upholstery gods were smiling on me and it all worked out (after bullets were sweated).

I really lucked  out finding this Mid-Century white and gold china set. I'd love to keep it, but I just don't have the need or the space at home.  The set is by "Fascination" and has 38 pieces - including hard-to-find serving pieces like a gravy boat, platter, sugar and creamer.

This is the best rainy day garage photo I could come up with today.  I just finished up this gorgeous 5-drawer chest. Don't you love the pulls?  This piece is Mid-Century, made by Dixie and is solid oak under the new oil-based high gloss white finish.  Who doesn't need glamorous storage?

This one may take up permanent residence at the Dollhouse.  It's hand-painted silk and completely gorgeous.

Finally, I've loaded in this Mad Men-esque Mid-Century green pleather chair.  It has great details - can you see the brass caps on the legs?  It also has big brass nailheads on the side, but I neglected to get a picture of that.  It's in as-found but good vintage condition.

Wait, one more thing.  If you follow The Green Room Interiors on Facebook, you'll get to be the first to see new arrivals in my booth, so "like" us!

Who's ready for the weekend?

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN.  If you'd like to find out how a well-designed home can improve your life, contact Kim at 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com

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ORC Week 6 - New Sofa, Chair and Lamp Makeovers

Where has the time gone?  I can't believe I set out on this mission 6 weeks ago! 

The One Room Challenge was conceived by the very talented and capable Linda at My Crafty Home Life.  Basically, she assembled a group of 20 bloggers to redecorate a room from start to finish in 6 weeks. Time has really flown by and I can't believe the reveal is next week.  If you'd like to get caught up on everything One Room Challenge that has transpired since the beginning, click here.

Now, how about a little progress report? I've been busy trying to finish up all of the little projects I've been putting off.   Isn't it funny how when you think you're just about finished, the real work begins?

Anyway, I did manage to make over a pair of Chinese Chippendale armchairs to go next to my library table.  

I interviewed many candidates for the job.  Here are the mockups

Anyway, I'm happy with the paint color/fabric combo. I love the yellow velvet next to the Lemon Tree fabric!

What else can I share with you?  I also did a mini-makeover on a thrift store lamp.  Nothing cutting edge, just your basic sand, paint, and add trim to a new shade.  Here's the before.  I loved the shape of this lamp but the finish was in bad shape.

And finally, I got my new sofa in place.  

Happy!!! Next Wednesday is the big reveal.  You've got to come back and see it all finished up!

Make sure you visit the other participants and see what kind of magic they've created this week.

Chinoiserie Chic 

Classic Casual Home 

the Cottage Mix 

Cottage & Vine 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

Everything LEB 

Hodge Podge 

Kim Macumber Interiors 

Little Black Door 

Matters of Style 

My Crafty Home Life 

Nicole Scott Designs 

Pacific Family Homes 

Pawleys Island Posh 

the Peak of Tres Chic 

the Pink Pagoda 

Powell Brower Home 

Simple Details 

The Green Room Interiors provides Interior Decorating and Design Services to happy homeowners in Chattanooga, TN. Call Kim and find out how a well designed home can improve the quality of your life!  423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com