Happy Saturday.  I am ready to show you the flip!! The old dining room is now the new living/family room and the old family room is now the new dining area.  Here we go!! Mind you I still have some decorating to tweak.  That always takes me some time but you can at least see the set up of the new rooms.  Grab a cup  of coffee or tea this is a longer post. Enjoy.

 

I love the natural light that comes into this room all day long.  Brighter and warmer.

Reading nook for me and straight across from there in front of the large windows will be the new hubby recliner. He so deserves that chair after helping get this all done in a week!!!!

Love those old shutters we happened upon in the shed! I love a treasured find like those to add to the room.

The hubby made new corner pieces for our entertainment unit to match the doors.  Before these two areas were just open shelves with really no purpose but to catch clutter so he mimic the doors with just some mdf boards. Cheap and gives a high end look.  I had some old vintage door knobs so had to add those to the doors.

New Chandelier.  I found this at Lowes on the clearance for $40 and it was black so a little spray paint and you have yourself a new chandy!!!!!

My old ladder for my decor books and lamp. I will have to hide that light cord!!!!!

Bright new living room.

Upper right corner of this picture which is hard to see the space but that is where the new Hubby recliner will go.  We are on the hunt.  I think a nice light chestnut leather color in a wing comfy chair might do the trick.  The search is on!!!

Love my new rooms! I just got this old chippy chalk board from Mary at Urban Farm House on Friday.  If you live in the Chicago area she has a beautiful chippy shop packed with treasures in Rockford, Illinois.  Her shop is in an old restored brick house. So charming. Mary finds the best treasures to re purpose and recycle.  You can also catch Mary at the Kane County Flea Markets during the summer months. She is the sweetest down to earth person you will ever meet.  From the first moment you meet her you will feel  like you have known her all your life.  Her restored vintage furniture is beautiful and she is so reasonable with her prices.  Check out her blog for more info
http://urbanfarmgirlandco.blogspot.com/
 

Another picture of the old vintage window and shutters.

Ok one of my fav pieces.  We had this old piece of cedar fencing in the backyard which I actually used to set in front of the air conditioner in the summer to keep the hot air from blowing on my flowers on the deck.  We were just about to throw it in the recycle bin and I thought wait that chippy piece might look nice as a new coffee table.  My husband Terry agreed and went to work on this and created this beautiful table.  So for the cost of $3 dollar legs we have a new coffee table.

Gotta Love it!!! Lot's of room for my drinks and my magazines while watching TV!

Moving on to the new dining room.  This is the addition off the back of our house that use to be my family room and cottage office area.  The french doors go out to our deck and garden. It was long and narrow and just did not work well as a family room. Now this dining room is right off my kitchen so I can see my guests and family while preparing food.

Just moved the shelves from the old dining room and hung them and moved the furniture into place. Easy Peasy!!!

I am looking for a new cabinet or table or unique piece to go under the old barn door.  I saw a really neat wine cart at Home Goods that I am thinking about.  I may just wait and see what old chippy treasure I can find to make a statement in that area.  For now the rooster will stand guard of this area!!

I was able to hang two chandeliers instead of one which makes more sense over my long farm house table.  My motto is you can never have enough chandeliers!!!!

Little table scape.

My mantel as you enter into this room needs some work. I am on the hunt for the right decor for the mantel.

This little corner needs some tweaking.  It will get there.

My old chippy bench and old chippy chalk board that I use to have in the front entry.  It now has a home next to the french doors going out to the garden and deck area.

Love this old chippy chalk board hanger.

Old barn door awaiting a chippy treasure to go underneath.

My magazine rack under the window in my office. Lots of decor magazines.

My new entry way area.  Not too worry the bike on my blog header will be back there when Spring arrives.

My office still in tack after all the moving.  Still a perfect space for my office.  It use to be a closet!!! Yuk better as an office.

Another picture of my office near the window. Lots of light through out the day comes in that window.  Can you believe the previous owners had this all boxed as a closet and no light could come in with blocking that window.  Crazy!!!! Love all the light now that comes into the room from that window.

Sharing this week at http://rootedinthyme.blogspot.com/  http://www.timewashed.com/2013/01/blissful-whites-wednesday.html and atWow us Wednesday http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/2013/01/ and sharing at primp your stuff Wednesday http://www.primpjunktion.com/ and http://katherinescorner.com/2013/01/10/thursday-favorite-things-blog-hop-70/ and http://www.thevintagefarmhouse.com/2013/01/creative-things-thursday_10.html and
 http://www.redouxinteriors.com/2013/01/link-party-86-mes-preferes-nouvel-an-heureux/
http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2013/01/overflowing-with-creativity-56/
 

A new  up date to share on my flip of rooms.

I was sure there was an old round coffee table shoved back somewhere out in the shed that I wanted to have my husband go out into the cold and search for.  He said it was way back in the shed under alot of other stuff.  I was feeling a little guilty about saying please dig and get it for me so I can see if it works in the room!!!! Well so glad I did not let the guilt I was feeling of him having to rearrange the shed to get to the table because...... In his search he found these chippy old shutters that were hidden and I forgot about!!!! Well those little chippy treasures needed to come in from the shed too.  As alot of you know I love old chippy re purposed things with history.  So these were salvage finds from an old farmhouse that I adopted and saved from the trash and I thought to myself some day I will find some place for these beauties. Well I did.




