It's SOOOOOOO Pretty! Dining Room Reveal!

Ok, so I have teased and taunted and now I am 90% done with my dining room so it's time to share. Honestly speaking, it will never be 100% done because I am always changing and moving things around but here's where it stands right now (and will stand for quite some time).

And drum roll please . . . . . . (WARNING: LOTS of pictures ahead!).

One more look at the Before , , , 

and now the After!!
Taaaaa-daaaaaa!
I absolutely love it!
It may be a little too "old school" for some
people but it's right up my alley!
Ant notice the beautiful dark floors.

The black cabinet in front of the window will
hopefully be replaced someday with a small vintage church pew.
I figured that would be perfect for extra seating and look great.
Sorry pictures are dark but my camera died in Belgium and this
is the best I've got!

The ceiling Before  . . . 

and the ceiling After!
Note the gorgeous chandelier a friend G.A.V.E me!

The during, covering up the ugly walls and A/C ducts.

Here you can see all the red chalk marks we did trying
to figure out the best way to lay out the beams.
Not one wall, one opening, any of the windows or doors,
were proportionate to each other so we decided to use the two sets
of windows as the center marks.
Trying to make the coffers equal squares would have
simply been impossible.

Here you can see how we went off the windows for the beam layout.

Here you can see where the beams don't line up with the doors
but actually OCD-me can live with that.

I used the Command Picture Hanging Strips
to hang all the silver platters.
Seriously, they are the best thing since boxed wine!
I had several older ladies sneer at me when I purchased
some of these at the thrift shops saying it will take
a lot of elbow grease to polish them up.
I replied back that I liked them tarnished, which I do,
and that quieted them down!

The windows are really old and definitely have that
wavy window look, which I absolutely adore however
they are blurry here because it's freaking hot outside
and menopausal me needs the A/C low, low, low!

My mom slapped some paint on an old Home Goods piece.
I would love to have an antique sideboard here someday
but this will do for now.

I took some old gravy ladles and
glued them to some old pieces of silver
to create candleholders.
When lit, they look beautiful lighting up the silver.
Note: I did look up the pieces on-line first to see if they
might have any value - alas, they did not.

I painted the inside of the built-in cabinets a beautiful,
dark gray which really makes the pieces inside pop!
I framed the original skeleton key that does
still work on the dining room French doors.

Just some cool antique-looking
Mercury glass knobs I found in a local shop.

Knobs for the doors at the bottom of the built-ins.

The curtains are from Pottery Barn. While I do
love the pattern and colors, I really have my heart set
on a beautiful silk pattern I picked out.
The wholesale cost for the fabric alone was $700
so I am on hold, probably indefinitely,
on that pipe dream.

The candle tube sleeves are made from real wax
and look like they are melting.
While having this rewired, the sleeves were literally
melting when the store tested the light with normal lightbulbs.
We switched to the new LED, which I was uncertain about but
now I love them and the glow they give off.
The chandelier is pewter but I love how some areas look silver
and some look gold.

So there's my beautiful dining room. I have started sitting in there to work on the computer and write my blog because I just enjoy being in the room. We are back to eating dinners there, and in my opinion, it makes everything taste better (the kids may not agree!).  I am sure I will continue to play with the items in the cabinets and on top of the sideboards until I get the styling exactly the way I want it but for now, it works. I have been super, super busy getting the carriage house renovated, adding a Butler's Pantry, creating an Appliance Closet (yeah, no more crap on the counters. Ok, there is a little but not as much!!), and painting pretty much everything that doesn't move. The dog constantly having paint on her tail is SO not my fault! More reveals to come but that is for another post!

Kristin

Inexpensive and Practical Wall Art

Ok, as you know, I have been busy, busy, busy renovating and making over my dining room. I'm down to the last blog post before the big reveal. I'm being a bit generous here because the dining room is really only about 90% done but the "missing pieces" are pieces I am going to spend my time looking for and choosing exactly the right piece at exactly the right price (and you know I love the thrill of the hunt)!

Here's my latest up-cycle -

Aren't these a beaut? They were actually marked $29.95
on the back - for each! Seriously, who would pay that?
I didn't. I got them for $1.99 each and then half off!
I always feel bad when I get something SUPER cheap
when I buy it on-sale at a non-profit
thrift shop but I know I will be back giving them
my money many, many more times, so its all good!
I liked the frames (not the artwork)  because they were simple
and were long enough for my project.

I sprayed painted the frames matte gold and then
did a "sloppy" paint job with the silver leaf paint.
Just a real thin coat over the gold.

I didn't want them to be real sparkly so I lightly
wiped the antique wax over them just to
make them toned down a bit.

Wax on the left, no wax on the right.
Insert your "wax on, wax off" joke.

I covered the back with a neutral fabric with a slight sheen to it.

I used small, white-tipped push pins and put them
tightly around the edges of the silverware.

The silverware hangs inside the frame but can
easily be lifted out to use at any meal.
Aren't I freaking clever?!?

The pins for these went through the decorative slots.
Easy enough.
These are vintage family pieces.

These are "vintage" Pottery Barn pieces - LOL!

So that's it. I already had all the paint, the fabric and pins, and the silver pieces so all I spent on this project was $2 for the sale-priced frames. Yeah me! That might be a first. I'm very happy with the way these turned out and they look great hanging on my wall. The dining room reveal is next, but that is for another post!

Kristin