Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Voila!! The Dining Room is complete

Panic only set in one last time after the painting and baseboards were in...the night the furniture was delivered. The room was EXTREMELY dark, so dark, it felt like a cave. Granted it was 11pm, Hubby was playing hockey and the baby was freaking out because the delivery company decided it would be ok to deliver the dining set at such an ungodly hour. Oh and did I forget to mention that we didn’t have the light fixture in yet and the only light in the room was the pot lights?
The next morning I felt a bit better when I went downstairs to find it wasn't so bad...we just needed something big and white as a contrast to the dark wood – an area rug. Typically I am not a rug person but we really didn’t have a choice. The room needed it. Luckily, the rug Gods were smiling on us that day as we found exactly what we were looking for at the first store. A really nice cream, grey and beige, non wool (I am allergic) area rug.

The Finishing Touches


We added some art to the walls which was another quick DIY project. Hubby took some pictures of the city from the roof of a building in downtown Ottawa. We had them enlarged and we put them in matching frames. We lucked out and found the frames at Michaels. They already had prints in them, but the frames matched perfectly with the room. So we bought new mats sized for the frame and our prints. Removed the old prints and put ours in. The frames were $14.99 each, new mats were $13.99 each, prints were $2.49 each. For less than $100 we got 3 custom pieces of art. The only thing I would do differently is get the prints done in a matte finish so they don’t look as shiney through the frames.

As I was putting together the room, I found the china cabinet a little too ornate for our style. I was able to remove the top decorative crown which made it look a little less format. I added a runner to cover up the holes and found some picture frames in different sizes to display some more family photos.

With all the neutral colours in the house, I have decided to add a pop of colour here and there with accents. This way if purple is in this season and red the next, I can mix it up and keep the décor looking modern. I used purple hydrangeas in the centerpiece, purple candle holders on the mantle, purple napkins when I set the table for guests and eventually purple candle sticks (pretty hard thing to find) and a purple patterned pillow for the head chair. See? There is a method to my madness…

Here is a before, during and after picture of the Dining Room.

Before:

During the Frame Walk…
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View from the Living Room the day we moved in...
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During:

All the Big furniture is moved in...
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After:

Complete Room with pictures on the wall...
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