When we bought our home 8 years ago, every single room was painted in dark hues and covered ceiling to floor in dated, floral wallpaper. We worked feverishly to lighten our rooms to make them less depressing.
This is the dining room as it looked when we moved it. Navy walls, wallpaper border, wallpaper under the chair rail, dark trim. Blech.
It didn't take us too long to remove the wallpaper and paint some lighter colors. Mostly, because Chad did all the wallpaper steaming.
I love that man.
But I did my share of painting. Like, the whole room. And 10 foot ceilings are no joke, people. But sadly, I was unhappy with the final result. Chad says it's because I'm High Maintenance. I prefer to think I'm just Artistic.
But the vanilla walls and white trim let me down.
Better, but not what I'd hoped for. But it was such a big job that I couldn't face redoing it.
Then there was the Autograph Wall. Which I loved. Which I wanted to paint over. And which I didn't. And which my family definitely didn't want me to paint over.
The autograph wall was a great idea for filling a big, blank wall. However, I am possibly a little High Maintenance. And I wanted a change. Then I bought this blackboard from a friend. I'd been searching ruthlessly for a blackboard for months, maybe even years, but Craigslist kept letting me down. Either too expensive or too far away. But this one was just right.
I knew it was time to get the dining room I'd dreamed of.
I really was just going to buy a quart of the old vanilla paint to cover the autographs. True as you live. But then I went to Walmart and saw the the white paint was only $12 a gallon. And for that price I didn't even have to run the plan past Chad.
So, bye bye, boring vanilla and hello, crisp, tailored white. This was the fastest painting job I've ever undertaken, because I bought the same paint for my walls that I'd used for the trim years before. Which means I didn't have to waste time being careful. That's called Painting Kismet. Or, as I like to think of it, Just Plain Dumb Luck.
Plus, after weeks of digging on Craigslist, I found a dining set large enough to seat our family and still have room for actual guests, should we ever get the house clean enough to invite them over. And yes, this was a necessary purchase since the old dining room table had a gimpy leg that threatened to drop on unsuspecting diners who accidentally bumped into it. If you, dear reader, have been an actual guest in my home, I'm sure you'll be thankful that your knees are no longer in danger.
Is it weird that I feel the need to justify my compulsive Craigslist shopping?
Anyway, after an afternoon of work, my dining room now looks like this.
With nary a science project or birthday banner to be seen.
Don't forget the black mantel piece I painted last year, which is directly opposite the chalkboard and balances out the black well. I still love it, which is good because remember that I accidentally used oil paint instead of latex and now I may never be able to cover it up because I can never remember which paint can't go over which other paint?
Why is paint so hard?
Now it's time to host some dinner parties!
Except, I'm kind of tired of that chandelier. I wonder what I can find on Craigslist...