Brown Is The New Orange

This is our sitting area in our Dining Room.  It's quite possibly my favorite spot in the house.  As you can see, Katie likes it too.  She sleeps there most of my work from home days.  

But there has been one thing about the space that has been bugging me.  Can you guess what it is?  No? Ok, let me zoom in...

You see, I get a lot of magazines.  I only keep a year's worth of back issues so that the house is not overrun with several years worth of Real Simples, Rachael Rays, and Sunsets.  But I lacked an appropriate place to keep them.  I actually do refer to them quite often for recipes, how-to's, etc, so they had to be within reach.  I also really wanted a place for someone to set a drink or a plate while sitting in my little corner of sunshine.  While my temp solution was ok, I was looking for something a little more multi-functional.  

Enter Orange Wicker Storage Ottoman.

This guy has been with us since before we said "I Do."  We got him at World Market on super duper clearance and he's been to California and back, always with some sort of purpose.  Most recently, he was serving as the bedside table in one of our spare rooms.  When we moved our extra dresser into said room and dosey-doed the furniture around, he was relieved of duty.

But I knew immediately where our displaced jack-of-all-trades would go.  You tracking with me?

You'll have to forgive me, as I have no in-progress pictures.  It could have been the unbearable heat yesterday, or maybe the five other projects I was trying to do at the same time.  At any rate, I chose to spray paint him a dark chocolate brown, as you might have guessed from the title of this post.  In order to avoid the non-wicker parts from being painted (there is a black fabric liner on the inside of the lid and main part), I took a newspaper and created a barrier with painters tape around the top perimeter.  From what I can tell, it worked swell.

And here he is at his new post.  Looks like Katie split.  Probably some rogue squirrel in the yard that she had to go handle.  

And here's my new magazine storage.

There is more than enough room in there now for all our magazines.  Maybe that means I'll be able to keep more than a year? 

And look at that!  

Milk and cookies!  For me?  Don't mind if I do!  

I have a couple more projects that kept us busy this weekend.  I'll be back soon with the details!