To Dine For

Transforming my dining room was my first real home improvement project and I'm feeling really good about it. When I moved in, the room had wallpaper which I didn't like. When we took the wallpaper down we discovered the walls were not in good shape (hence the wallpaper). My challenge was figuring out how to get vast expanses of spackling, drywall and other miscellaneous imperfections to match the rest of the walls' texture. I let Google guide me and was not disappointed with the solutions I found.

Here's what Chad and I ended up doing: We watered down drywall compound to the consistency of pancake batter and then rolled it on the walls with a cheap paint roller. It worked really well, giving the walls a nice even texture! Others seem to think this idea is the cat's meow as well.

Then, we used Behr paint and primer (on the recommendation of Consumer Reports, Becky's blog and my own personal color preference) to finish it off. The color is called Sandstone Cove.

Bonus: Chad also put in all new outlets and switches and convinced me to get a new light fixture. I ended up with a little gem of a chandelier from Lowe's.

Before

During

After
(please ignore the shadows the chandelier is casting and the lack of baseboards...I'm still getting to those)