2 weekends ago I was home all by myself.  Jesse went to Texas for an art manufacturing tradeshow.   I had a huuuuge list of things that I wanted to get done before he got back home.  The main chore being to finally get our place cleaned and organized!  I have noticed that when the husband is at home with me, it takes me a lot longer to get anything done...I think it is because I can get easily distracted and then forget entirely what I was just working on!? Does this ever happen to you guys? Please say yes so I don't feel like a total independent ADD child! : /  Anyways... any moments I have to myself I try and utilize as much as possible.  After the cleaning & organizing was done I quickly got started on home project # 1, which is our dining room.  When I moved into my own place last spring, my mother helped me purchase a cute little vintage dining table and chair set.  It was turquoise - a cute color, but not my favorite color...I had plans to gold leaf the pieces but now that I just got married....there is Jesse's opinion that I have to take into consideration, and he wasn't really feeling that.   So the next favorite color of mine...a dark charcoal gray or light black - whatever you choose to call it.  I decided to donate the two chairs and I replaced them with some fantastic mid-century ones.  :) I think the combination together looks great and more grown up.  Plus, the shadows that the sun produces on the table from our succulents is so artistic and graphic, it looks like a work of art all on its own.

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After that was complete I then started to work on my china nook.  I want the bottom shelf to be filled solely with pictures of family and friends, so I started spray painting some of the frames I have - gold.... artsy side note: when I layed them on our newly painted table, I loved the light that was hitting them at the moment and thought about how neat it would be to use frames like this as displays for jewelry if one owned a boutique.

Like so .....

Wouldn't those be lovely showpieces - under the right lighting of course.
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Within home project #1: Dining room - the next quest is to find a rug.  Kilim rugs are among my favorites.  Anything handwoven adds such an heirloom quality which then also brings warmth to any space.  I have been having a heck of a time trying to find something within our budget that we both are totally in love with. Other reasons why Kilim rugs speak to me so much is because of the simple yet humble graphic designs throughout.  Which is also what you will find in Native American crafts, Latin America crafts etc. I find so much inspiration in those culture's arts and crafts, that it is easy to see where I get designs for my own art.
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The colors in our dining room are charcoal gray, gold, off white/white and then little pops of eames red, muted blues and mustards and teeny bits of silver. Here is a favorite kilim rug that I found on etsy through pasharugs that would fit so well within that color scheme- the plaid pillow is from sukanart, which I can't stop drooling over and the gold suzani pillow is from jayson home and garden.  I want to make some pillows for the chairs and am thinking that I will have to actually paint them myself...since again >>> budget. :[) I think trying to mimic this plaid on a heavy distressed canvas on one side and then the gold suzani pillow on the other will be nice so I can have two different styles that can accommodate all four seasons.

I was thinking about how to mimic the suzani pillow and I realized that I haven't done my favorite type of quilting in YEARS! That favorite style of mine is the Hawaiian style! lol I feel so funny saying that...but it is the truth!  My ex-husband's mother introduced me to it through some books years back in Japan and gave me one of hers to work from. I love American quilting as well, but there is a different kind of quality that the Hawaiian style offers. Google image it my friends. :)

Black crows and flowers will be the other decorative pieces in our dining rooms.  I am currently looking for different types of crow items and I REAAAALLY feel in love with this vintage target practice crow poster.  Definitely not for shooting animals of any kind but the graphic quality of that crow is fantastic. <- found on ebay.  The two portraits of the black flowers were found at meggyleves.

And this AMAAAAAAAAZING Hawaiin quilt was found at the cute Hawaiin blog: HappaHale.