a little paint can do wonders!

this is slightly embarrassing. i told you i was behind in my posts...but i didn't think i was this far behind!! these pictures were taken way back in january (!!!) when our living room overhaul began. 

not sure when the itch to redesign struck me, but this book i got for christmas probably had a lot to do with it:

our kitchen table had been bugging me for years (we bought it for super cheap on ksl as newlyweds) but i was always a little overwhelmed at the thought of refinishing it myself. after contacting a few people about hiring out...i decided to tackle the project myself! (hindsight: it may have been worth it to either A) spend the extra $$$ to hire someone or B) buy an entirely new table....BUT, i do love the outcome, as crazy as the process was!!)

we sent the kids up to layton for a few days while we worked tirelessly on projects galore! on our way back to nephi, we were able to meet danny's dad right after he landed his plane...and we even got a personal tour! pretty cool! (what wasn't cool was that right after that, we almost got hit by a car!!)

my first project was to sand...and sand...and sand...

check out that snow! it was freezing. i sanded 10 pieces of furniture: our kitchen table, 4 chairs, 2 stools, 2 nightstands, and our dresser!!! i'm exhausted just thinking about it.

i know, i know. i'm so stylish ;)

once the main sanding was done, i moved the pieces in to avoid losing any of my limbs to the cold.

and then, it was time to prime...and prime...and prime...

ahhhhh. so much better!

since the kids were gone, i was able to fill their room up with drying furniture!

since i decided i just had to paint something else, i decided to color block the table and chair legs! it was  yet another step, but i love the way it turned out!

leave it to martha to come up with beautiful metallic gold paint!

once that was all drying, i moved on to the living room walls! (my hands & wrists were so sore from holding paint brushes!) we decided to go with a gray (i'm obsessed) and once again, i love the finished result. how did i live with cream walls for so long?!

the color candidates. we chose the far right one.

the finished products:

 i ended up using the other "color candidates" on the chair legs.

still trying to figure out what to do with our non-working fireplace. any suggestions???

love the pop of color that the purple added! like i said on instagram, best $3 i've ever spent!

so there you have it! forgive me for taking ages to put these pictures up??

also, besides figuring out the non-working fireplace, i want to jazz up the mantle. any ideas in that department? if it takes you five months to get back to me, i totally understand ;)