Showing posts with label bar stools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bar stools. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

I have found my inspiration!

Hello!  It's me!  Hello...Can you hear me? Hello, from the outside!  Yes friends, I do believe 2016 is going to be a wonderful year because I have found my inspiration again.  Sorry for the tease, no this post is not about being inspired by the beautiful voice of Adele.  Though that could be partially true because I  have found myself pulling towards music quite a bit lately and feeling quite inspired by it.

This post is about finally feeling inspired and finding some direction with a few changes I want to make in my kitchen.  I absolutely love my kitchen, always have.  It's very large and very pretty if I must say so myself.  In fact its one of the rooms our guests gush over the most and want to congregate in as well.  Now mind you... all is not perfect in kitchen land, there are flaws.  Some of the flaws I just have to live with others not so much.  



Over last few days while waiting to take down the rest of Christmas I have found my inspiration.  Yes that's right, I am waiting. While I have taken down the kitchen Christmas decor, the rest of my house is still full on Christmas.  I have this crazy idea about taking things down before New Years.  I usually spend New Years day breaking it all down.  Last year I took everything down before New Years and let's just say, it wasn't a great year, Okay?   Sooo, this year we're sticking to New Year day breakdowns.    

Now back to my topic at hand before I bore you to tears.  I have spent the last few days thinking of ways to improve the cozy factor in my kitchen. I decided what I needed was curtains in the kitchen.  I need some textiles!   I love the Country French look I see in so many photos, blogs, pins, instas,etc.  I really want that look.  However, I think my look might be a bit more Country French Mediterranean, if there is such a thing.   I love florals and checks and such but I also love patterns and the colors of the sea.  My husband and I are sailors, so my heart also leans towards nautical as well.  Crazy mix huh?  Yeah, I know.  


Here are two different options of curtains I've been playing with that I could use in my kitchen. I've tacked them up to see if I would like having curtains before I invest in rods.   Both would work very well.  The lighter florals are some panels I had made for my dining room some time ago.  While I do like them I would need to alter the tops some as I'm not crazy about the plaid on them.  It's not a problem because the french doors are shorter then the window were so I've got the fabric.  The darker floral is yards of fabric I purchased years ago and never knew what I wanted to do with it.  I can see real possibilities here with both fabrics.  What do you think?  I also plan on strolling through some stores soon to see if anything else catches my eye now that I know exactly what I have in mind.


I have moved the smaller table over on the wall where the bakers rack used to be and love it.  I've got plans for shelves above this table.  I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and found some brackets that I just adore and they were on sale too.  I think the rustic brackets will go well with my chandelier and a few other accessories I have throughout the kitchen.  I chose brackets because I want to make a shelf that is deeper then most of the standard prepackaged display type shelves you see around.  Also they will be less difficult for hubby to mount.  Less difficulty means less fussy, and I like that!


Here's part of what has gotten me so bogged down with figuring out which direction to go in here.  I have these beautiful frenchy looking swivel bar stools that I just adore.  I have been searching for a way to bring them into the whole look without totally having to redo everything about them.  I would love to repaint them and my first thoughts were to paint them black.   


However, If I repaint them black then the seat cover is just not going to cut it.  I really don't want to have to redo the seat covers because well they are fantastically done.  They are a vinyl coated fabric and piped out and I just will not be able to recover these myself and don't want to spend money on having them redone professionally right now.    So how to mesh this look together has been the big question in my head for some time.  That is until.....I found my inspiration piece!


Did you notice it earlier?  I had it right in front of the drapes.  Ladies, I am so excited about this piece!!!   I also found it at Hobby Lobby.  I bought it fully intending to put in the den above my TV.  I had it sitting here in the kitchen and suddenly, I knew I would need to bring this color in throughout the kitchen to pull it all together.  I even think I can use this color of sea blue green on my bar stools and it will coordinate with the seat covers beautifully.  Can you say....Eureka?  This was definitely a Eureka moment. That's how I feel!  I already have several small splashes of this color throughout my kitchen but it's so drowned out by the black.  I just need to pop it back out again in a few larger splashes!  


Of course, now I've got to also find the right paint to use that matches this color.  Lucky for me this little iron piece will be easy to haul to the paint store for the exact match. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself to get started.

I love when a plan comes together, don't you?  Yes, you do too....I've seen yours and they are beautiful!  I just want to thank all of you again who inspire me so much with what all you do.  I love seeing your photos and getting inspiration for myself. That is so much of what this blogging is all about for me.   I hope maybe to share a little inspiration as well from time to time.  
And because I thought you might like to hear the music too....



Now, if you don't mind, I've really got to run because you know I just can't hold back any longer.
Have a beautiful and blessed day friends, even if it is cloudy and rainy outside.
Hugs and Waves!
Mary 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

My New Barstools

After cleaning up the kitchen tonight from dinner I just couldn't help but smile again once more at my latest find.  Then I realized I haven't even shared these with you yet.  Shame on me!

Here is what has me smiling in the kitchen.  My new (to me) bar stools.  How do you like them?  I took these pictures of them a few weeks ago to share with you but never got around to it.  

Here they are, exactly as I purchased them.  There were actually three available for sale and I was really struggling about buying the third one because I only wanted two.  Even though they were being sold individually, I was feeling obligated to buy the third one because who leaves only one stool of a set behind? Luckily for me the  problem was solved when I saw that one of them had some damage on one of the cane backs.  Whew!

I absolutely fell in love with them on the spot.  They are exactly what I have been wanting in a bar stool for my kitchen.  Funny how things just seem to come about when you are not looking for them.

I love that they have curved legs...

...and a can back seat.

Just look at the details on the seat back,

legs, 

and feet! 

For now I'm even very thrilled with the seats as well.  They are covered with a plaid vinyl that makes cleaning them a breeze.  One other very thrilling feature is that they swivel too.  Woohoo!

Of course, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that there is just one small detail that kinda bugs me.  Can you guess what it is?

Yep!  That's it.  Those brass foot rails on the bottom of these stools are not too pretty are they? I really do like that they are there to put your feet on and want to keep them but am debating on what to do.  I want to paint them with ORB but the Mr. seems to think it will be worse to paint them because the paint will get rubbed off by shoes.  The brass finish is already worn slightly to metal on some areas, so I think he has a valid point.  But, I still think I'll paint them though as soon as I get more free time to do it carefully.  
What would you do?

As for the color of my bar stools, I am pretty happy with them as they are for now.   I have kicked around the idea of painting these chairs a distressed black to match my kitchen chairs though I am not totally sold on the idea as of yet.  The funny thing is, these bar stools are just about the exact same color that my kitchen chairs used to be before I painted them black. I know right!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week and as always,
thanks for stopping by!