Happy New Year and Cabinet Re Love

I am happy to say the new dining room is coming together nicely.  I am getting my Nordic/French Cottage vibe in the room.

I want to show you the cabinet done.  Then I am taking a few days off.  I have my granddaughter tonight for New Years Eve and then on New Years Day it is Terry's birthday and we are celebrating as a family for this special day.

Friday and Saturday Terry and I are going to do some fun day trips so I am letting go of the dining room for a few days.

Hope to have a reveal at the beginning of the week.

Ok just to recap this was the old vintage cabinet from Terry's grandmother minus the door and drawer out before painting.

After several coats of paint this cabinet kept bleeding through yellow.  Suzan from Simply Vintageous to the rescue.  She told me that these old pieces with the old varnish need to have a coat of Zinzer oil base shellac before painting to keep the yellow from bleeding through.  So finally after adding the shellac no more yellow. Yeah!!! Love you Suzan.  I call her the paint whisper!!!
That girl can paint the ugly duckling's of furniture pieces and turn them into beautiful pieces.

I remembered I had this great gate window piece that was gray and white and chippy and guess what it fit perfectly in the open space where the door on the cabinet would normally go.  I did not like the cracked glass of the old door so this was a perfect fit.

Wooo Hooo love that this fit in the space.  Gives this old piece some pretty bling and character.

Yep love that this old window will work for a new cabinet door.

Gives the piece a little nordic feel.

So there you have it a nice inherited piece that is re loved into a new pretty for the dining room re do.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

See you soon with the with the whole dining room reveal.
Kris
:)


Parties:
DIY Show Case Sunday
Make it Pretty Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
Shabbilicious Friday Link Party

Dining Room Progress

Here are some sneak peaks at the dining room progress.

We have the ceilings, trim and walls all painted.  Yeah!!! I love the color of the walls.

It is called Stone White and is just a hint of light gray to the walls.

This was the wall color before we painted. the ceilings were the same color as the walls so we needed to paint the ceilings white.

Painted all the trim and crown molding to a white and then the walls in the stone white which is a light gray.

Got some new gray and white checked fabric from Ikea for the chair seats.  This is also the fabric for the new curtain panels.

I almost forgot to take a picture of this old vintage china cabinet we inherited from Terry's grandmother before painting it.  I took the door off and the drawer and shelves out and started to paint before I realized I did not have a before pic!  Sorry so this is what you get to see for a before shot.

A little drama with this piece.  With it being so old furniture makers use a lacquer finish that was yellow oil base and it keeps bleeding through as the white paint dries.  I did two coats of Kilz primer and now two more coats of white and it still is slightly on the cream side.  So I am going to try one more coat of a bright white and see if that will work.

Libby my photo bomber assistant!

So hopefully after painting a few pieces and getting this cabinet to look less cream in color I will begin to start thinking about what to bring back into the room for decor.

I am going for a light nordic cottage look to blend with my kitchen.  Just sooooo tired of having stuff everywhere and my poor wood floors are a mess.  So it will be nice to get things hung and put up and then clean my floors and hopefully be done and ready to show you the reveal.

Plus Terry and I would like to have a few day trips for some fun while he is on vacation this week.  So hopefully I will get this room together in the next few days.


As we head on down to the New Year I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year.
I look forward to sharing lots of inspiration with all of you in the new year.
Kris
:)

New Year New Changes Sneak Peak

Well Christmas is over and since I decorate way before Thanksgiving I am ready to see some of my decor come down after Christmas.  Don't you just hate that dull feeling in the rooms after all the Christmas pretty comes down?!

It is motivating me to do some painting and change ups in the Dining Room.

This was my Christmas Dining room.  All has been taken down and packed away.

Everything and I mean everything came down in the dining room and is getting ready for  new paint and new look.

My dining room is entertainment central when we all gather together.  So this room is used a lot at holidays and everyday.  So after the Christmas came down it felt right to give this room a fresh coat of paint.

This was where the vintage mantel and windows hung.  They are down for the paint and not sure if they will go back up in this space.  I will have to see after we paint what will go back into this room.

The sun is shining and it is almost 60 degrees here so I am taking full advantage of getting the Christmas decor down and we don't have to trek through snow to get to the storage shed to put it all away.

