Phase One of Dining Room Makeover

I have had a vision for the dining room for quite some time, but never had the courage to just do it until a few weeks ago. The hubs had another business trip, so I thought it would be the perfect time to do a little board and batten:o) I had never done wood working to this scale, but thought How Hard Can This Be?.....all by myself.

Remember last time the hubs went out of town? I surprised him with an office makeover.

He may start taking my debit card away when he leaves for business trips from now on:o)

I don't have a good Before picture...just the one from S.R.'s birthday party.

Very bland walls....and no, this isn't my dining room table;o)

Here is the After

Much better:o) Here's the process that we I went thru to get to this stage.

I painted about half way down the wall. I used Olympic paint b/c I was trying to save a little money....don't waste your time. Go ahead and spend the money on GOOD paint. It is almost like painting with water. That was mistake number one. Mistake number two was not priming the MDF.

 After getting all the boards hung, I started painting the bottom half of the room with a high gloss white that matched the trim work. This part seemed to take forever. I did a little caulking, and a little mess making...

I was lazy and didn't put anything down to protect the floors. Thank goodness it came up with no problem.

Now the dining room didn't look this good after I got done with it.

I got in way over my head, and the hubs had to come and rescue me. He did a great job on the finish work. He said that he got the easy part:o) I about killed myself a few times trying to get the boards hung:o) Anyway, we still want to add a little trim to the top of the "board" part. That part will be handled by the hubs. My next job will be to make curtains. I already have the fabric. Just waiting to get the motivation...The kids are leaving to go to their grandparents tomorrow, so it may be a good time to tackle that project:o)

So here's the before again:

And the After:

In love:o)

Speaking of birthdays, E's birthday party is coming up NEXT WEEKEND!!! I really have to get on the ball. His party is Cowboy themed. I can't wait to share some of my ideas for his big day. I also have a demonstration to prepare for next Thursday for the Homemakers' Club Cultural Arts Fair....I'm not busy at all;o) 

I hope you all have a great day!!