Monday, June 11, 2012

DINING ROOM REVEAL!! FINALLY!

Well everyone, I can finally show pics of the Dining Room.  It has taken a little longer to get there than we first thought!  Like by a couple of months!!  But I suppose we all get there in the end.  Now before I go any further I have to thank my lovely husband  without whom the dining room would never have been possible.  Sounds sorta like an acceptance speech at the Oscars!  But I really am thankful.  Not only is he ubersmart and handsome but the man can swing a hammer!!  As my Dad used to say about Den- "he is as handy as a wee pot".  (Dad was Scottish)  And thank goodness Den is handy!  He has made such an effort to put my ideas into fruition.  When one has a limited budget being handy is a definate asset!!  So thank you, thank you my dear man!


Here is the BEFORE-  Nothing really wrong with it, but just wanted to really up the ante as it were:


It can be quite a challenge taking pics in my dining room since it doesn't really get direct sunlight.  Although we do have the window and the back door-we never really get direct light.  So please bear with me with my pics.  Would love to get professional pics taken some time soon!!



Here is another shot.  It is taken from in the kitchen into the dining room.  When we first bought the house, to say that the kitchen was unworkable would have been an understatement!  We opened up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.  That way we can sit at the island or in the dining room.  By opening up the space it really made the space way more functional and way more sociable!  Everyone always ends up at that island.  I am currently working on that island at repainting it "Mariner" by Martha Stewart-more to come with the kitchen in a later posting.  I just this past week painted the kitchen "Morning Jog" by Valspar to match what is in the Living Room now.



The next shots are the destruction phase. This is the phase where one starts to doubt and think, "What the hell was I thinking?"  You know what I mean??  But we plug onwards and save judgement until the end.  Well at least we should.  This in between phase is so hard, but persevere and you shall be rewarded!!









So now before I reveal all, I have to say that I have always wanted Wainscoting in the house.  And I thought that doing so in the Dining Room would fit the bill.  And I was soooo right- it is beyond my dreams how it all tuned out.
Remember the difficulty I had with the White paint I chose?- previous post!  But thanks to Fran at Home Hardware she fixed me up real nice!  I would have to say that the white that is on the panelling is a custom tint and that it is about 1/2 strength "Pocket Watch White" by Ralph Lauren- so I am calling it "Megan's White".  Just enough warmth that isn't too yellow like Pocket Watch White can be.  Or too creamy like a Benjamin Moore Cloud White- Note:  Cloud White to me is NOT the be all and end all that so many people go on about-but that's just me!!


The Red that I chose was "Hottie" by Para:

Hottie by Para P5086-25

It is such a gorgeous Red.  Not too dark but with some life in it.


And so without further ado:
AFTER:



Denis did such an awesome job with all of the panelling and the trim.  Especially the frieze boards above the opening, door and window.  He totally rocks when it comes to trim!
And the white of the trim really pops against that rockin' Red!



At first we were just going to add boards to the walls-taking the easy way out (not that there is anything wrong with easy sometimes).  It is just that when we were going to do so we noticed that the wall texture wasn't right where the vertical boards would have been (the space between the boards).  So we added hard board first and then the verticals.  Looks WAY better.  Just wanted to mention in case you ever wanted to add wainscoting like we did.












You can just make out the wall colour in the living room-"Morning Jog" by Valspar.  The icy blue looks so nice next to the pillar and the Red of the Dining Room.  We did the whole pillar thing between the living room and the dining room for a couple of reasons; 1. to make a natural break between the two rooms and 2.  I just can't get enough of trim and detail!!





I want to mention that we will in the future be scraping the ceiling of it's awful "popcorn" and be adding either beadboard to the ceiling and/or adding crown moulding.  To me the room will NEVER be truly complete until that crown is in.  But I think it still looks pretty awesome so far!





Well that's it for now.  I hope you have enjoyed the reveal.  Sorry it took so long but sometimes life just gets in the way-but you all know what I mean by that?  We have all been there.
Have a great day everyone.
Megan

19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi Jennifer- thanks so much for the lovely comment. Yes we love it too. I was hoping that I was brave enough to go through with the red and boy am I glad we did. Stay tuned for more room reveals in the future. Have a great day!

