Dine-O-Mite!

The dining room has come a very long way folks. When we bought the little gem it was a tiny claustrophobic sherbet green cell. I hated it!

The mint green wall is not well represented here...but minty it was.

Dining room into front room.

View from the kitchen into the dining room through a swinging door.

Tearing down the walls was the first major renovation and it could have not happened any faster. Now getting the paint on the wall was a little drawn out. 

We came home from New Orleans to hanging electrical.

What's prettier, hanging light switches or those curtains?

Linoleum....gag!

Have you tried to pick out paint recently? It is stressful! Especially when your husband says the color you like looks like sea foam. Ewww gross, that's what we have now! Are we looking at the same paint sample? The color I see is an awesome grey-ish turquoise....more blue less green."

I learned my lesson with the laundry room paint and I wasn't going to buy anything until I saw it on the wall, in the room, in all light. It was so funny, the paint looked different in every spot I painted. But we finally decided on Sherwin Williams Silvermist. It is kind of a funny story. We went in two Fridays ago to buy dining room paint (wall, ceiling, trim) four gallons max. While we were about to check out the guy tells us if we wait until the 20th we could get 40% off. I was waving out the door before he could even finish his sentence. Y'all know I am too cheap to pay full price when the sale is the next week. Sure enough April 20th rolled around and we left SW with 20 gallons of paint! No lie...20. There was a dolly involved! We saved over $300...I consider this a decorating victory!

Mr. R worked his tail off! He rolled the ceiling and all the walls. I forgot he had never painted before. He did great, I was proud of him! When the first coat went on I knew we had made the right choice and it only got better with the second. You can't believe what a change it was to have the trim painted. It felt so finished and warm and cozy.

The trim was a little tricky. We wanted to keep the existing trim to match the rest of the house in the front room. But this trim no longer exists. Our contractor said he had never even seen it before. So it was patched together from the old door frames. They did a great job, I just had to fill a few more nails holes than I really wanted to.

I had to show the before and after of this light fixture. It was covered in dust. It looks so beautiful cleaned.

We had the black and white rug from one of the Kings Highway apartments (there were three in total). We bought it at Ikea for $200. I knew early on Mr.R was the one and planned carefully all of his big decorative purchases. It had to look good with my stuff eventually, right? Of course the table is my Craig's List steal, $100? I still can't believe it. This table rocks and so do the chairs!

What we still need:
Skinny Buffet (going this weekend to the flea market/junk store on Jefferson Ave...eeekkk, so excited!)
Mirror or Art....so many decisions....probably mirror though.
Curtains
Chair upholstery
Three switch light cover...I just need to make a Lowe's trip for that one.

It's slowly coming together. Gosh, what a difference two knocked down walls, a light fixture scrubbing, and a fresh coat of paint makes. This room will be finished sooner than later and I can't wait to share to official before and after photos but until then we will be scrubbing and painting all the other rooms in the house.

Happy Painting!