I'm a mess....but I found my "frosted berry!" And an AMAZING dining table!

Why cut and color my hair? It's too hot to wear it down and I'm just gonna stick it in a ponytail. Why get a manicure? I'm only going to mess my nails up stripping and painting furniture. Why wear something decent? I'll just get paint all over it and get all sweaty mowing.

I dislike shopping and I dislike having to take an entire day to "get pretty." Shopping has never been my thing, but I did use to get my nails done once a week and my hair done every six weeks. 

Lowe's...now that is my kind of shopping and I do like hitting the thrift stores! Grocery shopping is a necessary evil. Just about everything else can be ordered online and shipped to my front door. Just last week I bought a new set of sheets and a mattress cover...delivered to my front door step! 

But seriously girls, there comes a time when you HAVE to go into a "brick and mortar" store . I can live with the paint covered shirts and shorts...but my "undergarments" were in major crisis! So my goal while I was in an actual department store was to find some decent shorts and tops for the summer...maybe get my nails done with the gift certificate my son got me for my birthday....SIX MONTHS AGO!

Unfortunately, I got so focused on trying to find decorative pillows that would coordinate with the "frosted berry" paint I was set on for my bedroom  (the room I have neglected for 14 years!) I only managed to get home with a few new pairs of panties. I guess the hair, nails and wardrobe will just have to wait.

This all stems from a desire to incorporate the "frosted berry" color into my master bedroom...

I have the blue on my fireplace wall (SW Silver Mist) and a bed spread and the tan and white in my decorative pillows and bedding. I use black instead of grey as an accent color. But the room really did need a little "pop" of color and the "frosted berry" color was perfect. 

I found the perfect "red" in my paint fan thingy I inadvertently kept from Sherwin Williams. (seriously, I didn't MEAN to keep it!) The closest I could get was SW Enticing Red 6600. Not too red, not too blue, not too orange...

I wanted to use this little bookcase I bought at an auction last week...

It's actually an old record cabinet but I am always in need of bookshelves! And this was an easy fix...

I wasn't sure whether to use the Dunne white (used here on my furniture) on the outside and the berry color on the inside or visa-versa. I decided you won't be able to see much of the inside once I get all the books stashed in there and the whole purpose of using the berry color was to add an accent piece to the room...so I painted the outside berry and the inside the Dunne white!

The wood was in mint condition. All I had to do was scrub the nasty off. I removed the little trim pieces on the inside, sprayed it with Kilz and sanded and tacked. Then I sprayed the inside with my go-to white...Valspar Dunne. I used the "berry" color on the outside...mixed it up as a plaster paint, applied two coats and then distressed it a tad. Sealed the whole thing with poly. (Again, I do not wax...just poly)

I found two decorative pillows for the bed at TJ Maxx that were pretty darn close to the paint color. I even found a totally awesome beaded pillow very close to the SW Silver Mist blue!

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The mirror. Okay, first, I have to say I love mirrors! Not because I am vain and want to look in them, but because I like how they brighten up a wall! This little mirror was doubly "bright" because the "frame" is little pieces of broken mirror set in some type of mortar. Normally I wouldn't buy something like this retail because I could easily find something at an auction that would work. But I LOVE IT and when I see a decor element I LOVE, I buy it! And it really wasn't that expensive at TJ Maxx.

I still want to add a few more things to this little corner to "stage" it properly, but I'm getting there. Again, I don't want something just to have it...I have to love it and/or it has to serve a real purpose. So in time I know I will find a few things that will doll up this little corner. And someday I might get my laminate!

One thing I have noticed while cruising around the "blogisphere." The little "design elements" really pull a room together...and while I have done a fairly decent job staging in most of my house, I have seriously neglected this room. 

So I am taking my own advise and tackling one little corner at a time...maybe in another 13 years it will be the way I want it!

One thing I know I will have to change...the curtains! Right now I have brown (I have them pulled to the far left!) Not a good accent color any longer!

I set these little cedar boxes out just to show them off. SOOOO stinking darling!

The larger one is a little Lane cedar box I've had for awhile...they are one of the "Things I Love!"  I bought the tiny little boxes at an auction yesterday, along with a few other goodies....

I don't know why I think little cedar boxes are just too stinking cute...but they get me every time! I will only keep one of the tiny little boxes. I'm sure I will find something to do with it just like I have the larger Lane boxes. One holds "stuff" on my dresser and the other went in my laundry room to hold dryer sheets! They are super easy to refinish...a quick scrub with varnish remover and then a few simple coats of tung oil finish...

Speaking of refinishing...I picked up a special something for myself yesterday.

I'm nervous...it's a HUGE change and I'm not sure I am up for it.

I featured a few little changes I made to my dining room here...I also shared a peek at some mid century chairs I bought here....

As I have said time and again, I obviously like eclectic. I know I want to use the mid century dining chairs, but I have grown tired of my Duncan Phyfe table. So I have been on the look out for a new table.

Well...yesterday I think I might have found it!

I had to use the camera flash to get a good picture of all the varnish crackling and the engraving details!

The top has been stripped and refinished at some point. Whoever did it, didn't bother with the two leaf inserts...they look original. And the base has never been touched as far as I can tell. The finish is very "crackled" and dark...which is pretty common with old varnish finishes.

I was thinking I wanted round...maybe a pedestal type table. Something along these lines...

This antique table would be a HUGE leap for me!

I honestly wanted something I could paint to brighten up the setting.

When I first spied the antique table I thought I could refinish the top and paint the base.

I know I won't paint the mid century chairs (gasp!) and the more I look at this piece, the more I'm not so sure I should paint it! 

It is the perfect size and can easily be expanded with the two inserts during the holidays. I really like the fact that it is different. I know it would be beautiful when I am finished with it!

I could leave it against the wall, or find an awesome side table to go under the pictures and pull the table and new chairs out into the middle!

It could be a special piece in this setting....

I don't know...I'm experiencing a deco-attack! (a mild "panic attack" brought on by the indecision of making a major decorating change!)

Where is Candice Olson when you need her.....

The Dedicated House