We are having more of a Spring  time than Christmas.  So maybe that is where I am getting the "Spring Cleaning Bug" early and the energy to do some change ups.

Plus I have Terry home for a week so I am totally taking advantage of that man and his tools lol!

Stay tuned to see how my new dining room will look.  I am going for cottage gray and white to blend with my kitchen.  Hope it comes out like I have it visioned in my head!!!

I am enjoying these next few weeks of time off to do fun things with my family and start a few new "fresh ups" for the new year.

See you soon with some results of this dining room refresher.
Happy New Year
Kris
:)

New Year And New Inspiring Challenges

Whether you were looking at this the past few days:

source

 Or this........

source

Hope all your time spent with loved ones was rich and full of love and sharing.

This time of year comes and goes so quickly.

Hope you felt love, Joy and Blessings galore.

Now as we head on down the road to the New Year I wanted to wish each of you a Happy New Year.

Some new projects and changes coming to Junk Chic Cottage

in the new year.  Stay tuned.

I am going to be taking some time off from Blogland to be with family and enjoy our Christmas and New Year break.

Hope to see all you back in the new year to share friendship and inspiration.

Chicago New Year's Eve 2014

Happy New Year

2015

Kris

:)

bella's rose cottage source

Wishing you peace, love and blessings in the new year.

My Christmas Card to You.

Merry Christmas

As we approach Christmas Day I want to wish each and everyone of you a wonderful holiday filled with gathering, sharing and most of all loving.  

As we reflect and remember all the blessing in our lives please enjoy the best gift of all  the gift of family and friends.  

Thank you for your blogging friendships.  Each of you are near and dear to my heart and I appreciate your gifting me with your friendships. 

Merry Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas Songs is Mary Did You Know? 

I could have chose numerous celebrities that sing this song beautifully but the two I chose just touched my heart. 

There is nothing like the angelic voices of a child.  Enjoy the two 12 year old angels that perform this so beautifully.   I wanted to share this as part of my Christmas Card to each of you. 
 Hope this up lifts your heart as we move closer to this special day.

Enjoy.

Kris

Did I tell you they are 12 years old?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JOY!

How is your shopping, wrapping and baking and spreading good cheer going as we head to Santa's big day.

My shopping is done, my gifts are wrapped and my baking done.  I feel so ahead of the game this year.

So yesterday no Bears Game so Terry and I took a drive to Geneva for a little lunch and I stopped in one of my fave shops in Geneva.

I wanted to show you what I got.

This sweet little Joy pillow that is made of old vintage necklace and jewelry pieces.  Loved this when I saw it.  So I have it with some of my other pillows on my chippy bench in the entry way.  I think I will keep it out even after Christmas to spread joy through the winter months.  Too pretty to put away RIGHT?!!!

It was a nice day to have to ourselves.  No malls or crazy shoppers and peeps forgetting what the season is really all about.    Just the two of us having a nice day in Geneva and wonderful quiet lunch together.  We stopped in at a few little shops.  It was a nice peaceful day in the midst of all the hustle and bustle.

Hope as we slide on down to Santa's big day and all the millions of things left to do you will find some moments or hopefully hours of peace and quiet to enjoy.

Have a great week.

Kris

:)

Christmas Entry

My post today is of my Christmas decor for the front entry into my home. 

I kept my front entry very simple this year.
I used by two old vintage french doors I had in the garden this summer to anchor my trees.  Used an old window to put my angel on the front door.

I love the serenity with this beautiful angel.

We have not had any snow to speak of yet so some of the fall is still remaining on the ground.  I am keeping some of the chippy vintage garden pieces out front for Christmas.

My chippy garden chair and old vintage watering can with greens.

I have my cherub birdbath that I am adding seed too each day for the birds this winter.

My old vintage sled that I had as a kid that I painted a few years ago and I added greens and my old skates.

Front Entry Way with lights on at night. 

It is so hard to get a good night shot with all the shadows from the lights.  You'll have to take my word that it looks pretty all light up.

Have a great start to the new week.
Happy decorating, shopping, wrapping and baking.
Enjoy!
Kris
:)

Sweet inexpensive Neighbor Gifts and a Sweet Thank you.

