Color {Me} Happy

The {formal} dining room.  How many of you have one?  And...do you {formally} dine in it?  We have a dining room in our house.  It is a first for us.  Needless to say, after being married 10 years, 2 kids, and a fluffy mutt later, I do not have any purpose for a formal dining room.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of formal china, silver, crystal, etc. But my large every-day table enjoys her make-over a few times a year into the {beautiful} princess she is, decked out in all her bling and formal textiles, china, and silver, for the big events when they happen. 

For us, our dining room is formal no more.  Instead, she has been transformed into a very comfy, every day family study {of sorts}.  It is the place where our piano resides, along with the antique breakfront that has been in my husband’s family for years.  The extra comfy chaise lounge that was lovingly passed down to us from my husband’s step-mom, my desk {aka: our first dining table when we got married} and file cabinet, and shelves for daily homework baskets, books, crafts, and the like.

This room needed some color and personality…and in a bad way.  The curse of new houses…white everything.  Blah.


It took a lot of deliberation…a lot of paint swatches and some planning.  I decided to go with a {very} sunny {make you happy} yellow.  Sunburst, to be exact.  It looks fabulous with the hardwood floors and {an overabundance} of dark wood and espresso furniture in the room.  That said {you know me} I have a hard time painting and running…I like adding some flair…like the stripes in my son’s room.  So, I decided to add a damask type stencil on top of the yellow in a pearly white.  This would help break up the yellow, and tie in the white floor-to-ceiling drapes that I am obsessed with and have over {every} window on my first floor.  They add such drama and height to the space, plus brighten the room and help balance out all that dark wood.

I did some searching for stencils at my local craft stores, but just couldn’t find the right one.  I decided to make it myself.  I bought some plain stencil film.  Found a pattern on a towel that I loved {yes, a bath towel to be exact}.  Made a black and white copy of it, then traced the pattern onto my stencil film and cut it out with an exacto knife.  See…inspiration is everywhere! 


Time to paint!!  I have to admit…I was a bit frightened when I began rolling on the sunny {bright} yellow.  It was quite bold…maybe too bold?  Nope…just keep painting.  It is so easy to doubt your design decisions when you first begin executing.  But, if you can “see” the overall vision in your head, and it is awesome, then just keep going. 

After the yellow was on and dry {I was thrilled with the bold color…so glad I didn’t stop}  I began mapping out the stencil pattern.  I wanted an all over design, but I didn’t want it to scream Oh-My-that-Is-Some-Damask.  So, I just eyed what I thought would be not too close to overwhelm, yet not too far apart that it would look disjointed and without purpose.  I also had to take into consideration the window and door placement and try to space the design accordingly.

I started on one wall and didn’t stop until it was all done.  Yes…it took me all day.  But I get in my zone and I’m good.  I gotta pat myself on the back for this one though…I think it is pretty amazing all done!  


Here are the colors for you.  Main wall: Behr Sunburst.  Stencil: DecoArt Dazzling Metallics in White Pearl.  It is an acrylic paint purchased from a craft store.  I also used a fat stencil brush to apply the paint…tap tap tapping my way around the room.

I like applying the stencil paint with the brush because I can kind of control how much paint goes on.  A roller would give a thick, solid coverage.  With the brush, it is a bit more sheer which lends to a more hand painted, rustic look.  Plus, the design is more subtle that way…not so “Look at me, I’m a stencil on the wall”.  Also, the metallic pearl white paint reflects the light, so depending on your angle, you see more or less of the stencil detail…which is amazing.  It really has so much drama, in a modern way.  The pictures do not do it justice. 


The room is still a work in progress design wise. Don’t judge me too harshly there.  I need to re-organize my work space, maybe some art on the walls, more organizational baskets, etc.  That will all come in time.  In the mean time, we {formally} love our new {informal} family study.


What do you think? Where could you find a place for some stencil love in your space?  I love the stenciled walls so much, I think I’m going to {have to} add some in our master suite…if I ever find the time to paint it.  I’ll keep you posted.
 
Oh, and as for if I drank some wine with this paint?  You betcha!  My hubby and I popped the cork on a new {for us} Chilean wine.  I’ll share the details in the next post.  Cheers!