My Primitive Dining Room

This room is adjacent to the living room and shares the back wall with it. This is what the room looked like when we saw it for the first time...

This is what it looks like now with our stuff in it. I want to paint the hutch black.

I love the checked curtains in the photo below this one, but I just can't bring myself to toss out perfectly good drapes so I guess they will stay until they start to fall apart. The walls would be painted Golden Hills and the hutch Tricorn Black. 

 

I'm going to swap out all the hardware with these.

I have a verdigris metal rooster that was my mom's that I have sitting on the hutch right now. I don't know if I will take the mirror out or not. It is a nice feature. I found these cute stacking boxes that would look cute next to it as well as this neat block set for $19.99 at Here's Your Sign Primitives. There are many other wonderful Prim decorations there.

 

By the way this photo is from an amazing blog about a mobile home transformation...yes, this is a mobile home! Here's the link: Primitive Mobile Home Décor


I want to replace the lighting fixture with this one and accent it with a pip wreath. These Oatmeal-colored chandelier lampshades are $38.99. The 5-Arm Chandelier is $90.00. That's about $60 cheaper than anywhere else I've looked.

Of course, I will need to buy light bulbs and shades but this way I get to pick what I want. I also want to add a pip berry wreath.

There's also these lamp shades as well. I like the soft light they give out. They are burlap covered and only cost $29.00 for a set of six from Amazon. I also found this tan and black pip garland at Factory Direct Craft  for $16.99 for a 54" strand that I would make a wreath out of to put in the chandelier.

For my tabletop I'd use these pillar candlestick holders. I've seen unfinished ones at Michael's. They look simple enough to do. If I bought this set ready made they're asking a ridiculous price of $68!  love the braided placemats but my tiny table isn't large enough for it.

 

The dishes I like are by Park Designs and they are called Star Vine. You can find them at Lake Erie Designs for $200.00 for a 16 piece set. I'm sure my husband will think I'm nuts buying another set of dishes since I already have 3 but these would be lovely for everyday use. The pattern extends to quite a few kitchen items as well; like a canister set for $79.99, salt and pepper shaker for $9.99, spoon rest for $11.99 and a variety of casserole dishes. There are also items that match for the bathroom.




These placemats are called Sturbridge Black Placemat and is only $4 at Piper Classics


There's also a site that does microwave covers and other appliance covers with fake apothecary drawers on the front and it has the added convenience of having a swinging front door so I wouldn't have to lift the cover off every time I used it. Unfortunately, you can't buy it but I could probably make one, but then I haven't asked him yet. Here's his website: http://lumberjocks.com/dakremer. When I bought the microwave I was still thinking of doing a beach themed décor so I bought a white one instead of a black one, but with this cover it really won't matter.


Here's another angle of the dining room. The white wall that the white hutch is on wraps around the kitchen.

I want to paint my hutch black so it looks like this. I'd use Tricorn Black. 

A set of these round stacking boxes would be cool next to the hutch. Unfortunately the company doesn't ship so I would have to make them myself, but with a pattern to follow I'm sure I could accomplish it 

. 

I love this table. I'd like to find one like it, but I'm afraid they don't ship so I'm going to have to go to a yard sale or thrift store and try my luck there. I think the star accents and the phrase "Gather At Our Table" is a nice touch. I also like the treenware trough with the candles and pip berries. I could do a smaller version of this.

Until I can find a table similar to the one above I'm going to paint my like the one below.

Check back...more to follow!

My Primitive Living Room

So on to my design plans for the new house...
I've had a difficult time choosing between a beach theme and a primitive theme.

I love the colors and spa feel of a beach theme and because it's so crisp and clean. I also like the color palette of lovely aqua, teals and blues. I'm very fond of the beach too even though I live a good hour away from it. However, the living room furniture I got really put an end to the idea of a beach theme as the chairs are a mix of olive greens, dark browns and clay colors in a paisley print. The sofa is a dark olive green that sometimes looks dark brown depending on the lighting.

