August 2010 – Page 6

Over the weekend, we decided to repaint our dining room, completing the transformation. We used the same color as the basement, which extends up the staircase and is visible from the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

I cleared the room and taped off the trim while Ben was at work. After removing the curtains, I decided that I liked how open the window looked. So, I took the outer curtain supports down, patched the holes and sanded it smooth.

I don’t have much time to paint with a three-year old and four-month old. Fortunately, Ben is a quick painter and the area is small. It literally took about eighteen minutes to repaint. Here he is, hard at work.

We had to do two coats. One on Saturday afternoon.

And another on Sunday morning.

Ben hung the curtain brackets about 5 inches from where they were. It’s really amazing how much more open the window seems now. I love it.

I did love the old, dark blue color (Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy), but this definitely fits in with the rest of the house. The curtains are more fitting with the wall color, too. Sure, the plates don’t pop as much against the new wall color, but the dark table top was just too dark with the old wall color.

The room has come a long way in the past few years. Now it’s exactly as I had imagined. The plate rack is a nice feature, serving as art and storage.

We have some touch up paint to do, especially on the white, but it’s good enough for now. I’m a happy camper. Touch up paint can wait. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

Here was the dining room as I received it, thanks to Ben’s decorating.

Then we added trim, a plate rack and repainted. We also bought a new rug and I made curtains. Then we had this:

We recently installed a new light fixture and Ben built an ah.maz.ing table for us, bringing us to this point:

And here we are today!

Do you have any projects to take on this weekend?

Do you ever see an item that is so ugly it’s cute? Or wonder if something is cute and endeering or kitschy and ugly? I know I do. I think a few personal kitschy/cute items are fine, so long as it is only a few. I’ve gathered some of the items I can’t quite decide which way I lean toward more.

These little guys could be cute in the right setting, especially becuase they are made to look like your family.

I would like to buy a plain set to make my own, but you get the idea…

This print is simply adorable, not even a hint of kitsch.

It’s similar to my Love Tree print, too.

Maybe that’s why I like it?

If only I had a place to put something like this.

Which reminds me, I still need to figure out how to make a terrarium (or two or three) for my house. Of course, with my love of all things miniature, I would need something like these and these.

I have been loving faux bois lately, so these coasters would be a great fix.

Although, so wood (ha!) these. In the right setting, of course. Maybe the boys’ room? Hmmm… Of course, I would have to make my own. You know I’m too cheap to spend $45.00 on pillows!