November, for me, means one thing: Thanksgiving! The food, the friends, the wine, and of course, the assortment of delicious pies.
Nothing makes Thanksgiving more enjoyable than the perfect space to enjoy it in. This week we’ll look at ideas, both big and small, for making the most of your dining room.
Some projects you can finish before your family arrives on the 27th, and others will take longer to plan and execute, but will bring greater, more noticeable results. This week we will look at major and minor ways to change up your dining room.
Part 1: Quick Dining Room Fixes
1. New Lighting : Adding a new light fixture not only adds a new focal point, but can also brighten up a room.
2. New Paint: Add a new coat of paint to a room. A new color scheme can dramatically change the look and feel of a room. Painting can be a great DIY weekend project, or just paint half of the room as seen here to make it an even quicker project:
3. A New Table: A dining room table can make or break your space. Make sure you have a table that fits the space you’re in, and that functions for your purposes for it. If you’re less than happy with your table, maybe it’s time to start scouting out a new one before the family arrives.
It’s Halloween today and for most, it means one of day of celebrating ghoulish, fall weather fun.
But, if you like darker palettes not just on Halloween, but all year round, here are some great ways to use a lack of color for amazing effect.
When using darker colors, lighting plays an important role. Notice how well the bright natural light plays against the darker interiors:
I love all the dark wood floors. These types of wood floors can be created with a coat of dark varnish color. It gives a classic aged, antique look:
Obviously this look isn’t for everyone, and honestly, while it has rays of elegance, I prefer much more vibrant color palettes, like in these previous posts:
Ochre oranges and vibrant reds have started to peek out through the lush monochrome greens of our abundant foliage here in town. It’s crisp out and the leaves are ready to be crunched under foot while sipping a pumpkin flavored coffee beverage.
Autumn is a great time of year to indulge in the warm colors and the last ditch displays of nature before trees and grasses descend into full hibernation mode for the season. Ambers and golds, burnt siennas and gingers frame city streets and park sidewalks, and while nature is changing its palette, it got me thinking how great it would be to bring similar colors inside to revitalize a home’s tired color scheme.
I like paint colors that are visibly inspired by the hallmarks of autumn. For example, Valspar has created an entire line around the warm hues of fall just for the home. Giving your home a fall painting makeover is a festive way to warm up your kitchen’s feel in anticipation of the cool weather and shorter days. It may also cheer your spirits as the mornings hide within the horizon longer, and the evenings get sucked away too soon into the winter dark.
Some houses get lightly lived in, and then there are those abodes that weather the perfect storms of kids and pets and indoor floor sock hockey. Among other things. Do you have a house that works hard? Ok maybe you don’t exactly have floor hockey tournaments going down on the kitchen tiles, but your house is definitely well lived in.
Maybe the kids are rough on it or you’ve got a favorite furry friend who likes to be every bit a member of the family as the two legged ones. These kinds of houses sometimes end up needing some special attention, especially in the kinds of paints and coatings we choose to live our lives around. Paying a little attention to surfaces and other aspects of hard lived homes also means homes will wear better for the long run. And you’ll feel better living in a home you know is ready to be truly lived in.
There are many products and ideas out there you to help you get started protecting the places that see the most wear and tear in your house. The first place to look might be your floors. Protecting your floors with a durable coating will do wonders for the longevity of your flooring, and might even mean you’ll have less work to do in maintaining it. I don’t know any homeowner who wants to spend more time mopping or sweeping.
Walls are another big ticket feature of your house that are bound to show wear more than other places. Durable paints and protective coatings do wonders here too. It might be worth it to you to take a little action now, rather than making a much bigger and potentially costly investment down the road.
We liked looking around General Polymers and Sherwin Williamsfor some ideas and advice. Check it out and you can get started. What else do you worry about in your home? Maybe we can look into how you can solve those problems too? Let us know!
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Do you have one of those rooms in your house that you just can’t seem to do anything with? Maybe it’s a guest bedroom, a den, or the mudroom-it happens to the best of houses. Sometimes rooms or spaces just get a little left behind.
We found a quick, inspiring way to upgrade the spaces you’re stuck on really easily: Pick your favorite color, or select other members of your home to nominate their favorite hues, and just like that, you’ve got somewhere to start. Once you’ve settled on a color, let it lead how you reinvent your room:
While we think it’s good to be as creative as possible when combining your colors, you might want to give a little thought to the type of room or space you’re coloring before you break open the paint or head out to buy draperies. Colors can be a powerful presence in your home, so give some thought to the shade of color as well as the area where it will be displayed. Do the primary activities of the space mesh with the color or hue you’re looking at? If the answer is not necessarily yes, try moving up and down the spectrum of your desired color, or, if your heart isn’t set on that particular color, try a different one altogether. Almost no matter what color you choose, there are ideas out there to help you get started:
I’m guilty. Guilty of under appreciating moulding. I was spoiled in my previous home, where mouldings abounded, but after the move, well, something is just not right.
Its likely one of those things you won’t notice until you don’t have it. And then you’ll be plagued by the feeling that something is conspicuously missing. Take my word on this one, as a dweller of a now moulding-free abode, it feels different. The word I’m looking for here is more probably unfinished, because it is.
While you may be taking your moulding for granted, or if you’re looking at adding some to make your place feel whole, there are almost too many choices: crown, decorative, chair rail…the list is a potentially very long one.
Moulding is an effective way to make a quick upgrade to your room for a terrific impact. It’s an easy do-it-yourself or weekend project that packs a really powerful aesthetic punch. I promise you’ll be surprised if you try out some new mouldings or change existing ones to newer, fresher colors. You can wake up the most uninspired of rooms and add dimension to lackluster floor plans.
Take a look at some of the creative ways mouldings can be used:
Bright and Bold Paint Palettes Add a Splash to Your Home’s Interior
On Monday, I showed some examples of how neutral interior paint colors can add a lot of depth and dimension without being too flashy. But, I know, some of you love bright color. I do too. So to quench your thirst for interior painting palettes that make a statement, here are some great ideas and pictures to inspire your interior painting project.
When choosing vibrant color, be inspired by the world around you. Look at how colors complement each other at your local farmers market, at a floral shop, or just about anywhere else. You might be surprised at the color palettes you find that would transfer perfectly to your walls.
I like the combo of these two colors. I would never think of using two such similar colors together, but it reminds me of Monet’s house in France and a color he would have used to paint lily pads.
Don’t be afraid to try green in a room. This color looks great, especially paired with the lighter green faux-painted headboard. Paired with pink and white linens this color palette pops.
Not sure what kind of paint will suit you best? You can take an online paint personality test. It may make your interior painting decision a little easier.
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A great summer remodeling project is adding a new coat of interior paint. If you’ve been thinking of painting your home, but the wall of colors at your local home improvement store is leaving you completely overwhelmed (trust me I know how you feel), check out some of these paint combinations. While I’ve always been one for bright, bold color, lately I’ve been intrigued by more muted colors that offer a sophisticated, demure artistic statement.
I’ve never thought of using grey as a wall color, but this soft tone looks surprisingly light, clean and crisp as a bedroom color.
Domino Magazine labeled this combination of colors “grown-up neutrals” and I think it’s a great description, and the perfect choice for those who are a little scared of all out color. Plus, it’s another example of how great grey can look.
(Photo Credit: New York Times)
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