Sunday, April 24, 2011

dining room reveal!

Remember when I wanted to create a dining room in my living room mentioned in this post. Well, although I bought my table, finally got the chairs I wanted, and tried to dress it up for my Valentines Day dinner, it still didn't feel like a dining room to me. 

It was just this table in the corner of the room.


So I added some mirrors...


And still...it did nothing for me. 


I was going CRAZY trying to tie it into the rest of the room. Then one day after looking at decor pictures I noticed that most man made dining areas in living rooms have pendant lighting to make it it's own "area". 

I do have two pod lights directly over the table but I didn't want to hire an electrician to switch out the lighting, so I decided to go with a faux pendant. I literally was dreaming one night and woke up with this cool idea. Bird cages are all the rage now... I swear everywhere I go I always see a million of them.  I wanted to hang a bird cage over my table to define the space a little more. 

While shopping at Michaels, I found this gorgeous medium sized shabby chic bird cage. It fit all my criteria, but when I looked at the price it was $15. I know that's cheap...but did I really, really want to spend $15 on a bird cage? I thought about my student loans (not that $15 would put a dent into them) and I put the bird cage down.  That's when my love saw the 50% off sale sign right next to cage.  I immediately snatched it back and ran into the check out line. This isn't the first time he spots a great deal for me. He must be my shopping angel :)


I was loving the bird cage when I got home, but I didn't have the chain link I wanted to hang it up with. I went into my craft stuff and brought out some tulle. I thought I could measure how long the "chandelier" would hang and then get my chain link another day. 

Since the tulle is so thin, I braided a piece and hung it up. Mike said the braid looked cool and thought I should keep it that way, but I hated it. I was totally buying the chain link. 


But even when I hung my faux chandelier, I was still not digging my space. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was missing COLOR.  The only reason I kept my entire room white was to match the carpet I never ended up with.  

I wanted the color to match my living room so I brought it some green to match the carpet. 



Now I was starting to like it! But that candle was not cutting it so I opted for another one. 


LOVE! It went perfectly with the birdcage, and now I was starting to like the braid I made earlier. Doesn't it look cute with it now? 



But....I still wasn't 100% head over heels in love with the dining room!!!

Sooo one day the angels pointed me into the right direction.  

I was on this blog and saw this particular post that inspired me. So I went to her website to see what she did in full detail and she actually got the idea from this website. This is why I love bloggers....ideas go from page to page to page :)  Soooooo...look what I did...

I cut out the template from this website, traced it on the wall...which took 4.5 hours. Yes, my hands were hurting the next day. But then I also had to paint the lines, which took even longer :(







Yeah, that's me painting my friday away :) 

And now....drum roll please....



AND AFTER!!!



Now I'm absolutely positively head over heels in love with my dining room.

What do you guys think? ;)

xoxo - ginny

***POST UDATE***
Thanks to YHL for featuring my dining room stencil project in their Reader Redesign!!!
For those asking about the paint color, it's Valspar "Garden of Paradise" Signature Interior Satin Base 4.


33 comments:

Ben Beaty said...

Looks awesome! When are you inviting me over for dinner?

-Ben

Landeelu said...

Oh my goodness!!!! That looks AMAZING!!! I will never get over the impact some paint will have on a space. And I LOVE your hanging bird cage! Fantastic job.... and I love the green!

Unknown said...

Ginny!! OMG THAT IS BEAUTIFUL!

Unknown said...

I love this so much!

Megan said...

Hi, I saw your link posted on YHL post. And I just have to say I absolutely love what you did and how it came out! I wish I had the patience to do something like this.

Bethany Cermak said...

Saw your comment/link from YHL - that looks so good. What a great way to define the space!

~Bethany
www.tipton-cermak.com

G's_art said...

Thank you guys so much! Yes, it was pretty rough on the hands but every time I walk into the space it's well worth it :)

Ms.JayQue said...

Came over from YHL and I can understand why you think the hard work was worth it. It's awesome!! I love it. Great job

Anonymous said...

Wow! I clicked on over from YHL. What a transformation. I love the green color you choose for the wall color it really defines your space. Great job!

Anonymous said...

GAH MAZING! I love the walls and I love that you used a birdcage for your chandelier. Genius!

Amy @ this DIY life said...

Beautiful! What an awesome change!!!

Katie said...

Dropping in from YHL. Congratulations on your beautiful space. I really love what the stencil does for the room. I would love to stencil my dining room as well! It adds such a touch of sophistication.

Anonymous said...

Hey, yours looks better than YHL!

Anonymous said...

Hi there, you did a fabulous job!! I love the stencil. :)

Courtney said...

OMG!! It is so fabulous! The only question is...when are you coming over to help me do that in my house!!! Hope you feel better soon! We miss you!
Court

Mel said...

This looks great! What color is that paint exactly? I tried a green in my kitchen, and I wanted it to look like that, but sadly, it doesn't. :(

Reenie said...

Here from YHL ~ you did a great job ~ I love it....and the birdcage :)

Paige @ Little Nostalgia said...

Popping over from YHL.

I literally gasped out loud when I saw this. I'm putting it on Pinterest RIGHT NOW. Love.

Valerie said...

Looks awesome! I like it even more than the original blog I saw it on...mainly because it's more visible and the color is great and the pattern is...sophisticated. love DIY projects! way to go!

Danielle and Clint said...

Amazing job!! You were right. It needed something more and you found the right touch!! Your hard work paid off!

Aye Two Bee said...

Love that green. What color and brand is it? Do tell!

Paula said...

You did an awesome job! It looks fab! Could you please tell me how many tubes of paint you needed to complete it with the gold? Or how many FL OZ?

Thanks!

Carrie said...

You are amazing! I need to replace the peeling wallpaper in my master bath and I wanted a wallpaper look without having to deal with the wallpaper again - thank you! I'm with Paula - how many small bottles of craft paint did you end up using? I will be heading to Hobby Lobby to stock up soon!

Anonymous said...

Looks great!! A light colored banquette would look fabulous in that corner! What a fun little nook!

Maura said...

Wow! Love the contrast. Great job.

Unknown said...

This is absolutely stunning. I love that color green. Please tell us the name and the paint brand. I have to have this! It is so gorgeous!

G's_art said...

Thank you all for the kind words! :)

The paint color is a Valspar color called "Garden of Paradise" Signature Interior Satin Base 4.

I used 1.5 bottles of the little metallic bottles for the lines.

Karla said...

How did you hide the pencil lines? How many coats did you apply?

White Lacquer said...

LOVE how it turned out!!! I've been trying to find a cheap or free stencil....and this one is fab! Thanks for the inspiration!!!!


x


Patience

G's_art said...

Karla, I only did one coat but I went back with an eraser and got some of the lines out. Thankfully the paint covered most of the pencil marks.

White Lacquer-Thanks!!! :)

Andrea @ Decorating Cents said...

I love this stenciled accent wall. I recently featured you at http://decoratingcents.blogspot.com/2011/10/trends-stencils.html. Please come by and take a button.

North East Factory Direct said...

just discover your site and i love it. this dining room is absolutely breath taking.love everything about it.

Furniture Store Denver said...

this dining room is soooo Gorgeous! and It is so modern and clean looking. I’m really impressed.