A fresh new look in the dining room

I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!  We had a blast celebrating at multiple cookouts with friends, family and lots of fireworks.  (or bang, bangs according to my four year old)

In the middle of all the festive activities I did manage to squeeze in a spur of the moment painting session, which ended up turning into more painting.  It's definietly true what they say, "one thing leads to the next."  It all started with me getting the bright idea to paint our atrium doors the same Sherwin Williams Iron Ore that's on our front door and mudroom doors.  Although, unlike the other spaces, I wasn't getting excited about the end result.  I knew I loved the door color, but something just seemed off.  Something had to change and I knew it wasn't going to be the dark doors.  It was the walls, they looked horrible against the doors and had to go.

Before I get to all the pretty after pictures, let me back up and remind you what this space looked like when we first bought our house.   The dining room had one lonely window, the original builder paint an absolutely no personality.

{sellers things}

As with all our house projects, we saved until we could afford to make some major updates.   We replaced the window with an atrium door, added crown molding, replaced all the baseboard and trim molding, painted, replaced the light fixture and added board and batten.   The doors alone made a huge difference and brought so much more light into the room, but I have to confess... I never painted them.  They have remained the original unfinished, dingy white for the past few years.  Add to that two young kids, many dirty hands and suddenly our doors no longer looked so new.

As a reminder, here's what the room looked just a few days ago.

After I painted the doors, I got right to painting over the green walls.  

(we are not adding shoe molding until we refinish our hardwood floors)

This is what my brother calls "mind tape."  I've mentioned before that I have no patience for prep work.  I like to dive right in and get to the end result.  Ain't nobody got time to tape!  Thankfully, I enjoy painting and think I do a pretty darn good job at it.  Usually, I paint crown first, then walls, then trim, but this time I just went straight to painting the walls.

Besides the usual disorganized chaos, things were moving along pretty smoothly until this happened...

That would be the only plant that I have managed to keep alive, which happens to be the plant that is from my grandmothers viewing.  It reminds me of her everyday and it broke my heart to see it in pieces.  Thankfully, the plant survived and the painting went on.

I absolutely LOVE how this space turned out and cannot believe how much paint completely changed the look and feel of this room.  It instantly brightened the space and now the living room and dining room flow so much better.  I thought I liked the green, but I really, REALLY like the new color. 

As I was hanging this window (purchased from a co-worker who bought 3 off Craiglist for $15.00!) my husband came upstairs and said "I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you start hanging more fake windows on the wall!"  Men, they just don't understand.

Since I added the window, my rustic pallet frames got moved to the other side of the wall.

I'd love to change the light fixture (again!) , but I'm resisting until we renovate the kitchen.

I can't rave enough about this paint color.  If you are looking for a great neutral I highly suggest you check out SW Accessible Beige, it's the perfect creamy gray.

FACEBOOK / PINTEREST / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER 

Love what you see? Subscribe to Little House of Four here!

* indicates required

Email Address *