Back in early December, we had our Thanksgiving dinner a few days late so we could enjoy it with my dad and when Dan would be off work. We had a great dinner with turkey & gravy, stuffing, sweet potato bake, asparagus casserole, crescent rolls and wine.
(Haha...can you see Lizzie peeking up from behind that bottle?)
We also went out to our favorite German restaurant one night.
Dad had asked me what I wanted for Christmas a while back. He had suggested a trip to Asheville, NC to spend a few days there and see the Biltmore Estate and tour all around. This sounded great, but I guess he could hear the hesitation in my voice.
I was really thinking that the trip sounded nice, but once we get back home, we'll be done and it's over. I was also thinking that every time we have guests at our house, we play musical chairs and tables to seat more than 3 people down to a meal, it's tiresome, awkward and a little embarrassing. I was growing very weary of this. I would be much much happier with a trip to Lowes to buy supplies to renovate just one room in this house and have his help and expertise to get this figured out.
So that's just what we did and we got a lot done too...things that Dan and I couldn't have really done by ourselves. But these things always take twice as long as you plan for and Dad had to go home after a week. The major holidays then took over our lives, and having a sick kid, a sick me and Dan worked so much, then these frigid temperatures and crazy weather made it impossible to open the windows for ventilation.
Here is a "before" picture:
There are just so many things about this room that I hated.
"99 Bottles of Wine on the Wall" was one of them.
Hello 1988...your wallpaper border is calling.
I did manage to find this very pretty rug on the sale pile at Home Depot. Let's just say it was much, much cheaper than ones very similar hanging in the display racks. I do love a good deal and the thrill of the hunt.
(By the way, are any of you even aware that my wedding dress was an eBay find? $99. Done.)
I learned a long time ago to redesign a room from the area rug up. It's where the whole color palette comes from and it's so much easier to match paint and the overall decor to a rug than find a specific rug to match the other things. I'm now on a quest for drapes. With this rug we can lean towards either blues, maroons, olives...whatever works and is on sale.
Here's Dad after we took down the wine bottle chair rail border. We were able to take it down in less than an hour using only hot water and fabric softener with a sponge. Could NOT believe it was that easy...and it smelled April fresh. We painted the top portion of the walls in a warm deep tan "coffee" color that we've used in the entryway in this house and various rooms in our previous homes.
I worked on taping out the trim and Dad and Dan worked on the wainscot bead board panels on the lower portions of the walls. We just covered the strange textured burlap-looking wallpaper that was there.
We replaced the old brass chandelier with a new burnished bronze one with upward shining amber shades...much easier on the eyes in more ways than one. That brass chandelier (which seemed to be plastic when I tapped it) burned my retinas with their harshness in trying too hard to fake fancy. I always walked out of that room with "sunspots" in my eyes and it cast strange shadows on the walls that I found distracting. This one is MUCH better and makes the room feel calmer somehow. The upward light reflecting from the ceiling, is also very flattering...remember that at your next dinner party. :)
We got all the wainscot panelling up, sealed the seams and tiny openings here and there. Then came the disappointing realization that we needed to strip the shiny finish off the wood trim before painting it a cream color.
I normally wouldn't want to paint woodwork, but this is very blah, worn out, dated and not a high quality wood. The upstairs has all painted trim, so I think it would be best to try to match that room by room over time.
Then it was time to clean up, move the new rug back in, move the buffet back to the wall and start looking for the perfect dining table and 6 chairs. I found a bunch of old pretty curtain rods in the garage, so all we need are some sort of curtains and we'll be done at long last.
So far, I'm liking this cottage style table with 6 chairs in the cream with natural top the best. For the price and quality, it's the best I've seen anywhere so far. This is showing a counter height model and we would definitely like a standard height better which I think would be less expensive too.
We are done painting and just need to replace the old outlet covers, put up a few pictures and decor items....get a table and chairs.
Our old beautiful buffet looks so lonesome...and dusty. I have also noticed that there are nearly identical scroll designs in the carved wood doors on the buffet and in the rug. The chandelier also repeats the scroll pattern too. I wish I could say I planned that. What a lucky coincidence. Would anyone notice that but me? Probably not, but it still makes me happy.
I will try to post photos of the finished room later on. I just really wanted to personally thank my dad for helping us with the hard stuff. We couldn't have taken on that task without your help and inspiration to just get started. I know you wanted to see the job through while you were here but as you know so well....home projects always seem to take much longer than we plan for them to. And maybe the last week of November isn't the best time to start a project like this?
Many memories of my childhood are accompanied by the scent of freshly cut or sanded wood, the smells of varnish and pipe smoke and the sounds of power tools and old time country music. I miss that. I always enjoyed the times we spent working on our houses together when I was a kid....it was fun. I enjoyed every minute of your time with us last month.
Come see us anytime! I'll always keep a bottle of Clan MacGregor in the cupboard for you and my favorite coffee cup is yours while you are here. Thanks Dad.
