A very bland dining room/great room just begging for some love.
And the possible wallpaper/ wainscotting combo for the wall right of the dining table.
All of this talk and all of these thoughts of my kitchen overhaul are causing me to go in the entire other direction. No, I’m not changing my design plan, just reevaluating my priorities. I started out wanting to do more, to do things entirely different, and I am on the path to doing less and doing things in the same tone as previously planned. Why the big change? Well, for one, budget constraints are a major issue. There are so many small projects that need to get done that will make an overall large impact if I do finish them, that putting our entire home budget into one project and leaving the rest unfinished seems silly. That, and part of me thinks I really should start with the small stuff and work up from there. As I struggle with my personal fitness, I encounter the same challenges- start slow, with easy workouts, and THEN run the marathon. Makes sense, no?
Since we are working within a budget (who isn’t, really?), my first way to remedy my “sights set to high” ailment is to work with with what we have. I have hundreds of dollars of wallpaper in my closet, some bought on sale just because they were on sale, other designer ones bought at full retail with a design plan in mind. It seems like a no-brainer to start wallpapering these builder’s beige walls baby, because wallpaper can make a HUGE impact, and will hopefully satiate my redesign urges for a small amount of time. So, my first plan of attack, first thing to check off the to do list is to FINALLY do something with our boring dining room (after a year of nothing).
I have approximately enough wallpaper to create a feature wall on the wall right of the dining table. I have toiled endlessly on what to do with the wall because of the darned windows (but I love windows!). No large statement piece of art would be able to go there, an 2 large pieces of art would just compete for attention with the window. I also tossed around the idea of some great custom millwork to display some pretty accessories, but if I’m going to do built-ins, I’d like to do them right- and right now, the budget aint right. So wallpaper it is. I picked out this wallpaper about a year ago, and although I’m not head over heels for the pattern like I was back then- it’ll do for now. I think I’ll paint the wainscotting in a colour matched to the greyish blue green of the wallpaper. By doing the wainscotting, I can stretch out the wallpaper supply and repeat the same thing on the buffet wall! Now…let’s just see if I’ll ever actually get around to this! Friday’s the plan…so let’s see!