Anyway, my point is that there was no way I could cover the recliners and have them look decent and I wasn't about to reupholster them. They are practically brand new. So the bottom line was no beach theme.

The furniture I have in the living room is a bit too contemporary to be a traditional Primitive-style  but that doesn't have to stop me from decorating the house in that style  as you can see in the house below...

I like this color for the walls. It's called Honey Mustard. I haven't been able to find a paint chip with that color in a paint store yet, but I found this on the internet. It seems overwhelmingly yellow, but I guess that's the look they went for in the photo above. In the photo it looks more tan than yellow but when I googled Honey Mustard paint this is what I got.

Personally I like the second color down. It's called Golden Hills by Benjamin Moore. I'd take it to Lowe's and get it matched using Valspar paint. Our painter said Dunn Edwards is the best but Valspar is just as good and it's less expensive..

The picture below is what the room looked like before we bought the house. After we moved in we kept the sofa and chairs are in the exact same place.

 Now the back wall has a complete row of bookcases that are a dark brown espresso color.

Also for now I wouldn't do anything about the window treatments since the drapes are in excellent shape and they are very expensive.

I said in another post that I bought the chairs from the previous owner for $100 and the couch was free. I later discovered that these are Lane recliners and worth several hundred dollars apiece. So I got a fantastic deal on them. Here's a close-up of the chairs and one of the end tables I got. I found the end tables on craigslist.org for $50.00, the lady gave me the other matching one for free because the drawer didn't open easily on it. They are Basset end tables also worth a couple hundred dollars a piece. You can see other table is located at the end of the sofa in the picture above.. I still need to buy table lamps. The end tables are more of a Williamsburg or Colonial-style table, but I've seen women who have decorated with a primitive theme with furniture far more modern than mine. I think it's all about accessories.

I really like this rug for in front of the sofa. I'd get at least an 8x10 that way I can put a small coffee table or something like that there. I thought this color would match the throw the best. It's color is called Rhody Pilgrim Charcoal and I found it at Rugs USA

I'd like to replace all of the carpeting eventually with flooring like this. I found it at a local store called Western Carpet 411

I found this throw at Beth's Country Primitive Home Decor for about $79. It's 50 x 60 so it's pretty big. It matches the bedding set I want to get for the bedroom. It's called Bingham Star by VHC.

Here are the matching pillows that go to the bedding set. I don't think I would add two of the smaller square check pillow to the sofa.

I think one of the black colored lamps would look nice on each of the end tables. They are 19" tall with a 12" lamp shade and are sold by Primitive Home Decors for $54.00 each. They are called Paul Revere Punched Tin Willow Tree Lamps. The shades are sold separately. I don't know why but it's difficult to find large primitive table lamps.

Something like this would be cute on the book shelves. I found it at Lakeside Collections for $12 a set!


These would be cute to put on the top of the bookcase. I know there are art stores that sell just the boxes and I think it would be a fun project for me to do them. These sets are too small and I've seen the plain larger box sets for as low as $24. If you are interested in these I found them at The Lakeside Collection for $9 a set. A great deal if you want small stacking boxes. They are about 12" tall when stacked all together.


Those are my ideas for right now. I will update this as new ones come to mind or as I start to buy my stuff.

Our New House

God found the quaint 55+ mobile home park that we moved into. It is a small park filled with homes with beautifully manicured front yards (not just planters but yards actually big enough for grass and plants!), and streets lined with Kinkade-style street lamps and personal mailboxes.

We are in the highest house next to an open field and only have only one immediate neighbor - Carol. She's a lovely little old lady who came over when we first moved in and shared her faith with us, which brings me to another vital point...most of the residents in this park are Christians. Imagine that! Not only did God give me everything I wanted on my list of must haves for the new house, but He put us in a park of like minded individuals.

