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Over the last few weeks I have been helping a client update her home. It is a charming older home with a big wide front porch, lots of big windows, and details that just don’t come in newer homes. Along with all that character comes many older home problems – drafty windows, uneven floors and walls, plaster cracking and peeling, small closets…lots of items that need to be addressed when figuring out a design plan.
The homeowner has a set budget and I always try to stay within that. I hired a contractor who is a sort of a handyman. I like using him because he can do it all – change out light fixtures, fix things, build, and paint. They are hard to find, but such a blessing when you do. As a team – the homeowner, contractor, and I decided since the dining room was going to get the biggest transformation we would start there.
Here is the before shot. This is how the room looked when the homeowner moved in. Wimpy crown molding, floral wallpaper with a coordinating design under the chair rail. This room is plain dated. But if you look closely – the trim around the windows and doors is classic – totally keeping! There is so much potential in this room and I will showcase it here over the next few weeks as we progress.
Before
The wallpaper and chair rail were removed and then surprise, surprise – along with it came the plaster along the bottom section of the wall. Not a good start on a project.
You never know what to expect when re-doing older homes. You will hear Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching more often than not.
Since the plan was to add high board and batten to the room, the contractor covered the damaged section with 1/4” sheet rock so he could add the board and batten treatment. Here is a photo I took on Monday. There is 70% Sherwin Williams Rural Green primer on the wall. The cap and ledge on the top of the board and batten still needs to be added, but you can see the transformation taking place.
This room has a high ceiling and a beefy 2 column entrance that I will show you in another post. The crown molding needs to look chunky. Since the homeowner is on a budget the contractor created the look of bigger molding by using stock 3 “ wide crown molding and a piece of “cap” molding placed 3” under the crown. You can space the cap anywhere from 1″ – 3″ to create the look.
When painted all the same color it looks beefier and is a better scale for the room. Best of all it is budget friendly.
It truly adds the “crowning” touch to the room.
I will keep you updated on the progress of this room and the rest of the house as it becomes part of the current decade.
The living room will be next.
Here is a quiz question for you-
Can you guess the era that this room was last remodeled? The paint color on the trim around the windows should give you a hint.
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{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
amazing transformation! can’t wait to see it all done.
Rita
I would guess the era would be early 80′s when pink and blue were so popular.
You get a A+ :) Looked fine to our eyes back then. Oh my gosh – trends!!! It will be funny to see what looks trendy 20 years from now. All the chevron patterns are going to go the way of the pink and blue 80′s color scheme.
Yep. I remember how big it was to paint your trim a contrasting color like this back in the early 80′s along with the Laura Ashley prints.
Not sure of the era, but I love the update! The green is fabulous!
I know I had that blue color in my house in the 1980s! And that wallpaper in the dining room looks suspiciously like some that I had…all country, all the time! Thank goodness – it still looks better than the Mediterranean style that was so popular in the 70′s!
I’m excited to see these updates Diane. There is a ton of potential in this room. I would have guessed mid 80′s as well – I can remember having those soft blues and mauves around our home growing up. I like what I see already – great collaboration.
Oh it’s going to look fabulous!! And yes, I was going to say 80′s as well……awww…mauve, I don’t miss you!! :D
Suzanne
It’s looking really great Diane! I love how you tricked the eye with combining two mouldings to make a beefier crown – great idea! Can’t wait to see the final reveal.
~Jenna
oh my goodness I absolutely adore what you have done so far!! Green is my favorite color so any room in that shade makes me happy. The molding looks fantastic…please come work on my house next!! I just my use that color in our bathroom next! Love it!
Hi Casey –
Green is such a happy color. This green is not too dark, but has enough depth to look good against the white.
Can you say 1980′s? No doubting that slate blue….My last house had kitchen counters that color,UGH! I thought it was great back then and now I really feel for the current homeowner who I’m sure has spent some cash ripping it out. Oh well, when you know better you do better,right? Love the changes to your project so far…I’ll be watching the updates.
