Getting Shady

Once upon a time I bought a fun lamp at an estate sale.  (Yes, I'm going with a fairy-tale theme today, go with it.  It'll end up being a choose-your-own-adventure...)

Since "bumble bee" really didn't go with my current decor, I knew it needed to be painted.  At first I was thinking of rub-n-buffing it gold, but after a trial it just wasn't feeling right.  It's actually reading better in the pic than it did in person.  To stick with the fairy-tale thing I apparently started, the slipper didn't fit.

So I tried another color.  And it fit!

I really do love the simple white with the fun shape of the lamp base.  Now to figure out the shade.  Here's where you guys come in hopefully, because I can't decide!  I got a cute shade at Lowe's on clearance for $5.  I'm not in love with the pattern, but figured for the price, it was perfect to paint.

Here's where I'm a little stuck and would love your take on it.

Should I paint the shade a solid punch of color? (not necessarily bright green)

Go with a 2-tone?

Or paint the original metal shade a new color to modernize it and banish the rest of the bumble bee effect?

I'm trying something new here and would love you guys to weigh in with the embedded poll (if you're reading this via e-mail or RSS and the poll isn't showing up, please click through and vote!)

What shade should I go with?

Solid, bright color

2-tone with white band

Paint original shade

Other

Please Specify:

free polls

Cherry on Top

You know, I really should start buying pieces that don't need modification.  I think I have a problem.  Where's the fun in turn-key pieces though? Yesterday, Craigslist was kind to me, and I purchased the table I showed you on Wednesday for $70.

I knew going into it that I would probably need to modify the size a bit, but I was hoping it would work as is.  Alas, she's too large.  She takes up the whole darn room.  So I have to figure out exactly how to make the top smaller, and what size to make it.  She's so pretty though.

Why's it a she?  Cuz she's got some sexy legs.

Definitely a good buy though, it's solid cherry and I couldn't build this for cheaper.

Ok, well with you as my witnesses- I am officially cut off from buying projects!  No more new projects until I tackle the ones I already have!

Does anyone else have this same problem?  It can't just be me!

Dining Dance

Yesterday, in a flurry of inspiration, I figured out how I can finally make my dining room work. Up until now, the dining room has been fine, but something has just been missing for me.  Now that the china cabinet is in it's new home (and looks amazing in her dining room!), I have to room to play around with the space a bit.  And play I did.

I brought all of my collected chairs up from the basement and started playing around to see which 4 of the 7 would work best in the space.  I think I have come up with the right combination.

I know they're looking a little random right now, but once they are all painted the same color and reupholstered in the same fabric (with seats), I firmly believe that it will make perfect sense.  The 2 upholstered chairs will stay as is so they can ground the table.  Speaking of table..... You may have seen on instagram/facebook I'm on the hunt for a slightly larger, rectangular table that can accommodate 6 chairs.

After playing musical chairs, I started playing musical artwork- hence the lack of something on the wall between the windows.  In digging out some unframed pieces I had also collected, I realized I had one that felt 100% right in the dining room.

It's an unframed print that I had bought at an estate sale this summer for a whopping $5 and has been sitting behind the door in my office since.

Everything really fell into place when I took this print with me to the fabric store.  The planets aligned, the universe was on my side, and I ended up with 2 large pieces from Calico Corner's remnant clearance section ($10 for each yard piece!!) that look spectacular with the print.

I swear, these are the moments that happy dances are made for.  The stripe is going on the chairs, and the floral will probably be the piano bench.  I can't quite get Hubby to jump on my granny floral bandwagon yet.  I can get him to jump on the light pea green chair bandwagon though!

Now I just need to decide between "Golden Delicious" or "Sweet Vibrations."  I'm leaning toward the latter, but I'm going to look at them in different lights throughout the day.

I'll be getting started on painting the chairs today, so hopefully I'll have a room to show you in the coming weeks.

What do you think of my new dining room plan?  Not toooo crazy/over the top I hope!