This is my lovely brick lined front porch. It was more than I hoped for. I will be removing the garden window and replacing it with a paned one s I can put more furniture  there. The open field is to the left and all the windows face the mountain range where our cabin is located.

This is my back patio with a yard which was something I didn't even hope or ask God for...

You can see the large storage shed that came with the house. It already had shelving built inside that was more than adequate to hold all of our stuff and it had an extra refrigerator! We've unplugged it since we are not using it and we couldn't see the point of using the added electricity, but during the holidays when I hope to entertain it will come in very handy. I hoped to plant hydrangea bushes in the raised planter, but the garden center said they wouldn't do well in the full sun so I will probably pick some type of viburnum. Right now there's nothing in the planter as the plants that you see in there now were totally unsuitable for the area.

This is my art studio. The windows face the mountain range. I was elated at how much natural light I get which is perfect for my painting. It is large enough that it fit all of my storage caddies, sewing table, and a large table that I have my painting and drawing supplies on.

Another plus that we didn't count on but saw as a definite sign that this was the house God wanted for us was that there was a dog door large enough to fit a big dog located in the craft room and the house had a fence yard. It was amazing to us that we should find a house with a dog door of this size especially since it was a park that only allowed dogs under twenty-five pounds. The other amazing thing is that they accepted Shilo sight unseen with the restriction that like all the other dogs in the park he couldn't be walked on streets within the park.

 Here's my lovely step in garden tub which I've already enjoyed. The master bath is very big. It has a small shower though so we use the double sized one in the other bathroom.

This is the second bathroom which has a large linen closet and full sized shower.

This is the master bedroom. As you can see it has mirrored wardrobe doors. Something that I never asked the Lord for, but was a bonus.

Here's  picture of Eric's study.

The kitchen with more cupboards than I every hoped to  have and wasn't something that I even prayed for. The garden window looks out on the meadow and mountain range. Eric was thrilled that it had a dishwasher so he no longer had to do dishes and the kitchen has its own hot water heater so you get instant hot water from the faucet. We still haven't gotten used to having a garbage disposal. After 17 years of using a trash can it's a hard habit to break but we are learning. Another perk was the wooden floor. Yep, no dated linoleum flooring. Yet another thing the Lord provided that was not asked for.

A lovely dining room with a hutch that once again was hoped for, but not prayed for...are you getting the idea yet?

A lovely family room that is set in the middle of the house and not adjacent to the front room like so many are in mobile homes. This has drywall and not paneling.

This is the living room which is located at the front of the house. As you can see it's filled with lots of natural light. It is west facing but due to the custom screens and drapes you never even feel the heat even with the curtains opened.

The chairs and sofa are a story in and of themselves. The last time that we visited the house I sat in one of the recliners while we were waiting for the home inspector to complete his inspection and I jokingly said to the owner that the chairs would have to stay. She asked if we really wanted them and I said, yes (since we had no furniture fill the room with) she sold them to us for $100 and threw in the sofa for free! So once again God provided and exceeded our requests.

This is the front of the house. As I said the yard is large enough for a lawn. Right now it's filled with smooth round pebbles, but soon we may be able to have it landscaped. The tree has to go and will be replaced with shrubs and flowers. The inspector told us it was brushing up against the house and wasn't beneficial to the screens or eaves. I was hoping it would get flowers or turn color, but it did neither.

The used brick work was a perk as it was similar to the mobile home I fell in love with in another park but was not for sale. Here's a picture of it and it is a design I hope to replicate on our house.

Obviously I can't plant the lovely hydrangea because our house has a narrow planter, but I was surprised and pleased to see that our house had the same used brick that this house had...

I hope to paint the house this color and add the shutters and brick work to the sides. I don't know if I can do both so If I have to choose it will be the shutters. I want to replace the front widows with dual paned ones like in the picture. Once again the brick work on the two houses is similar. I want to paint our house this way as well. I love the traditional look of this home.

So that's the prayers that the Lord, answered for us on just the house. God is good!