I used to wish my hubs would be the kind of hubs that could care less about how I decorate our hizzy. In the beginning stages of our “making it home” adventures, we would spend waste time trying to convince the other of why each other’s style choices would be/work better than the other’s. And to no avail because we are both equally stubborn and equally right. What we’ve learned over the last 10 years of marriage and home ownership is that “merging” our styles doesn’t mean we’re “changing” our styles. Compromising doesn’t mean giving in but rather making room for each other’s ideas and opinions!
While we’re in the middle of our dining room redo, I thought it would be fun to share with you all – for your total comedic enjoyment – the behind the scenes merging/compromising of our design styles to create the finished product. I’d love to say we start a redo with a “master plan”, but if we took the time to create one, we’d never get anything accomplished. As it would probably take us FOREVER to finally agree on a complete design plan. So as I mentioned before, we usually start with what we do agree on.
1. We need a better use of space. Agreed. So we Craig’s listed our china cabinet and buffet because it just didn’t fit; and there was no other place for it in our home. (We bought the entire dining room set – china cabinet – buffet- table and chairs- as well as a large mirror – from a family member for $1500 about 8 years ago.) We sold the cabinet and buffet for $475 (listed on a Sunday and both were sold by Friday). This was a great idea for us as it gave us a little budget and a little more space in a crowded dining room.
2. Wall paper must be removed. Agreed. This was our first go at wall paper removal. Can you even believe that? I mean this is our fifth house, and this was the first time we had wall paper! Well, in our last house, I sorta kinda painted over it in a small bathroom (all I can say is I’m sorry to the new owners if they ever decide to take it down). Anyhoo, this time I took it down. It came off pretty easily. I was expecting a major project here because I had heard such horror stories from friends about how difficult removal can be (which is why I painted over it in the last house). I didn’t have too much trouble. It just pulled right off. I did have to scrape the corners with a blade and then sand them. I used distilled white vinegar and hot water to remove the remaining paste. This did take about half a day. When the water got luke warm I had to dump it and go back for more hot water. All in all though it was pretty simple and the vinegar worked like a charm; I’m really glad I didn’t have to use any of the chemical wall paper removal products. I prefer to stay away from chemicals whenever possible- plus I already had it in my kitchen cabinet! Removing the wall paper was definitely key in the whole “making the space feel larger” category. The patterned paper really closed it in.
3. White wall to wall carpet needs to be kicked to the curb. Agreed. Due in large part to the whole “let’s actually use this room” idea and also the “making it less formal” goal, we ripped out the carpet. In an extremely budget friendly way, we stained the sub floor to create a “faux” hard wood plank floor. You can read all about the deets on that project here, here, and here. It was a process. Totally worth it!
Those are the only things we actually agreed on. You see Brad’s inspiration room is this. (I tried to post the pic here, but just wasn’t able). Ethan Allen won’t let me borrow their pic- so again just click here to see what his idea for the dining room is. My inspiration dining room is this one from the movie
Something’s Gotta Give.
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| photo courtesy of http://chameleon-interiors.blogspot.com Photos from “Something’s Gotta Give”. Directed by Nancy Myers; Production Design Jon Hutman; Set Decorating Beth Rubino. c. 2003 Columbia Pictures. |
Ever since I saw that movie, I have been in love with that dining room. It literally had me at hello with that white wall of plates, and don’t even get me started on those dining room chairs with their to die for slipcovers. LOVE! Look that word up in the dictionary this picture will be next to it- I promise it will- ok maybe it’s just my dictionary. Anyhoo, how do you merge Brad’s inspiration with mine? And how do you do it without breaking the bank?
Well first, in a budget friendly use what you have kind of way, we decided to recover the chairs. I bought some discount fabric in a zebra print (Brad’s inspiration room had an animal print on the chairs) at a local store, but wasn’t loving it.
So I decided to paint the chairs black. Here’s a picture of the chairs primed. Even after painting them black, we still weren’t loving the look. Details to follow.
When the floors were finished we found an area rug at Lowe’s that worked. It was a good compromise for us because Brad’s inspiration room had a traditional rug with dark colors and my room had a light colored sea grass rug. So we went with a traditional style rug in a light color palette. It really warms up the dark floors, and flows with the rest of the house as well. Here’s a peak –
Ok so you see that sea grass chair in the picture? And you remember when I said after I finished painting the chairs black that I still wasn’t loving them? Well, this rug with the existing table and chairs just seemed a little too much like a formal dining room with a new color palette rather than what we wanted which is a dining room that felt more casual so we would use it more often. So no we didn’t buy a new table and chairs; we switched the table and chairs from our eat-in kitchen to the dining room and vice versa! More pics and deets on all of this coming very soon!
In case, you’re confused – and you probably are because I tend to ramble on and the pics don’t totally match up to the story, there is a reason why. You see, the actual order of things went like this-
1. listed furniture on craig’s list
2. removed wall paper
3. furniture sold
4. started chair makeover
5. removed carpet
6. finished floors and bought area rug
7. switched table and chairs
This is why in the chair makeover section you see the white carpet even though I wrote about the carpet removal first. Get it- probably not- crazy is as crazy does- what can I say really? My decorating adventures read kind of like the children’s book – If You Give a Pig a Pancake – all you parents out here know what I’m talking about here right? I mean one things just leads to another – who know what will come next. Oh wait- I know – it’s the brass chandelier switch out- another merger/compromise made- I’ll tell you about it soon!
Are you just as decor crazy as me? Please tell me I’m not alone 🙂
