This post takes a lot of courage y’all. It should be quite humorous for you, embarrassing for me. Just remember that everyone starts from somewhere and has to make do with what they have, and people’s decorating styles change okay? :)
Here is how our dining room looked for about a year after we moved into this beautiful beige home. I had good reason to not decorate anything immediately though. We found out I was pregnant 3 days after we moved in, and I was sick as a dog for 3 months. Seriously I was in bed all.day.long. And this was the only picture I could find of a real “before” and it was from my baby shower.
Ehhh.
Here is my lame attempt at some decorating. (sorry, a lot of these are cell phone quality pics)
Then another painting disaster. I’m famous for those.
This color was mint green on the walls. Not the color I was going for. Have you read about my other painting disaster in the kitchen? It was actually my very first post. I love reading people’s first posts to see where they came from and how they started blogging. :)
So after my husband got mad at me (he had every reason to be), for hiring someone to paint the mint green and me not testing it out first, he painted the dining room this rusty red color. And you can still see the bright yellow in the kitchen in this pic too. Nice.
We got this table and chairs off of Craigslist. It was a total deal considering these are custom made parsons chairs from a nice furniture store in town. But now I feel like I have to decorate around these chairs. Oy!
Then, oh then, I went through my “faux” phase.
Ummmm, clearly there is not much else to say about that. I am aware it was wrong. And ugly. Don’t hate. Thank you.
So, let’s see. Oh yea, then I repainted over the faux.
Wanted to start lightening things up and started by adding a chair rail and some white accessories.
Then I found the hutch at Goodwill.
That didn’t work so I painted the hutch and buffet table we already had white. You can read about that here.
And this is how the dining room looks today after we added crown molding and changed up accessories.
This poor little room. It has come a long way though don’t you agree? But I want to take it even further. I have dreams. :)
Isn’t it weird how I have all of these pictures of my mishaps? Some of them were taken a long time ago, and who takes pictures of ugly paint on the walls? Oh yea, me. I guess God knew I would be willing to make a fool out of myself one day, on a blog that I didn’t think I’d ever have. He’s a humorous one! :)
Now, excuse me while I go into hiding for a few days.
xxoo,
Decorchick!
I’m so glad to see that I’m not alone in my trial & error endeavors! Now I can tell my husband, it’s normal :) I really like how it has evolved, and definitely love the rusty red.
It’s looking good! I, too, made a horrible paint color decision. It was my bedroom which gets lots and lots of gorgeous light. I wanted to go with a serene color. I chose a green, not really a sage but sorta close to that. Yeah… in my bedroom it looked very mental ward green. Big textured mental ward walls. Not exactly my best choice.
I’m so glad you posted this! It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has an ever changing style! I guess it keeps life exciting. : ) You certainly have been busy changing that dining room!
Wow…I could have written this post…although I’d be too ashamed to show the real before pictures!!
Our house was SO ugly when we bought it, and I didn’t really know what my style was yet so I was constantly trying new things and re-doing.
Four years later, I’m FINALLY getting to the point where I know what I love. I’m in the process of selling everything on Craigs list and starting over…again!
It was fun to see the evolution of your dining room! I think we’ve all been there along our decorating journeys…those of us who can’t afford a decorator and unlimited buying budget anyway. No need to be embarrassed. I think these are the best kind of posts…they show the journey. Your dining room looks lovely.
No need to go into hiding! It’s a great thing that you’re sharing your trials with us. :) Great inspiration for us all.
It was so funny though as I was looking through the pics and reading your post…I found myself anticipating the next steps and being spot on! (Like painting the chandelier and hutch.) Weird! Guess we have similar tastes! ;) Thanks again for sharing. Oh, and you’re right…God has a GREAT sense of humor with us!
I don’t totally remember how I found your blog, but I love it! And I’m cracking up because my painting privileges were revoked within weeks of decorating our first home. It seems The Boy would rather do it right the first time than go behind me and fix my mistakes? Oh well :)
When we owned our home, I changed the paint colors and design at least as many times as the number of years we lived there, same with the two previous homes….experiment, even with the mistakes is the only way we find what we like and what we don’t, what works and what truly does not.
Decor is not like fashion, we can not go into a dressing room, look at it and say ” Ghads NO!” then take it off strait away, it is much more labor intensive, yet we have to go through a similar process…hardly anyone understands that cause all they see is work, time and cost….but “we” all do, and so I salute you with never giving up and never being afraid to try!
