Saturday, July 20, 2013

First Impressions

I feel like the first things you see when you walk into a person's house should give you a feel for their style. Our new dining room, just off the foyer, did not do that. It does now, but let's start from the beginning, shall we? Again, I offer you the before picture from the real estate listing:

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

And some empty shots, preparing to paint:

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

Those dated doors between the dining room and kitchen came down too. I removed the hinges and used some spackle to fill in the notches in the door frame. Once painted, you wouldn't even know they'd been there!

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

It's not terrible... until you get up close.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

The walls are very heavily textured, painted a sort of blueish-green, and then topped off with a copper wash. I've been describing it to people as a "poop-rubbed" faux finish technique. I'm sure the previous owner loved it, but it's our house now, and it's got to go.

And while we're at it, let's tackle the adjoining entry way too.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

It was painted-over wallpaper in a cream color with a pale blue wash.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

And there were these lovely gathered sheers on the two windows in the door, as well as the long skinny window right next to the door.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - Before

We sanded the dining room walls a bit, not completely flat but at least removed the high points of the texture. Then we painted both the dining and entry in a soft grey (Valspar "Montpelier Ashlar Gray" satin finish). Yes, we painted right over the entry way walls; removing wallpaper that had already been painted over once did not sound like a fun job to tackle right off the bat. But someday, yes, hopefully that will be remedied. Anywho, the cream-colored trim and wainscoting got the same "Ivory Dust" semi-gloss white as the trim and wainscoting in my craft room. And in the entry, we replaced those sheers with a frosted film I picked up at Lowes. It's fairly easy to install and allows for privacy without sacrificing the natural light.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After

Finally, we acquired dining furniture, which is basically the only reason I've been waiting to post this. It didn't seem like an empty room would elicit the proper fanfare. Tada!

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After
view from the entry

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After
a peek into the kitchen

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After
the bay window (and the wall color is off here)

I'm also ridiculously proud of this centerpiece. It was part of a display years ago when I worked at Starbucks. When the season was over and we were chunking all the cardboard decor, I saved this wooden sign-topper-thingy from the dumpster. I flipped it upside-down, filled it with some tumbled river rocks from the craft store, and added glass votives and tea lights.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After

And I'm sure you're wondering where we got our fabulous dining furniture, yes? Well, the chairs and china hutch were a Craigslist find - a vintage 1952 pecan wood set purchased from the original owner. We even found the original sales brochure in one of the drawers! I recovered the chair cushions (more on that later), and I'm trying to decide if I want to paint the wood. They don't really match the table, but they don't clash horribly either. It's quality wood in practically perfect condition, especially considering they're 60+ years old, so it seems a bit of a shame to paint them. What do you think? Leave them be? Spray them white? Or maybe an espresso brown? It'll have to wait anyway since it's waaaaay too hot outside for paint to cure. I've got a few months to contemplate.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After

The chairs and hutch also came with a table, which we will be re-Craigslisting since we had already ordered a custom table of our own.

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After

This beefy beauty is handmade by a couple carpenters in Arkansas, both by the name of James. You can find out more at CarpenterJames.com if you're interested. And honestly, why wouldn't you be? This thing is gorgeous!

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After

We went with the 8-foot farmhouse style with endcaps, all stained dark walnut. It just arrived this morning, and we were thrilled to eat lunch on it almost immediately. James+James did a magnificent job, don't you think?

Entry & Dining Room Makeover - After

Now all that's left is to replace the chandelier that no longer matches and get/make some art for those walls!

2 comments:

  1. I have that same hutch from my grandmother, any chance you'd share the details you have about the maker?

    ReplyDelete