Well, Jeff is out of town again (he is currently on his second week of four in DC, although he does come home on weekends). And you all know what that means - PROJECTS!!! Last week I decided to paint the dining room. I've been debating it for a while, but Jeff wasn't too thrilled about the idea, as he says we get a lot of compliments on it. That's true, but it just felt too dark to me, and I'm pretty sure the compliments are more about the moulding/beadboard/etc. than about the color. So I went for it.
HUGE thanks to my friend Emily, who came over Monday night and helped me paint. I really hate to paint, and I was having a hard time getting motivated to do it. Having her come gave me just the push I needed. We got the previous dark red all primed over that night, and then over the next two days I put the color on. I also changed out the light fixture, installed shelves, and made a chalkboard to write the menu on (also inspired by Emily). Today, I finished it by taking the swivels out of our dining room chairs and just attaching the seat to the bottoms. I'm happy to have quieter meal times, since the kids won't be able to turn back and forth and bang their chairs on the table.
New light and new curtains (the flowers are from Jeff for Valentine's Day).
Do you think my table looks too dark to be in there? I'm considering painting it white. Actually, I want to paint the top of the table and the tops and backs of the chairs white, and then do the bottom of everything a fun color like turquoise (if I feel bold) - or maybe a more subtle color like gray. I'm still debating.
I kept my plates from Portugal.
New shelves with some fun thrift store finds (still adding to my collection, as you can see by the empty shelf), and the new chalkboard menu. I kept my FHE chart, but I need to figure out how to make the initials of our names stand out - I'm thinking something with Mod Podge and fabric scraps.
Can I just say, I am so in love with my dining room. I wish I had done this months and months ago. It feels a lot bigger, and I love having the color scheme match my kitchen.
Jeff still has the rest of this week plus two more weeks to be gone. Why is it that I'm so much more productive when he isn't around? Seriously, I stay caught up on laundry, dishes, and cleaning, PLUS I do things like this. I sure like having him around, but I guess it's good for my house to occasionally have him be away.
Next week? Who knows? I probably won't do anything this drastic again for a while (although I'm really starting to consider my floors....). I need to work on those dresses my cousin asked me to alter for her wedding. There will still be some big changes in our house though - this weekend someone is coming over to start putting a new shower into our basement bathroom. It will take several weeks, as he is only able to work on it on the weekends. But I am so glad to finally lose the 30x30 unsecured insert with no ceiling and insulation randomly falling down on me. Yeah, I won't miss it.
