When I realized that once again our girls wouldn't be home for Christmas,
I decided to make good use of the time between Thanksgiving and our belated Christmas celebration to transform at least one of the rooms on our main floor into a space that's
merry and bright.
I chose our dining room.
In a perfect world, I would have repaired the plaster walls first, but since it's
taken us years to repair the foyer, stairwell, upstairs hallway, and guest bedroom plaster
(including the ceilings), I've come to the conclusion that the dining room and
living room walls may not be repaired in my lifetime!
Our house is 90 years old and her plaster is cracked only because some foolish DIYer
removed a small load bearing wall in the basement in the 70's. Like a gracefully
aging movie star (are there any?), she's going to accept the lines and cracks in her walls.
No botox. No plastic surgery or collagen injections. Just a little lot of primer
and flat wall paint and the transformation is complete!
I painted the formerly depressing green walls with Benjamin Moore contractor grade paint in
Palace White. It covered the walls beautifully and camouflaged the imperfections.
The hardest decision was whether or not to paint the original dark walnut
crown molding and windows. The tall base molding had already been painted over
by a previous owner, so that helped seal the deal for me.
Since I'm keeping the dark wood finish on the interior doors in our house,
I left the window sashes dark and painted the trim and crown molding
with a creamy white gloss paint. The crown molding throughout the house is designed to hold
picture rail hooks for hanging pictures, so I'm going to order a few and give them a try.
Maybe I won't have to pound quite so many holes in the plaster walls. :@
While I had the paint can out, I also brightened up this old window
which was previously finished with a dark stain. Years ago, I mounted a mirror
to the back side of the window and screwed wood brackets and fluted molding
on top to hold my favorite plates. The vintage red & white transferware cups and saucers
are a recent purchase to add a little Christmas cheer to this wall.
The flip side of this large church window has a pretty maple finish, but I'm trying
to limit the number of wood pieces in the room. The dry sink may get a
coat of paint in the future, but these hands are tired of painting right now!
I didn't want to muck up this post with dreary before pictures,
but if you'd like to see the gloomy room as it looked a few weeks ago,
you can click on the green dining room photo to the right on my sidebar.
I found the vintage bottle brush wreath and deer ornament (and the cups and saucers) at
Annabella's in Bovey, MN. Since the deer is missing a foot and kept toppling over,
I wired him to the wreath where he seems quite content sniffing out dust mites.
If you're ever in that neck of the woods, be sure to make the shop a destination!
Two main street buildings are filled with wonderful old junk and a charming cafe where they serve
regional favorites like sarmas. Last year I was even serenaded by a polka band while I shopped!
She's too fat for me. Too, too fat for me.......
Since I seem to be going with a candy cane color scheme in the room,
I set my Iittala ( ee' ta la , Finnish glass manufacturer) candlesticks topped by
red velvet ornaments and an old white pitcher on top of the secretary.
The kitschy deer thing-a-ma-jig is resting on top of my red & white kitchen scale.
A vintage pop bottle holds a flame shaped ornament like a candle.
(We call it pop in these parts, but you probably call it soda or coke.)
The vintage silver bottle brush tree next to the bottle
was only 25 cents at an estate sale a few years ago.
I kept the mantel pretty simple.
(That's part of a living room window reflected in the glass.)
I've got lots of vintage ornaments that I've collected over the years......
and plenty of old Santas in every shape and size!
I had some fun setting up a snowy scene.
I stitched up a table runner from red & white ticking.
The rug has been rolled up and the window treatments, too.
The mismatched pressed back wood chairs will be painted
before they make it back into the room.
A simple arrangement of old glass ornaments is the centerpiece.
Can you think of a better way to fill the big black firebox than with a small red piano?!
To the left of the dry sink is a recently installed antique, unsightly and
leaky radiator, a fact I discovered just last night!! I'll be calling the plumber back pronto to
do the job right!
The radiator is topped by a double-hung window which received the same paint finish
as the other two. I've got a craftsman style rad cover which needs a few adjustments
and a coat of paint before it's installed.
So, that's what I've been up to while the rest of you have been busy
baking, and shopping and getting ready for your holiday visitors.
Now, I know I said
our girls won't be here for Christmas,
but who knows.......
A special delivery could change everything!
Merry Christmas!
Vickie
*I'm joining the holiday parties at:
For Rita.