Hi Carrie-
Have you checked out the Rust Oleum kitchen counter paint? They sell it a Lowes and Home Depot. A few bloggers have used it with good results. It might be a happy fix for you until you can replace them.
What a beautiful improvement! And I get the mishaps of renovations – read my latest post on why it takes us over a month to put on a storm door – it may even be 2 months! Speaking of old decor – that’s all my house is… emerald green, burgundy & gold. yes. I would take that blue trim over what we have any day!! ;) I look forward to watching the improvements!
Hi Nan-
When we bought our house in NJ back in the later 80′s the whole house was gold, brown and green. Before we even moved in we took a few days to get the whole house painted. We had some friends help us. We kept the wall to wall carpet in place to act as a drop cloth so we didn’t have to protect anything. When we were done we ripped out the carpets and exposed great looking wood floors. A week later the previous homeowner came by with some papers and her jaw dropped. She said she would have never moved if she knew it could look the way it did. White paint on the walls and no green gold carpet on the floor.anymore changed everything. Since you live in your house it is much harder to update – a little bit at a time – mishaps and all you will eventually get there. The key is to keep the scheme classic so it will never look dated in the first place. :)
i love what you’ve done, and what a cool molding trick.
visiting via lifemade lovely and hope you’ll swing by and enter my giveaway:
http://hellolovelyinc.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-stencil-splendor-giveaway.html
~michele
I am loving that look. Awesome.
Vanessa
Can’t wait to see what you do, so far so nice and fresh, she is going to love it! I know it’s 80′s my house looked like that once! :)
I think we all had this look, Laura – at least us decorative types did – it was the “IN” look. I had blue floral wallpaper border that color in my dining room.
WOW – off to an AMAZING start…love the crown molding trick – one of my all time favs. Can’t wait to see the progress on the entire house…while this era of home can present some difficult challenges, the bare bones are bar-non in my opinion! So glad I joined your blog…this is the stuff that makes me tick!
Oh wow! It most definitely looks like you have quite the project on your hands. I can definitely see the potential of a very cute place with all those details. Sure it will turn out very lovely since it is in very good hands! :)
The house was last updated in the 1980′s, I’m guessing. And I’m guessing the house was built somewhere between 1905-1915 give or take a year on either side. Am I close? :-)
I cannot believe how many homes I see around here that are totally stuck in the 80s’! Ugh!
I really, really love the way you created a faux sort of crown molding! Clever, clever! ;-)
Hi Connie – Thanks. It does help keep costs down doing a fake out or two in a room. You are right about the 80′s blue. I am not sure of the date of the house, but the entire neighborhood is made up of charming homes like this one. They have been around for a long time.
P.S. For some reason, even though it was very popular, I never got on board with the country blue and dusty rose look of the 80′s. Maybe It’s cuz I’m not really a blue person. Hmmm…maybe I was on to something way back then. {wink}
The room is looking great! What a clever trick with the molding, the beefy stuff is sooo expensive and has kept me from doing it myself. Can’t wait to see more!
Hi Patti-
The beefy stuff is so expensive and is good to use when it is going to be down at a low point on a wall or used on built-in shelves. Up at ceiling height – faking it works well.
Such a great idea with the moulding and it adds dimension. I am sure you enjoy the more challenging projects – keeps things interesting!
Hi Lisa-
Thanks – Challenging does keep things interesting – sometimes I lose sleep when things don’t go as planned. In this case the contractor is wonderful and fixed the walls in no time.
What a fantastic trick with the moulding! I never would have guessed it wasn’t a full piece. The room is looking so good!
…and just ‘liked’ attiser on facebook! :)
Great transformation! I love the tall board and batten! We did something similar in our foyer area a while back!
Looking really great so far. Can’t wait to see it all done up :)
That is looking sooo good! What a drastic improvement! And oh my…I still have nightmares about the whole mauve and country blue fad from the 80s. To this day, I still cannot stand anything remotely resembling mauve, but I’ve come around on the blue. Just don’t call it “country blue”, and I’m okay with it. :-D