Dining Room Progress

We moved into this house and March, and the dining room has been our last big project. We added the wood floors – along with the living room and hallway – right away, and Keegan ripped out some shelves around the sliding door. But, then we didn’t do anything to it for months. Those sliding doors led out to a three season room that is now mostly ripped out and in process of becoming an open porch. We knew we were eventually going to replace the doors, which barely worked, so we (Keegan) couldn’t finish the trim work until we were ready to get the new doors. And, I couldn’t paint until the trim was done, etc and so forth. I’m not complaining…I was seriously burned out on painting after the living room, kitchen, and three bedrooms.

 Dining Room Before

Around six weeks ago, things started moving when the door (and windows in the bedroom) were finally replaced. Keegan ripped out the old wainscot and chair rail, which were in hideous condition, and replaced them with brand new paneling.

 Dining Room Before

In between moving in and starting to paint, we were lucky enough to receive a gorgeous dining room set, handed down from Keegan’s grandparents and handmade by his uncle, along with a beautiful mid-century style credenza that his great-grandfather made. We also “borrowed” a large kilim rug from his dad, which is amazing. It has a lovely, soft sheen to it. The main colors are coral red, cream, and black/umber with accents of yellow-green, turquoise, orange, and cobalt. Before we got the rug, I was pretty set on painting the upper walls a dark, almost navy, blue, but the rug really threw me off.

Dining Room After

After testing six or seven shades of blue and red, I chose Darkening Sky by Martha Stewart (color matched Behr Ultra, my favorite paint). It took me around 20-25 hours total to paint the hallway walls and dining room trim, with the last six or seven hours being the blue walls. As soon as I brought the rug back into the room, I pretty much hated the wall color, but I was so tired that I couldn’t bear the idea of repainting right away. So, I decided to try and live with the color for a while and see if it grew on me. It’s been a few weeks, and I am starting to like it more even though I admit that it probably isn’t the absolute best color choice. It will do for now.

Looking from the Entryway

My favorite part of the room is the new chandelier. I ordered it from the Etsy shop Lamp Goods, which I discovered several months ago through the Taste Test tool. Jann provided absolutely amazing customer service. The chandelier is even more gorgeous in person, as is the little ceiling mount light I chose for the entry way. I plan to order two more just like them for the hallway, hopefully soon. Both light fixtures throw off the most enchanting patterns, and they look stunning both on and off. After living with that horrible lantern and retro (in a bad way) ceiling fan for the last six months, these lights make me happy every time I look at them.

I titled this post “Dining Room Progress” because I still have many pieces to add in order to pull it all together. I want to buy curtains to dress up the sliding door and make a runner for the table, which definitely needs some sort of centerpiece. We also want to create an art wall where the lone vertical painting hangs now. On the far wall is a door that leads to the garage, which is our primary point of entry. We’re planning for a long bench with a mirror over it and possibly some hooks for coats. I’m not worried about keeping this room formal, because that’s really not how we live. I’m never in much of a rush when it comes to decorating, so as long as it’s clean and somewhat pulled together, these little details will happen over time.