Just Beachy!! My tablescape and a few ideas for the entertainment center

I am so glad spring is close!  This week has been a trade off, one nice day, one cold day, one nice day,.....well, you get it!  So, every other day I'm outside doing projects :)  And I do have an endless supply of projects, just ask Mr. TSL!  One of the projects I plan to undertake is my entertainment center makeover.  My dad made my entertainment center for me when I graduated from high school....which was like (cough, cough) 11 years ago.  It is very sturdy and I go through waves of, I love it and waves of it's too freakin' big.  Right now, I am back on the love it side.  I have never really liked the color.  It's too orangy, because the stain.  It also doesn't feel as dramatic in the height, because it's so wide.  I am also having a hard time with the vignette on the top. I have a lot of things I like on top, but it feels too crowded.  I have seen some pics of this being pulled off beautifully, but I don't think I'm kicking that look.

Right now it looks like this:

I m not a fan of the stuff on the top.  At first, I just had stuff on the right side.  It looked similar to this one from Pottery Barn (I LOVE POTTERY BARN):

Here is a close-up of some of my stuff up there:

I was going for this look from Pottery Barn:

Or Layla from The Lettered Cottage

Did not succeed! I think my ceilings are too low in the living room to pull off a vignette like that one.  I also like this:

I could easily do that, but I don't know where I am going to put all that stuff....I'll find somewhere ;)

I am planning on building a shelf with more cubbies along the top like the one above and adding it to the existing entertainment center.  I could also just add a piece with crown moulding to make it look like this one:

I am also going to refinish this and the master bathroom vanity with the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation that I plan on doing the kitchen cabinets with.  You can read about that here.

Now on to something a little more beachy and polished looking.  Like I mentioned in a previous post I love the beach!  So, I made a little centerpiece inspired by spring and the beach.  It's on a mirror that I took off the bathroom door for the girls bathroom.  I like it because it's sparkly and reflects light from the chandelier!

I am linking up to:

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

My new (to me) Coffee Sign coffee table!

My post yesterday gave you a teaser for what I've been up to....they are done now :)
I found these tables by someone's trash and scored me some "Road Kill."
They looked like this at first:

After some light sanding and a coat of oil based primer (Which has the most awful smell ever-definitely do this in a well-ventilated area!) and 3 coats of white paint they looked like this:

I chose this sign to paint on the top of it:

I needed an large oval on it to start the sign, I have a mirror that worked perfectly.

Then I traced around it, then made the lines from the sign with some wood stain.  After that I painted the Oval in with red paint.

I had to make the angle on the Community Coffee right, so I taped some yarn as guidelines for keeping it straight. 

Waiting while each coat dries was torturous!!  So, I distressed the legs and side.

Then I put the final coat of white over the words.  A few sprays of clear coat later and they look like this:

I love it!  I think I am going to put some glaze over the top of it eventually, but as for now this was a free project!  Had the charcoal paint from a project in Morgan's room, the red was from the front door, the white from countless other projects, the stain and clear coat from re-staining some chairs I sanded down.

I am linking up to : (PS I just figured out how to do this correctly, so if I linked to your party and didn't give you props by adding your button, I apologize.  I am just getting the hang of blogging and it's addictive so much fun!)

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

A sneak peak at a coffee table!

I found a pair of end tables on the roadside by someone's trash...yes, I stopped and got them!  I get this honestly, if you ever met my grandpa you'd know he stops for everything.  He has more coolers thatn I can count and some even still had beer in them.  He has found countless ladders and lots of odds and ends!  Mr. TSL and I even found an entire outside lawn furniture set still strapped together!  In our family, this is called "Road Kill."

Here they are, making their debut:

For a few days, I tried to determine what would be done with them.  At first, they were going to be bedside tables for our bedroom.  I was going to paint them and glaze them.  Then I was thinking, I really need some tables in the living room, but because of the awkward layout of the living room I didn't have room at the end of couches.  I had been looking for an ottoman and decided to but them together and make them a coffee table. Like this from Pottery Barn:

I realize this is one table, but it looks sort of looks like mine when they are set side by side. 

I also love this table from Funky Junk Interiors

I decided I wanted to take inspiration from Funky Junk Interiors and make a table with an old sign look.  I thought for two days about what sign to use.  I looked up mechanic signs (Mr. TSL is a mechanic and loves cars/trucks)  Then it came to me...how about an old coffee sign?  Ironic for a coffee table right? 

I loved these signs:

I am a HUGE Friends fan!!  So, what about the Central Perk Sign:

I have been working on this set of tables for around 2 weeks (bad weather is killing me!)  and they are almost finished!  I will post them tomorrow....I love them and they aren't even done yet!


