Monday, March 11, 2013

The Before & The For Now...My Diningroom


About a year after I moved into my house my Dad came to help me with a little garage shingling project.  It was so great of him to drive the 4 hours to mend a little leak…in my garage roof.  Nothing critical but it sure is nice to be able to leave my sunroof open inside now.  My dad is retired but spent the majority of his working life as a carpenter so he really knows how things are supposed to go when it comes to DIY projects.

I am a bit more of a I want it done and I want it all done now kind of project manager.  This leads me to often have a few too many projects started at once.  And yes, I got the what for from my Dad about not starting something new until I finish my current project.  At the time it was the kitchen cabinets, dining room walls, new stairs, bathroom wainscoting , and a couple of other small projects I can’t exactly remember at the moment.

So it’s been a few years since that visit and I am still working on many of these projects including my dining room.  I’m a bit of a perfectionist so have been reluctant to share it until it was totally complete & perfect.  I’m not there but in an effort to embrace imperfection I have decided to share :).

There are so many things I still want to do but I just haven’t decided on fabrics, colors or themes.  So in the interim I’ll give you the before and the “for now” photos.

Apologies for the absolute horrible photo - this is from the listing from
before I purchased.

When I moved in the floors were beautiful….but that was about it.

There was this pineapple wallpaper….EVERYWHERE…it covered the diningroom, the kitchen, the hall, the back entry, the stairway and even the basement stairwell….I’m not kidding.

Phone photo from the walk through with my agent.  This is the view into my livingroom - you can see the now
on my livingroom here

I get the desire to create a unified flow but this was ridiculous.

The old fashioned shades & window a/c certainly make a design statement don't they?

So down it came…and luckily for me it was a really thick vinyl paper that was not well adhered to the wall so it literally peeled right off in sheets.

And the other side of the room looks into the kitchen and behind that lovely door
are stairs to the 2nd floor.  You can see in the first photo that the stairs were covered
in a lovely neon green low pile carpet.

I had painted my livingroom in a taupe-y brown color (Benjamin Moore’s Truffle) and thought that maybe a nice light aqua-y blue would be lovely since there is an open archway between the rooms.  Blue and brown are complimenting colors right?

First try...not quite.  Apparently I was in the middle of hanging the sheers when I took this pic.

Well, once I got the blue up I liked it alright but was stuck in what color to paint my kitchen (the next room).  I didn’t want rainbow brite’s house and my bedroom was pink at the time so what to do…

The door is now gone as is the neon green carpet.  Stairs still need to be finished
but they sure do look better already

Within a month of getting the blue up I repainted a more neutral color – Benjamin Moore’s Handmade.  It’s a really warm golden beige (think manila folders with a gold tint) and just makes the white woodwork pop.

The chandelier has been replaced and the window a/c unit is long gone

Turned out just the perfect neutral for my little 1929 bungalow.

Looking through from my kitchen all the way into my livingroom.  The colors make sense to
me here.  You can also still spy a little bit of that pineapple wallpaper behind my china
cabinet...for now

I have 3 windows in this room but it’s not a particularly bright room so while I love, love, love drapes I’m worried adding them to the room will darken the room too much so I’ve stuck with white sheers for now.

I’m still contemplating the drape thing but for now it’s just the sheers.

The kitchen is going to get a major makeover (probably not this year) but you can see a little peak here...you like that flooring don't you?

I also am still vacillating on wall art..the space over the desk needs a little something but I haven’t hit on the right thing…yet.  I love all of the plate walls I am seeing these days and there are so many inspiration pics on Pinterest….maybe that’s the answer.


Will keep contemplating for now and keep you all updated as I experiment.


30 comments:

  1. Great job! Lovely transformation. Good choice of paint color and I love that chandelier!

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  2. What a great transformation! You now have a really lovely dining room. The built in is charming!

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  3. Congrats on moving into the new century. LOL. :)
    It looks awesome! Great job!
    Kelly

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  4. So pretty! I love the soft light coming through the white curtains. Your dining table and chairs are so pretty.

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  5. great new wall color in the dining.And i say get some really pretty drapes or material and make them for that room. they will pop!

