Dining Room finished

First, I just want to welcome everyone who found their way over here from Mabel's House.  Liz was super sweet to link to me yesterday.  And thanks everyone for the encouraging comments! It means the world to me.
I decided that it was time I stopped using my iPhone as a camera.  So as we worked on the dining room, I pulled out the new camera and took photos.  I was so proud of myself.  Until yesterday when I could not locate the cord.  Hmmm.  I searched and searched.  So all my fun 'in progress' photos are locked on a camera!  That's what I get.  I quickly snapped a few photos this morning on the trusty iPhone and I was off to work.

First, we put chair rail up at the height of our chairs.  Most chair rail is about 30-35 inches.  We put ours 38 inches, (because that's how tall our chairs are) and because the 10 foot ceilings require a higher molding.

We were careful to miter all the edges perfectly.  Even capping off where the column wraps into the living room.

We then measure the wall and decided that we wanted the squares to be perfect squares.  They are 26 inches (tall and wide).  I did some math to make sure that the space between each square would be even, as well as the space on the outside edge.  Then, that little outlet got in the way.  So, the space from box to wall is 10 inches, while the spaces between boxes are 7 inches.

It's barely noticeable, and it ended up making the math on the second wall work perfectly.  This wall had four boxes, the shorter wall has three.

Then, as I talked about yesterday, we finished the top half of the room with a really pretty blue color by Behr called "Harmonious," it's one of their new color and primer in one paints.  And it worked really well.  Brad was super sweet and had it painted by the time I got home one day.

Before 

After

I really enjoyed the project, and total it wasn't expensive.  The molding cost just over $90.  The mirrors were $100.  And the paint was $30.  (And the drapes? They're actually canvas drop clothes from Lowes, $10 each!  A little tip I picked up from The Lettered Cottage a while back!)

Inspired by Liz

Some of you probably read Liz's blog, and if you do, you know how much she loves her spray paint.  Until recently, I was never really a fan.  We typically paint by hand.  I don't know why I though so low of spray paint.  But, I'm here to say I am a convert.  This stuff is great.  And depending on where you shop, you can find loads of colors!  I of course kept it neutral, but I'm itching to try out a really cool color.  (Maybe on the lamps my husband had to have)

So, we've been talking about redoing the dining room.  Adding chair rail and some sort of boxed wall thing (I'm sure it's called wainscoting, but to me, that's bead board, this is different.)  And I wanted to inject a punch of color into our beige room.  I love the neutral, but I really wanted a brighter color, just not the whole great room.

The mirror we had up is big, I mean four feet across and three feet tall.  But, it still looks tiny of the giant wall.  We liked the idea of having a mirror (or mirrors) there, but to get one big enough to fill the space was going to be expensive.  So, after seeing this photo on Liz's post (she saw it here on Apartment Therapy), I knew what I wanted.

I loved the random sizes and colors of the plates.  But, really, I knew it wouldn't fit in my house. But it did inspire me.  I decided I could accomplish a similar look (but with mirrors) and instead of focusing on the different colors, I would paint them all the same and have the shapes and sizes be what was different.

And thus began the great mirror hunt.  We scoured three different flea markets and managed to find 25 acceptable mirrors.  Which I found fairly surprising.  And most of them were $5 or less.  With the most expensive topping $16 (the star burst one).  Some where wood, some metal and miscellaneous other materials.  All told, the mirrors cost just under $100 plus four cans of spray paint.

We were able to take some of the mirrors out, while others required lots of tape to cover them. We let them dry for several days.

Finally, we hung them in a random pattern.  I love how different each one is.  (There are two mirrors missing.  They need new, um, mirrors!) a small 5x7 goes up in the far upper left and a 4x4 goes in the far lower right.

Tomorrow, I will show you the finished dining room, including the wainscoting!

Down Home or Hopsack?

This weekend, we began the tedious task of painting the houses. OK, we didn't exactly start. We started to start. If that makes sense.

After work Friday, we hauled butt to Sherwin-Williams where Doug (who rocks and helped us with our interior colors) waited patiently as we sauntered in at 5:58, when they close at 6.

As someone with previous retail experience, I totally know better, but did it anyway.

Here are the colors we had narrowed it down to: (left to right) Down Home, Hopsack and a color I forgot.

We didn't like the last one because it took on a greenish hue when we got the larger swatch on the house (You can't really see that here, but trust me, it was green!)

I really liked Down Home, and Brad did too, which surprised him, quote, "I let you get that color because you liked it. I didn't think I would. Damn."

So it was between Down Home and Hopsack. So we drove through neighborhoods pointing at houses screaming, "That looks like Down Home!" and "Ooh, Hopsack!" (Yes, I used the names.

'Cause I'm a dork like that. Are you new to this blog?)

After a few discussions, Hopsack won. Mostly because we though the caramel-y color would be better for resale. While we might like our house to look like a giant glass of chocolate milk, the next person might not.

So, we're totally cheating and not priming (Don't tell Doug!), but did decide that the house was in need of a good power washing. So, I couldn't start this weekend. Boo!

And since I absolutely couldn't stand it, I painted the mailbox.Next weekend, Brad will start painting Friday while I'm at work. We're booked with events all day Saturday. Events? Yes. Floating down a river, followed by a going away party. So, once we pull ourselves out of bed Sunday, painting shall commence. I'm quite excited!