How to dress for DIY success

Step 1. Be TOTALLY comfortable to go anywhere in crusty, paint covered sweats. 

Probably unshowered. Possibly with your teeth brushed. 

Step 2. Face it that your kiddo either looks about as put together as you do, or more often then not- better.

Step 3: Forget the bra. 

If you're like me it doesn't really matter anyway. 

Step 4: Wear a shirt that reminds you where you live and hence why it's a bazillion degrees in your garage. 

Step 5: Multitask and work on your soon-to-be-amazing dreadlocks with an awesome Mulan inspired nappy bun. 

Step 6: Roll your sweats up to make a fantastic waist band. 

 This will help prevent sweat pant shredding around your ankles. 

(Obviously, I learned this too late.) 

Step 7: Make sure your pants make your backside look completely nonexistent. 

You don't want to risk being to bootylicious while using primer.

Step 8: Skip painting your nails, and go for the hobbit/man foot look with a little overspray on your toes.

Step 9: Let your kiddo play with the hose while you work. 

He'll make mud, track it into the house and on to the carpet giving you a new DIY project. Woot!

Step 10: Debate whether you should actually shower when your little one takes a nap or watch the Bachelorette. 

Usually the Bachelorette wins for me. :)

Linking this to Mandi at Vintage Revivals FFA Challenge. 

Some Things You shouldn’t do yourself “DIY” NOT!!

Every now and then real life hits and were forced to do the things were not ready to do. Today is one of those days. You know', when being real is relevant. Friends I have to admit that life isn’t always pretty and the frustration that comes with it can be an insight. Reality has hit home in the Key family and I have to tell you it aint pretty and yes I said aint! You see; everything isn’t always pretty sometimes life hits you with a curve-ball and tells you to get off you’re ……….. And go beyond the pretty. This morning I was awaken by a loud noise and a dog bark that was so loud it scared the God who knows what out of me.
Yup my sun porch ceiling drywall fell to the floor and exposed a hole and oh no a water leak coming from my roof.  Yes the same roof that had a serious hole in it when I bought the house, yes I bought a house with a hole in the roof. But that was just fine because that could be fixed and so it was. So I thought. Now this is when you get on the phone and call that contractor who fixed the roof the first time and tell him how angry you are and that he better come fix what he didn’t fix the first time. Well that is exactly what I would do if only I used a contractor the first time. Hmmm some things you just shouldn’t do yourself and friends this is one of them.
This is one of those times we should have called in a professional but we didn’t because we thought we were saving money. (This is lesson learned). If you have a broken leg or arm would you fix it yourself or would you call in a doctor who knows what the “Heck” he/she is doing? Geez I wish I’d called the roof doctor. Every now and then you learn the money you think you’re saving is not really a savings at all. This lesson has taught me there are some things you just shouldn’t do yourself. Friend unless you are a roof doctor please don’t attempt to do the roof yourself. Now I’m not saying you can’t because I’m quite sure you can do anything you put your mind to, you can do it but just make sure you have the credentials to pull it off.
I’m sorry for all the fury and irritation of my ceiling woes but every now and then venting is all we have and I hope you don’t mind me laying it on you today because I feel awfully annoyed and irritated over something that could have been avoided. Well without further ado check out this scary ceiling of mind.

Check out this  hole in my ceiling its not pretty, Right!

Yikes!! Ugly, Ugly and more Ugly. I hate this. Check out how the room use to look before all the ugliness. The truth is this room has been through a few changes since I've lived here but the all been for the good most certainly not for the bad. Here is the first look of this sun porch. Check it out!

 

Look 1

Not so bad.  Right!  But this room was a little dark for a sun porch so we thought we'll change it just a little. Before I show you how it looked before the hole in the roof here is a few more pic's the way it looked first.

I'm sorry for the bad photos, as you can see there is a table for eating but just a little crowded to say the least.

Did you notice the Awning is painted orange one of the colors in the sun room? The awning was pretty ugly before we cleaned in spray painted it a Terracotta orange.

This room was pretty bad when we first bought the house believe it or not as I said before we bought the house with a hole in the roof to begin with and even worst then that if it can get any worst we had grass growing out of the old dirty worn out tile that was on the floor.  One of the bright spots in this room other then it being a sun room was the floor that we discovered under all the ugliness. Yep! (Solid hardwood floors). Nice! You see I'm trying to find a bright spot among all of this.  Now here is the last the room looked before the ceiling caved in.

Look 2

Here it is the look we had before the ceiling drywall leaky roof cave. This room is a bit sunnier than the previous look in look 1. Now I say the look before because clearly everything in this room had to be moved because of the leak. You see the chair by the Window? Water leaked all over the cushion and pillows and not to mention (wet drywall) yikes not pretty. Here are a few more photos of how this room looked before the leaky roof.

