6.18.2012

Our Dining Room: The “Plan”

I used to not understand why the first thing we did when we closed on our house was paint the dining room (seriously. why.), but now I know that it is all because of that nasty little bug I discussed last week. With the dining room, I was the student who wrote an essay in 5 minutes without knowing their thesis statement. Metaphorically speaking, of course. English teachers everywhere get frustrated with students like me. English students everywhere get frustrated with teachers like me trying to make everything a metaphor.

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Let’s put it this way: I painted the dining room a deep, dark teal without any clue about what the rest of the room would look like. And maybe smarter, less clueless people would know how to deal with this in a way that didn’t require repainting, but I am not one of those people. Instead, I’m slowly putting together a “plan.” It’s only a “plan” as opposed to a PLAN because, historically, my “plans” are generally just Potential Scattered Thoughts That Change Monthly Daily, IF I have a plan at all. However, this is the first time I’ve ever actually thought about all of the pieces before I just started haphazardly slapping paint on the wall (obviously), and it is my goal to make it into a PLAN.

Are you following me?

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1. Walls in Benjamin Moore Hazy Skies. It’s a taupish-grayish-greenish sorta color. I think. I’ll decide for sure once the chair fabric arrives. Either way, I will be going with a lighter color. Our dining room gets very little natural light, and the current dark wall color makes it even more cave-like.

2. Hutch in Benjamin Moore Fairview Taupe. The buffet in my “plan” looks nothing like our actual hutch, but that was my color inspiration. And as you can see from the picture below, we’ve made great improvements to it since we moved in. I strategically styled all of that junk to draw your eye away from the crooked drawers and other impairments. I read about that trick in House Beautiful.

hutch_thumb3Bjorn appears to enjoy his life amongst clutter.

3. Two upholstered end chairs in Premier Prints Duck Oatmeal. Duck oatmeal sounds like something we would have tried on our cruise. Yum? I don’t currently have these chairs, and will definitely not be attempting to reupholster them myself, but I’m liking something like this:

Camille-Tufted-Chair--Tufted-Chair--[2]

Let’s all take a moment and laugh about how I will never own $300 dining room chairs.

4. Curtains in Artee Cotton Duck Aqua.

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I’d like to layer the curtains and have some white in there as well, probably using the same fabric I used in our bedroom.

5. Fabric for the chair seatsCovington Savannah Paisley Surf. Both this and the fabric for the curtains has been ordered and shipped.

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6. A pretty girly chandelier. Maybe. Maybe something more simple. We’ll see what I can find. I seriously have a thing for chandeliers...

7. Eight shield-back chairs (my Downton Abbey replicas) painted antique white.

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Same shape + slightly different patterns = a better match than eHarmony could come up with. Or something.

8. Large table stained dark oak. We already have this, too, purchased from Craigslist a few months ago. It extends to 108” with the leaves. I’m tempted to hire out for the refinishing process, because sanding intricate little things sounds torturous makes me want to thread my hair through my nasal cavities is not my idea of a good time. We’ll see.

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Aaand that’s my “plan.” Implementing this" “plan” is on my “to-do list” for the summer. It’s only a “to-do list” and not a TO-DO LIST because I recently found my TO-DO LIST from last summer and laughed about how 3 things were crossed off of a list of 85.

Are you a “planner” or a PLANNER? What do you hope to accomplish this summer? Do you use that tip about using clutter to draw the eye away from eyesores?

32 comments :

  1. love the plan! it's going to be stunning!

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  2. I LOVE everything about your plan! The colors and style of furniture is going to be fabulous!

    I'm not really a planner, but I should be!!

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  3. I love the new plan! I think the dinning room will look great when you're all done :) Is it weird that I'm a little bummed you'll be painting over the teal (We rent and therefore cannot paint such bold colors on our walls so I'm living vicariously through you)?

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    1. I still love the color of the walls, but I seriously was at a loss for what everything else should look like. It's hard for me to think about accessories when the walls really draw your full attention. It all seemed either like too much going on or not enough, with white and neutrals to balance out those walls. Like I said...someone smarter could figure it out. :)

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  4. I love your plan.
    I have to say, I don't think its that big of a fail that you want to change the color already/that you painted without a plan. When I moved into my condo I immediately painted every wall without a plan, just painted to colors I liked and felt comfortable with. Now I can relax and redo rooms as ideas come!

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    1. Yes, it's certainly not as bad as wanting to redo everything in the room. I just don't like the idea of painting at room twice-there's a lot of cutting in with all of the trim and the built-in hutch. Oh well. :)

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  5. Your "plan" is soooo pretty. I think the Downton chair makeover is going to be my favorite part!

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  6. It's going to be beautiful. :)

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  7. Watching this unfold is nice. I *love* your colors! It already looks massively better than when you moved in!

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  8. Sounds like the perfect plan to me!! Loving the aqua and taupe color combo..and loving the fabric for the chairs!!

