Monday, March 2, 2020

Decorating Our Dining Room Wall!

Nearly two years after our renovation was finished, we finally - FINALLY - have some decorations on our dining area wall.  Which is also in the entry area of the house, which made for a pretty stark entrance.  But after removing the wallpaper from the top half of the wall, I have to admit that I enjoyed the simplicity of nothingness there for a while:
This was after I'd removed the pictures that were hanging on the wallpapered wall.  Egad, I do NOT miss those columns, not one bit!

But once I decided that I was ready to start putting something on the wall, it became a little overwhelming because it was a long wall - all I knew was that I needed some larger items in order to make it not feel super cluttered.  I talked about this with my decorating guru, Karen (she of the Karen and Jimmymeow super duo), and she showed me a picture of something she'd found intriguing:
Two old corbels mounted flat on a wall - what a cool way to show off an architectural piece!  Plus, it was big, which was what I needed.

Shortly after our conversation, we went to The Silos in Waco for a race last spring.  After the race Karen and I shopped at Magnolia and it was fascinating to walk around with her, seeing what she liked - I peppered her with all kinds of questions, like where she would put a certain piece, etc.  It wasn't always in a traditional spot, which got me thinking a little more outside the box.  I came home with two galvanized sconces with glass vases as my start of the wall.  I didn't put them up because I knew that until I had enough pieces, nothing would flow together.  Into the closet they went.

Then in May while we were at the Clayton General Store in North Carolina, I found a big star made out of old wood from a tobacco barn.  It was rustic and I loved it, so we brought it home with us...and into the closet it went.

Then, I got inspired by something Young House Love did with an old window - they put tissue paper behind some of the panes and hung it on a wall:
Cute, right?

I showed that picture to Karen and Jimmy, who like to go to salvage barns and the like, asking them to pick one up for me if they came across something like it.  That was during the worst part of my herniated disc pain and there was no way I could walk around and search for an old window - heck, I could barely walk from the couch to the kitchen without dying of pain.  Anyway, Jimmy found a window and texted me a picture; it was different from the inspiration but old and the glass was a bit wavy and I loved it, so he picked it up - gotta love personal shoppers, right?  By now you can surmise that it went into the closet along with the rest of the stuff.

It was coming together but still needed more.  My parents had lunch at a little restaurant in their town, where handmade art quilts were on display.  She loved one and sent me a picture and I loved it as well, so they bought it for me, and when they were here last week, I brought all of my goodies out of the closet and my wall went from this:
BO-RING.

To this:
Warm, inviting, not boring at all!
Once we got the quilt on the wall, I decided to hold off for the time being on putting the colored tissue paper in the window because it felt like there was plenty (a riot, as my Grandmother used to say) of color there with the quilt.
Another view.
We chose some paper flowers from a craft store in town; I'm thinking these glass vases will be fun to change out for different seasons and can totally see tiny glass Christmas balls in them come December.  
The wooden star pulls in the wood from the chair in the corner, which makes me not mind it being there quite as much as it used to.  Side note:  even though eight chairs fit around the table, putting one at each end closes it in and if I had it to do over, I would have only purchased six.  Of course this purchase was 20 years ago so this falls under the "you live, you learn" category of life.

I am so pleased with how this wall turned out and it makes me really glad that I didn't rush into just throwing random things on it - everything on the wall has a story behind it, which is my favorite way to decorate.  And I love that the inspirational pieces, which were architectural in nature, were enough to make me start seeing things in a different view - notice there is not one framed piece of art on this wall, only items with dimension, shape and color.

Next up for this area?  I want to recover the chair cushions.  Now I need to start looking at fabric, and wait for a sale on an electric staple gun.  But for now I'm enjoying this room so much more and love it each time I walk through it.

9 comments:

  1. I remember the YHL window. Good thing about that technique is, it does not have to be permanent. Can try different things in there.

    My suggestion would be to put one color/type of paper in the whole thing, since the quilt is busy.

    And I wonder about wrapping paper. I am visualizing tan/black flour de leis print. Or an architectural print. (A large single piece behind whole thing would solve pattern matching issue).

    It is possible it is best as it is, empty.

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  2. It looks great! You have such a great eye for these things. I need some decorating help!

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    1. I need unlimited airline miles so I can fly around and help you guys decorate!

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  3. I kept looking at the quilt. I thought it was kitty cats. But then I saw the close-up and it was houses. So cute! I love everything you did. Those wall sconces are really nice too.

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    1. Thanks! I knew you'd be interested in the quilt. I have the one you made me draped on the chair opposite my desk, so I look out and see it, and then look a little farther and see the new quilt. LOVE.

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  4. That looks great - well worth the wait!

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  5. It turned out fantastic! I love the bright color of the quilt and the balance of the wooden pieces on the sides. I agree about leaving the tissue paper off the window for now. It will be fun to change out the flowers for each season! And what a great idea to hang a quilt!

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  6. It's sooo pretty! Your patience definitely paid off.

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