Adding Depth to Any Room!

I've never given much thought to the idea of painting ceilings any color other than white.....that is until recently.  My husband and I moved into a 1908 craftsman bungalow over two years ago and we are fortunate enough to have 9.5 foot ceilings.  I finished painting every single room in our house over a year ago and promised my husband I wouldn't paint anything else for a year.  The year mark hit and I got the painters itch.

Having sat with the colors in our house for a year and through all of the seasons, I'm confident in my color choices.  As with most of us bloggers/decorators/DIY people, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our living space.  Over the year, I've continued to see blog posts and magazine articles with ceilings painted. And then I realized I have a whole ton of untouched potential in my house!  I just needed to look up!

We have beautiful box beam ceilings in our dining room and I've continued to ponder how the box beams could really pop if I painted the ceiling.  My husband went out of town and I headed to the paint store.  He's used to coming home to changes in our house - he wouldn't have married me if he wasn't OK with it. 

I used Kendall Charcoal grey on the walls.  I asked the paint store to mix 50% of the color - that way the color is slightly lighter than the walls.

Here is the before:
(excuse the ladder and painters tape - I almost forgot to take the before picture!)

And the after:

I'm not sure I would recommend this to people with low ceilings - choosing a white is probably the best option in this situation. 

Next time my husband heads out of town, I'll be painting the fireplace room ceiling!  And I'll keep going until he tells me I need to take another year off.  When that time comes, I'll find another project.

If you're If you're in a place where you're happy with the colors in your home and looking for the next project, don't forget to look up! 

Our Dining Room Makeover

Here is what our dining room looked like when we first moved in.  While I like this pumpkin color, it wasn't the look I wanted.  

Primer can be helpful.

Not at all attractive!

Dark Blue is so much fun, but I had no idea that I would need about 5 coats of paint.  And this is one ugly light!

Notice the new light!  This isn't the final lighting choice for the dining room, but it will do until we can afford to purchase the one that we want.  This light will then move into the fireplace room.  It was a great purchase from a rummage sale - and all the credit can be given to my man for finding it.  Great find honey!

The back wall picture is a silhouette picture of my family.  I wasn't sure how it would look, but I'm happy with the result.

I've always liked the look of plates on walls.  I spent an afternoon finding a few plates that I liked.  The common theme?  Gold edges.  It feels finished to me, but I imagine if I find a plate that I can't live without, I will replace a few that are currently in the mix.

I searched all over town for a long buffet table.  Aaron and I both liked the look of old merchandise counters and so I was bound and determined to find one for our dining room.  I felt lucky when I found this piece!  This is actually the back of the merchandise counter - The front is all glass.  It's a perfect piece for our dining room.  A few hours of sanding is all it took to make it look amazing!

So far, I've found the two awesome metal chairs and this amazing old church bench.  The blue chairs are for another table that we use on our porch in the summer.  They are a temporary fix until I find a better match.  Finding the perfect chairs can be a difficult process!

What's missing?  Curtains & a Rug!  I have my eye on the perfect ones, but they aren't cheap.  We've gotta save for a  bit before the room will be completed.

Here is a picture I took on Thanksgiving before everyone came over.  It was such a warm feeling to see the table all decorated for a holiday.  This is what a home is all about!