    P.S. I nominated you for a blog award, so go check it out! Xo
    alighthouseonacoast.blogspot.com

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  9. So excited to see how it turns out! I'm definitely a "planner" because I get all sorts of ideas and kind of go crazy in my head and write them all down in random places, but I get discouraged or distracted because it takes awhile to save enough money to totally "redo" a room or just space in general.

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  10. Love your "plan"! Wishing you luck on reaching full plan status.

    That chair fabric is GORGEOUS! I love it- especially with the aqua curtain fabric! Can't wait to see it come together. Still super jealous about your shield back chairs- they are beautiful! That's a great table find too!

    Are you planning on adding some doors and things to your hutch?

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    1. Hahaha yes...open storage isn't really our thing. Obviously. I plan on keeping the upper shelves for display but definitely getting doors for the bottom to we can keep junk in there without everyone being like why do you have so many bottles? Which is a legitimate question but....still. :)

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  11. I am completely with you! I did the same thing with our dining room and hate it because I realized too late that the room that it currently the dining room is NOT the room that I want to be the dining room. So yeah, that would have been good to think about before decorating it.

    I love the fabrics and the colors!

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  12. I love your plan!! I typically do not come up with plans...thus the state of my home? I don't know. I tend to throw things together and then force myself to work with it. I am so amazed at people that have the courage to order fabric from the internet - can't wait to see it all come together!

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    1. Fabric.com is great—free shipping and returns. You can’t go wrong. I have taken advantage of that free return thing several times when the fabric wasn’t what I expected it to be!

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  13. My 'plans' involve me hunched over my laptop pinning things for hours on end, then realizing suddenly that it's dark outside and I can't actually DO of any of those things because any pictures I'd want to take documenting the process would look like crap, so then I wait till the next day...and repeat.

    Actually it's kind of okay though because we're still in a rental house so half the stuff I want to do I can't really anyway.

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    1. haha I know how that goes. If only I spent as much time DOING as I do “planning.” I’d have the whole house done by now. :P

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  14. oh the color scheme is going to be gorgeous! It is really going to look beautiful once you have it finished!

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  15. You could take that gorgeous table to the refinishers just to have them strip it (they sometimes have a big ol' tank they dip pieces in) then you could finish it however you like.

    My mouth is positively salivating thinking how incredibly beautiful your Downton Abbey chairs will look with their new wardrobe. That fabric actually looks pretty snazzy against your current disfavored teal walls...

    It's too hot to decorate anything too strenuously here, so I spend most of the day in the pool thinking about it. :D

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    1. Yeah, those poor teal walls. I just can't make them work. It's obviously not the color itself since it found its way into my fabric selection, as you noticed. ;)

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  16. This is going to be gorgeous! Love the fabric, love the colors you've chosen and love the "idea" of the tufted chairs - sadly reality crept in there while you were dreaming. I lust after Barbara Berry side tables for my bedroom knowing I'll NEVER get them - who would spend $1500 on a bedside table?

    As far as Planinng vs planning - just a planner as things change as they come together. My rooms never turn out exactly how I envisioned, but a close proximity makes me happy enough.

    Have fun with this project.

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  17. I like your plan. A lot. I'm trying to do better with planning instead of just jumping in and then regretting decisions later...and then spending more money because I didn't do it right the first time. Let me know how this plan thing works out.

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  18. Not sure what I love more....your "plan" or your sarcasm about basically all of it. Your name is "Erin" after all. Or is it ERIN? ;)

    If you happen to pull it all off, it's going to be gorgeous.

    P.S. I recently found my "household" to do list that I wrote 10 years ago. No. Really. 10 years ago. I think 3 things were crossed off that list, too.

    Oh...and my plans for the summer are to not go insane with the kids home. Daunting task. ;)

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  19. I'm not even a "planner." But I think your PLAN will be amazing.

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  20. I'm a "planner" as in I make a ton of lists and then barely get any of it done, except sometimes I actually do get things done, which amazes me. I really love your "plan" for the dining room. I'd probably be like you when I get a house, go nuts painting walls and then realize that I picked the wrong colors, Oops.

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  21. I am loving your new plan. Don't be too hard on yourself. Very few people know what the heck their plan is when they move to a new house. That's why there are blogs and designers:)

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  22. Oh, man, I am so excited to see what you do with this! Can I say again how jealous I am of those chairs?

    Also, we helped my bro and his wife move into their new house last week. It's an older house and I made them read your new homeowner euphoria post and we joked about it all day. Like, "Oh, I'm just going to retile the bathroom really fast then watch Titanic when I'm done." Anyway, thank you for that.

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    1. hahaha that's great...were you able to watch the whole movie? ;)

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  23. I'm with you. I am definitely a "planner."
    I think you are going to finish this project and it is going to look amazing! Those Downtown Abbey chairs are going to look great with the new fabric and paint. Good luck =)

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  24. Anonymous6/20/2012

    I love how all the colours in your mood board look together! And, hey, I bet the teal was easier to live with than that red!

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  25. Your plan looks amazing! I love everything you chose. Where oh where did you get your chairs from? This girl needs to know the deets :)

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