The Formals are Finished.

This post has been a long time coming. Have *you* been waiting, with baited breath? Don't answer that, especially if the answer could potentially, most likely hurt my heart. Let's pretend you've been waiting for this reveal all your life. And I will continue to be happy. :D

These formals were a labor of love. I've read a few blog posts as of late about people having buyer's remorse. We did just that when we purchased our house a little over two years ago. The house was HUGE (it still is, lol)... and we needed to fill it up fast. Needed, huh?

In the past two years, we've grown. We've come to realize what we like and what we don't like. Even during the makeover process, I started out with one thing and ended up with another. But in the end, I love how the formal living room and dining room turned out. Very unformal-like. There's no plastic covered sofas in there, no-siree. It feels comfy and lived in, which is something we've never been able to accomplish so far in any place we've lived.

You can read all about the process of transforming the first two rooms (one large, really) you see as you enter our house.

Here are the latest before pictures... I say 'latest' because it's been through a few different phases.

The rooms wouldn't have won any "Ugliest Space" award, but they just weren't us.  After a few months, we finally got our act together and this is how the rooms look now. Well, yesterday. ;)

There are some items I will go into detail about in a future post, or two. Like, the background on those fab chairs...But for now... can you believe the difference?

I could stare at this pictures all day, but instead, I think I am going to curl up on that couch with a good book. Like the one sitting on the side "table"... from Young House Love.

Don't forget, guest bathroom reveal tomorrow!

Liquidation Chairs turned Oh Em Gee

I don't like when I put the inevitable off. It's a theme in my world. Not only is having six dining room chairs available (to go with the two I already have), a necessity for Thanksgiving, I needed to get the half-done-up chairs out of my living room and into the space they were destined for.

Actually, that's a lie.
They were not destined for the dining room table; I originally bought them for the kitchen table. However, I guess we have a tall-ish kitchen table, and I thought the chairs would look weird there. But, I still loved the chairs and I needed new chairs for the formal dining room, since its makeover resulted in a much more open and airy space. I feel like the old chairs are large and clunky and space-stealers.

To jog your memory, Marcos and I found this fantastic store in downtown Phoenix and picked up 8 of these metal/wood chairs. Consider this your "before."

So, now that you've seen the before. I will tell you that another thing I hate is the fact that I waited so long to get this project done. I could have had AWESOME looking chairs in my presence much, much sooner! What is wrong with me?

About six weeks ago, we pulled the chairs in from the garage and unscrewed the wood seats. I was originally going with a different fabric, but found something better at Hobby Lobby a few weeks back. I got around to covering the wood seats about 4 weeks ago, while watching television one night. And yesterday, I finally got one chair outside, sanded (there was GUM on the some of these chairs, people!), primed and spray painted a loverly Oil-Rubbed bronze from Rust-Oleum. 

The new fabric is duck, so very similar to canvas; tough and sturdy. It's beige with the grey chevron stripe. When I saw it, I knew! I've mixed a lot of white, grey, and brown in the new room.

Huge difference, huh? I still can't believe my eyes.

Let's Talk Cost
As I mentioned, the chairs were from a liquidation center in Phoenix. Because I bought the last 8, I got a deal. I only needed six, but they offered me $10 a chair if I purchased them all. Twist my arm, people.

I purchased the fabric from Hobby Lobby and had my valuable 40% off coupon. 3 yards cost me $17 and change. I even have enough left over to make some pillows for the two main chairs (the ones I am keeping at the ends of the table, they have arms).

The foam was $16 a roll, I bought three. The primer was just under $4 a pop (I bought 4 cans of gray primer) and the ORB spray paint was just under $8 dollars a can; I bought 5. Let's do the math...

You can see from above that I round up a bit, so the total would actually be just UNDER $200 for 8 chairs (6 of which have been made-over already).

I am in chair heaven. I love how they just about complete the space. Speaking of the space... I think I will finally have some reveal pictures for you all this week! The formals look marvelous. And so very different than before. I love it when a plan comes together.

Stuffing the Billy's

Another sneak peak of what I have been trying to work on the past few days.
Pimpin' ain't easy folks and neither is finding THE RIGHT accessories to add to the wall of Billy's.

Here is the BEFORE:

And here is the NOW:

Yes, there is some Halloween stuff showing up on a few of the shelves. I couldn't help myself.

More to come... ;)

TGFP!

I am knee-deep in loading up the formals. It feels so good to get to this part. Finally!
Of course, it is October 1, so that means eventually the Halloween decor needs to come out. But I figured I'd wait until after we get back from San Fran... give us some time to enjoy the new rooms sans pumpkins and witches and goblins, oh my.

Because we won't have the big reveal until end of week, here are a few pics to tide you over...

