A 'Pretty' Filter

I've decided that during 2013 I will go through each of the rooms in our home and take a look at as many items in them as possible - and if they're not pretty or useful - to donate, bin or sell them!

I prioritised our lounge / dining room as after the Christmas decorations were taken down and bits of furniture moved to give it a good clean, it was evident that it needed a 'freshen up'.  Well, if I'm honest... the skirting boards were marked and dog-eared, marks remained where pictures had once hung on the wall and clutter was encroaching on every surface!

My dining chairs had been on my 'To Do' list for over a year and I'd kept putting them on a new list every time I started something else.  So, 2013 is the year for me.  I will be doing this on a frugal basis - there is no budget for wall to wall wardrobes to house our clutter - even if I did want them!!  Paint will be my old friend and much loved items will be re-found and placed with purpose around our home.  I will endeavour to cut out lots of clutter.  I'm not particularly good at this - I'll never be minimalist but even I feel like a change needs to happen.  If it's not pretty or practical - or I can't make it pretty - it will go!  Hopefully I won't feel overwhelmed and give up - but I've blogged about it so I can share my progress and to help ensure I stay motivated!!

To start, we repainted the non-papered walls with the same Dulux Morning Light from the Light and Space Range and the skirting boards were re-done in white rather than cream (because I had that in the shed and which actually made a good change).  I'd love to replace the wall paper but it's in good condition so a general tidy up was all that is needed at this stage.

My main projects in this room other than decorating have been my dining table and chairs and my display shelving unit - which often turn into a nightmare dumping ground - cringe - I'll show you a small portion before:

 



 Here are my newly rationalised shelves...

There will always be kiddie stuff in the lounge.  I don't mind that - it just needs to be more organised or put away more effectively!

The chairs and dining table in the lounge were bought from my Mum's neighbour and I think are Ercol 1940's items.  I'm not a fan of dark wood but love the painted look of furniture so the chairs have been painted a couple of times already.  They were in desperate need but they are tricky to paint so I've procrastinated.  Until now:

So here is the shabby (and so NOT chic) look before:

 

During the makeover.... left one has been painted!

To After....  All lined up in a row!

I painted them with two coats of Eggshell in Duck Egg 99 by Fired Earth, gave them a bit of a rub down in places and finished off with a layer of Wax to seal them.  The seat pads were from Dunelm Mill and they were in the sale - an added bonus as they were only £4 each for quirky seat pads.

A new oilcloth for the table finished off the look!

So over the past three weeks I have cleared it all out, deep cleaned and from Wednesday have been doing the fun bit - putting together my mantel,

...rearranging family photos

 

 

and just enjoying the room in it's 'new' state.

Apologies for the quality of the photos - the dark days here don't make for good lighting conditions!    I also repainted the unit the TV sits on and waxed it.  It was painted in Dulux Jasmine White and then I dry brushed the carved elements to bring them out a bit.  I'll try and remember to take a picture another time.  I recovered the footstool in the summer before I was blogging properly so will look for those photo's too.

The next project to tackle is 'R's room.  It needs a re-paint and repositioning of furniture and a general clear out so next week and February will be the time for that project!

Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my last blog post.  It's so wonderful that so many in blogland are so generous with your time to leave me a comment!  My heart skippy skips to read them - so thank you all and have a good weekend!

J9 x

Today I'm joining the party with:

A Favourite Thing
Home Sweet Home
Show & Tell Friday
Weekend Whatever
Simple & Sweet Fridays
Sunny Simple Sunday