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  6. oh I love it! It's really beautiful..all the colors, everything. :)

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  7. Hi, I'm visiting from Savvy Southern Style Wow-Us Wednesday. You have transformed your dining room into the 21st century and it's very on-trend and pretty. But I think you are being too harsh on the style that was shown in your listing photo of the room. That photograph showed pure, classic country, complete with the old-fashioned telephone (maybe fake but maybe real and if real, worth a MINT) from back in the 1970's, and I'm pretty darn sure you were not even a gleam in your daddy's eye back then. Fashions and fads and trends come and they go. What some of us are doing now to our rooms and furniture (painting beautiful birds-eye maple, for instance, with chalk paint, quel horreur), thinking we're making it totally blog-worthy and the height of fashion, may well be gag-worthy ten or less years from now. For what it is worth, I think you made the right decision in deleting the blue walls in the dining room that, despite all those gorgeously-trimmed out windows, doesn't receive much light. You may have felt "brrrrrrr" every time you walked through to the kitchen. As for the bright green carpeting on the staircase, that was once the height of fashion. You sneered, but you still bought the house, perhaps because it had good bones and great potential, perhaps because it was all you could afford. Perhaps, in the future, you will not be so cruel and quick to dismiss a prior owner's decorating choices. To her (or him), it may have been the most beautiful house in the world, the dream of a lifetime that she/he spent countless hours, years and dollars decorating until it was just what they wanted -- or maybe just good enough because there was never enough money. Never.

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  8. My little cottage was built in 1928. I have Benjamin Moore Provence on my walls and it looks very similar to your color. It also makes the white pop. Your house is a vast improvement over it's beginning in your hands. We don't have many before pics of our house, but we are glad the berber carpet is gone (every room including the bathroom) , along with the yellow and brown linoleum in the kitchen.

    I look forward to coming back to see what you are up to.

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  9. Your home is cute as can be. I love the color in the dining room and it looks very pretty. So bright and cheery. Hugs, Marty

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  10. I love it--though I love blue the color you ended up with does look better. The dining room is beautiful!

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  11. I really like what you have done with the room so far. My eyes went right to the built-ins. I love them. Also the lighting is a wonderful addtion to the the room. I love the sparkle.

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  12. What a makeover! I just love to see inspiring before and afters. Your dining room is just beautiful!

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  13. What an improvement!

    I do hope you have entered the springtime giveaway I am currently hosting.

    May you and yours enjoy a lovely St. Patrick's Day!

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  14. Wow you did a great job! Love all the little details in older homes! I love the sweet lil chandelier! Pinning!!

    Jenny from diywithjenandb.blogspot.com

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  15. Oh wow, what a bright and pretty transformation! Just charming!

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  16. You've done an amazing job on this!! Thank you for sharing. You will be one of the features tomorrow at the Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Pop on in and grab a feature button for your blog. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  17. Beautiful, beautiful. I am your newest follower. Great transformation- xo Diana

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  18. Just saw you featured in Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday. You've done a great job. Absolutely lovely.

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  19. It's lovely! Visiting from Cozy Little House where she featured you and I am glad. I missed this one last week. I have an old bungalow though it is smaller than yours. I LOVE older homes, though. So much charm. I am bookmarking your blog to come back to ! :)

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  20. Hi. I think this is my first time here. Love your home and I think you're definitely headed in the right direction with your decor. Great colors! I had to smile about the pineapple wallpaper. I worked with my dad a looong time ago at his decorating company and I remember this one, beautiful old home that also had pineapple wallpaper in it!

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  21. Happy to feature you at the party this morning! Thanks so much for joining us!

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  22. I'm so glad I found your blog through The Dedicated House. I love what you've done with your dining-room and I'm going to explore a little more.

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  23. WOW!!!

    It's difficult to even believe it is the same space - you have vision and it's workin, lady!!

    WELL DONE!!!!

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  24. Your dining room is so pretty and sweet. Love the wall color!

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  25. What a charming little cottage! Your colors are so pretty. The dining room built in is just adorable - I bet it is just one of the many original details in your home, isn't it? I think I would leave the pineapple paper at the back of the cabinet, I think it is really sweet.

    It looks like the previous owners of your home were there awhile. Did you ever have a chance to meet them?

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  26. A simply AMAZING transformation! Dazzling! Thank you so much for sharing!!! Featuring today on Junkin Joe! hugs...

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  27. I love your make over. Really like the warm paint tones and your chandelier!

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  28. Glad to hear that you have a dad who knows carpentry. You can call him and seek for his help any time you have repair needs. I still think that it's best to do preventive measures, so that your roof will be safe from problems. I'm sure your dad is not getting any younger, which means that it's getting riskier for him to climb up the roof to do some repairs.

    -Son Lakhani

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  29. Oh, I love that soft cream yellow very much. Why haven't I seen your place yet?? ;-)

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  30. Oh, I love that soft cream yellow very much.

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