It looks like we could go up one more layer of Billy bookcases. We may just do that!!

Here's a guy you've probably never seen before, and the reason for the title of this post:

You can say that again, sister.
Thank God for Pinterest.

We have these great couches that are microfiber and well over 7 years old. Structurally, they are fantastic. But as you can see... they've seen better days as far as stains go.

Between Nic and the dogs... ouch.

This loveseat and its mate (an eight foot replica) have been in the loft since we moved in. However, my momma needed to pick up her couch that she had stored over here (Goodbye Mr. Santa Fe!), which left us sans seating in our new biblioteca.

So, Alex and Isa brought down this sweetie pie yesterday and I got to work trying to figure out how to clean it. I found this post pinned on Pinterest... and it looked like it just might work.

I sent Alex to Walgreens for the sponges and an extra large bottle of alcohol.
The rubbing kind, of course.

It took some elbow grease (wait, maybe that's what I removed with said cleaning?!) - either way, it looks MUCH better. For now, anyway. Eventually, I may find a slip cover for it.

I even took the cushions out and washed the covers in the washing machine on Hand Wash. They came out great. Forgot to take a before picture though. Oops.

I am going to spend some time during the next day or two loading everything back in... and I will be back with more pics soon! In the meantime, be sure to check out my 31 days series... :)

350 < 8 [Installing new floors in the Formals]

Yesterday was CRAZY with a capital CRA.
Seriously.

Want to start at the beginning? Click here.

We did a lot of the prep work for the floors on Thursday and Friday nights. We had to be ready for Saturday morning. And we did it!

After our home builder came in and fixed the imperfections in our concrete floors, Marcos and I got to work and filled the nail holes (from the carpet tacks), and filled in the long, but superficial surface crack.  The very nice subcontractors left us some of their magic stuff. [One less expense. Yay!]

 

After we got all of the cracks and holes filled, I mopped the floor with vinegar. Just a quick mop. We had already swept and vacuumed and swept a gazillion times (concrete and drywall dust are no fun). After that it was time for Kilz primer. THAT STUFF IS STRONG. I think we were high most of the night (even with the windows open and fans going). But we needed to ensure we sealed the concrete and get rid of any odor from Olive (the perpetual pee-er).

That took us up until Friday night. My parents came over with their flooring tools and saw on Saturday morning before 9. I made breakfast (French toast and bacon) and then at about 11am we got started.

Our floors had been in the house for over a week, so we knew they had acclimated. We read the instructions to ensure we weren't missing anything - and then we pretty much got started.

We rolled out the 2-in1 underlayment plus padding. It was $34 a roll for 100 SQFT, we bought four. We could have gone with a more expense product, but this appeared to be exactly what we needed.

Once that was done and while Marcos and Alex ran to Home Depot for a few last minute things, my parents and I did a dry run to see how we were going to stagger the planks. I love how WIDE they are!! Almost 10".

The seams from left to right hardly show, so we didn't have to be exact in our measurements of stagger (at the end of each side of the room).

Here's my dad laying out the first plank... schooling us on how to lay floors.

This was truly a family affair. Here is Nic trying to get his knee pads on.

It took us a good hour or so to get the first couple of planks put down. We had to ensure we had spacers against the wall; the wall to the left isn't perfect. Despite all of the that, we were in good spirits. And we just kept on working, working, working. After awhile, we had dad man the saw while Marcos, Alex and I installed the floors.

I guess while I was working, Nic decided to go around the house and take pictures. I've told you before how much I LOVE finding his pictures on my camera. Look at this one, it's straight out of the camera.

After a quick pizza break at 5, we got to work finishing up the last few rows. I took a ton of pictures last night, but the colors were off, because my camera hates the dark. So here is a picture from this morning.

And here is a reminder of what my formals looked like a few months ago:

Not bad, but not exactly what I want.

Today, I am headed to Home Depot to buy new baseboards, and then I have a new mirror from Hobby Lobby to hang up... and then new drapes from IKEA. I am hoping I can start building my Billy built-ins this week and then loading everything back in (and out of my hallway and office).

I am so sore and tired today - but it feels good to have accomplished something that big. A HUGE shout-out to my parents for being the best. Really. THE BEST.

As a side note, be sure to check out Eighteen25 later on today, where I have some NEW Halloween Printables to show off!!

Finally Focused on the Formals

I may be MIA for the next few days. We've been working hard to get our formals ready for wood floors!! The husband and I are working on scraping the carpet glue off of the concrete and removing base boards.

The entire rest of the house has taken a major beating while this work has been in progress. Which explains the first picture, right? I am so ready to be done! ;)

We have a TON of Dr. Pepper on hand and we are working it!!
Updates soon (I hope!)