What’s that you ask? But I thought this was a One Room Challenge-Breakfast Nook on a Budget post? Well yes, yes it is. So why is there a picture of Mike Miller and I in San Francisco to start this post? Well….because Mike Miller and I fully committed to the One Room Challenge this week by booking a 5 day getaway to San Francisco on less than 48 hours notice. So basically, what I’m saying is…we did absolutely NOTHING when it comes to the One Room Challenge; BUT, I really do like to see our trip as smart thinking because after our getaway, we are both going to be in such a better mindset to tackle this project together. Right? Power of positive thinking my friends. Plus, I totally work best under pressure AND it’s way more fun to keep things interesting don’t you agree? So really, once I think about it, taking a last minute trip during the middle of our One Room Challenge was totally a brilliant idea.
First of all, let’s enjoy a little walk down memory lane from our time in San Fran. Oh yes and if you are here for the first time you might want to catch up on what all this this craziness with the One Room Challenge is about. You can do that by reading our WEEK1 and WEEK2 posts.
Now that you’ve seen what we WERE up to this week, let’s talk about what we weren’t up to.
First of all, I found a before picture of the table and chairs that my sis found in a thrift store in Edmond so you can see them in their full glory before I stripped and recovered them. You can read more about that process and how I totally gave up after stripping one chair and took them to a professional here. I have no shame. Stripping chairs is NO FREAKING JOKE YOU GUYS.
Here is what I was starting with (see pictures of chairs in the thrift store below). So maybe you are looking at these and thinking they look pretty harmless with that white coat of paint. Nope. They weren’t harmless AT ALL. First of all, you probably need to know that before we moved into our house, I painted OVER the white with a coral color because I thought I was going to use these chairs in my kid’s homework room. Well, they ended up being all wrong for that space once we moved in so I didn’t use them in the homework room after all. They were then taken to storage and forgotten about; until the One Room Challenge that is. When Mike Miller nixed my original idea for the sitting room, I suddenly remembered my coral thrift store chairs and thought that they could be potentially amazing for the breakfast nook area; but not painted coral….they needed to be natural wood.
So I went to Home Depot and bought so heavy duty stripping materials and I started stripping. I knew that the chairs had at least two paints of coats when I started. But imagine my surprise when I got past the coral and white and then I saw navy. Then I think there was black after that and even one more color. But you guys….drumroll please because now these chairs have been stripped down to their natural wood glory and I’m really loving what I’m seeing. Here’s the before…..
And here is what they look like now. So clean and pretty. No I did nothing to them this week BUT they are ready to go and I fully plan to clear coat them and recover them with a gorgeous new fabric that I chose this week. I might even make Mike Miller help me.
So that is the update on the chairs. Here is a reminder of my mood board and inspiration for the breakfast nook and you can shop the products below the picture.
And here are some more pictures of the chairs in their new, natural wood state. Am I the only one seeing the potential here???
I spy an Elodie Rug from Lulu and Georgia and I’m obsessed with how it is looking with that natural wood and that pretty fabric I have chosen for the new chair covers.
Speaking of the new fabric, check out that ugly old fabric that is on the seats currently. I can’t wait to see the before and afters with the new fabric and the Elodie Rug! That is on my to-do list for this week, to clear coat and recover the chairs. Please you guys, hold me to it.
OK next let’s talk about these bamboo gold frames. As you will see from my mood board, I was really feeling some gold bamboo in this room; I found these gold bamboo frames with asian art at a thrift store for $15 for the pair. They were too good to pass on and I could see their potential. I’ve just been waiting for the perfect time to use them and that time is now. I will be sourcing some new prints to go in the frames, obviously something from our print shop or maybe something new from the San Francisco pictures that I took. OH WAIT! You see, on second though we WERE totally working on the One Room Challenge when we left for the entire week to go to San Fran. I was just on a mission halfway across the country to find the perfect picture to put in these frames. cc+mike are SO responsible you guys.
OK so here’s the gold bamboo thrift store frames before.
And here’s what I’m thinking…. I’m loving this print – The Ocean – from our Rosemary beach wall art collection in the cc+mike print shop. (Shameless plug here if you’re visiting us for the first time. YES! We have a print shop where my sister and I sell our prints for home design and art. We would LOVE you to check it out and also follow us on instagram.) What do you guys think? Are you seeing this colorful ocean print inside of those gold bamboo frames??
I also love this for inspo from Blackb and Designs. HOLY MOLY all the feels for space. I took some similar water photos in San Francisco and Carmel but they have a very different vibe—a little darker and moodier with some rocks and crashing waves—so we will see what I end up with; but I’m definitely feeling the ocean/water/beach wall art for our breakfast nook in the gold bamboo frames.
Ok what else. Oh yes, I hit some thrift stores up two weeks ago and have been collecting some plates and blue and white because you KNOW I’m going to have to have some jewel tones and chinoiserie in this space. I’m thinking of a plate collage on one wall with these plates. What do you guys think? YES? NO? Maybe? The most I paid for these plates was $7 and the least I paid was $1 so I’m doing good with staying within that $500 budget. I got this Mike Miller. Why do you doubt me?
Here’s some more blue and white chinosierie I picked up at a thrift store this week for $20. I am planning to use it somewhere in the space too. I love how the gold bamboo frames and the chinoiserie look together.
OK peace out you guys. That’s all for Week 3. I’ve got a LOT of making up to do after taking the week off to San Francisco with Mike Miller so I better get busy. I do hope you will follow along with us on INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | BLOGLOVIN’ | TWITTER. Also please DO NOT FORGET to go check out all my other amazingly talented creative friends who are also participating in the One Room Challenge HERE
