Dining Room: Part 1

One of the first rooms we've begun is the dining room.  Why? Because it's dark.  Because we spend a lot of time there. And most importantly, because it's the smallest room in the house (except the bathrooms).  A quick win, right?

As is the case with most of the house, the dining room is a blast from the past, except not in a vintage, could-be-in-a-magazine kind of way.  You might call the look musty-cave, possibly a great trend in the dark ages, but not so nice right now.

The 'before' pictures really won't tell you much (think bland beige), so I think we'll just include the 'after new paint' photos.  Unfortunately, you can't see the wall color that well because of the low light, but one day in the distant future, we might be able to upgrade the room from cave status.

Our new-to-us British pub table fits beautifully in this space. The chairs we were gifted after posting an ad in the classifieds begging for free furniture--we got a free table, six chairs, two couches, and a very large china cabinet.  Only the chairs remain.  Not my style, but I have a few ideas to spruce them up.  

The color on the walls: Martha Stewart's "Opal".  The color is stunning.  Light grayish-blue.  The paint, though, leaves much to be desired.  Runny, poor coverage.  I recommend color matching to something more substantial if you like her colors (found at Home Depot).

Lovely painting by Carol Scott, a New Orleans artist I've known since I was young.  You might wonder, "Why is the painting on its side? What was she thinking????"  Well, right now, that's how I like it.  Carol told me I could put it however I wanted on the wall (I mean, she hangs her work from the ceiling sometimes), so I did.

I considered putting a big mirror, but my favorite design guru Sarah Richardson warns that you have to be prepared for the reflection the mirror will give you.  Since that would be a dated, country kitchen at this very moment, the mirror can wait.

You can see that we'll have to put in some quarter-round.  And paint the baseboards. 

Feast your eyes on the ceiling. Yeah, it's awesome because it's lower than the original. Who wouldn't want to drop 8 foot ceilings? Insane people.  7.5 feet is perfectly adequate.  And ceiling tiles that remind me of a hospital are quite possibly the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Seriously, the ceilings will go back to their former glory. Some day.

Stylin'.

The light fixture really is cool, though.  It has a secret.

You can pull it down to the table.  

Fantastic!  We can make the room even darker!  Yes, we'll put in a poker table and invite Brad Pitt and George Clooney to come smoke cigarettes with us and scheme to rob the local casinos.  Or we'll take up coin collecting. Or start painting miniatures.  This type of lighting is perfect for such activities.

So, as you can tell, the dining room is nothing but a slow project, just like the rest of 'em.  In the meantime, I've got a call in to "Prehistoric Interiors" magazine to see if we can be featured in their next issue.