Meanwhile at Copper Dot

In the midst of dealing with this crazy winter and my flipping frenzy, I've also been keeping myself busy(er) with my design business, Copper Dot Interiors.  I did a dining room install over the weekend and snapped a few quick shots as I was on my way out that I'm eager to share. My clients hadn't really touched the dining room at all since moving in a little over a year ago and the previous owners clearly hadn't done much since it was built in the 90s.  Don't you just love builder-grade brass chandeliers??

My clients weren't sure what their style was, but they knew it wasn't this.  Turns out they were looking for a quirky yet sophisticated room with some color that could be used by the whole family (including small children).

There are still a few small tweaks to be made and I'll be getting better pictures when I'm there next, but what a contrast!

The trim color stayed the same off white since it runs throughout the entire home, but aside from that I was given a blank slate to play with.

In just switching out the maroon walls for Benjamin Moore's St. John's Bay, the room feels instantly about 5 thousand times brighter.  It's amazing what a swift injection of color can do to a space!

Musical Chairs (again)

Remember when I said that the dining room was done?

I lied.  Well, not lied, just reevaluated.

Turns out that Hubby wasn't the biggest fan of the wide array of chair styles I had collected for this look.  He liked the more traditional one on the left, but that was about it.  I can convince him into a lot of things design-wise (like a 2-tone kitchen), but apparently my powers were weak with the chairs.

Good thing that I had replacement chairs just hanging around the house... right?  Now that I'm attempting to purge my basement furniture hoard collection, I brought up the entire old chair collection and started to play around.  I made a valiant last attempt to plead my case for keeping the above 4, but Hubby strongly voted for 4 more traditional styles.

Since it's his house too, and I don't hate these chairs by any means (I did buy them after all.... AND they may have actually been the original 4 chosen chairs way back), it looks like I have some more chairs to refinish! (AND maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to photograph the dining room without it looking dark and washed out at the same time.  maybe.)

Only one chair remains from the refinished 4 above, one was refinished for our previous dining room iteration, one is primed but was never painted, and one hasn't been touched at all yet.  They look like kind of a mess today, but once I unify them with paint and fabric like I've done before, they'll all be one big happy family.

There hasn't been a day nice enough to finish them yet (paint spraying is reserved for outside only), so until then, the chairs in my dining room may or may not be actually sittable.

Now all that's left to decide is color.  Do I stick with the yellow/green that actually grew on me?  Do I go for a mid-tone gray?  Or should I be crazy and go for a different green?  I know which way I'm leaning today, but that could change by the time I get to painting.  What do you think?

Sayonara Scallops

Happy Monday! I know that's extraordinarily cheerful for a Monday, but I'm just excited- today, we bid adieu to the pink bathtub!  Naturally, I'm going to make you wait until Friday to see it, though, in my weekly flip update.  OK, maybe I'll put a sneak peek on instagram if you're lucky.

On the topic of saying farewell to dated 50s home elements, let's visit my parent's house.  It's been quite a while since we visited one of their home projects.  My parent's approach to DIY is a lot like mine, but more productive and strategic (unlike my usual philosophy of "I'll figure it out as I go").   Even they're 'little' projects are pretty awesome.

Check out the latest transformation in their dining room:

By just removing the scallop and switching out the doors, the built-in went from 50s not-so-chic to pretty darn timeless!

I should also mention- Handy Dad built the new doors from scratch (go Dad!).  This is why I beg let him teach me how to make/build/fix things.

Cheers to a productive week and updating antiquated 50s design elements!