Painting the Dining Room – Update

I wrote about painting the dining room a while back…here’s how that’s going:

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The walls are great, if a little more GREEN than I wanted. I hung everything back on the wall, and it looks pretty good. The ceiling, however…well, I started painting the ceiling late one night. I got one corner done, and realized that Pesto and Fern Green, while looking nice together in paint-chip form, dreadfully clash in real life. Midnight is too late to deal with drama, so I stopped painting and went to bed. The next morning, they still clashed, so I have not done anything further on the ceiling. That one corner is still painted…I’m happy to let it stay that way until I can figure out what to do. Matthew suggested hiring Amy to paint some sort of mural on the ceiling, and that’s what we’re leaning toward doing.

I did paint the wall of the hallway adjacent to the dining room Pesto, and it’s beautiful. I kinda wish I had painted the whole dining room that color.

And the re-upholstered chairs look grand. My mom helped me with them when she came to visit a couple weeks ago. Eleven of the twelve are done.

Any suggestions for the ceiling?

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categories Home Decorating | | datetime January 25, 2006 10:15

  • http://www.xanga.com/gwyneth gwyneth

    wow…the chairs look amazing!  just do the gauzy drape thing on the ceiling like you did w/ your bathroom on tunk hill road.  OR, oh oh!  you could build a faux arbor up there…get some cheap wooden trellis stuff put it around the edges and put fake ivy/vines on it…and wind through some twinkle lights…that could be amazing!  it would even look good w/ untreated wood…(you could do the thing where you screw large hooks into the ceiling and do a just-barely-hanging sort of deal)

    and 1410?  holy crap.  i wasn’t REALLY asking…it was more supposed to be a high-schooly sort of title…that was only mildly related to my post.  i did NOT get anything that high…and my sister, who at the time was quite the underachiever, spanked my butt by 100pts!  oh well.  i don’t care.  i got into the college i wanted to go to…i’ve got my degree, and turns out it hasn’t done me a speck of good.  so…whatever.

  • http://www.xanga.com/sheldoggy sheldoggy

    there’s a good possibility i could make it up there for that weekend. i’ll get back to you guys.

  • http://www.xanga.com/ezygiel ezygiel

    gwyn’s ideas are good. i like the ivy/trellis one, but then i really like twinkle lights and any excuse to keep them up all year is a good one in my book. the chairs are beautiful. what about painting the ceiling the accent color from the fabric? a mural’s a good idea too, but i would feel horrible having to paint over it when i moved. unless you did it on a canvas, in which case you could just roll it up and take it with you….

    we didn’t really ‘try’ as far as that goes. i know it can be annoying though – we have a few friends going through the same thing right now, which makes me feel slightly guilty for having put no such ‘effort’ into it. have you done much research on that? i did quite a bit after and found out that it was timing and all that. unintentional, but it worked.

  • http://www.xanga.com/gwyneth gwyneth

    he’s told me more than once…to the point that i remember it and could convey the gist of it…

    you didn’t say anything about the arbor idea…hehe, oh well.  i could envision it, and it looked awesome.

  • http://www.xanga.com/miller_schloss miller_schloss

    Oh, right. I really like the arbor idea…I had thought about doing the same thing, but painting it on…paint a blue sky with clouds, and over that paint a faux trellis and grapes. But your idea of actually hanging one is much better, and would be a lot easier. I could still paint the blue sky, and then hang that garden trellis stuff, do the twinkle lights and grape vine, and then hang a wispy white canopy just over the table…I like that a lot.

  • http://www.xanga.com/gwyneth gwyneth

    i think that would look amazing!  i thought of the blue sky, too…w/ the lights…man, if it was me, i’d paint a night sky w/ stars, i think…but i like lower/mood lighting a lot more than daylight.  the white canopy would be so ethereal…nice.

  • http://www.xanga.com/ezygiel ezygiel

    i’m not sure i’d go the infertility route just yet. there are lots of things that can hinder getting pregnant. stress apparently is a big one. and making sure you get enough sleep. things that also affect your baby during pregnancy. there were a few studies that i’d read online – not sure i’ve kept the links, but i’ll see if i can find them.

