Do you remember that time two years ago when we had a wall knocked down to open the kitchen to the dining room? And the workers fixed the ceiling where it was knocked down and primed that area and I have been living with a secret stripe of primer on one side of my dining room ceiling. FOR. TWO. YEARS. Who even does that? (Hangs head in shame). I even painted the walls charcoal gray shortly after the demo, but I just put off painting that dreaded ceiling. The little plate that covers the wiring and hole on the ceiling has been hanging there, dangling in anticipation, for two years. And I feel much better now that I have finally come clean.
Well I finally got the itch to get that ceiling painted (there may be a reason I will share soon!) and decided why not give the dining room a makeover while I am at it? Because we are about to hit the two year mark with those moody gray walls anyhow, and that’s a long time in this house. So I’ve made several changes with paint and also added some new chairs from Scout & Nimble, a fabulous online home furnishings shop curated by my friend Jesse! I kept the beautiful Marrakesh drapes from Lacefield because they bring in the navy I love which also ties into the kitchen; but also, they just look stunning and really stand out against white walls. I am ready and excited to share it all with you, no more artfully cropped ceiling shots!
Here is what it looks like today.
And for reference, in case you are new here, at the time of my Spring tour, it looked like this (please note the cropped shot so you don’t see as much of the ceiling and the dangling plate!)…
I have loved my moody gray walls, but I was ready for a change and ready to lighten it up. I had the wall paint color matched to my kitchen at my local Ace Hardware store. It turned out to be the Clark & Kensington color, White Opal, which was a perfect match. I had them mix the ceiling paint at 50% intensity, so that it would be a brighter whiter version of White Opal. The ceiling took only one coat, as this is paint and primer in one. The walls took 3 coats over the dark gray, but I chose not to prime at all. If I had, I am sure I would have still needed two coats of paint, so it was going to be 3 no matter what.
Of course, aside from painting the walls and ceiling, I had other plans. There was just too much brown going on in the room for me before, leaving it feeling a bit too stuffy and traditional for me. As pretty as those blue velvet French chairs were, they just weren’t me. And I wanted to give the bentwoods a makeover as well. I chose a semi-gloss oil based spray paint and went to town.
I am really happy with how they turned out. They have a beautiful, hard, and easy to clean finish. Also, you may notice that the industrial chandelier from Lamps Plus really stands out so much more against the white walls. I love the contrast! (Sorry, but it looks like they no longer carry this one).
And for the end chairs, I wanted something modern to add a little edge to the space. I chose the black S dining chair from Scout & Nimble. This chair is just so sexy with its sleek shape!
I only had 4 bentwoods, so I kept 3 on one side of the table, moved one into the living room with Chris’ desk, and was still in need of seating for the other side. About 6 years ago, I had a barnwood bench built to go with our table… I decided it was the perfect seating to add a casual feel. I layered it with sheepskins for comfort.
The larger pieces of furniture in the room all stayed the same…
The secretary that we use as a bar area got a new little “plant.” It’s a faux succulent planter from Homegoods and I can’t kill it. It’s fabulous!
The sideboard also stayed exactly where it was, but received some new green glass floats I found at the Lucketts Spring Market from Foundry. This piece is always so hard to photograph with the backlight coming in, but it’s so unique that I wanted to share.
How awesome are these floats? I found the ship last summer at a flea market.
I am sure you noticed that I added in many green accents this time around. I don’t know if it’s all the fresh green outside or what, but I am loving green right now. I added a living (pray for it!) plant from Ikea, using my Sweet Clover tin as a pot.
The table was decorated using green glass candlesticks I purchased years ago on clearance from Anthropologie. I added a thrifted bottle filled with Queen Anne’s Lace, a vintage book and shockingly some brass deer.
I also thought it was a great color to bring in and pull out from the paintings in the gallery wall. Catcher finds the room very peaceful now. Of course he’s part shepherd, so I am not sure how he feels about those hides.
And one of the best things about this space now is that it really flows with the kitchen and feels so much more unified.
I could not be happier with how this space turned out, but more importantly, the painting of the ceiling is no longer hanging over my head. Literally. The ceiling is a lovely fresh white, and the room in general feels so much bigger and brighter.
All in all, the changes I made were very minor as far as a room “makeover” goes. I painted and brought in some other seating options, but that’s really it! Just goes to show what a difference paint can make!
*I am a member of the Ace Bloggers Panel and Ace Hardware has provided with the paint used within this project. I was not compensated for my time and this blog post. All opinions and positions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Ace Hardware.
** Thank you to Scout & Nimble for collaborating with me on this post. I was not compensated and all opinions here are my own.
Sharing here: The Inspiration Gallery, Catch as Catch Can, Furniture Feature Friday, Link Party Palooza, Sundays at Home, Silver Pennies Sundays, Inspiration Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Best of the Nest, Thrifty Decor Chick’s Before & After