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Dining Room· DIY Projects· Painting

Dining Room Changes

February 10, 2017

I’m pretty excited about today’s post! I mentioned last week that I felt the house was feeling stale, and that I had some fresh ideas for a few different areas in the house. One of those rooms was the dining room. I’ve always loved our dining room. The shelves, the layout, all of it… but lately it’s felt kinda dull to me. I knew the shelves were definitely staying, but I kept seeing a darker paint color behind them. I wanted to make the room pop, to have it feel a little more dramatic, and switch up the shelving display. Here’s what we’re looking at right now… like, this morning!

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

I knew I wanted a dark paint. Something almost black, but not quite, and something that had clear undertones of either green or gray. Like normal, I picked up a dozen or so paint samples, narrowed them down in the natural light of the room, and then taped up the contenders…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

I left them taped right there for about a week. I’d walk by and look at them in the different light of the dining room throughout the day. If there’s one room in our house that gets plenty of natural light throughout the day, it’s the dining room. It not only gets plenty of diffused natural “clean” light throughout the day, but when the sun sets, it shines right in the dining room. I didn’t want a color that would look yellow or golden. After giving it some time, I picked Vintage Frame by Valspar, and I had it mixed in flat paint. In case you’re wondering, it’s the very center sample in the image above.

Once I had the paint mixed, this project actually went pretty quick. Here’s what I used…

Please note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which allows us to make a small commission from your purchase, but your purchase price stays the same. Thank you for helping support our blog! We greatly appreciate it! 

Supplies:
  • Vintage Frame Paint, by Valspar for Ace Hardware, in flat
  • Painters Tape
  • Paint Roller
  • Paint Brush

First, I had to remove everything from the shelves…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

And once they were empty, I used my brush to start cutting in around each shelf. I was fully prepared to have to tape off the shelves, but I didn’t have too.  The boards have rounded edges and they don’t sit flush against the wall, so I was able to brush the paint down along the back side of each board.

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

It went much faster than I thought, which made me even happier…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

At this point I was totally in love…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

And because painting a dark color against a light color is always a little bit more difficult for super straight lines, I opted to tape off all the edges for the best possible result. I used my favorite tape and went to town…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

This little area was the hardest just because of the minimal space, and I had to lay on my back or stomach to do it, but the tape was absolutely worth it, and it made the project go so much fast than cutting it in by hand, which is what I normally do.

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

I finished when it was dark, but I still knew this was the perfect choice for the room…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

I thought about adding a few things back onto the shelves, but decided to leave them bare so I could get a great first impression first thing in the morning when I walked out of our bedroom. Here’s what we have right now…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

I can’t tell you how much I am loving the color, the change, just all of it…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

I also love the depth of the color. It’s got such a great variety of color depths. It pulls green, but black, and even a little dark gray too. Exactly what I was looking for in this room.

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

And one of my favorite thing about this transformation, is how it makes the shelves look. They’re warmer, deeper in color, and more dramatic too…

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

It was actually pretty funny, because I was telling Anthony how excited I was about the change, and how much I loved the paint color mixed with the shelves. I was going on and on about how it looked just like I was hoping, and was just getting ready to tell him how much I loved the new warmth and depth of the shelves when he beat me to it! He started talking about how much he loved it too, and how it entirely transformed the shelves. I just smiled and thought to myself, he gets it, and he does. He has a great eye.

Dining Room Changes by The Wood Grain Cottage

So… now for the big question, what am I going to put on those big, beautiful shelves? I’m going back and forth on how I want them to look, especially because I was so ready for a change in here. We’ll see if I just put everything back, or if I rotate the type of items I’m going to display. I do know the white dishware will pop beautifully against the dark wall, and I love that, but I’m also thinking of incorporating a few different items too… Books, candle sticks, artwork, etc. For right now though, it’s going to stay empty. I’m going to let the bare wall speak to me. 🙂

One change down, a few more to go! And as soon as I decide what I’m going to display on our shelves, you’ll be the first to know! Feel free to weigh in! 😉

I’m Shayna… The small town Colorado girl who’s obsessed with home and everything that entails! I’m a creative, a decorator, a day dreamer, a huge fan of scones and I’m passionate about loving where I live and making a home.