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  2. I love it. And I love the other touches of red you have, especially the table runner/quilt and lanterns.

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    1. Hi Nikki, thanks so much for your comment. We really love it too. I really wanted red in the dining room without the space being completely overwhelmed in "red", if you know what I mean. Check back again for more reveals. Have a great day!

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  3. That room is beautiful! I am a lover of red and the name of your paint color cracked me up! Super good job, and it looks like that is just what the room needed. I wanted to comment using my blog address, but I don't fit in any of your categories. Have you thought of adding the name/url as one of your comment id's? I am using as very old google account here that I never ever check...so I hope this works.
    Kelly @ talkofthehouse.com

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    1. Hey Kelly, Thanks so much for you kind and funny comment. Yes the name totally cracked me up too. I just love telling people what the name of the colour is. As for the ID thing I will look into it and hopefully will be able to implement. Thanks for the suggestion. Have a great day!

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  4. Your dining room is gorgeous. And, thanks for the tip about wainscoating. we're considering it in our foyer, and I need to hear lots of opinions before we tackle that project.

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    1. Hey Lauren, thanks for the kind comment. Like I said, we were just going to add the verticals to the walls but found the texture just wasn't right. So we decided to add hardboard first to the walls and then add the verticals. I know that even adding hardboard first to the the walls is even a slight cheat since to build proper wainscoting you should build the whole board and rail and then add it to the wall-it can get very technical and expensive if doing it the completely "real" way. But I think the way we did it by adding the hardboard to the wall then the verticals has achieved the look I was going for. We are so happy with the change. It was worth the little extra effort. Also it helps that my husband is extremely handy and capable. Hope this helps. If I can help in any way just drop me a line. Good luck and have a great day.

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  5. I *love* this room; you've given me the courage to go bold! I adore rich color, but all over scares me a bit (I tend to change my mind ALOT, so I mainly go with neutrals on my walls). But I saw this and it's the perfect solution; white wainscoting in our hall/kitchen with a beautiful pop of color up top. I'm excited!!

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    1. Just go for it! It's only paint after all. I know that it can be a bit of an expense and all but if you are just doing the upper part of the wall then I say definitely go for it. It is the best thing I ever did. I don't know what changed in me but I stopped being afraid. I decided, what was the worst thing that could happen? If I didn't like it, it would be easy to fix really! Especially when it is the upper part of the wall, go bold- you will be glad you did. Please keep in touch and let me know how it turned out.

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  6. This is absolutely beautiful! Your husband
    is very "handy!" It is such a bright, cheery
    space. I love the other touches of red you
    have incorporated in there. Can't wait to see
    your other make-overs!

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  7. Did you use tape to line the border of the wall?? Or is it something else?? Some special wood or is it just the wall?? It looks great I love it I was thinking I could do that to my wall .

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    1. Hey Yolas- I don't think I am quite understanding what you mean by did I use tape to the line the border of the wall?? We added high wainscoting to the wall using MDF boards that we cut ourselves. We bought 4x8 sheets of MDF and cut them to the required lengths and widths. We then primed them and applied them to the walls. I then painted the lower half in white. I painted the red paint above that. If this does not answer your question then if you could reask it that would be great.

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  9. Megan,
    Can I entice you to come to my house and help me decorate the whole thing???? I love your taste and style. I am so wishy-washy. I love many different colors, styles, etc. I think I am going to copy your dining room though. It is so beautiful and elegant. My husband and I just recently moved into our dream home in the country. Lots of space but lots of painting and finishing work that needs to be done. I am in need of a talented friend to give me ideas!!! Sincerely, Jenny

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    1. You are so sweet! Don't you just love looking online to get inspiration? If only you lived near here I would be glad to help. Have a great day!!

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  10. Just beautiful! I have a red dining room with white trim also. We also made our opening wider to the kitchen. Now I want to add wainscoting! Great job!

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  11. This dining room is absolutely breathtaking! I love everything about it.

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  12. Thanks for these outstanding pictures . These are really beautiful. thanks for sharing with us

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