Paint solves many problems

You know how it goes with decorating.  You get one thing to a point where you love it and that improvement only makes other things in the space look dismal.  And that is the point where we left off in the last post-  loving the chairs and not liking what is happening on top of the buffet.  

Almost but not quite

One problem area

Let's start with the lamp.  I've always loved this lamp and when  I recently moved it from the living room it needed a new home. I perched it on several books as a way to increase the height and  connect the dark chair colour to the buffet.

  I left it for several days, but I knew what would happen.  Every time I passed by I had the same thought

 ( that shade is way too white).  Problem arising... what were the chances I would find this type of lamp shade in St. John's?  NIL  What was left?  Paint it or cover it with fabric or paper.  I chose paint knowing if I totally messed  it up I could use fabric or paper to cover it. 

What colour? 

 The lamp had to relate to the drapes without overmatching, I trotted to my studio to see what I had there and chose  BM floral white OC29 left over from painting  frames for an dart show.

Benjamin Moore Floral White OC 29 

This  is a dirty white with the faintest hint of warmth without looking too yellow. Perfect in my book. Some bloggers recommend it as a good white for cabinets if you have white appliances.

How to?

 I watered down the paint by half  and brushed it on with a 2 inch art brush -synthetic soft hair for acrylic paint.  It's a  messy business so have something to catch the drips. If you are careful you only need one coat.   It worked like a charm with no buckling or patchy areas.  You definitely have to water down  the paint or it will look too solid and not be absorbed into the fabric. 

  Some references I consulted said to use a fabric medium with the paint but I didn't.  From my art experience I think you could add acrylic matte medium to replace the fabric medium if you so desired. 

Problem two

Once I used  red as an accent on the buffet and in my living room, my beautiful landscape by Carolyne Honey Harrison started to remind me of a Christmas tree.  The green frame (which hubby made for it) had to be changed. I have a terrible aversion  to "seasonal" colour connections.

What colour?

 First I  painted the frame BM Black panther, a soft black I use for art frames, but it was too harsh for this particular  artwork and space.  All you could see was the frame.  I prefer the art to show and the frame to support it.

Benjamin Moore Black Panther 2125-10

Benjamin Moore Iron Mountain  2134-30

Next try was  BM Iron Mountain left over from painting my Media unit (see here). Worked like a charm.  It brought more dark to that side of the room and played off the chair colour without matching perfectly.   My daughter joked that everything in my house would soon be some form of charcoal.  Possibly!

The reveal 

Almost but not quite

Subtle changes make a difference 

And you might think this room is now complete.   I wish!  More problems and solutions to come.
Is paint a solution in your home decor?  I'd love to hear what you've done with it.  

Do you have a problem room?

We all have them, those rooms that defy all you know about design, and just continue to go about their merry way creating problems no matter what you do with them. I managed to create a monster a quarter of a century ago right  in the middle of my house because  my mind was focused on other things at the time. I've spent the intervening  years trying to make my dining room "right" by my standards - I haven't achieved that yet. 

No one has ever walked into my house and said "OMG, what a mess this dining room is."  So what's wrong with it  in my eyes?

Location:  When you're standing in my entry  you look directly into the dining room.  The archway frames the table and the window.  It is also a walk through space from the living room  on the right  to the kitchen which is to the left.

 

There is an alternate hallway beside the stairs, but we never go that way. My dining room is the room in the middle with no identity. Because the walkway needs to be maintained  only half the room is really accessible for  the table - problem #1.

I noticed another problem when I looked at this photo but it was easily fixed. Can you spot the fix?

Across from the table looking  toward the front porch. 

Top art work by Angela Antle and bottom by Anita Singh

A second artwork was added to connect with the chair below it. Doesn't that look better?

Furniture: The dining room buffets, table, and chairs were handcrafted, especially for me, by my man who can do anything.  The set has that "casual contemporary with a nod toward mid -century modern look" that I love.    The scale and style fits the room and the buffets are nicely tucked away behind the table.  Have you noticed problem #2 yet?

A rather dark  view  from the living room.  Thankfully the railings aren't that orange!