 I am linking up with: Tip Junkie

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

Dining Room/Kitchen Plans... Oh, so much to do!

From the day we moved into our house I have been stalking people's blogs and websites looking for inspiration for our dining room/kitchen.  The space has a strange angled island separating the two as you can see here. (This is not what it looks like now.  When I get around to actually cleaning both areas at the same time, I will take pictures!)

I have decided to take down the cabinets above the island.  I have a pot rack I could hang, but I feel like it would be to cluttery between the spaces.  I am thinking of just leaving it open.  I have measured everything and can rearrange the cabinets we have and build a cabinet for the above the stove microwave for FREE!!  I am so excited to start working on it, but sometimes have to remind myself it isn't a race and Mr. TSL has a job and isn't as excited about undertaking such a huge project on his weekends off.  I can wait til summer.... maybe :) 

I need a new (to me) black stove, over the stove microwave, and dishwasher.  Here are a few pics of my inspiration for these spaces!

I have the hanging scale part, just not the basket....I can make it though!!  With stuff I already have ;)

The next few photos I found in HGTV.com, while searching for an attainable kitchen with minimal moolah. I am not going to lie Layla and Kevin at The Lettered Cottage are awesome!!  I found them with HGTV and have been blog-stalking them since!  She started out and her kitchen looked like this:

Then she magically turned it into this:
I found the herb boxes and now they live at my house too!!

She has since repainted it to a lighter color on bottom and a white cabinet on top.  Which also looks amazing, but I still heart the black cabinets.  Black is slimming ;) and it doesn't show dirty little hand prints as easily!  So we are painting ours black with Rustoleum's Cabinet Transformations you can look at some before and after pics HERE.  I love this system because there is NO SANDING!!!  I hate sanding, unless I am re-staining something....I still despise it then, but have to deal with it because it is what it is.  Some more inspirations for my kitchen/dining room.

The countertop is going to be granite tiles and the island will be marble tiles.  I SCORED these off craigslist for $1 per 12x12 tile.  Total for tile $65 :) CRAZY!!

It looks like this:

I am hoping it comes out as nice as this kitchen:

I painted the walls a light green color called OLIVE 3.  It's okay, but I am thinking of going with a more neutral color that matches the living room.  Ralph Lauren Cobblestone is my go-to color.  I love it! I try others but I just keep coming back.  Ralph and I have a thing, he makes beautiful paint and I paint things with it.  Okay, maybe it's not a 'thing' per say, but I do love me some Ralph Lauren.  

The long wall in the dining room is getting a rustic planked look with free pallet wood from Craigslist...Did I mention I heart Craigslist?  Well, I do!  They have everything!
I hope my planked wall comes out as beautifully as this one over at Mom and Her Drill:

It started out, she was going to imitate Layla @ The Lettered Cottage

Again, Layla is amazing and is a huge inspiration in blogworld! 

She planned to paint hers like Layla did, but she left it more rustic looking.  I would naturally want to paint mine too, but when revealing the stripes in our little bathroom, Mr. TSL said "it's nice, just not my style."  When I asked what his style was, he said more like a log cabin.  I am hoping to get 'er done with the pallet wall in the dining room.  He and I have dreamed of moving to Colorado for years and living in a log cabin!  To tell you the truth, my own style is a miss mash of cottage, old farm house, cabin and beach.  That's right...I am a little scatter brained, but if I could find a Beach-Front Farm Cottage Cabin we would be fine!

Now that my tangent on that is done, back to more inspiration! The door in the dining room leads to the sunporch and there is a ton of light from that, however I have only those 2 little windows in the dining room and NONE in the kitchen :(  So, I am thinking I need a big glass door leading to the sunporch to let in more light.  Like this one

Or this one:

I have a fabulous new table and 6 dining chairs in the garage awaiting a new coat of paint and some fabulous numbers....Oh spring, get here faster!!!!

Last, but not least.  I have already changed the lights in the dining room to my Pottery-Barn knock-off Bellora Chandeliers.  You can see them here .  Now my inspiration for the kitchen lights are these:

Kara over at Kara Pasley Designs made these Mason Jar Pendant Lights!!  Mr. TSL said he would help me with these!!  Oh how, I wish I had a huge window over my sink!

Okay, another last, but not least.  I love big farm sinks... always have always will.  I have been longing for one for-eva.  I found one on, you'll never guess, ...the suspense is killing you I know, wait for it.....CRAIGSLIST for $75.  Some rich snood picked then didn't like it...then I acquired it from said snood!   Woohoo!

She looks like this:

another pic

Of course mine isn't in quite yet, she is sitting in the garage with a towel saving the enamel from the radiator on top of her.


Make your life beautiful!
-Kari