This time last year I was gearing up to demo the Dining Room (just the unoriginal wall paneling and ceiling tiles - our home was built in 1912 with plaster walls and ceilings), but my contractor never showed to quote the work to do new sheetrock (I can tell that either the original plaster is gone or severely damaged from other finishes being nailed alll over it). Since then, I have had the pleasure to work with another contractor for this same scope of work on one of my projects and will be getting the much anticipated quote soon! I have held off on demo-ing the walls and ceilings until I know for certain that this will be a reasonable price and can be done immediately after I demo. I don't want to have a naked Dining Room sitting for a year! As you can see, we are still enjoying and using this space even though it doesn't look its best yet.
Originally, when I was thinking about starting this project I only had painting over the yellow paneling and tacking up the falling ceiling tiles in mind. Quick and easy. But then I thought, if I am going to do this, I am going to do it once and do it right! It is actually A LOT of painting materials and labor that will go into it, it is such a big and tall room! Otherwise, paint is no big thing for me. A year of chiropractor visits and pandemic prices continuously climbing will change your mind though.
If you are interested, you can visit HERE for the Before Before when the room was empty and nothing had been done yet. Since then, I have checked off a few things on the To Do List and added a few more. So let's visit that:
FINISHED:
Removed paint from side porch door
Switch light fixture
Found Dining Table (it was free!)
TO DO LIST:
Sheetrock quote
Clear out
Demo unoriginal wall and ceiling material
Assess (record original colors and openings)
New Sheetrock on walls and ceilings
New Paint
Picture Rail molding - stain to match original trim color
Remove paint from baseboard - re-stain to match original
Restore stain finish on doors
Chandelier: canopy and bulbs
Custom Rug
Move in Furniture
Curtains + Hardware
Recover Chair seats
New Furniture
Buffet Table
Dumbwaiter table
Fresh paint on Plant Stands + Ferns
Decor
TO DO LATER:
Refinish Hardwood floors
Possibly reopen original openings (I think it is 2 windows) on the West Wall.
Surprisingly, the design for the Dining Room has not changed in all this time! I do want to adjust my wall paint color to Farrow and Ball "Old White" instead, it has a more grey tan look in the space than the yellow tan of Sherwin Williams "Downing Sand" that I first picked - and goes better with something in the adjacent Parlor that I will be sharing very soon! I didn't know which color/pattern drapes I wanted at first, but now I am searching for an olive green silk to pair with maybe a green damask for the chair seats. I also have been gifted something absolutely beautiful for this room and can not wait to share it! I have had a year to search with no luck for an antique rug that will fit the space and my dining set, so I know for sure I am going with a more customizable solution instead that I have had my eye on for years wanting to do somewhere.
So fingers crossed that this project works out this time! I am so ready to have this last space downstairs redone so we move our focus to the Kitchen and upstairs bedrooms. And I realllly want to host a murder mystery dinner! Oh, and a proper Victorian tea party as well, of course!
You can follow along with the progress via the One Room Challenge event that is an 8 week long challenge for you to take on a room and knock out that makeover you have been wanting along with tons of others! It is something I look forward to each Spring and Fall whether I am participating or just following along. In the past years I have found so much inspiration and so many friends, so I highly recommend taking a scroll down the One Room Challenge Blog!
