Hey Everyone!  Thank you all for the wonderful compliments on the furniture flip project, they were truly appreciated.  I read them to my mother and she smiled and said thank you too!  In the coming week, I’ll be sharing all the other fabulous flips (so be ready for more eye candy).  Now that’s all over, I can focus on my dining room.  The painting is all done… thank God.. I think I just might start to like painting after all (since I’ve been doing a lot of it lately – side note- two weeks before this challenge, we just finished painting 3 rooms in a new rental property we purchased).  Then I jumped on this and next, I’m hitting our family room.  I wish I could take credit for the molding but I outsourced that task to a local guy, but I did learn along the way, cut some pieces and used the power nail gun.  I think I’m ready to invest in some tools now (lol).  After he finished the job, I told him I’ll make him famous – we laughed, but I’m so thankful he came to my rescue.

Had to take a quick funny selfie because he kept me laughing while working.. he’s a funny dude.  So between laughing and listening to some good house music, it didn’t seem so much like a daunting task.  So shout-out to Mr. Bill – THANK YOU!!!

I’m proud of how stayed in the lines and didn’t use any tape (yay-yay)   

This color did warm the room quite a bit but thankfully it gets plenty of sunlight from the  (dreadful) door and window.

So here, I’m going to talk about the thrifted, gifted and found items I’m using in this space.  Remember I set a budget of $200 and will shop my home as well.  Of my thrifted items was the new (to me) vintage art deco chandelier.

I was thrilled when I got this because I love it.   It was sent to me by another FB friend Nicole and I immediately ordered it.   When it arrived, I inspected it and noticed these tiny holes on the ends and thought maybe crystals use to hang from them, and sure enough, I was right.  I researched it to see what type of crystals and here it is with the stunning Murano teardrop crystals (notice  how much it sold for – jeez.. I really got a bargain)

I thought about trying to order some look-alike crystals but remembered I had these antique prism crystals stashed away.  A container full .. So needless to say, I’m going to use these.  (My found item)

I put them in my dishwasher to get them back to sparkling clean.  These are glass prisms with lead crystal, and my gosh they are extremely delicate

I’m amazed how they were able to created this pattern within the glass.

I wanted a new curtain rod, but when I went to Lowes, Home Goods and Home Depot, I didn’t see anything I liked and not to mention expensive.  I popped into one of my go-to favorite thrift stores and found a really nice decorative rod for $5.00

Luckily while I’m out thrifting I get items I THINK will come in handy because it was a great price.  I had the rings in my stash.  (FOUND items. )

Now I have a more decorative rod hanging in the room

I did some weeding in my flower bed and found this flower pot (which was always a favorite)  I don’t know why I kept it outside for so long.. duh… Well I decided , no more, you’re coming inside.  I cleaned it up and noticed it had some tiny holes forming from rust.  I used some silicone to cover them so they don’t leak and painted it.

You can see here if you look closely.. but hey, don’t look that close once it’s in my decor.. because it’s not that noticeable. .. besides I’m not a perfectionist.

I like how it turned out and it will be added to the dining room.

and my new favorite plant will sit in it.

The gifted items being used is the fabric to cover the seat cushions.  This fabric was generously given to me through a friend who no longer needed it.  It was the perfect pattern for the chinoiserie style chairs.

and the window panels from my son’s brick cottage project

Thanks to Amir (boy do I miss him staying here)

Ok so, here’s my spending tally so far….

The chandelier  $75 (including shipping)

The rod – $5.00

Extra molding $65

One quart of paint $13

Total spent  so far – $158

Cutting it close and still need to see about decorative items.  We’ll see how that goes.. I’m shopping my home before I buy anything else.  I got plenty of items stored away.

So that’s all for now.  Things are really coming along and I’m loving the new sultry look of the room.  Stay tuned  and happy hunting

CIAO!!!!!