Dining Room

We have a "formal" dining room off of our kitchen, although we eat all our meals at the kitchen table. The owners before us used the dining room only. The walls were painted the dark greige that was throughout much of the living areas, and the accent wall was eggplant colored. The "light" above the table gave off no light, and the overall effect was very dark.

Before

The purple wall is one of the walls primed the very night we took possession of the house. There were a LOT of colors in this house, and before we could think too much we had to get rid of a lot of the visual noise. 

Now

Although this room is sadly not used very often, it's probably my favorite in the house. I love the deep blue, and that chandelier is my favorite possession.

The art on the wall was a birthday gift from my mom last year. I think it was slightly damaged and on sale. I think it's so fun. 

The cabinet was a hand-me-down from my parents. Mom had painted it like six times, but I love it all white. 

The chalkboard is one I'm kind of proud of. My mom ordered a mirror, and it came to her broken. She was given a replacement and gave me the broken one. 

Before

Instead of finding a new mirror for it, I painted the existing board with chalkboard paint and the frame white. Much more "me."

I think I love this room because it gives our otherwise kid-friendly home a touch of glamour. It boosts my spirits to walk through the fancy room on my trips to and from the washing machine. 

To be fair, though, the dining room table often doubles as the Lego table, and we kept the play kitchen in here for a long time to keep the toddler busy while I cook. 

Blessings, 

Laura

Half Bath, Before and During

We have a half bathroom off the mudroom, near the kitchen and the back door. It's in a great location, for messy kids to come in from the backyard without going all through the house. 

It was also, arguably, the ugliest room in our home, with green striped wallpaper, green toilet, floors of torn and dirty linoleum. 

We used it as a closet for paint and the vacuum for about 18 months, because it was too ugly to go in there. haha

We did get rid of the lovely green toilet about a year ago, but then still did nothing else.

Finally, about six months ago, we ripped out the wallpaper and the vanity. Ryan replaced the vanity, faucet, and light fixture. 

The walls were so ripped up after yanking out the vanity and scraping off the wallpaper, Ryan decided to refinish them with drywall mud and sand them all down to new perfection.  I finished painting this weekend.

It's still a work in progress. We did purchase new floor tile for this bathroom and the adjacent mudroom. It's in our garage, waiting for installation. When we put it in, we will finish the baseboards. 

I would really love to do a stencil pattern on the walls, similar to this:

That's why I painted the walls a neutral off-white. I'll probably put that project off another six months. I am trying to use the summer to do my outside painting, which is keeping my nap time/free time plenty busy.

It's not fancy yet, but fresh paint on the walls, trim, and doors, and some new fixtures make it feel clean, and we use it now!

Blessings, 

 Laura