Where to start?
This old trailer had no character, though it was in fairly decent shape (or so we thought. See here for what I get for thinking!) And I loved the kitchen. A u-shaped arrangement and a bit of space over the cabinets will win me over any day. That extra space gives me some other place to decorate. In this case, one of the legs of the U backed up to the dining room. That gave me a place above the dining room to decorate! Yay! hmmmm... I wonder if I have a picture of the ivy I put up there for a few weeks. It's gone now. Not enough light, and there is cloth covered wire snaking around the top of the cabinets.
Oh, wait. This is supposed to be about the dining room... Okay. 'The Wall'.
The very first thing to go - no kidding about 5 minutes after we bought the place - was that white cabinet under the wall air conditioner! The shelf over the AC unit and the living room window came down also.
See that wall with the rooster border? It's a 6' wide expanse of gray 'wood tone' paneling with those awful cardboard strips covering the seams. Those strips had to go! Well, after the rooster border across the top.
I wanted a venetian plaster kind of look above a wallpaper wainscot.
Having done that before, using regular mud (what is that stuff officially called??) I knew that in order to prevent any dings from showing through white it would be best to tint the mud. I had to beg the paint mixer at Lowes to attempt to tint it, and provided a sample of the dining room color to try to match, since I planned to use the same willow green (That isn't the official name. I think I mixed a few colors I had laying around. I do that a lot.) The color of the mud definitely was not the same! The mud base is different from paint base...
But I took the mud home and tried it on the wall. Better to have it too dark under the paint than white. This is what I got.
And I loved it!! Reminds me of moss. I love moss covered rocks, and this was a good start on a garden theme.
Oh! And look at how it goes so well with the picture I picked up at a thrift shop for $3! A plan is emerging! I never - well, rarely - have a plan. That way if things don't go as planned I don't feel bad, because - how can you go wrong if there isn't a plan?? Besides, my space is always evolving, depending on what is available.
I took the sample board to try to get it matched. Didn't come out anywhere near the same. Especially since the mud was a much duller color when it dried. I never did figure out how to have the paint guys match the wet color... Well, at least not 'shoot' the color to match it.
What I did was take a bag of wet mud with me and scan the paint chips for something close. Nothing at Lowe's or Home Depot... I finally found 'Spanish Olive' at Walmart, and added a bit of black. That was a pretty close match. Not as vibrant as the wet mud, but close.
And check out the picture against that wall! Beautiful! Draws you right in to the middle of the painting.
The wainscoting was up, and I finally got to use the trim that I've been looking for a place to use since before Lowe's was Lowe's in Anchorage AK (pre-1998) This is what it looks like in the kitchen. For the dining room I didn't paint the leaves.
That outlet on the right of the window was in the way, so I had to cut a piece out of the trim. And this is how you fix the trim when you use the chisel on the grain before cutting the trim across the grain - the split has a tendency to run! Since this is $10 a stick, and I was running out, I had to fix it. Notice the plastic on top of the trim to keep the glue from sticking to the spring clamp. Only I notice that the trim has been repaired.
After painting, papering and trimming the wall, that white formica buffet needed something... I tried a nice green contact paper with white paisley. The problem with it is that the buffet is 6' long and the paper only comes in 5' lengths at the Dollar Tree. And it was too much green in one spot. Next plan??
A trip to Walmart netted a pinkish beige granite Contact paper. Aaahh. Much better. It was very easy to do. Just clean the formica well with TSP to make sure all the grease and dirt is removed, and carefully apply the contact paper. There was a bit left over on the front, which I simply cut off with a razor blade knife against the lip of the formica. Made a clean cut. And it looks like the real thing, don't you think?
I'm debating if I want to paint the window wall that beautiful green also, or maybe the color of the trim.
