Dining Stenciling.

As I mentioned before, the condo I moved into with my boyfriend was a mess (no offense, Bill). This area in the picture, for example, consisted of random boxes, bikes, a dining table (I'll give him that), an air mattress with a hole in it, golf clubs, and a Yankees poster on the wall. Needless to say, I didn't find that conducive for a female's dwelling. So, here are some pictures of what resulted after a thorough cleaning:

The stencil used. My first Martha Stewart purchase (uh-oh).

In the process. The trickiest part was finding a spot to set my drink.

I'm forever grateful to my mom and brother for the table they made me years ago. It's a coffee table put on higher legs with antique chairs.

Another view.

Overall, this probably cost about $40. I used brown paint we had around the place; these are frames from Goodwill I emptied and painted; the one, I simply hung from a ribbon to add height; the vases on the shelves are also from a thrift store, as is the big turquoise one; my mom got me the great lighted branches for Christmas, and I just added some real sticks from outside (I made Bill get them on his run, hopefully they don't have bugs in them).

Daylight view.