Now friends, I do apologize for the faulty photos I did my best with what I have but nonetheless I hope you understand my frustration about my sun porch woes. This has me saying, (Some things you shouldn't do yourself)so I have my work cut out for me for a little bit as I track down a roof doctor who can fix this leak and then I can have my old room back and who knows I' may change some things but after paying someone to do this job I'm sure money will be in short supply to say the least but at least this time if it’s not done right I can blame someone else. So with my learned lesson, I can only hope you too will take heed and realize that sometime you have to call in the pros.

 

So What You Think?

Have you ever taken on a job like this yourself?

Let me know in your comments below

"Traditional Living rooms on the Dark Side"

Hello friends, today I wanted to talk about traditions yup traditions. Do you have a tradition that you hold dear to you that no one by no means in no way can take away from you? Well that is what I feel about traditional decorating it is something customary, long-established and somewhat time-honored. It’s a style which is not trendy nor does it drifts away. Personally I’ve always been attracted to the style and even when I drift away from it, I always find myself coming back to it. How about you do you like traditional style? Well you already know how I feel about it. What I love about it is the many methods you can process it well today although summer time I found myself searching and exploring traditional living rooms on the dark side check out these lovely beautiful bold and dark colored living rooms.

Love the black and white wallpaper

Beautiful! Did you notice how the window covering goes all the way to the top of molding?

Bold and beautiful traditional Living room. I love these colors and all the mix of patterns.

Just beautiful

Love

 

How beautiful! Looks at that chandelier and the dark walls just beautiful.  source by Restoration hardware

How beautiful! I truly just don't have the words for this room Wow- this room is also used as a home office

Beautiful

I love the zebra skins

 

Leather Ottoman

I love the red walls and the traditional rug and how about the leather wing-back chair?

What do you think?
Do you like traditional style decorating?
Which room does you like most?
Let me know in your comment below!
Have a nice weekend
xoxo
Shinay 

ULTIMATE Reupholstering Tutorial Guide

Guys, this is the last post for chair week.

I have SO enjoyed sharing these chairs with you, and want to give all of you a sincere THANK YOU for all your sweet comments. :) 

Today, as promised, I am going to share the ULTIMATE Reupholstering Tutorial Guide, with tutorials I used and others I found along the way that I thought were awesome. 

But for all the tutorials you will have to head over to Primitive and Proper because I am guest posting there today!

 I ADORE Cassie and I feel like posting on her blog is like being on Nate Berkus or something. 

Seriously I'm so happy to be there. :)

So click HERE to head over to Primitive and Proper to get all the details and the ULTIMATE Reupholstering Tutorial Guide!

And as a recap, here are all the chairs I revealed this week.

The Ikat french arm chair.

Click HERE to see more.

The retro, burlap arm chair.

Click HERE to see more.

The black velvet, tufted wingback.

Click HERE to see more.

And two of these sweet bamboo chairs.

Click HERE to see more.

Thanks again to each of you for following along this week!

Chair Week Day 4: Sweet Bamboo Chairs

Welcome to day FOUR of Chair Week here at 551 East!

For those of you who are just joining the party I took on a massive reupholstering project of reupholstering 4 chairs in 7 weeks. 

So far I've showed you the Ikat French Provincial arm chair, Retro Burlap arm chair and a tufted black velvet wingback. 

Click HERE , HERE and HERE  to see them. 

Today is the last day of reveals before the ULTIMATE REUPHOLSTERING TUTORIAL LIST (read that in a booming voice) that I'll have for you tomorrow.  

These are two little chairs I found at Goodwill.

They were kind of...well ugly.

Here's the before:

And here's the after:

These were some rickety little chairs when we brought them home. 

After lots of clamping and glue they were in great shape. 

The frame is painted in Innocence by Behr.

The binding was just cord that I hot glued into place. 

When reupholstering, hot glue can be a very good friend. :) 

Here are the tutorials for this chair.

Clamping/glueing: Click HERE

Seat: Click HERE

Pillow: Click HERE and HERE

One chair is SOLD, the other is still available. 

Click on The SHOP tab at the top of the page for more info.

Chair Week Day 3: Tufted Black Velvet

Welcome to day THREE of Chair Week here at 551 East!

For those of you who are just joining the party I took on a massive reupholstering project of reupholstering 4 chairs in 7 weeks. 

So far I've showed you the Ikat French Provincial arm chair and a Retro Burlap arm chair.

Click HERE and HERE to see them.

Today I am showing you probably my favorite chair and I'm thrilled to be sharing it over at Chi Chi Studios!

You'll have to head over to her place for all the pictures and tutorials, but I'll leave with with a sneak peak. :)

Here's the before:

And here's the after.

Black, velvet, tufted, gold leafed LOVE.

Click HERE to see the rest!

This piece is available for purchase.

Click on The SHOP tab at the top of the page for more information.