The den (revisited) and dining room peek

So, we were busy with house projects this weekend (enter Bill's sigh and roll of the eyes here, because this usually involves him standing high on a ladder, holding something heavy, and me going, "A little more to the right. No, no - a smidgen to the left. Okay, can you go a little to the right now?" and so on and so forth).

Although I was excited to have curtains up in the den a couple of weeks ago, I was not really that happy with the overall result, I realized. Something was bugging me. The room was too busy and loud (visually speaking), especially for a space where we spend a lot of our time. I knew I liked all of the individual parts, I just wasn't sure I liked them all together.

For instance, I knew I loved the couch and chair with the denim slipcovers because I can wash them, and like a good pair of jeans, they hide dirt fairly well and they only get better with time. I liked the new curtains, too. I liked the rug and the new little pillow that looks like a flower (or fish scales, if you ask Bill).


And I love the color blue, but the one in the ceiling was killing me - it was too decisively blue, and nothing made it more apparent than adding more blue with those curtains. I like colors that are more indefinite, that live in gray areas (and I mean that metaphorically, yes, but also quite literally: gray is one of my favorite hues).

I actually never intended for the blue on that ceiling to be so intense to begin with - it was supposed to be the same bluish gray as on the kitchen ceiling, but I think the mix got botched somehow and I didn't notice the mistake until I had already painted the entire ceiling. By that point, I was just too tired to redo it, so I left it as it was. Very blue. With blue slipcovers and now curtains with blue accents. A little too much blueness for me.

So, even though I liked the new curtains, I just did not like them in this room. I decided to take them down and brought in white curtains I had in the guest bedroom. And I also decided I had lived with the loud blue of the ceiling long enough - so I painted it a soothing gray instead. (I believe the name is Winter White, by Benjamin Moore).


I think our dog, Lena (Lay-nah) Bean, approves. Or, as we affectionately refer to her, The Bean. Yes, I think The Bean approves.


And now, instead of pattern and jarring color, we have visual peace and quiet, which suits my personality and makes me very happy.

And so, you may be wondering, what did I do with the curtains that were in the den? Well, I put them in the dining room, which of course meant I had to change the wall color there too. Heh. It's yet another shade of gray, only on the taupe side this time. It's very soothing and calming, too.

I actually now need to go get two more panels because there are three windows in the dining room, so I'll have to show you pictures when all the curtains are up. And I also want to paint the ceiling in here. It's a disease, I know - but these kinds of projects bring me such joy..!

And we also started setting up the office upstairs this weekend (Bill's rolling of the eyes is not for naught). But I'll save that for a later post.

**Paint colors: den's walls, Woodrow Wilson Putty (6006-1A), at Lowes; den's ceiling, Winter White (OC-21) by Benjamin Moore; dining room walls, Taupe Stone (SR304), at Lowes.**

(images: me)