  • http://www.xanga.com/fentzypoo fentzypoo

    WOW where did you get those amazing chairs??!? I am no designer…and i have NO idea what to do with your ceiling…sorry. :( I did see that mural while I was in the Vatican….the Sisten Chapel actually made me cry…it was so beautiful…and that painting is an entire wall…it is amazing…if you look closely directly in the middle (hanging of the foot of the man a little to the right) there is a skin of a man….He painted his own face in this skin…to show how he was hollow or sad or something like that…AND at the bottom right corner there is a man with a snake wrapped around him that is actually biting his crotch if i remember right…it was a high leader in the church that Michelangelo despised…so he painted him in hell…yes…with a snake biting his crotch…I think I would like Michelangelo if I were to meet him today.:)

  • http://www.xanga.com/whomhavei whomhavei

    I changed the colors on my site because I like change and I don’t think that the old colors were hard to read and I think that they contrasted quite nicely.  Secondly, I made reference to the fact that I could come up the weekend of the 4th of Feb, but apparently other people are coming so I was wondering if that would still be good for me to come.  Also, James and Scott want to come again too.  So it could either be really fun or really bad.  And if you’re too busy perhaps there are still other interesting places to go and people to see.

  • http://www.xanga.com/whomhavei whomhavei

    Also, post the pictures from last weekend

  • http://www.xanga.com/whomhavei whomhavei

    Also, as far as infertility goes, it’s probably matthew.

  • http://www.xanga.com/ezygiel ezygiel

    caffeine has adverse fertility effects

  • http://www.xanga.com/fentzypoo fentzypoo

    oh that Craigslist!!! I went to Italy my inbetween my soph. and jr. year with a group from my university….we were studying humanities and art…it was a blast…I wasn’t really excited about going…BUT i feel in love with Italy…you would adore it too I am certain!

  • http://www.xanga.com/Marciaran Marciaran

    No kidding, I don’t particularly want to “Maximize my Manhood!!”

    Your chairs and wall look fabulous!

  • http://www.xanga.com/sonoftheking sonoftheking

    The mural idea sounds good.  It will give it a personal feel.

  • http://www.xanga.com/stforever stforever

    I like the chairs a lot and the color is nice. We just painted our bathroom several months ago. We still have it unfinished because we haven’t gotten our tile down yet. I am ready for that bathroom to be done. Here is a pic of the color we did. It is just a little bit darker than the color you used and I think ours may have a little more olive in it.

    http://i1.tinypic.com/mkae6b.jpg

    Now we need to move on to the rest of our house. Our house is sooooo white! Take care girl. I hope you have a great day. Love, Sharon

  • http://www.xanga.com/stforever stforever

    Awe, I am sorry the color wasn’t the green that you wanted. We were really pleased with the color of our bathroom. I will have to find the swatch and let you know what color it was. Yes, our house needs desperate help. I would love our family room painted but we have a challenge. Our house is very open. When you walk in, you walk right into our living room. We have a huge vaulted ceiling and an upstairs loft and everything is open and exposed. So we can’t just paint our living room. We would have to have someone come in and paint our living room all the way up to the top of our vaulted ceiling, our upstairs loft and our hall because all of it is connected. Does that make sense? I just can’t see that being done soon so am hoping to find a nice picture to go over our couch, some decorative accessories and we will just have to paint our bathroom, kitchen, guest room, and dining room for now.

  • http://www.xanga.com/africaflyboy africaflyboy

    The mural idea is good. But, it lacks a modern feel. How about, paint the ceiling a flat white or something equally dull. Then speckle it with something like black, or neon pink. Then throw in a bit of sponged in glo-in-the-dark highlights. And voila! you have the hideous ceiling of the week award.

    Um, yeah, so I’m not much of an interior decorator.

  • http://www.xanga.com/ezygiel ezygiel

    fantastic. thanks for the help! :)

  • http://www.xanga.com/mmmattress mmmattress

    Woah, I need to weigh in here…while I’m sure caffeine and stress (both of which are constantly in my bloodstream) reduce fertility, it’ll take a whole lot of convincing to make me scale back on either…I mean, just the thought of giving up coffee stresses me out!

