Hello friends! I am happy to report I survived my first week with students. This week I only had 4-6 per day on Tuesday through Friday, so it was pretty easy! Starting Monday, they will all be there and I will be totally exhausted at the end of each day for the first few weeks. It takes some time to get kinders to learn all the rules and procedures. For you non-teachers, procedures are those things you have to train the kids to do...like how to enter the room and where to put their things, how to push in their chairs and sit on the rug, how to act properly in the bathroom, how to walk in line without touching the person in front of you, and about a million other things...;) So, while I still have a bit of energy, I thought I would share the part of the renovation that I gave a sneak peek of on my blog tour on Monday.
Several months ago, my sweet blog friend Magali shared this project she did in her cottage. I fell in love with it and immediately knew I would do something similar when we started our renovations. Here's a photo of Magali's wall with built in shelf. You can read her post here. If you don't already know Magali...I highly recommend you pay her a visit. She shares updates to her little cottage, photos of her sweet kitties, yummy recipes, and she takes you on trips around France. I so enjoy my visits with her...:) Thanks so much Magali for giving me this idea.
Here's my opening with my shelf. While mine is not just like Magali's, it is very similar and I just love it! My shelf drops down around 12-14 "...can't remember for sure, and the hubby is gone to the races so I can't ask him. I never liked this big opening between my living room and dining room, but now I love it! The photo below is taken from the dining room side. You can see my front door and the plank wall on the right with my entry area. That white spot on the door is a reflection from the entry mirror. You can see a peek of my new curtains in the living room as well.
This is taken from the front door. You can see the same curtains in my dining room. I have two windows in there, one on either side of my china cabinet. I will share more of that room soon. We still have a few things to finish in there, like trim and hanging the chandelier. I also haven't found a table I like and we may end up building one. Anywho, the arrow in the photo points to where we stopped with our bead board. When we remodel the kitchen one day, we will be tearing out everything and starting over from this point. The bar will be bumped out closer to the window with a wider overhang for bar stools. I have lots of plans for the kitchen, but that reno will have to wait a while. We still have to reno our master bathroom and bedroom first. See the little black table on the right?
I don't think I shared it and this area yet. The little table holds my phone charger and purse and is where I drop my mail for a few days until it makes it to my desk in the craft room. The gold chalkboard is a mirror that used to hang in my living room and was painted turquoise blue. I just took the mirror out and spray painted the backside with chalkboard paint. That way, I can still use it for a mirror when I get tired of this. I am really into gold lately, so the turquoise went away and I love how it turned out.
Here's a shot of the opening from another angle in the dining room. You can see that my new built in bookshelves are to the right of it.
I love the cast iron brackets I found at Hobby Lobby. I had a 40% off coupon and a $20 gift card, so for two brackets and a cast iron anchor for my gallery wall, I only paid $1.20 out of pocket! Great deal! The brackets were just over $8 each which I though was a really good deal even without a coupon.
Here's another little update on my plank wall. We hung my print and clock to the right of the TV stand. We really want a larger flat screen and are hoping to get a good deal during the holidays. It may be mounted on the wall, but I haven't decided yet.
So, that's it for today. We are slowly finishing things up, but are having to save a bit to totally finish. That's OK though since I have been so busy with school. We were also getting a little burned out on all the work, so it's been nice taking a break from it for a bit. The hubby has enjoyed having time to piddle on his race car and clean and organize his shop. It had been neglected for weeks. I'm off to finish up a few things for school and enjoy my night at home alone. I can watch what I want to on TV and just relax in my pretty new living room. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
Until next time....
