A Weekend Project

Hello, cafe friends! I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend!

As many of you have probably guessed, I am addicted to houses. After five moves in ten plus years, it's only natural. What started out as a necessity has slowly, over time, become more of a hobby. We buy houses, we renovate houses, and then, when the winds of corporate change blow our way, we sell houses.

Naturally, with our life in a constant state of flux, I spend a fair amount of time plotting and planning the next move. I research cities and schools. I look at cost of living and property taxes in various locations (and don't even get me started on the property taxes in the suburbs of Chicago! Outrageous!). I typically try to prepare a lot on the front end, preemptively as it were, because most of our moves happen so quickly that there's little time for due diligence. If I had done my due diligence with this last move, I would have realized that we settled for a third pick town in a much lower ranked school system.

When it comes to moves, we seem to be successful on every other move. I'll let you figure out if this one is one of them. ;) My hope is that the next move is our last move...a forever home, close to family, where we can plant some roots and let Sam finish out his school years in peace and comfort, without the worry of upheaval.

So last week, I was perusing house listings in Zionsville, Indiana...a charming and quaint small town outside of Indianapolis with top ranked schools, parks, trails, and gently rolling farmland nearby. (It was my first ranked town of choice on our move of 2008, but unfortunately, we ended up in our third ranked town instead.)

And just for kicks, I looked at a few million dollar listings to see what I could find after I win the Powerball.

That's when I discovered my dream farmhouse on 18 acres with this amazing kitchen!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7900-Hunt-Club-Rd_Zionsville_IN_46077_M49037-33551?ex=IN590791233

I began to think about the golden oak table and chairs that we purchased this spring. Maybe I should paint the chairs entirely in black and leave the table unpainted, like the photo above.

So I got to work, cleaning the chairs and prepping them for paint.

I used ReClaim paint in Licorice by Caromal Colours. I used this same paint on my curbside table a few weeks back. This time, I've learned to apply it much thinner, and it gave a nice smooth coverage with no chalkiness.

Yea! I love the results!

Of course, I used too much paint on my curbside table, which means I don't have enough paint left to paint all the chairs. But I did paint the two captain's chairs, and they came out great. Now I'll have to order more paint to finish the job.

I found these chair pads at Ballard Designs. The fabric pattern is called "Small Grey Check", but I think they are actually a soft black and tan. I've decided to order the same fabric in curtains for the family room to unify this space.

Here they are in a black and white color from the catalog. Aren't they pretty? I think I will love them once they're here and installed.

By painting the chairs and leaving the table as is, I think I can also unify the rooms without having to go to the trouble of painting the kitchen cabinets. Leave that job for the next owners!

Now about that million dollar farm listing....I'm not a frequent lottery player. But maybe if the Powerball is high enough...ha ha ha! A girl can dream, right?

Blessings, cafe friends!