Dining Room: The Reveal

by Julie on December 6, 2011

in Savvy Home,Smart Life

This dining room paint job has been a long time coming. In case you missed it, the project started with a  ”why did we decide to start this less than two weeks before our family comes for Thanksgiving and we can’t get the stupid adhesive layer off so peeling wallpaper takes forever and a half” panic-ridden beginning.

Dining-Walls.jpg Dining-Walls2.jpg
Then we discovered that scoring the wallpaper and spraying it with a mixture of distilled white vinegar and water makes it approximately 8 times easier to peel wallpaper (especially that pesky white papery adhesive layer).
Seriously. If you are ever peeling wallpaper, mix 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar with 3 2/3 cups water in a spray bottle. Score the wallpaper with the edge of a putty knife, spray with the vinegar mixture, and allow it to soak in for a few minutes. The wallpaper will peel right off.

Test-Swatches.jpg
We were going to paint the room the “mustard gold” color on the left, but decided to get a test sample of “goldenrod,” just to be sure. Turns out that the mustard looked dull and blah next to the wainscoting, while our “just for fun” sample looked great. Paint samples for the win.
Math-Wall.jpg
Apparently, somebody once used this wall to do some math. Calculating the amount of wallpaper they needed, perhaps?

Prep-3.jpg
We didn’t trust ourselves to paint the walls without getting paint all over the trim and wainscoting and floor (see: the office windows), so we lined the trim with paper and paint tape and covered the floor with more paper and drop cloths.
Prep-1.jpg
It didn’t seem totally necessary to cover the furniture, but we had extra drop cloths and figured it couldn’t hurt. One misstep with the roller brush or grab onto the wine rack for stability and we’d have some paint-splattered furniture.

Why-Tape.jpg


This is why the tape was necessary.

Layer-1.jpg

We were a bit worried when the first coat went down and you could see all the areas that Dan had patched and sanded through the paint. Not pretty. You could still see the patches through the second coat, too. We crossed the fingers on our left hands while we painted the third coat with our rights, hoping that we wouldn’t end up with ugly, patchy walls for our Thanksgiving celebration.

Dining-After-2.jpg

Success! For the first few days, Dan would ask “doesn’t the dining room look nice?” and I’d stammer out some rambly response. I didn’t want to admit it, but I didn’t really like the color. It seemed so much brighter and bolder than I had expected. Looking at it now, I think I just needed to get used to it. All the rest of the rooms of our house are painted much more muted and subtle colors, so I wasn’t prepared for the boldness. I like it now!
BEFORE:

Dining1.jpg

AFTER!


Dining-After-1.jpg

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Ashley @ My Food 'N' Fitness Diaries December 6, 2011 at 3:53 pm

Very nice!! I like the deep yellow with the rich colored wood!
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2 Lauren @ What Lauren Likes December 6, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Love it! Great colour :)
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3 sarah (sarah learns) December 6, 2011 at 4:01 pm

oh wow! i’m glad you guys went with that color – it looks awesome! i’d have a hard time being crabby in such a bold, bright room!
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4 Linda December 6, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Love It!!

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5 Mellissa December 6, 2011 at 5:16 pm

Love the color, it looks great with the wood tone.
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6 Gina @ Running to the Kitchen December 6, 2011 at 5:55 pm

Love that color with the dark wood!
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7 Kelley @ Get Between the Bookends December 6, 2011 at 6:24 pm

Oh so pretty!!! SO very very pretty!
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8 Liz (Little Bitty Bakes) December 6, 2011 at 9:11 pm

I love the bold color! I’d probably have needed a few days (like you did) to get used to it, but I think it’s so pretty against the dark wood!
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9 Liz December 7, 2011 at 12:41 am

That color looks awesome with the dark wood! :)

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10 brandi December 7, 2011 at 10:34 am

i love it! yellow + warm wood is gorgeous together.

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11 Jessica December 7, 2011 at 2:46 pm

I love the yellow+warm wood! Great choice!
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