Study & Dining Room

We call this room the Study. It is the front room of the house and gets great light. The wallpaper on these walls was not so great, however.

We made the HUGE mistake of assuming that they drywall had been prepped by the previous owners and that it would come off like a dream. My guess is that it was paneling, and in an old update, they put up sheetrock and well, wallpaper. (They LOVED wallpaper, let me tell you!) We ended up tearing it all down, along with a couple layers of the drywall. I don't have an after pic yet because it was just too painful. Kelly worked on this room alone for a week. It's painted the same color as the dining room and am excited about what it will look like eventually. I think it just may be one of my favs.

This is the dining room, as we purchased it. I love the wood-burning fireplace and the painted brick. The wainscoting, too. I've always wanted a bit of it somewhere, and now I've got it. The yellow just isn't me. (I mean US, it isn't US.) The flooring isn't too bad. It actually makes me laugh because it's vinyl planks. So I guess that makes it faux-faux wood. It doesn't look horrible, but I don't plan for it to stay too long. Kelly doesn't know it yet, but I'm sure he suspects.

The dining room, several days after we closed. Kelly calls this color 'Chocolate Pudding' but the real name is something much more boring, like 'Practical Taupe'. It really a brown-gray, with a touch of lavender. I was worried it would be too dark at firs,t but now I really love it.

The left side of the room (you can enter from either the Study or the Kitchen). The french doors lead to the back patio off the pool.

This is what it looks like these days. I'm keeping it very simple in here. I'm not sure what kind of art to hang in here, but I'm thinking something in black & white. The wall to the right of the bookcase is a loooong expanse, and though I don't want to fill it up, I need something there. Something really good. And I'm thinking black & white damask drapes for the french door to the left of the fireplace. I think it would soften the space. The lighting is bad, very bad. There are 2 fixtures, neither are centered over the dining area. I plan to fix that. I'm dreaming of the perfect chandelier. I love this room.

I really need a china hutch. A small, painted black one, to be exact. I have my grandmother's china, which has about a billion-gazillion pieces. I love it, it's very simple, bone china with a black and gold rim. I've never had a place to put it and I wanted to show it off. Just a little. Open bookshelves are probably not the best idea, but the kids and disabled granny have been warned to stay away. (Not really, but kind of). The middle shelf holds some of my favorite things. The black matted print is a line drawing print of Cafe du Monde (in New Orleans, duh), a sign that says Champs Elysses and the book 'Baking With Julia'. I've had it for years and don't recall ever attempting any of the recipes, but Julia and I go way back, and it has gorgeous photos. The bottom two shelves hold my everyday linen. If you don't currently use cloth napkins and placemats for your everyday meals, I encourage you to try it. It makes Tuesday night lasagne taste even better.