Happy Super Friday!

Well, its here. The official end of summer. Part of me is so sad, summer simply flew by. Yet, I relish the idea of fall being just around the corner. I want to see pumpkins, cornstalks and mums in our courtyard. I'm ready to start bringing in warmer harvest colors and a few of my favorite seasonal decorating touches. I can't wait for weather that doesn't require air conditioning, just windows opened wide to the breezes coming off of the Sierras. But alas, we have a few more weeks. We frequently don't see cooler weather until late September and sometimes well into October, but it never fails...it will be FREEZING for Halloween.

Anywho...I finally got that dark whole of  room that I showed you earlier in the week done. Well, done for now. Isn't that how it always works? As I said before, that room has never had a real purpose. We tried to put a pool table in there when we first moved in three years ago, but the space just isn't big enough. Its been set as a formal dining room, its been a home office, and its been a catch all room. As a dining room, it was just too dark, to far from the kitchen, and its carpeted. Yikes! We rent this home for now; we don't want to ruin the carpet with a glass of wine, now do we?!  It worked reasonably well as a home office when hubby used the detached bedroom/bath building as a home studio for the various bands he has played drums with in recent years. But the space could not be closed off from the family room and he was constantly shushing the kids. Not fun for anybody. So he chose to move his office into the studio and make the band share space.Now the band is gone (that's a whole 'nother story) but the office remains out there. That has left this odd sace smack dab n the middle of my house. Its been collecting the random pieces of furniture that aren't being utilized in the rest of the house. But who wants a storage facility visible from the family room? I mean really, it made quite the impression.

Over the summer the kids used the space as a tv room and craft space. Some summer homework was even done in there. Ok, I can live with that. I can even support that. So I decided to tackle that room during the first week of school. But,  there's no money honey. With various school fees, extra trips to the mall and the ridiculous pile of school supplies that each - darned - teacher - requires, we have nada left in the "far the heck of it" fund. So this make over has been done for free. My favorite four letter word. Really. It is.

I knew I wanted a calendar. So I started with this:

I have had this poster forever. The kids were babies. So, I flipped it over and did a little of this:

Do you see where I'm going with this? No? Well, it worked out that the big ol' poster, its black wood frame, and the plexi insert made a pretty good dry erase calendar. For nothing! Now we can keep track of what is going on without looking it up in our electronic brains. Don't get me wrong, I love my little electronic brain. Sometimes, its good to see your month at a glance. Without further ado...

Please forgive the glare. We have two huge windows directly across from that wall. Behind that ugly glare is my new calendar, already in use. The cabinet holds our old tv. It might be a flat screen, but it isn't slim and trim :). The drawers hold dvds and school supplies. Where on earth did the second chair go? Well, folks, it bit the dust. One too many leans back... snap, cackle and POP! A little visit too Craigslist should rectify the situation, after the budget gets a little wiggle room, of coarse. For now, an extra can be pulled in from some other room. We have chairs, just none for this spot as of now. 

BEFORE:

And AFTER:

Its all in the details...

I had everything for this room already. The console table was a summer redo and lived on my patio for a short time before being sold into indoor slavery. The pics are of  NYC points of interest that used to be in Miss H's room. The small mirrors were a Lowe's clearance find earlier in the summer. The prints on ether side of the armoire were in hubby's office once upon a time. You get the idea. And the sage? It is from around our neighborhood. We really do live on Sagebrush Ridge. I know, this is the Russian variety, but give me a break. I'm allergic to the native stuff!