Hope all your Christmas Decor Jingle is going great and all the baking, shopping and cleaning and getting ready for Santa's big day is fun and not a lot of stress.

I wanted to show you a cute little inexpensive neighbor gift I made for each of my sweet neighbors this year for Christmas.

It all starts with a Decor Steals cookie jar.  It is hard to see but it is imprinted in the glass with Fresh Homebaked Cookies.  Red cute top to the jars.

Found this cute neighbor house Christmas bag at the Dollar Store.  Fold out wide to hold the cookie jars.

Added my home baked cut out cookies.

Added some cute gingham ribbon to the jars.

Added a bag of that yummy Christmas Morning Coffee for each neighbor's gift.  So for very little money I have a home made Christmas gift to share with my wonderful neighbors.  Just a sweet treat to say thank you for being a good neighbor.  These would be great for teachers, co workers, well just about any body that loves home baked cookies and a nice cup of coffee.

 Now for a big Hug and Thank you!!!

I got a sweet little surprise treat in the mail last week from Sandi @ Wayside Treasures Blog.  Sandi sent this as a little thank you for having her in the Spotlight Feature.  Not necessary but so appreciated.  Sandi has an Etsy Shop too and makes these pretty items.

Love her hand stamped fabric ribbons and she also made this beautiful angel wing ornament for me.  Sandi it was a sweet surprise and I just love this.  If you have not visited Sandi's blog or Etsy please hop over there you will love her blog and her creative items she sells.
Thank you sweet Sandi.
Happy days ahead as you get your jingle on!
Happy Decorating and holiday preparing as the week slides quickly along.
Kris
:)

Nordic Farmhouse Red and White Theme Christmas

This year for my decor I decided to add in some red to brighten and give it a Nordic Farmhouse feel.

Every year I try to do a different decor theme with what I already have and just add some touches or change things up to get a new look from previous years. It keeps it fun and new for me each year.

Starting with my tree, I added the red to all my white and crystal ornaments with just tying off red and white checked fabric bows and adding red and white candy canes to them. The drapes I made out of summer tablecloths that I found on the clearance rack and just sewed a header to make them work for curtains.

I wanted to let the reds do the popping in the decor this year.

Here is a picture of the tree lit. It is so hard to get a great picture with all the lights I have on this tree.

My dining room is the main entertainment area we use during the holidays. This is the room we gather to eat, laugh, love and be all together.

I like natural and simple. Just adding a check ribbon to this flocked wreath gives a statement on the chippy wall door divider without over doing.

I like keeping my cherished pieces in place and just add things to bring in Christmas.  This way I do not have to put anything away and can just embellish what I have.

Keeping the chippy in the decor with my candle sticks. Adding some greens along with a simple white ribbon help to bring Christmas to my candle sticks.

Adding simple red Christmas plates bring in some pops of red.

For my mantel this year I used old frames I had from around the house and just added Greens and touches of the checked ribbon to bring in a winter garden feel. I then hung some red and white stockings and added the birch logs and greens to the chippy fire place log holder. The greens in the log holder have lights and give the soft glow at night like a real fire would give.

Added red and white fun finds to each stocking hung on the fireplace.

I love using my old frames to hang the greens on. Just gives some depth and character to the mantel.

Natural greens and ribbon make a statement hanging on the frame.

My most cherish pieces in my Christmas decor are my collection of angels. Angels give me the feeling of serenity and love so having them throughout my decor is important.

I like to keep my decor light hearted and simple. I entertain and love that we recently made this coffee and dessert bar in my dining room. It is a great area to have for my guests to relax and enjoy.

Coffee Bar

I have the tree up where this reading chair was so I moved the chair over to this corner of the room. I love to sit and read being surrounded by my Christmas decor. It is a bright warm spot to sit and relax.

Keeping my neutral palette and just adding simple touches of red gave me a sweet farmhouse look to my Christmas dining room.

Thank you for stopping by to see my Christmas Decor for 2014.
As we slide on into Santa's big Day hope you are all having fun getting your decor Jingle on! Enjoy the season.
Kris
:)

Sharing my decor at Jennifer Rizzo's Holiday House Walk Tour.

Also sharing with the Scoop

Sharing with WOW  us Wednesday