Credenza and Dining Room Reveal

I'm on Spring Break, I did not plan to take a trip anywhere.  Instead I planned to stick around at home and do some painting, do some yardwork, visit with my grandkids, relax and drink coffee every morning with my hubby.  I can check almost everything off my list except for the yardwork and the grandkids who stop by tomorrow :)

So this is what my dining room looked like before the new paint job.  On the left is my credenza that will also have a makeover.  (The clutter was from prepping up the area for the big makeover ;)  ).  We moved into this home a little over two years ago and I painted the top part of the dining room a burgundy red.  I loved it for a while but I was getting tired of it really fast.  I wanted the new color to be lighter but however would I paint over that burgundy??  Thank the Lord for Behr Ultra paint with primer in it already.  I thought about a light tan, light gray and settled with 380F-5 Harmonic Tan.  Weird name for a green tint or more like a light sage.  It's really pretty in person.

I started with the credenza first.  I was so thrilled that this past Tuesday was such a beautiful warm day when I decided to work on the credenza.

Annie Sloan Chalk Pain and Wax

 I first wanted to paint the credenza a dark expresso brown.  I looked at the samples Annie Sloan Chalk paint had to offer, which is the kind of paint I wanted to use but from what I'm told, she doesn't believe in the dark brown expresso color.  The ladies at "Studio Eleven", the store where I bought the paint, were very helpful and gave me a recipe of how to make an expresso color using AS Chalk Paint.  When I got home though, I changed my mind 1) because I was scared of messing it up and 2) the more I looked at that Olive color the more I was loving it.  So I used Olive only.

My kitties have to be involved in everything that I'm doing.  This is Asha, inspecting every nook and cranny.

This was after the first coat.  It dried almost immediately.  I did not use an AS paint brush but that will be next month's investment.  I waxed the unit about an hour later and then I decided to scratch the edges with some fine sandpaper.  I was not planning to distress it but changed my mind although it was very conservative, especially since I only had the clear wax.  I gave it another wax coat the following day.  It's so easy to use, you just dab it on and rub/buff it in.  That's it!!

Time to tackle the dining room.  Ewwww, the more I look at that color, the more I don't like it.

and here's the transformation.  Kitties doing their inspection

Hubby steam mops the floor before we lay down the rug

Same view from picture above but now with everything put back in.  I can't get over how much bigger the room looks!

and there's the credenza.  We placed it in a different spot and I'm thrilled how it looks there.

We just bought the rug today.  It's much bigger than the last one and I'm certain in helps make the room look bigger.

Since it's Spring and Easter season, I decorated accordingly.  The lace runner belonged to my mom.  I love the color of the credenza.

A collage of pics of my grandkids underneath the mirror.

Front view of the credenza.  What do you think?

What a difference, huh?  I feel so accomplished and thanks to my hubby who was very very helpful throughout the whole process.  I'm sure he'll be kinda glad when I go back to work so that I don't have to impose on his daily schedule anymore ;)

Now, if I can convince my MIL to let me paint those chairs! lol ;)

Have a great weekend and remember to savor every moment.

Before and After pics:

Credenza

Dining Room

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