  • http://www.xanga.com/daniellehanley daniellehanley

    Did you do what Christopher Lowell suggested and paint the walls and the ceiling different shades from the same paint chip? The ceiling is supposed to be the lightest shade.

    I would paint the corner back to the original and ignore it.

    And, to butt in on the infertility topic, are you underweight? Do you eat enough fat?

  • http://www.xanga.com/gwyneth gwyneth

    oh.  well…uh.  i don’t know what to say to that.  she didn’t take any of those pictures…i took ‘em all.  she took some of me, too, but i am in no hurry to put those on the internet.

  • http://www.xanga.com/fentzypoo fentzypoo

    hey there is a friend of mine (an intern that matthew never knew) that is asking on her xanga about people’s trials and opinions of the pill….www.xanga.com/stforever….i am sure she would LOVE to hear your thoughts!!!

  • http://www.xanga.com/LittleJo712 LittleJo712

    The chairs and the wall look very nice.  Also, I think you will do well in the pagent. I have known 2 people who have won Mrs.Indiana, the current and a girl I went to HS with. It will be a fun experience.

  • http://www.xanga.com/BethanyNLove BethanyNLove

    Hey. I like to color and the chairs look really cool. I would paint it back to its original color–white-ish—then, the mural sounds cool. My friend is an interior EXPERT. I taught her all she knows  haha  She painted a green wrap vine going up the wall with grapes..you can paint any kind of fruit as long as it doesn’t already clash with the green on the wall. I wouldn’t do apples. Then like every 5 inches she would swirl a leaf vine and make it kinda pop out..you know..3D effect it in a way. I actually have a sky on my ceiling in my bedroom. I put up glow in the dark stars so at night, they glow. Its supercoolj. You can paint either like an orchid of fruit on a trailis ?  and then put an arbor in their. We have 2 wooden arbor in front of my house. I think it would be cool if you put the arbor kinda off to the side..not the middle of your wall and drew the vines and fruit around it and then put real vines on the arbor. That would give it a major 3D effect.

    I know it will look great!  Just get your rest. Don’t forget to drink water!!!

  • http://www.xanga.com/karlitacat karlitacat

    The chairs are gorgeous… and the green that I can see looks good. As for the ceiling… definitely NOT the mural you have linked!  Hehe.  I’ve always wanted to paint clouds, you know, with a sponge… but you need the right room, and I have a feeling the dining room is not it.  I thought I read somewhere that the ceiling should be two shades lighter than the walls… so something green, but not pesto green.  Just get some white paint and mix it into the pesto until it’s the shade you want.  You could colorwash it into the ceiling so it’s swirly – that might be purty, sort of a “cloudy” effect. 

  • http://www.xanga.com/italygrrrl italygrrrl

    hey, nice to meet you (in the xanga way)!  I’ll definitely share all I know with you about Mrs. Georgia.  I don’t know much, since this is my first pageant ever.  I did it on a whim- to set a goal for myself.  My pageant is next month, and wow, I’m nervous!  What do you want to know? 

  • http://www.xanga.com/hannahbarton hannahbarton

    The chairs are fantastic! And that’s a pretty cool picture. It reminds me of… monks.

  • http://www.xanga.com/jslewis jslewis

    What about black?? Black goes with everything!

  • http://www.xanga.com/curlybecca curlybecca

    Hey, I decided to share my thoughts for once… As far as the ceiling mural goes, I would seriously think over doing it while in the rental apartment, especially if you have Amy paint it. It’d be devastating to have to paint over it when you move out.

    It really is a great idea though, especially if you had her do it because it would add a lot of sentimental value. Maybe look into the “paint it on canvas” idea, OR… instead of trying to make a big piece of fabric look like it’s a painted wall, just make it a big painting! Maybe she’d do a really cool huge painting that you can get framed (or mounted cheaply somehow), and it could do the job of a mural (be decorative, give ambience, match the rest of the room) without trying to look like something that it’s not. I think that’d be awesome, personally, to have a huge framed painting that my sister did as the centerpiece of my main room.

    I’m glad to see you’re being so experimental (not in the “alternative lifestyle” sort of way, but in the “jump in feetfirst” sort of way) with your decorating. :) I suppose you never know what will happen until you give it a try! Can’t wait to have my own place and do the same things!

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