So where did we leave off????

Ah, yes, THE WALLPAPER.

Seriously, this stuff was like a bad date that just wouldn't leave you alone even after you snuck out the back door of the restaurant, took  a cab home and changed your phone number.

Not that I've ever done that.....

It took me a loooooooong time to get the walls free of it.  And then we had to repair the places where someone *ahem* got a little over zealous with the scraper.

But it was finally done.

Those stairs make my heart go pitter patter...swoon.....

We added a lot of mouldings to create definition between the rooms. 


OK, who am I kidding. 
They covered up our mistakes. 

And, like all projects, more gets added on as you progress. 
We decided the entry hallway also needed to be painted.

I apologize for the quality of the photos but these were taken at night (usually around midnight when we'd collapse from exhaustion).

And the can light (to be replaced) didn't help.

After all that, it was time to prime. 


So I put my homegrown help to work.

They lasted about 30 minutes.  But if I HADN'T let them help? 
They'd have bugged me All. Day. Long. about wanting to paint. 

Finally all primed.

This room gets a lot of light, but the morning light makes my heart happy......

And there are some of the paint colors on the wall. 


I chose none of them.

Brian trimming out the stairs.

Since the new flooring will encompass the sitting room, entry hall and dining room (which are all contiguous now) Brian had to remove the carpet from the dining room. 

The color I finally chose was Elderberry by Martha Stewart.  I knew I wanted a deep purple.  Honestly, when I picked up this paint chip, I though - no way - too purple.  But after seeing it for three days in every light possible in this room, I knew it was the one.

It's dark, and definitely an eggplant purple, but at night it looks like the color of dark, dark chocolate. LOVE. 

And I have BIG plans for the furniture and decor in this room.

The hallway is a darker grey - which totally isn't me, but in my mind I always saw grey in this space, so I went for it after trying to talk myself into another color for weeks. 
It's neutral and yet  blends beautifully  with both the red of the dining room and the eggplant color of the sitting room. 

I wish the color would come through better. 
It's not lavendar, nor is it a beige taupe color, I assure you.

Of course, we decided (after telling Brian for weeks and him poo-pooing me until one day he "came up" with the idea himself - why are men like that?) that since the dining and sitting room had dentil moulding, the hallway also needed it. 
So we're hanging that now. 


And Brian hung my chair rail for me after I painted.


I think I'll keep him.

The dining room (where I'll be hosting Easter dinner in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS), has become our workroom.

So that's where we are. 


Flooring is next, and then the fun of finding furniture and making this room exactly what I want it to be begins.....