Dining Room Tour

In case you missed my weekend post, I made it! I finished my hand painted "wallpaper" project by my Saturday deadline, and as promised, I am ready to give you a tour of our Dining Room. This is what the room looked like soon after we moved into our house in January:
I loved the judge's paneling, but I knew I wanted to go with a lighter, softer color, and that I wanted to do something a little crazy on the walls. After moving from house to house every 1-3 years for my entire life (my dad was military and you can read about our recent house-jumping here) I'm ready to put down roots and make a house my own.
I considered wallpaper and fell in love with "Silvergate" from Farrow and Ball:
But at several hundred dollars for the rolls I would need to paper the Dining Room, I knew I had to pass it up. So I decided to paint an enlarged version of the Silvergate pattern on my walls. I started sketching and filling in with paint, and before long I had this:And after what seemed like an eternity of sketching, erasing, and painting, I finished!

There are tons of imperfections in the pattern, but I'm holding my inner perfectionist at bay and trying really hard to ignore them. There's no guarantee that I won't constantly be touching up and "fixing" things, though. But for right now I'm happy with it.

And the total cost for the "mural" comes to $30! I bought 2 cans of Behr Interior Flat Enamel for $15 each on sale, but I barely put a dent in either can, so I will be able to paint other rooms with both colors!

Now onto the details:
I bought this set of chairs at a yard sale a few years ago for $90 and recently gave them a facelift by recovering them and giving them a little pleated ruffle (check out the how-to here). I spent $8 on fabric and was given the foam for free, so the total I spent on these chairs comes to $98.

The braided chenille rug came from JC Penney Outlet a year ago for $30!

The table came from an auction in Missouri about 5 years ago and was a whopping $25! Keith and I refinished it and now it's one of our favorite pieces of furniture. Don't you love the lazy susan?

My mom very graciously helped me sew the drapes. The fabric was on sale at JoAnn's for $2/yard and I think total we used 9 yards. We lined them with queen bed sheets that we found at Anna's Linens for $6 each. I love how full and heavy they feel. Total cost = $30.

The shutters came from a yard sale a few years ago. My mom found several for $8 each, but when she got them home not a single one fit any window in her house. She held onto them, though, and magically, every one of them fits a window in our new house! They also happen to match the trim color perfectly.

The curtain hardware is from Ikea and cost around $15 for everything, including the glass finials.

This buffet came from a yard sale in Illinois a few years ago and was $100. That's a bit of a splurge for me, but this piece has been worth every cent.

The convex mirror came from JC Penney outlet a few years ago and cost $30. I had searched everywhere for one of these, but was always disappointed with the $100+ price tag, so $30 seemed like a good deal.

I just purchased the lamp with birthday money off craigslist for $20, and those cute white ceramic apples were $6 at a recent yard sale. The crystal candlesticks were a gift from my parents.

Grand Total for our "wallpapered" Dining Room = $392!

I will try to post some pointers later for anyone who is interested in doing a wall mural so you all can learn from my mistakes!