The only place in our house to eat is a small table with mismatched chairs falling apart with age. I keep gluing them together and they keep separating. We have been living like that for a while, so the three of us have gotten used to it. However, that changed with Amos and Haley’s recent visit. It lit a fire under Chelsea’s desire to have the dining room functional, so I was tasked with making that happen.
She and I had talked about a few different color options but returned to the same paint we used in Hobbes’ bedroom, Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy. It is a very inky blue that I think they should have named Squid Juice. (Their marketing team really should give me a call.)
We talked about it potentially being too dark and making the room feel small, so I mocked up a couple of images of the dining room in a lighter color (SW Big Chill) for comparison. It really wasn’t a contest after seeing them side by side. The navy is much richer.
I picked up the paint and supplies I needed to get started. This time I splurged on the more expensive but supposedly better Frog Tape. Soon afterward, the trimwork was taped off and I started painting. All of that went as expected. What was unexpected is that when I removed the high quality masking tape significant sections of trim paint came down with it.
I have no idea why. The paint wasn’t obviously cracked or peeling. All I know is that it added significantly more time to this project. The edge of the trim is almost flush with the walls, so I had to stand on the top of a ladder* and painstakingly touch up all of the bad spots without messing up the freshly added blue.
*Side note: I have always heard the older houses had high ceilings so the hot air could rise during the summer months. Most of our ceilings are slightly over 10 feet. I had no idea how much of a difference that would make, but the temperature at the lop of the ladder is noticeably warmer. I am guessing somewhere between five to ten degrees.
Chelsea’s goal is for the dining room to not only be where we eat most of our meals, but to also serve as a game and puzzle room. There are still a lot of decisions to be made, but it is on its way. We hope to have the big elements of room (table, chairs, light fixture installation) completed within a month. We’ll update as we go.