Tagged with: Dining Room, DIY, Painting18 Comments

Comments

  1. Ardith says

    February 10, 2017 at 10:33 AM

    Wall envy here, Shayna, your color choice was inspired. It looks fantastic. Cheers and have a great weekend, Ardith

    Reply
  2. Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces says

    February 10, 2017 at 11:13 AM

    This looks wonderful! The shelves are like art now! Great job!

    Reply
  3. Marty Oravetz says

    February 10, 2017 at 11:41 AM

    Love the color. It is so dramatic and perfect.

    Reply
  4. Patty says

    February 10, 2017 at 12:04 PM

    Gosh! I loved it before, but I really do now. PLEASE do not make us wait to long to see how you style them. That is totally the fun part….for you and for us! I love the idea of mixing it up with white dishes and candles and books and art and oh, my! YES! All of it! Cannot wait!!!

    Reply
  5. Kim says

    February 10, 2017 at 12:51 PM

    This is beautiful and I can’t wait to see what you decide to put on the shelves.

    Reply
  6. Erin says

    February 10, 2017 at 1:42 PM

    Just beautiful! They are so striking and moody in the most perfect way.

    Reply
  7. Colleen says

    February 10, 2017 at 3:04 PM

    Love it! I’m having a crush on dark colors right now, especially behind shelves! Glad you like it and looking forward to seeing how you style them!

    Reply
  8. Dawn says

    February 10, 2017 at 4:06 PM

    Absolutely love the new color!!!!..cant wait to see how you decorate them😊

    Reply
  9. kim says

    February 11, 2017 at 4:18 PM

    Looks fab!!! Has me rethinking my color choices for my kitchen.

    Reply
  10. LIsa Mothersead says

    February 12, 2017 at 10:15 AM

    Beautiful and I love the wall texture. I hope you keep the galvanized stuff. Love that! ❤️

    Reply
  11. Linda says

    February 12, 2017 at 10:32 AM

    I used a deep grey by Valparaiso last year in my dining room and kitchen …love it then love it still …it made our wood look so pretty…I think your project turned out stunning….so glad to see a post that is NOT white on white on white

    Reply
  12. Sonya says

    February 12, 2017 at 11:02 AM

    Love it!

    Reply
  13. Jen says

    February 13, 2017 at 2:21 PM

    I love the pop of color and the depth this adds! Feeling shelf envy over here at my house.

    Reply
  14. Jo says

    February 14, 2017 at 6:52 AM

    My dining room was a very creamy color and I wanted an accent so I painted one wall black. It’s now my favorite room in the house. It’s amazing what black paint can do for a room. I love these shelves.

    Reply
  15. Arell says

    February 16, 2017 at 10:54 AM

    I loved this space before, but I REALLY love it now! I did not think it needed a thing, but I absolutely love the transformation! The room has that cool, kind of moody, deep look now. I think it came out perfectly.

    Reply
  16. Angela says

    January 13, 2018 at 4:29 PM

    What stain color are the shelves?

    Reply
    • Shayna says

      January 18, 2018 at 4:28 PM

      The shelves are stained with Early American by Minwax.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Moody Dining Room Shelves - The Wood Grain Cottage says:
    February 17, 2017 at 9:40 AM

    […] know… I know… I left you hanging last week with the new dining room changes I made. That beautiful paint color has kind of changed everything! I’m beyond in love with […]

    Reply

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I’m Shayna… The small town Colorado girl who’s obsessed with home and everything that entails! I’m a creative, a decorator, a day dreamer, a huge fan of scones and I’m passionate about loving where I live and making a home.

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