Thank you everyone for your sweet thoughts and wishes on my last post. It's so sweet of you all and I really appreciate it. And I am very excited to start working on the nursery as soon as I find out girl or boy. In the meantime, I'm feeling a need to nest in my master bedroom.

I haven't done much with my bedroom since we moved in, and as a default I've been using all white bedding this year. It's fresh and clean, but it's leaving me feeling a little drab.

So I did some yardwork for my Mom to raise a little cash, went on a fabric hunting expedition and found this great combination of florals. I brought home a couple of samples and draped them over the bed to see how they would look. The darker one would be the quilt and the lighter one ruffly shams.

I love how they make the Battenburg shams look. I thought I was tired of them, but next to the florals they look so pretty I fell in love with them again. And the best part is that when I went back, the fabric was 35% off, so by using stuff from my stash and getting fabric on sale, the whole project will only cost $100.

For those of you who are curious, I did also finally decide to refinish the bed. I know it's gorgeous and expensive oak. (Well, it wasn't to me, I got it secondhand. But it was when it was new.) But I want a lighter look. I mocked up a couple of options. They're rough, but basically I'm deciding between a weathered pickled finish or painted white and antiqued. Plus I'm also going to paint the room a purplish gray color. As always, opinions are welcome! :-)

I suppose it's a little nuts to work on my bedroom when I have a little one on the way, but I just know how much it will mean to me, and the baby will love the room they get no matter what! How's that for practical?

After my last post, I couldn't stop thinking about my big pine farm table. When I bought it 15 years ago I didn't realize how huge it was and it's never had a home. For the last year it's been in the shed, isn't that sad?

Sooooooo.... I'm going to make my living room into a formal dining room! It's become the reno storage area (lovely first impression), and I'd like to use it and be able to have dinner parties. I loooove dinner parties.

I had painted the room my favorite cream last year, so the first thing I did is put up curtains, and I did it all with things I had on hand. The rods and sheers I bought at IKEA 2 years ago and hadn't put up. The linen panels (from Wal-Mart) were leftover from the old house. I sewed the panels together to make them big enough and up they went.

I also moved the big table into the middle of the room. Unfortunately it is currently holding all the stuff for the endless bathroom reno, so I can't show it..... yet!

I also moved my chandelier from the kitchen dining area into the middle of the room. It was too big for the kitchen and made it feel crowded, but it's perfect in here. Gootz put a plug on it so I could swag it over to a plug. I'm also particularly proud of myself for making a cord cover for it out of another of those old linen curtains.

I really want some new shades for the chandelier, something fresh and cottage-y. Maybe yellow or green. Would green make people look sickly at the dinner table?

I also have to relocate our book collection. I don't know where, but the books are just so dark and heavy, and I'm picturing a pretty, light china cabinet on this wall. I'm not sure where the books will end up, but I'm sure I'll figure out something.

I'm really feeling motivated with my new project. More soon!

One of the first things I did when we moved into this house was prime every instance of salmon paint I could find. Like all the wainscoting in the dining room, for example.

What a huge difference, right? It's already better.

The only table I had on hand at the time was my big farmhouse table, so I didn't have much choice but to shove it in the corner. I love this table, but it's huge. I didn't really understand the realities of space when I bought it 15 years ago. I just knew I wanted to have big dinner parties. I have never yet had a house it fit properly in. Someday I'll find a way to make it fit, though, because I love it and I can't part with it.

The dining room stayed like this for a long while, but then I finally painted the walls and wainscoting and started hanging things on the walls. That's next!

Best,

So we've covered my extreme "oak situation" pretty well in the before pictures of the master bathroom, master bedroom, and family room, but wait, it doesn't stop there!

Not only did my very dated 1950's ranch come with lots of 1980's oak, it also came with a heap o' salmon. Don't get me wrong, salmon can be a nice color. Or at least, coral can. But not like this.

This is the dining room as it was when we bought the house. I thought the wainscoting was super cute, but gah, the color!

And why, oh why, was the dining area of the dining room designed to be shoved into this attractive corner? I mean, it's a reasonable sized room. But they put the light fixture in the corner and when we saw the house the first time, there was a table and chairs here. It just makes no sense. Maybe that's because it's not 1982. And because the other corner was consumed by an enormous breakfast bar, just sticking out into the room for no reason. I don't have a picture of that, fortunately. Just trust me, it was awful.

I meant to show the entire house before moving on, but really, I am not sure I can handle more. So next I'll post some good dining room progress and after photos. It's one of the few rooms in the house that has actually gotten better!

Best,

P.S. Just joining in? I'm having a "Before Parade" -- sharing all my before pictures. First up was the master bathroom, then master bedroom, and then the family room. Feel free to join the fun! :-)

You may be gathering that my house came with a fair amount of oak. While the family room cabinetry isn't oak, it's oak colored. One whole wall is covered with it. I love the storage and I love the window seat (it's a window seat now, anyway). This is what the family room looked like when I bought the house in 2007.

Here's a wider angle of the wall of wood.

Of course, we can't forget the enormous wood stove. It may not seem that large in this picture, but the room is quite large. Let me assure you. This thing is mammoth! It dominates the room and makes this corner unusable. We also can't use it to heat the house. Well, we could if we wanted the family room to be 427 degrees and the rest of the house freezing.

I digress.

For fear of being too negative, let me say that there are lots of things I love about this room. It has great light, great views to the garden, great storage, great space and great potential. So there. I mean, I did buy the house, after all! :-)

Had enough oak? That's good. Because next we continue our parade with the Coral Parade. My favorite.

P.S. Just joining in? I'm having a "Before Parade" -- sharing all my before pictures. First up was the master bathroom, then master bedroom. Feel free to join the fun! :-)