If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that our dining room has gone through many changes. It started with stripping purple wallpaper, sanding, and priming and painting the walls Benjamin Moore Light Pewter.
Real Estate Listing Photo - It's hard to tell but the walls are covered in light purple wallpaper.
After removing wallpaper, painting, and moving our furniture in.
In January 2012, we hung royal blue velvet curtains from West Elm.
Later that month, I bought a buffet from Ikea and painted it BRIGHT YELLOW. Major fail.
In February 2012, I upholstered our dining chairs
and repainted the buffet.
In April 2012, we had our hardwood floors refinished and installed a new light fixture.
Making progress, right? Wrong. Just a month later I decided that I hated everything and wanted to start over. So what's a girl to do? Paint! I opted for a dark moody gray called Benjamin Moore Stone and I really really loved it. Out with the blue velvet curtains and in with new white linen ones and the buffet got the boot.
The following month, I bought a new rug and added a new cabinet.
Fast forward to October 2012, and I got around to buying a new dining table and chairs and adding a large sunburst mirror.
Now here comes the part where I'm supposed to show you a beautifully decorated and finished dining room....
...but I can't.
I'm not even close to finished. Here's proof:
Now before you go screaming at your computer "what did she do??" "what is wrong with her?", I have a good explanation. While I loved the dark gray walls, they just weren't working in this room. Everything was always so dark...and well...umm...gray. As you can see in the photo above, the adjoining living room is incredibly dark when there's no sun (I took this photo this morning). That paired with the fact that there is a charcoal gray couch in that room and that we just put charcoal gray floors in the kitchen, it was too much.
Another thing is that I am totally over the yellow and gray color scheme I started with. I guess that's what happens when you take a year plus to decorate a room. You get sick of things.
I decided that instead of going with something "trendy" I want to go with something that I know I'll love for a while. It's taken me a bit of time to discover my style, but I think I've finally gotten it figured out. I like soft neutral backdrops with pops of color, rustic touches, and a "modern traditional" style.
I adore the colors and "feel" of this dining room, though it leans a bit more traditional than I prefer.
{Source: livinglivelier.blogspot.com}
And this room had me at hello:
{Source: yournestdesign.blogspot.com}
The walls are painted Benjamin Moore Healing Aloe. I love the light blue green color. I think it's happy without being overpowering. I decided to prime my walls again and give the color a try.
Benjamin Moore Healing Aloe on my dining room wall
Now I realize the colors look totally different from each other. It's a cloudy day here at home so I had to turn the overhead light on to take a picture so the color is definitely not registering true.
But, I think I like it. For now. :) After I paint the walls, I plan to buy a large jute rug like this one from Pottery Barn:
{Source: Pottery Barn}
I want to use my large Ikea hemnes dresser as a buffet.
And buy this mirror from PB to hang above it:
{Source: Pottery Barn}
I plan to use this cabinet I bought from Target as a bar cart:
And add shelves from PB above it:
{Source: Pottery Barn}
I want to sew new curtains for the windows and I'm in search for the perfect fabric. I'm thinking something with blue, green, and yellow would look nice. I'll also need to find a pair of lamps for the buffet and add some accessories.
That's my plan for now. I'm not starting on any new rooms until I finish this one! Promise. Has anyone else repainted a room multiple times? Tell me I'm not alone.
Catch up on my other house tour posts here!
