The Dining Room as Is, Warts and All

 Hi all!  Since getting away from blogging during the long process of moving last December, I am finding it very difficult to find the time and the discipline to consistently blog again.  Moving closer to my children and grandchildren is absolutely what I wanted and has been a joy but, finding time for the things I used to spend so much time doing has been hard :).  Hence, the reason for such a long delay since my last post.  All is good but, I am working hard to find my place in the new world that I and my husband are trying to create.  Blogging and what to do with my business is part of all of that but, I am certain I will get there.  I hope you will be patient and take the journey with me.

Anyway, for today I am sharing something I had not planned on sharing.  I like things to be done before posting about them, mainly because I have turned into a Nervous Nelly in that area. I like to present the best product I can. However lately, every time I have a visitor enter my new house and walk into the living room turned dining room, they always say, "Oh, what a pretty room!"  This is the room that I personally find least pretty but, in an effort to be more real and to show the process of making this home my own, I thought I would show you the room as it is now, warts and all. The other rooms in the house are either close to being done, nowhere near that or ones that I have already shown you.  So, I thought, "Why not?", I would present the "pretty room" to you, and you can decide for yourselves if you think it is pretty or not. Please keep in mind that I really do have a vision for this room. It will be pretty in time. We just haven't gotten there yet.

In my old home I had a designated foyer.  I loved that!  I loved that it had a stone floor for messy kids coming in, that it didn't have a direct view into the kitchen, just in case it was not picked up, and I loved that the foyer gave a regal feel to the home.  This house does not have a designated foyer.  You walk into the front room, formally the living room, as you enter the home.  I have turned it into the dining room so that I can entertain my whole family together and have room for my fairly new and large dining room table from Restoration Hardware. The original dining room was not large enough for that.  You can see that transformation here. Eventually, I hope, this room will be all I have wished for.

As you can see, you immediately walk into the room and are greeted by the stairway going to the second floor.  As you can also see, I need to work on the stairway, as well: all things that are in the plan. We did remove some very dated wallpaper and painted everything a very light griege. I am still trying to figure out if I want the stairway wall to be a photo wall or something more dramatic.  I think either could work.

There is very old wallpaper on the walls in the dining room, but it is in very good condition. However, it still is in the plan to take the wallpaper down and repaint the walls, maybe add some wall trim or something distinctive.  I should also mention at this time that we kind of used up our painting budget when we moved in having had three big painting projects done.  We may have to do this room ourselves or save up for a little while before taking it on.

When we moved in, I simply opened up boxes and placed the items as well as I could around the house to give some sort of decoration to the place.  These candlesticks and tray seemed to fit up on the mantle OK.  I recently added the silk potted plants to make the room more in season.  Just adding those flowers made me feel so much better about that space in the room.  Who knew?!  (I know it still looks VERY old-fashioned.)

I also rearranged and added other items to the room in order to give it a more summer-like feel.

Vignettes have also materialized around the room.  Again, I have used what I already had because I plan on changing pretty much everything in the room.

Note: I took down the draperies in this room because it is on the dark side, which totally bums me out after having such a bright home before. I thought it would be better and brighter without the curtains but, now I am wondering if I should purchase some sheer white ones for the time being to make it look a little more finished and homey.

I discovered these coasters in a box and decided to put them out because they make me think of my friend, Karen, who gave them to me. And the colors went with the (old) wallpaper.

Another vignette is this old table I decided to bring with me from the old house.  It was my Nana's so, you know.  It was sentimental :).

For some reason, I am liking these bead things lately. They just seem to finish a space.

I hesitate to show you the buffet.  It does not show my best work. The picture is not the right size or style for the wall or room. I only put it there because the colors went well with the wallpaper.  I didn't want to hang it because I didn't want to put nails in the wall yet.  The space would probably look better with nothing behind the vase at all now that I look at it. Creating this post is actually a good exercise for me. It helps me know what I need and don't need moving forward. Of course, I need to figure out the paint color first!  Sorry for the stream of consciousness.  I guess you are on this ride with me like it or not.  Haha! 

Now, I am going to show you the grossest part of the room, in my opinion...the blue rug. It needs to be taken out in the worst way!  I want to put down the wide-planked wood floor that I had in my old kitchen as soon as I can.  I think that would transform the room in minutes.  I am hoping that will be a fall project.

BTW, this is the view you see as you ascend the stairs.  There is need for improvement :).

We also need to find a way to hang a light fixture over the table.  My desire to swap the living room and dining room has turned out to be quite the fiasco!

Repositioning items has helped change the mood of the room also.  I found this white lantern in the attic the other day.  It's always fun to find new places for things.

Originally, I had wanted to paint the dining room a dark navy color but, now that I have lived in the house for six months, I realize it would make the room and the whole front of the house very dark.  I am going to have to rethink that idea.  I do plan on painting the woodwork on the stairway white and continue it into the dining room eventually.  The wall color is what is in question.

List of Changes to be Made to Dining Room

• Remove wallpaper
• Remove blue rug and replace with wood flooring
• Remove rug on stairs
• Paint woodwork white
• Paint banister and rungs on stairs
• Paint or replace steps on stairs
• Paint wall a new color
• Maybe add crown molding or wall moldings
• Install overhead light fixture
• Put up sheer curtains

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