project paint the walls

in keeping with my word words for 2014 i'm happy to say that the we've started knocking projects off our "operation house into home" list.  during the month of january we painted our breakfast nook.  and for serious, it took a month.  not just because we have little people running around the house that require most of our attention, rather it was because of the type of paint job we tackled.  as well as the attention starved little people running around.  i'd seen this pin a long long long time ago and threw the idea out to rob some time last year.  we need a bit of time to process whether we're going to do something or not.  don't even get me started on how long it's taken us to decide on wallpaper.

we knew we didn't want more grey and that we wanted/needed to inject some colour.  an ombre wall seemed like the right choice for what we wanted.  and as we were looking through paint fan decks, it became apparent to us that there seems to be a colour theme developing in our house.  blue, grey, white with an ever changing accent colour, currently it's orange.

our breakfast nook started out as a blank canvas.  when we built this house there were only a few rooms we had the builder paint a colour different from the main colour in the house (grey).  paint is something we can tackle, except maybe the gigantic wall in the family room.  i'm not so keen on getting up on scaffolding to paint that sucker.  but a ladder or a chair?  no problem.

we used four different shades of the same colour, had to tape each line very carefully, paint it and let it dry.  because of that we only painted a line a weekend.  hence it taking us an entire month just to paint three walls, most of which are covered in windows. we painted the bottom section first.  no reason other than we thought it would be easier to start at the bottom, then do the top and meet in the middle.  next time we'd start at the top and then work our way down.  that way there would always be a lighter colour to paint on top of instead of the other way around.

i highly recommend using frog tape for a project like this.  there were absolutely no paint bleeds between the stripes or around the door or window casings.  we used general paint.  wasn't that impressed with how the paint covered.  it seemed thin.  but, i loved these particular shades that general had.  

and now, ta-da.  the finished product.  just excuse the mismatched chairs.  we ordered our eames eiffel chairs and we're missing a few pieces for them.  as well as a couple of the chairs are cracked.  so we're now waiting on the parts and three new seats to arrive.  in the meantime our table and chairs are more reminiscent of a set i had in one of my university apartments.

we both absolutely love how this turned out.  and even more, we love the paint colours we chose.  they constantly change with the light and time of day.  sometimes they're super blue, sometimes really grey, and sometimes even green.  the kitchen also feels a little more calm.  if that's at all possible in a house with two under four.  we're now on the hunt for the right fabric for curtains.  and we've got the chairs.  sort of.  

so on a scale from one to ten, i'd say that our ombre wall painting project was a huge ten for the win.  

liamisms ~ vol. 4

"my pee is all gone today."

liam: daddy what's your favourite, cats or dogs?
rob: cats
liam: mommy what's your favourite?
me: dogs
liam: oh, mine's race cars.

"my bum hurts because i want some milk."

liam: i have a meeting today.
rob: is it an important meeting?
liam: yeah, it's like blah blah blah.

"come here and kiss me averie."  this was said as he was chasing her and she was trying to get far away from him.

liam: scruffy is wet.
rob: why?
liam: 'cuz i licked him.

i just love love love this guy to pieces.  wish we could record everything that he's saying lately.  he cracks us up daily.  both rob and i are constantly telling each other to "write that one down" and about sixty percent of the time we forget.

a room to dine

our dining room is the one room in our house that looks the most unfinished.  we've, rather i've had a hard time figuring out the feel of this room.  for a while it was going to be green, then it was going to be all white (every room in our house would be white if rob let me) and then it was going to be a combination of many colours.  the end result is that we've settled on white walls with a grey band running around the top of the wall, and blue.  seems to be a recurring theme in our home.  funny thing these dining rooms, damn first world problems.

we didn't have a formal dining room in our last house.  one eating area was all we needed.  it was a little small for entertaining ... er intimate.  not small.  i must admit, i've kinda liked have a larger space to have more people over for dinner.  we had our first adult dinner party in november for rob's birthday.  awesome to not be stuck in the kitchen.  felt so grown up in the dining room.

in the original plans for our house, the front room was closed off from the entry by a wall with a window looking in.  we more of the open concept floor plan people than wall people.  make it into one big open space.  so down the wall came.  and so did the walls that were going to encase the stairs for that matter.  by removing all the walls near and around the dining room, flex room as it was called in the plans, it made for a much better flow.  in hind sight, i should've listened to my husband when he said "make the doorway into the family room/kitchen larger."

that's right... my husband was right.  and i was wrong less right.

these are the only two photos i found of the dining room during construction.  apparently we were more concerned/excited about the other rooms in the house.

and the dining room now.

just as with pretty much all the rooms in the house, this one has quite a bit of work ahead of it.  we've created multiple lists.  and because the space is more dining room/entry the list seems longer and more time consuming than i'd first imagined.  then again, with two small humans running around, everything seems more time consuming that i'd first imagined.

here's the list ... so far:

~ paint, lots of paint.  narrowed it down to a choice of two different whites.  who knew it could be so difficult to find the right white paint?

~ paint the "blank canvas" wall a dark blue.

~ move african masks from family room to wall right beside entry door.

~ get glossy white console table for "blank canvas" wall.   

~ fill "blank canvas" wall with art from our travels and family.

~ new rugs for dining room and front entrance.

~ get a bar cart.  

~ paint back of china cabinet ... no idea on the colour yet.

~ re-cover bench cushion.

~ print/order/make giant photo canvas' for giant wall in dining room.

~ make/find/purchase modern looking floating blue credenza for giant wall in dining room.

~ new pillow cover for bench pillow.

~ and take out the over grown fig plant.