New Living Room Chairs from Ikea!

So after considering practically everything I could think of in order to choose chairs for our living room we finally decided on the Ektorp chairs from Ikea! I had been looking at them for a couple of years now but since we already had the Ektorp sofa wasn't sure I wanted to have the matchy matchy look going on. However after listing the pros and cons they won out over the chairs from World Market I showed you on this post . Here they are in our living room with the Target pouf I also recently bought on a whim.

By the way here is my inspiration photo for my living room although since my style is a bit more shabby chic/cottage it won't be exactly the same

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelly on Pinterest

I think I'm going to use this fabric from Waverly called Chippendale Fretwork in Mist for curtains

Source: housefabric.com via Kelly on Pinterest

And I'm still on the hunt for a vintage french or queen anne style coffee table, can't wait to reveal the whole living room once everything is all pulled together!

My Cottage Dining Room - A Work in Progress

So this is how our dining room currently looks which I feel pretty good about but it is still very much a work in progress. 

Our table was purchased at a consignment store for only $75 and I love it but it is really dinged up and while my husband would rather sand it and stain it I really want to paint it white to match our china cabinet.
 

I love our floors but I was recently informed by my husband that he will be pulling them up and redoing them after reading that they will last longer if they are staggered....

So on my to do list for this room is:

- make or purchase white or off white slipcovers for the dining   chairs
- purchase a new chandelier
- paint the dining room table white to match the china cabinet
- figure out what to hang on the walls

I couldn't find any photo's of what it looked like when we moved in but just picture dirty beige carpet, a ceiling fan from the 1970's and ugly wallpaper that covered even worse panneling!!! I've still got some work to do before it really looks like my inspiration dining room and I seriously hate my tiny dining room window but for now it works for us:) Thanks for reading!

New Etsy Pillows & An Update

If some of you may remember I recently took the plunge and purchased two of these beautiful chairs from Pier 1 a little over a month ago.

I loved these chairs so much that I would just gaze lovingly at them whenever I passed them, yep I've got problems, I think I spend way too much time in my house!  So after owning the chairs for two weeks I noticed one of them started creaking everytime I sat in it.  This wasn't a little creaking noise either, my husband and I both noticed it and I got a bit scared, if these chairs started creaking after two weeks then I just didn't think they were strong enough to stand up to the every day abuse that my family of 3 sons and a messy husband could put them through.  I contemplated for a long time and even though about keeping them and just putting one of them in our bedroom since surely it wouldn't get sat on much in there...  Well after plunking down $400 for both chairs my frugal self caved and decided it wasn't worth the worry to have the beauty and returned the chairs.   I started searching anywhere and everywhere for the fabric so I could possibly have some curtains or pillows made out of my beloved pattern but it seemed like the pattern had either been discontinued or was sold out everywhere.  Joanne's had it on their website but were no longer carrying it.  One day I happened to be searching etsy for pillow covers and came across this!

Seriously I couldn't contain my excitement, I promptly contacted the seller and asked if she possibly had enough fabric to make me 3 more and she said she could order more! The seller was Christina and her shop is called The Seam, you can check her out here http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSeam.  Christina was super easy to work with, really communicated during the process and did quick and great work, I highly recommend her! 

So maybe a few days afer receiving my pillow covers from Christina I stumbled upon these dining room slipcovers on the Pier 1 website!

You know I was super excited right?  I guess I'd never connected this slipcover to the chairs I loved because they have a different name....So I decided I wouldn't get my hopes up until I saw them in person.  So last night I had a couple hours of time to myself and I'd been wanting to go to Pier 1 anyway to look at dishes for Thanksgiving dinner (I'm hosting it this year) so I killed two birds with one stone:)  The slipcover in person was beautiful but I'm not sure they will fit my existing dining chairs which is okay since I really do need to purchase two more dining chairs anyway and Pier 1 has a chair that they make specifically for this slipcover.  Okay enough of my rambling, I just had to share my excitement with someone and well... my husband just doesn't get it!