We have
been in our home for a while now. We have worked really hard to make our house
a home by adding, changing, and updating each room of the house. Most of these changes
have been accomplished with a simple coat of paint. Some have required a bit
more elbow grease. My latest project I took on and completed all by myself and
I am really proud of how it turned out. I gave my dining room an inexpensive makeover.
It took
me longer to tape my dining room than it took to actually paint. I splurged and
bought the easy removal painters tape that was supposed to come off smoothly…
it did not. It took off chunks of my wall. Next time I will be buying the old
tried and true cheap blue painters tape that we usually get. A majority of this
makeover is simply paint.
The
paint itself was great and only took two coats, which surprised me with painting
a light color over a deep dark red. I thought it would take at least three {we
color matched the colors and used Dutch Boy Platinum No Prep paint - $36.98 a
gallon}! The Knoxville Gray color that I chose for the main center part of the
wall is beautiful and it changes color throughout the day. Sometimes when I
walk through this room it looks blue and other times it looks green. I love the
personality of this color; if a color can have a personality this one would definitely
be fun. The light beige color that I painted over the red with is called Winds
Breath and it is very very light. I was unsure if I should have gone a bit
darker, but in the end I am very happy with my paint color choices.
Giving
this room a makeover was not expensive. I found my picture frames at Michaels
in the clearance section for $10 a piece {they fit an 11”x14” picture}. The
Paris picture my mother bought me as a birthday gift off of Amazon and I love
it. The colors in it compliment the room perfectly. The pictures on the wall
are of my three children that I photographed myself. I ordered the pictures
online and paid about $4 a print for the three pictures of my children. The
mirror hanging on the wall was a $20 garage sale find and the plate on display
was a wedding gift that we received that came out of storage. I replaced the
rug in the room with a neutral rug and since I sold the old one and bought the
new one we broke even on that transaction. The little artificial potted plants
{yup, those are fake plants} cost $4.99 a piece and the pots they are planted in
a whopping $.49! They were both purchased at IKEA. I was
looking for a topiary, but the ones I found were crazy expensive online – so I
went with the inexpensive and super cute IKEA ones. The table lamps and
curtains we already owned – same with the dining room table and buffet. My
total cost of this makeover was a gigantic $162.46!
I still
have to reupholster the chair seats, but so far I have not found a fabric that
I like so I am waiting to do this. I will no longer settle for things that I do
not love in my home, I will wait until I find something that I really want. I
am not the “it works for now” type of girl. I do not want to own things that I
do not like and I do not want to be constantly looking to replace them. I want
to love what I have and be happy waiting to find something that I love. I smile
every time I walk through this room and I find that I now walk through my
dining room several times a day now– where as I used to avoid it. This room
makes me that happy! It didn’t cost a
fortune to makeover and I could not be happier with the transformation.
