The Dining Room

From the kitchen and downstairs bathroom we made our way into the dining room. Again, there was wallpaper that needed to be taken down, except this time, the DIF wasn't working like it had in the other rooms. After going over the walls twice using the paper tiger (for those of you who aren't familiar with taking down wallpaper-- count your blessings-- it's a hand-held instrument to make holes in the wallpaper so that the DIF, water, steam, whatever you choose to use, can penetrate and break down the glue). Daniel even had to take a break from the bathroom upstairs to help me try and scrape the wallpaper off, and in the process we made some scratches in the plaster walls, which we later had to fill in with putty. My mom convinced me to paint the walls brown, which ended up being a great idea because it helps to cover up the imperfections in the plaster if you choose a matte finish. I used Behr's Sweet Georgia Brown.


Before


After

We later changed the brass chandelier out with a vintage crystal chandelier I got off Craig's List for $40. A few of the crystals were missing, but that didn't matter to me because I didn't want too many on there because the room, and our house as a whole, isn't that formal. I do, however, like to mix and match pieces that are old and new, formal and casual, traditional and modern.


Before




Hanging the crystal chandelier!


After


After

My mom made the brown and blue silk drapes in this room, which completely changed the atmosphere. I'm currently searching for an old farm table and some mixmatched chairs finished or painted in similar hues. For the time being, I bought two Chippendale-style wood chairs on Craig's List. They had a reddish-purplish finish with olive green and brown patterned fabric seats. After two coats of antique white spray paint and two recovered cushions these chairs have been transformed into something we can actually use. Daniel isn't crazy about the reptile print, but the colors matched perfectly, and I thought the fabric added a fun touch to the otherwise traditional dining room. I think he's probably forgotten about them by now!




New drapes