Your dining room looks lovely and I love your color now and all the white accessories. I think we have all gone through all those phases with rooms. I know I certainly have. At least you finished up well. Hugs, Marty
I totally forgot about the faux painted wall! I’ve been wanting to paint over my faux painted niche. I think I can’t go wrong with white matching the trim. :) I loved your post!
I love this post Emily. It reminds us all that life is just a series of lessons, trials and errors, mistakes and victories. I never saw the faux wall. WOW……I’m speechless!! LOL! Your dining room now looks amazing. Could grace the pages of any home decor magazine!! Thanks for sharing this. It’s inspiration to us all. Love ya sis!! :)
Great post. It takes some trial and error to get to where you are happy. Nothing wrong with that. We all don’t start off with doing everything right the first go round. Oh, I sure there might be a few. But I had the faux wall mistake myself 2 houses ago. Only it was green. Two different hideous shades of green!
LOL – Love this!! And I’m amazed at how many colors you’ve gone through. :)
It’s all good. Thank you for sharing this!!
That room has come a long way, and it really looks great now! I think anything you do from here on out will only get better. Good for you that you are brave enough to post what you consider “disaster” pics. You’re just being real and that’s great.
Nancy
lol, your faux phase, girl! too funny. that crown really changes it, this just proves it yet again. i can’t believe how much it does, but it really does.
girl, you are not alone.
At least you try things, I am so scared of making a mistake I don’t do anything! It looks great! I love craigslist, too. I can’t wait to see more…
Wow, I love the latest incarnation! Phenomenal job.
It looks great. I have fallen prey to the faux painting before. It looks so good.
I’m amazed you have pictures of each stage! I’ve been there! (just don’t have the pics to prove it)
I think style preferences change for so many of us. I’m ready to repaint a couple of rooms in my house again. I have a feeling that 5 years from now I’ll be saying ‘what was I thinking’ about today’s decor.
Today’s version is lovely. Love the white contrast again your dark walls!
Thanks for sharing!! We have all been there:) I love what you’ve done with it now.
I’m so impressed by your meticulous ‘update photo’ taking!
It’s a lovely progression; I love the introduction of the white.
I have loved seeing the transormation of your dining room. I love the mistakes cuz that only means your human.
~Makalani
http://www.MakazHome.com
Thank you for posting this.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Really, thank you.
It’s so much fun to see your rooms transform! I’m a before and after junkie. I can’t wait to see what you do next to the dining room.
I really liked watching how the room progressed. I think we have gone through “stages” in our decorating.
LOL – Thanks for the laugh. I have many pictures like that. I had a condo at one point, did some sponge painting with beige and maroon… it turned out pink…. gag a maggot..
Your dining room has come a long way baby. Looking better all the time.
Wow! That looks very pretty. Decorating is definitely an ongoing project!!
Visiting from The Girl Creative NFF.
Sarah
http://craftingandcreativity.blogspot.com/
It is always an evolution! There is always something you want to tweak or change! :) You are totally normal!
I’ve made some bad paint decisions in the past…most notably the master bathroom. My hubby and I rarely agree on paint colors, but for once…when I talked about the BEAUTIFUL brown color that would make the bathroom seem so warm and inviting with accents of tan and green…he said SURE!
I went to work painting. Ugh, I even painted the ceiling (at my husbands suggestion). Later that evening, my husband walked into the bathroom and exclaimed, “It looks like poo brown”…yeah…it had that nickname for a while. I, once again, tried to convince him of this color or that color…he wouldn’t go for it. Finally, I said, let’s just do a white that has a slight blue tint to it and he agreed. So now, post white paint, I’m happy with it and so is he…and the poo room is finally gone. =)
i totally understand your pain! it’s hard to go back and look at old decor styles that were loved at the time! haha i think it’s funny you talked about never picking the right color – i am the same way! (i even have a post label “i have issues with paint colors” because it’s such a common theme!)
i love what you’ve done to your dining room (and the beachy influence!)
What an evolution. I just pulled my husband over to the computer and said, “See! It isn’t just me. We creative people do this kind of thing,” referring to the fact that each room in my house has been at least a few shades at one point! What a steal on those Parsons chairs (I know what I paid for two non-customs from Ballard Designs)! What a different adding pops of white to your space has made. So pretty!
Emily,
I really enjoyed this post. We’ve all been there…I look back on some of my decorating ideas and say to myself ” What was I thinking?” You’ve come a long way with the dining room- it’s lovely. It’s fun to watch one’s sense of style evolve over time.
I just discovered your blog and love it! Laughing out loud at your dining room decor mishaps! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t always get it right the first few tries. I’ve also had my own mishap with mint green paint ;-)