A Peacock Blue Dining Room
All of the Peacock Blues
Yes. I know. It’s been a while. And where the hell have I been? Don’t I know people are waiting for a post? Do I even care about their disappointment? How selfish am I that I’ve deprived my followers of… well, of me! For months?! Turns out, pretty freaking selfish. I haven’t even thought about you guys… like, at all. I’ve been enjoying the hell out of my summer. Consequently, I haven’t done all that much on my crappy house. Lucky for you, I did finish my pretty, Peacock Blue dining room before the summer even started. I was just too lazy to write about it.
Hey, remember this?
You can call that indecision. Or pickiness. Or psychosis. Whatever. I found it! The perfect shade of Peacock Blue!
That’s not just a paint can. That’s a custom mix. My secret perfect shade. That I just shared with all of you. (Shh. Don’t tell anyone.)
But, before we get to the color portion of this post, we have other stuff to discuss.
Five years with no stair railing: Zero fatalities. Zero paralysis. I’m happy about those stats. Especially since, statistically speaking, I would have most likely been the dead/paralyzed person, being the one who lives here and all.
I drew up plans for exactly how I wanted my railing constructed. All I needed was a welder who didn’t think that two day’s labor was worth two thousand dollars. I finally found one, but it was not an easy task. Seriously, though. I may be in the wrong line of work.
So, that’s done. Next was a whole lot of crappy prep work. Spackling and caulking and priming.
My Fancy Dining Room
Next, let’s talk about my plans for molding. Of course, crown molding (duh), but I thought it would also be cool to do fancy panel molding too. Because, you know. I’m fancy. I did two layouts:
I chose “B”, and then went and bought some long ass molding…
And then I installed it. Like a bad ass.
Those red things are hangers to help a person install crown molding all by themselves. A person with no friends to help them. Or, more likely, a control freak who won’t let anyone help them. (That’s me. I’m the second one.) (And whether you’re also a control freak or just unpopular, you can get your own hangers here.)
I addressed this support post too…
And then I installed the panel molding.
Pretty.
(In case you’re wondering, installing panel molding sucks a lot and then caulking and painting it sucks some more. You can try it yourself, but don’t hate me when you realize how much it sucks. Remember, I told you. It sucks a lot…)
But, pretty.
Painting a Dark Color Sucks
Finally, the paint. I sprung for Benjamin Moore’s most expensive “Aura” paint. I had my doubts, but the salesman assured me even a dark color like my beloved Peacock Blue would cover in one coat. Yay!
So, anyway, he’s dead to me. Here’s Egor modeling in front of two coats…
And here’s three freaking coats. Three.
I kind of feel like I might have ended up doing four, but I’m not sure. I can’t remember. I’ve already started repressing the memory. Painting sucks.
Anyway, the trim is only primed in that photo above. I just wanted you to see how it looks ‘white’ because I just know someone’s going to ask me why I didn’t paint the trim white, so this is my answer. It looks crappy white. See? I wanted something darker and richer with this deep blue. I went with Seal Skin by Sherwin Williams. I’ve used that color before here in my bay window. So here’s the darker trim:
I’m loving how the trim looks with the Peacock Blue. I’m going to paint the radiators too. And, of course, I now have to repaint the trim in the living room to match. All of you white trim people should prepare yourselves. That’s coming. You have plenty of time to get used to the idea though. You know me. Snail’s pace and all… Trust me. It’s gonna look awesome.
Anyway, here’s the almost finished dining room.
Seriously, guys. The color is perfect. I could not be happier with it. Totally worth the psychosis. I didn’t take a close up pic of the chandelier, but this is the one I got if you’re interested:
OK, so I hope that we’re friends again. This was a pretty good post, right? I mean I put lots of pics in there and stuff. You still like me, right? Yeah, you know you do…
I’m working on a post about my trip to China. (BTW, I went to China!) It was an amazing trip and I think it needs to be documented and shared with all of you. Something to look forward to… Eventually…
Happy summer, friends!
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40 Comments
Camilla
I love dark colours, and I love your dining room. Also that railing is gorgeous.
Missy
I’m glad you’ve FINALLY given the people what they want. It’s beautiful – everything about it – and I’d love to have a nice steak dinner on that table. I know you know how to make it just perfect…
foo
I pinned the heck out of that “semi” finished dining room. Love the dark walls and painted trim. I love that you are not a follower of the all white trim trend. Do people not look at historical buildings? The trim was not all white.
Marilyn
Well. Finally! I’ve been waiting like forever! It aS worth it though, it looks amazing all together and YOU are so damn talented and such an eye for unique STYLE! Love you V
Kelly
You did a wonderful job! Thanks for finally sharing. Can’t wait for your next post. ?
Elaine in Laguna
I love all of it! Congratulations!
Terri
Beautiful! You pull everything together to perfection!
Em
I think I’d be pretty flipping proud of myself if I were you. That looks super cool. One coat…ba hahahahaha. I fell for that with Valspar… fell for it a second time with Benjamin Moore…as in moore than one coat.
Barbara H.
I have only one thing to say after looking at your spectacular dining room. Have your started thinking of possible new names for your blog since this is not looking too much like a crappy house anymore?
Jill
Just the other day I was wondering what happened to you and hoping you didn’t fall down the railingless stairs. You’re alive! Yay! And the stairs have a beautiful railing!
Wow!
Love the paint color. (BTW paint salesmen lie worse than Satan.)
Trollopian
Egor looks stupendous against that deep peacock blue background, and knows it.
Linda Theodorou
I was so excited to see a post from you.
An absolutely beautiful room, everything is gorgeous. You are quite the designer/decorator. Can hardly wait for more posts, I’ll sit here quietly waiting!!
Black Beauty
Oh! My goodness! where the hell have you been! I have checked my emails for a while, to keep up with your progress! Oh! i love you! a woman after my own Intelligence! You have splendid remarkable taste, It’s breath taking what you have done with your crappy house!
Kudo’s
Andrea
Love that blue! Very nice, you should be proud
Katherine davies
It’s gorgeous. Thanks for popping in!
sharon turner
Looks terrific, and it’s all coming together. I’m curious about the status of the kitchen. We left off with the installation of the countertops, so you must be finished by now. Or not?
Debrashoppeno5
I love it! It is so rich looking. And thank you for the tip about the gadget to hang crown molding. I need that.
Elle
Absolutely gorgeous! Everything! Egor looks beyond dapper.
Nyree
I was super excited to see this post, as I check every week for a new one! Your dining looks great just like everything else you do—you and Egor soooooo ROCK!
Phoebe
OMG, you have a kitchen AND a dining room? Crazy! What’s next?
To answer your question from your previous post (which doesn’t have this comment field any more for some reason), my Chosen One is this: https://images3.ak-plitka.ru/original/62474.jpg (it has to be subtle to fit in the rest of the kitchen, but I refuse for it to be plain! )