Waiting for Godot, or Adam= Design DIYs

Since Adam is still in Snoreway, I've been at home preparing for his homecoming, and a new apartment. After a few days of being lost in the design DIY blogosphere, I decided to make my first project chairs!

We live down the street from a Salvation Army and I figured I'd pop in to see what they had. They had two great old (but still sturdy, solid wood) tavern style chairs. The stain was worn, and a bit grubby in a few places, but they matched and were quite comfortable to sit in. Plus, there was a 50% off sale, so buying both chairs cost me a whole $15. Almost as much as a cup of tea in Snoreway.

I forgot to take a 'before' picture, but the chairs were the same colour and looked like this. 

Before (ish): a first coat of spray paint. 

After! These chairs now seem to look more feminine and the scalloped back stands out more. 

The next project: PAINTING THE ENTIRE APARTMENT!

Before photos: 

Living room. Huge space: 10 x 24, but the colour is a bit pukey, the black trim a bit overpowering.

The kitchen, also huge. I absolutely love the floor, but the wood paneling is a bit 70's. There's way too much going on here, and unfortunately we're renting and can't do anything about the paneling. I see what the last tenants were thinking: match the floor with the wall & trim. I don't think it worked, it just takes away from the tiles.

I've now moved almost 20 times in my 26 years, and think that I can pick apartments that have potential: good spaces with bad decor at a good price. Good spaces & good prices won't change. Bad decor does, with a bit of elbow grease.

The things that I love about this place that make the effort worthwhile:

St Henri park: gorgeous black fountain from the end of the 19th century with a statue of Jacques Cartier. The park is filled with people picnicking, dogs strolling and the soothing sound of water falling. Our front balcony looks out here.

View from our bedroom window. Quebec, and St Henri in particular has a church around every corner (or so it seems). Though I'm not religious, steepled skylines make me feel like home. Birds love the vines and trees back here. I even turned off the radio to listen to them while I was painting today.

Our small back balcony, off the kitchen. I can't wait to get some potted plants & a bbq out there! The afternoon sun bathes this spot in sunlight.

Phase Two:

First few coats of paint: puke green is gone! The room, even with the lights off and on an overcast day looks way brighter, and much cleaner. I decided to keep only the very top part of the trim black, because it does emphasize the height of the room. Painting the rest of the black trim is a nightmare. But I think it'll be worth it. You can see that the top of the frame on the window (even with its third coat drying) will need another few coats.

Keeping the original beauty intact takes quite a bit of tape!

I took the cupboard doors off to paint the frame as it was black and clashed with the dark brown doors. We're not supposed to change the colour of the doors, so the white will be much less distracting. And check out the cute 70's style wallpaper inside the cupboards!



There's still lots to do, but thanks to my mum & dad, the job is more fun & much easier! Back to my real job tomorrow, but I'll try to get back there during the week to finish up. And... ADAM'S HOME ON FRIDAY! WEEE!

Update:

After a some very gracious help from Adam's Dad et al., we scored some great furniture! 

And a horrendous drive in a Uhaul bringing back furniture from Toronto (getting stuck in traffic in Toronto for 3 + hours...) we've all moved in!

Adam's Tootie is an amazing sculpture artist, these are a few she's given us over the years. 

View from the front window!

Kitchen (and Adam's beloved bike)

My new office!

First dinner at home!