My living room wall over the sectional is coming together with these little treasures.

I hate that thermostat is there I will have to think of something clever to cover that ugly thing up.

Just love the shutters with my old chippy window and the white wreath (from HomeGoods)  I had over my mirror looks so good with the white chippy shutters.  I like the way this all came together.  I again wish my camera would capture the pictures better but it really is pretty and chippy in there now.

Ok here we go a sneak peek at the flip flop progress!!!!

Here is my wonderful hubby getting the walls ready for paint. He trims I roll it makes for a great team!!!! He said I got his good side!!! Ha Ha!!!

Here are some of the first pictures of the new family room that use to be the dining room.

A little reading nook for me. Opposite this is where I am on the hunt for a nice leather recliner for the hubby. I am hoping to find something worn and cottage looking. Maybe in a light chestnut tan color.

I realized something when I started the flip I have more wall space now in my new family area so I guess I will be on the hunt for more chippy treasures.

Some old chippy pieces

My old chippy window needed a new place to hang.

I love all my old chippy birdhouses I have collected.

Entry way is a work in progress still.

Sneak peek at the soon to be new dining room.  My husband hung the shelves for me last night and I started to put some of my dining pieces back up.

My bench and old vintage bed frame made into a chalk board hanger.  Need to write something cute on that chalk board!!!

My office still in tack.  I just will do a little tweaking in there. Do you love the ladder in the picture!!!!! Not staying!!!!

Well my friends this is the start of the rooms.  I thought I would just show you some of the progress.  I think we got alot done over this week end.  It went alot easier than I thought.  I still need to finish the dining room and do a little more tweaking of the design in each room.  My husband need to put up the chandelier but we needs to move the electrical so that will be a project.  Always something. I am happy with the progress so far.

Ok Here I go!!!!! The flip flop has begun. Took down the Christmas decor and removed all the stuff from the walls in the dining room. I am going to start there.  This dining room will now become the family/living room.

Bye Bye dining room!!!!

Getting everything down and ready to paint.

Only bad part about the flip is everything from the dining room is everywhere now!!!! Stay tuned for updates. I am excited to get this project under way.

 

 Happy New Year everyone!!!! As the new year approaches and I detox from all the yummy and rich foods consumed these past few days I started to think about the months of January and February.  Yuk!!! Here outside Chicago January and February can be so cold and a little dreary.  I kind of have a hard time in those months with the holidays over so I decided to work on a project in my home that I have been thinking about for awhile.

I want to share my ideas with you and I welcome any input or inspiration you have.

When my husband took the job as Fire Chief up this way about 5 years ago and we also became empty nesters, we down sized our home and bought this smaller cottage ranch when we had to move North for the hubby's new job. This house did not have a formal dining room and it had a family room and living room. We hardly ever used the living room so I decided to make the living room into my formal dining room.  I have to say that was a great thing because I have so much room when I have family and friends over for holiday and parties.

My family room was a beautiful addition the previous owners put on the back of the house. I have loved this room as it houses my office and my family room. Very sunny and bright.  The problem with the family room is the layout.  Only one way to put my sectional and TV. I would love to have a little more seating since this is the only seating we have with not having a living room anymore. 

So my brainstorming idea is to flip flop the family room and dining room.  I still would have plenty of room for my dining room in the back and actually the room would work better as a dining area.  It will be right off the kitchen so I could see my guests as I am preparing food etc.  The living room that is now my dining room is wider and bigger so I could add additional seating.

My hubby is so good about all my reno projects and jumps in to help me make these things happen so I really would love to get him a special recliner to relax and enjoy his tv viewing in.  Flip flopping the rooms would give me the opportunity to have more seating.  He really is a trooper with all my cottage chic decor and doesn't mind all the white, creams and ruffles found in my home.  So I would love to give him a nice comfy chair of his own. 

The misson (if I choose to accept!!!) will be to find a nice recliner that will fit with my cottage decor!!!! Ha Ha and still stay masculine for him. Misson Impossible maybe not we will see!!!!!

Here are some pictures of my rooms now and I will keep you posted on my journey to change things around and redo the rooms. Any one in the Chicagoland area is welcome to come over and help!!!!!

Here is a picture of my dining area that use to be my living room.

This is the back of the family room.



This is the family room as you can see the only space for seating is taken up by the sectional. No room for a hubby chair!!!



This is the back of the family room to the left. The previous owners had this all blocked off as a closet. What!!! That lovely window was blocked off too. Had to open that up. This is a weird space and worked as a storage closet but I like it better as my office. That makes more sense to me to have my office back in that space instead of a closet. I will leave my office where it is and come up with a creative way to separate it from the new dining space.

Well dear blogging friends I will keep you posted as the journey of the flip flop begins.  I am excited to be having this project under way.
Kris
:)

Merry Christmas my blogging angel friends.  I have so enjoyed getting to know each of you in my short time in blogging world.  Many thanks for all your help with my blog and your sweet comments and inspiration.  I wish each and everyone of you a Happy New Year and much inspiration and creativity in the year to come.

Kris:)