Time for a little R&R, I mean B&B

Here's our dining room before we even closed on the house.  It's a great room.  It had a nice chair rail and was just a great bare bones kinda dining room.

And here's another view looking into the kitchen and at my sweet little crawling munchkin-she hadn't started walking yet.  Sooo teeny!

So from the moment we moved in the dining room stayed exactly the same for over a year...empty except for being a laundry sorting corral at times.  Ryan and I picked out a table we loved and then watched it until it went on sale and we had a coupon.  Then we got it:)

She was pretty excited too...like a lion: 

We got a bench too and then waited for another perfect storm (sale + coupon) to get a couple of chairs that we liked (and they're super comfortable, like sit-around-after-dinner-and-play-cards comfortable).  The room still felt a bit...meh.  I saw a board and batten wall treatment tutorial on one of the blogs that I frequent (Vintage Revivals--never met Mandi from there before but I feel like we're BFF) and decided I wanted to try it in the dining room.  Ryan was 100% on board (and batten, hee hee) so we thought about it for awhile.  Then we heard my parents were coming so we decided to get started with the help of my dad's nail gun and mitre saw...oh, and my dad too;).  I started by putting up some tape where I wanted the top of it to hit.

Then we started prying off the chair rail:

  And here's where we took the tape step a bit further to figure out just how it would look and how to get around all the outlets, switches and vents.

 Molly was a major asset in the measuring process.:

 Here she is, after her first day of preschool, checking up on Granddaddy to make sure he's doing it right;):

Ryan and Dad did such a great job making it all come together:

Then after a few coats of paint we had this:

It's still in progress, we have to hang the new chandelier, put up new switchplates, add a couple more chairs, hang artwork, add a buffet, etc. etc. etc. But I think it's really pretty already!

 The curtains were just a couple pieces of fabric I had on hand (from Urban Outfitters) and my mom cut them down the middle and sewed them into curtains.  Here's a closed shot to show the design.:

 Right now they're a bit long.  She had to leave before we could hang them so she'll (or I'll) hem them soon.  They're not quite right for a puddled look I don't think. Oh, and in the corner of the above shot you can see the chandelier I picked up for cheap.  It's primer white already so I have to spray it before hanging.

The mirror is a recent classy flea acquisition from their labor day sale.  And though my husband would tell you I spray paint everything, I'm thinking of leaving this the way it is...maybe some glazing instead?  I'm kinda digging the gold.  (I'm not a gold digger, however.):

And here's a shot that shows the new kitchen color.  Although I'm still deciding whether I like it for sure, I do like how it looks against the gray.:

It looks especially lovely in the late morning with the sun beaming through.