Our Dining Room

Before

In this first photo our Dining Room is how it looked when I purchased the home.  Among other things, the drop ceiling, florescent light fixture and outdated wallpaper had to go.

Dark Dining Room - the way I purchased it. Drop Ceiling, Old Wall Paper, Florescent Light Fixture over the table. 

During

In this photo you get an idea of what it took simply to remove what was there.  After the drop ceiling was removed the holes and cracks in the ceiling needed to be repaired.  Once the florescent light fixture was taken down, a professional electrician installed a new chandelier (removing the knob & tube electric in the process).  And once the wallpaper was stripped away, a new skim-coat of joint compound had to be put up, sanded and primed.

Demolished Dining Room - taking down the drop ceiling, light fixture and pulling off the old wall paper.

After

DONE! In this photo you see the results of my backbreaking work.  The ceiling is not yet finished, however, as there are a few places where I’m not yet satisfied with which need to be sanded and scraped and then painted. But, as you can see, my Dining Room has come a long way.

Finished Dining Room - curtains and all.  A few little spots here and there that I'm not 100% satisfied with but there will be time to deal with those later.

Bright and Warm Dining Room - VERY INVITING.

(And, yes, that is an open bottle of champagne on the edge of the table. After doing all the work myself, I certainly deserved.)

Lastly, I wanted to give you the names of the Behr colors I used (thanks to their fantastic website that allows you to put colors together - it's practically fool proof). The orange on the walls is called Caramelized Orange 250D-7 and the cream (which is a PERFECT CREAM if ever there was one) is called Vanilla Custard W-D-220. I highly recommend these warm tones.