The 10 Year Dining Room

I feel like a weight has been lifted

The dining room walls are done

It took the better part of the weekend

but it is done

and I love it

Which is good because by my husband's

calculations, it's staying this way for the next 10 years

Here's a quick look at where we started

My first attempt

I totally went into the store thinking neutral

but ended up picking this color

which I still like....just not on my dining room walls

I was like a kid and something shiny

I got distracted and confused

or as my husband says I was like Cartman from South Park

Scott:  "I thought you wanted a neutral color"

(Oh please, please, please don't pick that color)

Me:  "But it will light up in the sunlight"

this is what Scott heard

I don't care, I'll do what I want! (said in Cartman's voice)

On Friday he finaly conceeded to my begging

and agreed we should re-do the gold paint

In his words

"Well if you want this done you better start priming"

So I grabbed our 5 gallon bucket of primer and went to work

by the end of Friday night it looked like this

Why did I only prime half the wall

Oh didn't I mention

I convinced Scott that we needed to do faux board & batten

to ensure the room had the neutral look we were going for

So next we marked where the batten was to go

we used masking tape so we could get a visual

and move it around to get the exact look we were going for

we ended up spacing them 20 inches apart

and if one of the batten landed on a electrical outlet

we just moved that one a hair

when it is all said and done - you can't even tell

that one or two are slightly under or over 20 inches apart

After we got our measurements for the chair rail

and batten we headed off to Home Depot to pick up our supplies

we used lattice (I don't think this is truly lattice, but that's what HD called it)

for the "batten" and window casing for the chair rail top part

both of these were already primed

It was $30 for the chair rail & around $50 for the lattice

Once we got the supplies home

I taped up the lattice to get a better visual

This was so helpful

we made a few adjustments

and then we were set to nail them in

by we I mean Scott

we had my dad's fininshing nailer

so it made things go much faster 

Lilly was our helper through the whole process

she even put up her own piece of batten

and measured it

and marked it

with a pen

which lead to a conversation of where we

can use pens, crayons, pencils

and where we cannot

Every time the finishing nailer would turn on

the girls would do this

Once all the batten were up

we started painting the top

I let Scott guide the color choice this time

we went with Ozone by Behr Premium Plus

I had them mix it 75% because I was worried about it being

"too much" color

I am very happy with the color

It gives the room such a soothing relaxed feel

I did all the edging and Scott rolled

I hate rolling and would much rather edge

Although I did leave the ceiling edging for him

Hey when you have a husband who is 6 ft & 7

and he doesn't need a ladder for this step

it just makes more sense

Bye bye in your face gold

hello calm soothing blue

Next the chair rail went up

I honestly didn't do much at for this step

This was all Scott

he measured, cut, fit, measured again and nailed them all in

I just followed behind and filled in the holes with wood putty

We painted the bottom half the same color

as the trim in the rest of our house

which is Behr ultra white

in semi-gloss I think

When it was all said and done

it looks like this

Collective....*sigh*

so much better

every time I walk in the room

I breath a sigh of relief

and think that I have a wonderful

understanding husband

...who probably deserves a cross bow

this coming fall

As we were painting I would hear

"cross bow" whispered every so often

by the end I think it became his mantra

Now the fun part

some curtains

wall decorations

and we are done

oh yeah...and still figuring out the chair situation