This morning I finished up my dining room project. I'd posted photos of it yesterday on Facebook, but I felt that I needed to add just one more row of wood to the wall. I did that this morning, and I'm so glad I did! You can't tell from photos, but in person it made a big difference when compared to my height standing next to it.
Honestly the hardest part of this project was cutting the hole for the electrical outlet. We have the world's worst jigsaw and the blades bend and cut crooked. I even broke a blade while doing it. Thankfully my husband was nearby, so I begged for help on that part before I messed it up too bad. Honestly, if our jigsaw (which we rarely use, so I haven't bought a better one) was better quality, it would have been easy.
So, to start off, I removed everything off of the wall. I painted about a third of the wall white. This wall continues over the cabinets in the kitchen, so I had to climb up on the counters and continue all the way over the cabinets. I used a stud finder and marked all of the studs with chalk. When shopping for wood, I decided it would be worth the money to get the tongue and groove shiplap wood instead of regular boards. I am SO glad I did, because it made installation a breeze. We bought the longest staples we could find, and I used an air compressed staple gun to install the boards. (Note: I avoided the stud that runs next to the electrical outlet, since my husband said that the power lines are tacked to that stud, and you can never be 100% sure where you are on the stud itself)
I didn't stop and take a photo of the bare wood after I installed it, but you get the idea. Last, I used Minwax dark walnut stain to get the warm color I wanted.
Turning my table this way and putting my cabinet and coffee cart on the same wall make the most use of my small space. I can't believe how much bigger it looks set up this way.
Then I just shopped my house for decor. I knew I wanted to keep it fairly simple.
The hanging pots are actually white metal pails that I pried the handles off of. I used white clothesline rope from Lowe's and just looped it through the holes and tied knots. I am using fake boxwood, since that big plant on my cabinet is apparently the only indoor plant that I can keep alive. I've had that plant for about 8 years!!!!
My wood wall, and white planters were inspired by a photo I saw on Instagram account @elsielarson and her blog is called
A Beautiful Mess. Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to find a look you like, and dare to try it!
