The green had to go...

I work out of my home. At our new house, my office is shared with the dining room. It didn't take me but a day or two working at the computer to decide the room was too dark. I bought a floor lamp hoping to brighten up my workspace and though it enabled me to work without squinting, the lights glow did nothing for the gloomy walls. The room's only window faces a North-Westerly direction so not much sunlight shines in and the drab green of the walls did nothing to brighten things up. 


So this past weekend the room got a much needed makeover. I think it's a tremendous improvement! My inspiration came from here:

Persimmon Ceiling -Inspirational Photo!

I wanted to add a bold color but was worried too much would be too powerful for a dining room. When I saw the above picture I knew what to do -paint the ceiling the bold color.  I picked up some color swatches and hummed and hawed for several days and finally picked out the two colors I liked. Last Saturday, I took the color swatches to Home Depot and had them mix me up the paint. On the way home we stopped at a yard sale and bought a chest which we squished into the back of my already overly full Ford Escape. Unfortunately, while taking this chest out of the car, a can of my paint rolled out and "poof" it hit the driveway and out spilled all the paint. What a mess. And let me tell you, cleaning paint off a driveway is not easy! I shoveled it into a bag as best I could and covered it with dirt to soak up. Later I took my mostly empty can back to Home Depot and told them my sorry story and they were kind enough to replace the paint. I started the room painting with the ceiling-knowing that it would be the worst part and if I did the walls first it might not get done at all. Here's the starting point:

You can see the drab green wall (left) and the plain ceiling-this is actually a photo of our cat in the pass-through from dining room to kitchen. 

Me, painting the ceiling. At this point I'm thinking "This is very very pink" and am having big doubts!

Here's a shot with ceiling done and wall started. What a contrast!

And finally we have the finished product. I'm tickled with the outcome. A pleasant surprise is how nice the casement windows look against the walls (yes these are old windows and open into the room). The room is very warm and inviting. I can't wait until the dinnerware I ordered arrives and then I can take a picture of the whole room. For now you'll have to settle with this teaser photo (and I can finish decluttering my office corner!). 

The finished colors