It's the dreaded end to my weekend ... off to work tomorrow. I am fortunate that I am only working four days a week now, thank goodness for my husband having good health insurance so I could go part-time at my job. I still work 34-36 hours a week but working one less day a week makes all the difference in the world. I spent my weekend doing things I actually enjoyed, some quality family time and time with my best girlfriend. We are basically finished with redecorating my den, only a few final touches left to do and then off to the next room makeover.
To fill you in on the den .... it was added to my house way before we bought it, probably in the late 60's. It is a large room, 33 x 17. It has a really big stone fireplace that goes across one end of the room so it is pretty big. The stone looks dingy and dirty and it does not have a mantle so it is somewhat blah and I am looking for ideas. There is a wet bar with a sink and this is what it looked like before the change.
When we bought the house, the bar was a selling point that we liked but we used it maybe twice. We bought the liquor to fill the shelves and most of it is 10 years old. My husband, Bruce, drinks beer and I drink very rarely so it had become an eyesore to me and with all the stained wood and mirrors, it looked dated. Not to mention that I was always embarrassed when certain people came to visit, like when one of my girls would have a friend come over and the parent dropped them off, I found myself worrying that they might think we were a bunch of alcoholics and might worry about their kid being over here. Anyway, I hated the color of the wood, it was that almost orange, very, very dated and needed some help. When we first moved here all of the walls are paneling that was the same color and I painted it one weekend when Bruce was out of town. It looked a ton better but I still did not like it, In fact< i really wanted it taken down but it would have been a major deal to take out. I have now completely changed the look and I love it. We started by taking all the mirror out ..... my partner in crime, Anita, my best girlfriend, helped me and inspired me through this whole project.
We then had to prime all of the wood, beams, LOTS of trim and the bar. It took a lot of work and was rough on the two of us looking up because we both have trouble with neck and shoulder pain. Anita came prepared with pain patches, Salonpas, they are awesome - cheap and better than prescription pain patches I have used. We used Valspar primer from Lowes - it actually was good to work with, it went on smooth and covered better than I imagined with all the stain and shellac that was on the wood.
We both like painting, not so much ceilings and crown molding but it had to be done. The worst part of the whole project was caulking all of the gaps, nail holes, cracks in the wood - we used 10 tubes of caulk in two days. What a difference it made though in the cold air around the windows and the noise that has lessened some from the train that goes by all day. Anyway, here is the finished bar with the exception of the bar top which I am still trying to figure out what to do there ... the green swirled paint has got to go. But check this out.
It is still a bar, so to speak, but I put most of the alcohol in the cabinets underneath and used all sorts of items that I had all over other places in the house and Anita brought her own "treasures" over to add. We have the same taste in decorating. Keeping in mind my love of flamingos, there are two of them on there - the wooden one on the bottom left, my daughter bought me awhile back and Anita gave me the cute little glass one on the top shelf in front of the star. The stained glass dragonfly on the second shelf is one of my favorite items, Anita made that, she used to have her own stained glass business and she has some beautiful pieces. I added some driftwood that I picked up at the beach this year and old books that I had stored away and just some random things to fill it up and make it look less like a bar. Bruce put up a track light that shines on there and adds some ambiance ... I am so happy with how it turned out.
Any suggestions for the bar top? I was thinking of maybe making it square instead of the oval shape and either putting tile or just wood.
Tomorrow night, I will post some pictures of the rest of the room. It all looks amazing and all I need to do now is find curtains, slipcovers and find a good deal on carpet.
