Dining Room Reveal

I've been so excited for the day I finally got to write this...it has arrived!  Remember way back at Thanksgiving when I mentioned doing a lot of painting?  Well, the rest of the details are finished and I get to show you our dining room (and kitchen next).  When we moved in a few months ago, the dining room looked like this:

WOW!!!  Is it oh-so-obvious we had just moved in and things were a WRECK?!  (or maybe I'm just trying to make a more dramatic before/after scenario?!?!?!  Hmmm...sneaky!)  One good thing is that the flooring had just been redone before we moved in.  It is laminate wood flooring and I love how durable it is.  It is the kind that has some texture and grain to look more real (even though we all know its not...come on, who are we trying to kid?).  Fake as it is, it is much more kid- and moving-big-furniture- friendly (like a piano, per se).  

My inspiration for this room and the kitchen came from a hand towel I got a few months back from Meijer (I miss that place).  It looks like this:

I then decided to use this fabric for my drapes:

This was left over from a design job I did way back... see the Roman shades I made with it HERE.

So using these 2 fabrics, I took a trip to Sherwin Williams and chose these paints(I only used the blue in this room, the other 2 were saved for the kitchen):

Aqua-Sphere: SW 7613 

Escapade Gold: SW 6403

  Wool Skein: SW 6148

I took a bold step and painted my dining room BLUE.  Ahh!  I still love the color on the paint swatch, but when it is all over my walls, its a little less "calming" and a little more "baby."  Thankfully, I was able to tone it down a bit with a large picture, big ol' piano, and full-length drapes.  

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So are you ready???  Here it is!

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Ta da!

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief that it is all done AND blogged about.  Ahhhh.  The best part is that I didn't have to spend any money out of pocket--- a combination of gift cards, pre-owned items, and taking a few things off our rent payment made this possible.  (and the only thing I used gift cards for was drapery rods, which I will tell you all about in my next post!). 

My piano got a nice cleaning, but has yet to be tuned.  We (meaning three children and myself) play it almost daily, so the day it gets tuned will be a one of great joy.

And that pretty much does it!  I will share a few more things about this room in the next few posts (drapery rods, drapery tricks, table runner, and lighting fixture), so don't stay away too long.   I also am not 100% in love with what I have sitting on that console table... but that can change over time and with seasons.

I am now ready to have people for dinner! 

What do you think?  Is the blue too bold or are you thinking about making some new color choices for your house too?  Talk to you all soon.