Ya’ll, I have been busting my butt to get this house put together…and I’m almost completely done! Having my parents visit was definitely a perfect deadline to get the main spaces put together – one, we needed a place to sit (it’s the little things!) and two, my mom has a fab camera (that I lust after) and she is a doll about letting me hijack it. 
Here is our Dining Room before:

Photos taken during home inspection – all items belong to previous owners
So here’s what my plan was:
Get a fresh color in the room – everything in the downstairs seemed to be this dirty tan…so boring! I wanted a dramatic, more formal color for our Dining Room
Handle all of that dark wood trim while maintaining the historical integrity of the original details.
Match up the chair rail, baseboards, trim and cabinetry (notice we are working with dark wood, white and cream…) 
Utilize the built in cabinetry to display all of our fabulous wedding gifts, my grandmother’s wedding china and Justin’s mother’s wedding china. 
Ok, here she is:
Notice the vintage wood shark that we found in an antique store on one of our first weekends in Maine
I’m obsessed with him.
View from the kitchen

Sneak Peak of the Living Room!
The framed piece in the back is actually a nautical map of the Chesapeake Bay where my family fishes. My Dad picked out the map and had it framed for me and it has lived in every house/apartment I’ve ever called Home. 
I adore it.

My Mimi’s Wedding China

This China Cabinet is original to the house and now holds my Mimi’s Wedding China, a few pieces of my Great-Grandmother’s Crystal, Justin’s Mother’s Wedding China and pieces that were given to us for our wedding. The history in that cabinet is overwhelmingly special. 
This light fixture is really the only “accessory” that came with the house that we kept. I probably wouldn’t have chosen it myself, but I think it’s funky and sometimes we need to be forced out of our comfort zone.  

Our Wedding China (everyday-ish)
What we did:
Painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s Hamilton Blue
Painted the chair rail and baseboards white (the baseboards were dark wood, the chair rail was cream)
Removed window treatments and painted the window frame white
Painted the built in shelves white (they were cream) and insides Hamilton Blue 
Left the built in china cabinet and columns their original wood stain
Tossed a metallic cow hide rug on the floor to bring in a modern element of fun and to tie in our mixed metallics in the room
Justin and Mark built our Farm Table a few years ago from this Pinterest Pin and I adore that they handcrafted it for our home. And maybe one day they’ll get inspired to make me benches so we can actually dine at our dining room table. 
When we first saw the house, we were overwhelmed by the dark wood and the almost sad feeling it created in the house. Painting the trim was a top priority for us but so was keeping the historical integrity of the house. I actually think the details of the columns and the original China Cabinet really shine now that we created a more neutral/clean palette around them. And (thank God) the house definitely doesn’t feel sad anymore. 
I love the way the light shines in to that room….and now that it has the fresh wall color and the trim/baseboards/shelving are a clean white, I really do love the space.
xo,
S

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