Before and After
Aside from the obvious addition of furniture, how many differnt things do you see in these two pictures? And do you want to see the projects? (Too bad, I'm going to post them anyway! lol)
This old trailer had no character, though it was in fairly decent shape (or so we thought. See here for what I get for thinking!) And I loved the kitchen. A u-shaped arrangement and a bit of space over the cabinets will win me over any day. That extra space gives me some other place to decorate. In this case, one of the legs of the U backed up to the dining room. That gave me a place above the dining room to decorate! Yay! hmmmm... I wonder if I have a picture of the ivy I put up there for a few weeks. It's gone now. Not enough light, and there is cloth covered wire snaking around the top of the cabinets.
Oh, wait. This is supposed to be about the dining room... Okay. 'The Wall'.
The very first thing to go - no kidding about 5 minutes after we bought the place - was that white cabinet under the wall air conditioner! The shelf over the AC unit and the living room window came down also.
See that wall with the rooster border? It's a 6' wide expanse of gray 'wood tone' paneling with those awful cardboard strips covering the seams. Those strips had to go! Well, after the rooster border across the top.
I wanted a venetian plaster kind of look above a wallpaper wainscot.
Having done that before, using regular mud (what is that stuff officially called??) I knew that in order to prevent any dings from showing through white it would be best to tint the mud. I had to beg the paint mixer at Lowes to attempt to tint it, and provided a sample of the dining room color to try to match, since I planned to use the same willow green (That isn't the official name. I think I mixed a few colors I had laying around. I do that a lot.) The color of the mud definitely was not the same! The mud base is different from paint base...
 |
| color I wanted to match |
 |
| This is what I got. |
But I took the mud home and tried it on the wall. Better to have it too dark under the paint than white. This is what I got.
And I loved it!! Reminds me of moss. I love moss covered rocks, and this was a good start on a garden theme.
Oh! And look at how it goes so well with the picture I picked up at a thrift shop for $3! A plan is emerging! I never - well, rarely - have a plan. That way if things don't go as planned I don't feel bad, because - how can you go wrong if there isn't a plan?? Besides, my space is always evolving, depending on what is available.
I took the sample board to try to get it matched. Didn't come out anywhere near the same. Especially since the mud was a much duller color when it dried. I never did figure out how to have the paint guys match the wet color... Well, at least not 'shoot' the color to match it.
And check out the picture against that wall! Beautiful! Draws you right in to the middle of the painting.
The wainscoting was up, and I finally got to use the trim that I've been looking for a place to use since before Lowe's was Lowe's in Anchorage AK (pre-1998) This is what it looks like in the kitchen. For the dining room I didn't paint the leaves.
That outlet on the right of the window was in the way, so I had to cut a piece out of the trim. And this is how you fix the trim when you use the chisel on the grain before cutting the trim across the grain - the split has a tendency to run! Since this is $10 a stick, and I was running out, I had to fix it. Notice the plastic on top of the trim to keep the glue from sticking to the spring clamp. Only I notice that the trim has been repaired.
After painting, papering and trimming the wall, that white formica buffet needed something... I tried a nice green contact paper with white paisley. The problem with it is that the buffet is 6' long and the paper only comes in 5' lengths at the Dollar Tree. And it was too much green in one spot. Next plan??
A trip to Walmart netted a pinkish beige granite Contact paper. Aaahh. Much better. It was very easy to do. Just clean the formica well with TSP to make sure all the grease and dirt is removed, and carefully apply the contact paper. There was a bit left over on the front, which I simply cut off with a razor blade knife against the lip of the formica. Made a clean cut. And it looks like the real thing, don't you think?
I'm debating if I want to paint the window wall that beautiful green also, or maybe the color of the trim.
Before and After
I love what you have done here! A lot of work; but well worth the effort. It's lovely.
ReplyDeleteHi Dianna! Welcome from Hometalk! Aren't old trailers fun? (And I noticed you call yours a 'trailer' also. People want to get all p/c and call it a mobile home. lol)
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, there is a wicker loveseat where the ottoman is, and the chair has been replaced with two side chairs. Not sure I like that arrangement, except that it's nice to have the extra seating. It's good to look at this picture every now and then to see what the place looked like before.
Which reminds me. . . I promised Kim more of the living room stuff. The bookshelf/air conditioner cover for example. My husband worked on that. Another project for my day - write up that post.