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Every now and then we complete a project in the house that transforms our home so much, that it makes us wonder why we didn’t do it months – who are we kidding – years ago and our latest project has had exactly that effect on us.
When we moved in, the dining room and kitchen were two separate rooms. The kitchen was dirtier than I could have ever imagined and in the dining room, things weren’t much better.
It was covered in dirty wallpaper, had the most disgusting stained carpet I’ve ever seen and had a seriously unsafe gas fireplace.
Last year, we completed one of the biggest projects we’ve tackled so far in our home – removing the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room – but ever since the room has looked like this.
Not great is it? Bits of flaky plaster, random patches of paint testing on the walls – basically it’s a bit of a mess.
After removing the wall, we pretty much left the room untouched – until now!
We’ve been really busy cleaning, priming and painting the glossy yellow cornice, painting the ceiling and painting all walls and shelves.
As always when painting a room, we painted the ceiling and cornice before moving onto the walls.
The colour we decided to go for is called Soothing White from the Home Of Colour range by Homebase.
Like in all other rooms that we’ve painted, we opted for a matt paint finish, which we think has a more contemporary feel. In this case, we also figured that it would hide some of the imperfections in the rough walls – and we were right, they look almost completely smooth!
It was a great paint to work with and covered really well, especially considering that we’re being total rebels and didn’t even bother to prime our walls. It even covered the horrible yellow walls in the kitchen!
As always when choosing paint colours, we bought some testers to double-check the colour before covering our whole room in it. The little colour swatches in colour cards or on the computer screen are just never enough to make an informed decision. Especially in this case, as the colour we chose is called Soothing White, but it definitely has a grey-blue tint – which we love, but could possibly be confusing.
So, after a lot of painting and cleaning this is what our room looks like now.
Both the kitchen and dining area are now the same colour which, for the first time makes it feel like one room and not two separate areas.
The room now feels so much more finished and has such an amazing feeling of cleanliness!
Whilst it took a while to paint everything, we really wish we’d done it a long time ago. We always say that a quick coat of paint can instantly transform a room, but the difference still amazes us.
As you can see, things still aren’t completely finished. We still need to box in the steel beam, we still need a new kitchen, we still need to sort out the heating (at the moment the only heat source in the whole room is the wood-burning stove) and we still need to have the windows replaced.
In addition to painting everything, we also updated the room by adding a few new fun accessories like the gorgeous cushion on our sofa which works well in tying lots of the colours of the room together and fabulous candlestick and orange candles (they were white, but we gave them a coat of paint) to brighten up our dining table.
We also added a few pretty things to our previously boring sideboard, like some more framed art (yes, there’s not actual art in the frame yet) and the fabulous copper vases (all-new accessories are from Homebase).
We’re so happy with the transformation of this room. For the first time since living in our home, it actually feels like a room and not a building site.
Do you love how paint has the ability to transform a room as much as we do? Do you choose paint colours from paint chips or do you use paint testers like us? Have you ever put off a project that you wish you’d done sooner?
Jay _Fowler says
It’s often easy to feel you’re getting carried away with paint and loads of tips about synchronising colours can put you down, but I’m with you here! Go wild and be free with colour!
Christine says
Thanks, Jay! Life is too short for beige! ;)
Cx
Mike @Deans of London says
What you did with your dining area was fabulous! Good job. I had to show my relatives these pics for painting ideas.
Christine says
Thanks! Glad to hear you like it, Mike. We still have a bit of a way to go though…
Cx
Victoria says
Such amazing progress you are making and you guys pick such good colours and furniture to put together. The pair of really have a good eye.
I love the slide show within a photo effect…do you have any tips for how to go about taking the ‘before’ shots or things you would have taken more photos of before, during or after?
Keep up the good work!
Christine says
That’s so kind Victoria, thank!
On taking photos we don’t really have any tips except to take loads of them – especially before pictures! We still always seem to find that we missed a corner or an angle that we wish we’d taken.
Cx
Chichi Furniture says
Great job, it looks fab. I did the same in my home and painted the same colour throughout 3 rooms that led onto each other and it really opens up the space and makes the home feel inviting and harmonious. I think your space now looks really fresh and stylish. I love the bright feature pieces of furniture, they really add warmth and character. I think thats why white is so great, its a blank canvas allowing you to have fun with furniture. Love the result, I bet it makes all the hard work feel worth it now :O)
Christine says
Thanks for the compliments and yes, it definitely makes the hard work worth it! It’s weird how every time we paint a room it still surprises us how much of a difference it makes! You’d think we’d be used to it by now ;).
Cx
Louise says
Some soothing, just what that area needed! I am a believer in temporary paint-jobs, although this one is for permanent use, but I do like the idea of living ok although you are in the middle of a reno. It makes sense when one is doing item by item on a budget and it takes several years to get everything done. If i move again I will start by painting everything in an ok light color. Even the walls I will be stripping later on. I had a fuschia and orange bedroom for two years for no good reason at all.
Christine says
I totally agree with painting everything a neutral colour when moving in – especially if your walls are as grubby as ours were. It would have definitely made everything feel much cleaner and more homely.
Cx
PS. Fuschia and orange?! Sounds even worse than our pink and yellow guest bedroom! ;)
Kerryn Hewson says
Argh! Love it! Wish we could enjoy it in person! We need to get onto painting our own kitchen-dining room. I’m just really not looking forward to having to wipe everything down every time we need to eat. I’m sure it’ll have a pretty transformational effect though since there is still dark wooden 70s panels and cream/yellow striped wallpaper. Eek.
Christine says
Thanks Kerryn – you’ll just have to pop round to enjoy it yourself!
It’s amazing what a bit of paint can do. All I can say is get started – any wiping and cleaning will be so worth the end result! (also you could just make Mark do it ;) )
Cx
Kerrie says
I love the opened up space, it really is room to breathe. Do you know where the dining table will end up when you get the new kitchen?
Christine says
You’re right, it all feels so much brighter and larger – it actually feels much bigger than the sum of the two rooms, if that makes any sense.
The furniture arrangement at the moment is temporary. We’d been playing around a bit after moving things for painting and actually quite like the new arrangement. It’s only the two of us, so it works well. Having said that, we do know where we’ll be putting the table and, if all goes to plan, it won’t look anything like it does now!
Hopefully we can share more details soon!
Cx
Jessica@CapeofDreams says
What a difference paint makes. It looks great. You should consider painting the beam though. It really sticks out now that everything else is light.
Christine says
Thanks Jessica! As weird as it sounds, we hardly notice the steel beam anymore – I guess you can get used to everything! Having said that (and if all goes to plan), it should hopefully be boxed in within the next few weeks – fingers crossed!
Cx