Saturday 31 December 2011

DINING ROOM: The Big Reveal: From Their Room to Ours!


The time has come, the dining room is now finished! (other than one piece of art which is currently on its way to me from Australia and I will post when it arrives).

Here is what we started with when we bought the house....


 I didn't take all the angles until I stripped back the walls in August this year...













 And after months of work..... this is what we have achieved:









Another room done!

Lessons learnt along the way:
  • Always get Tony to Paint the Ceiling White at the same time as lining the walls, its a really tricky job to do and he is a professional
  • Don't try and finish any major components of a room the the same day as having a party, you will exhaust yourself and not enjoy the party as much as a result
  • Find one item to draw inspiration from in order to develop the rooms look; for me this was the wooden vase (pictured on top of Adam's bookcase) as it reminded me of Mediterranean Holidays and inspired the colour pallet for the whole room
  • It is worth doing up (and cleaning!) old light fittings rather than buying new ones, you can actually find a treasure 
  • If your Curtains are thin, try stitching another second-hand neutral pair to the back, just as effective as thick curtains but without the cost

Things still to do/get:
  • The floor through the dining room and kitchen need replacing as and when we can afford it, more than likely with a tile effect lino like this one from B&Q:























DINING ROOM: My first attempt at Wall Art...

I have been ogling after wall art since I first discovered it a couple of years ago on eBay, I can't even remember how, but honestly that is still the best place I have found for it online, so much variety and so cheap, from £5 a design and really can completely transform a room. Just type wall art or wall stickers into the search and the world will be your oyster!

Here are some of my favourites, posted on Pinterest, so you know what I'm talking about:

 Source: ebay.co.uk via Gill on Pinterest

Source: ebay.co.uk via Gill on Pinterest
Source: ebay.co.uk via Gill on Pinterest
Source: ebay.co.uk via Gill on Pinterest
Source: ebay.co.uk via Gill on Pinterest
Source: ebay.co.uk via Gill on Pinterest


 










































































































You can find many more examples on my Pinterest board Wall Art Love! which I continue to add to every time I find another delicious ones.


Anyway, I purchased this bird silhouette one soon after we bought our house;

...well over a year ago now, as I knew I wanted to incorporate it into the dining room, once we had the time and money to do it up. As you know we have been working on this over the past few months now and it was time to display it.

This is what you get in the delivery tube:
 These are the instructions on the website:




Here is a video on how to apply it too:

So I cut the graphic into sections and arranged on the table how I wanted it on the wall:


Then I, piece by piece started applying it as instructed to the wall...




I then came on to the tricky bit, the birds flying across the sky...

...to make sure I positioned them right I decided to use some masking tape to try out positioning on the wall first, using the picture on the listing as my guide...
... then once I was happy I stuck them on...

Finally, I decided to use the remaining half branch and loose leaves to create a final branch off my tree, as I did want to use everything in the pack...

As stated in the instructions you just remove the back but wait at least 10 minutes before removing the final clear front plastic to finish the project. I waiting 10 minutes (or there abouts, actually a unload and load of the dishwasher in time) before peeling the final plastic off.

 Complete! I am so happy with the result!