You're right! The furniture is the same height as the railing causing your eye to run along the lines and never go anywhere else. I've used all my tricks to make it otherwise, with minimal success. Note all the verticals - floor lamp, tall twigs, candle sticks, vertical artwork, accentuated vertical windows in living room.  The strength of the horizontal lines and the preponderance of wood wins out every time.

Flooring and railing
Problem #3
The aged oak is so orange- my least favourite tone in wood. Because I can't rip it all up or throw away the furniture, I've decided to embrace the orange  and pick it up in interesting art works that also have lots of purples and blues to tame down the orange.  

Problem #4 

Because the furniture is in one half of the room, there isn't enough space  for an area rug which would keep the furniture from blending into the floor.  If I wanted to use an area rug I would have to cover most of the floor, but that would mean vacuuming;  I would rather use a dust mop! 

Problem #5

I have a love/ hate relationship with the railing.  It is solid wood, has a good design and fits with the age of the house and our design aesthetic. I have strong feelings about maintaining "period "architectural detailing and the railing is necessary because the living room is sunken.  But it is soooo difficult to ignore that orangey railing..  It didn't look like this in 1986.  Time ages wood to either orange or yellow especially when treated with oil based products.  

 

Lighting 
Problem #6

The light fixture was an impulse buy  because I liked the lines,  but its scale is too small, and it is hung too high in my efforts to make sure you could see the painting at the end of the room.   As an artist, art always takes precedent over every other design  decision in my house.  This often leads me into hot water.

Wall colour 
Problem # 7

You may be thinking at this point why doesn't she have the walls pained a cooler neutral.  Can't happen because the living room, where most of the light comes from, is north facing and the house next door blocks off any light in the dining room.  Both rooms are dull and cold.  The living room is  Elephant Tusk OC 8 Benjamin Moore and the dining room is Light Khaki  BM 2148-40.

Window treatment
Problem #8 
I love these back tab drapes for the subtle design and their softness,  but the necessity to crop them to allow for the buffet further emphasizes all the horizontal lines. I also think I should have a window treatment that covers the window in some way so you can't see the wall of the next house with is very close to the window and certainly not interesting.

Matching set 
Problem # 9
I have an aversion to matched sets of furniture and here I am living with just that. Matching always looks so uninspired in my eyes and gives the appearance of laziness.  Like you couldn't be bothered to put the room together.  Yes I like a curated room and I have a bundled set!

I'm sure if I really tried I could find a Problem 10.  Many of you may feel it is the lack of cove mouldings, but that again is not part of the architectural details of the original house. 

 Well that about explains the problems. Who knew there was so much wrong with my dining room?  Most of my friends would be very surprised by this analysis!  In the next post I'll look at some possible solutions.  If you have anything to suggest that might help with my design dilemmas, I'd love to hear from you.

What a coat of paint can do!

I love eclectic pieces of furniture rather than matched when I decorate my own home. Sometimes I paint these finds and other times  I strip the original finish and create a custom wash . 

  We recently had to replace this green washed oak  dresser in our summer house when we relocated  it  to our newly renovated master bedroom  in town (that will be another post).

We bought this gem  at  Habitat for Humanities Restore for $20 dollars when it passed my husband's structural integrity test being  pronounced solid and square with good sliding drawers. Sometimes being married to a wood worker can become tiresome.  I liked it  because it had great lines. 

 The walls of this bedroom have been  Ben Moore Revere Pewter for ten years.    I wanted the ocean view  to be the focal point so I choose a colour for the dresser  that was just a little darker than the walls.

  I sanded liberally and primed with Ben Moore Advance Primer.  The colour is  Ben Moore CSP upper west side (Aura). I love this gray as much as I love Revere Pewter.  I think Revere Pewter is the perfect gray so that is quite a standard to match. I'm still debating painting the legs. They blend in with the floor and the tips are gold.  My current feeling is leave them because gray would accentuate the gold tips.  

I have to admit that the knobs and handles  purchased at Home Depot cost 4 times the price of the dresser, but they were a must to keep the mid century modern feel of the piece.