Weekend Recap: Painting the Dining Room

At this point, Dan and I are pretty tired. . . physically, mentally, and even emotionally, things are getting pretty draining. Every weekend comes with a project, and most weeknights are devoted to either catching up on everything else we need to do (e.g., bill paying, dishes, laundry) or doing house project research. In between, we are still going to work and living out of boxes and sleeping on the floor while uncovering new things that need to be fixed all the time. Yes, indeed, I am tired.

Our only real project for the weekend was getting the dining room painted. We had to start with moving our mattress out of the dining room and into the living room, so we've temporarily relocated there for now (but we're still living the dream of sleeping without a bed frame). As with the last painting project, this one took forever because we had to prime and paint the trim in addition to the walls.

Getting the room prepped

Dan puts up primer near the ceiling

Given the hassle of taping around all the trim, Dan and I decided to try just cutting in with the brush this time and see if we could get the job done that way. We had a few mishaps, but nothing that can't be touched up, and overall it wasn't too bad. In the midst of it, Dan somehow managed to give himself a little paint job. . . perhaps subconsciously he wanted to try on a distinguished gray-haired look.

As usual, we had a cat around to supervise (because wet paint and cat hair is such an ideal combination).

Still, even between the cat hair and the Dan-now-has-white-hair, we managed to get the room mostly done. We still have some touching up to do, but for the most part, we have one more room under our belts!

For the dining room, I wanted something cozy and warm but not too dark, with a color that would be a nice bridge between the colors we plan for the living room and kitchen. This color does not really photograph all that well (it looks much more yellowish in these photos; the color is Behr's Almond Toast), but I think you get the idea.


The warmth of color in this room just makes me daydream about having friends and family gathered around our dining room table for holiday meals and glasses of wine and game nights. We have some pretty nice ideas for decorating the space, too, though right now that feels so far away. Still, we are one step closer to making the rooms in our head become realities in our home, which is pretty exciting, and now we have at least one room on each floor that really feels like it's ours--a very nice feeling indeed. Now we just have to hang on to that feeling long enough to stay motivated for all the projects to come!