Dining Room {Progress} Pt. 2

I am so excited today!!!  We made some really great progress on the dining room this weekend!!  I am so happy with how it turned out. 
In my last dining room post, I showed you our painted dining room. 
We went with Benjamin Moore’s Tranquility, but I had it color matched at Lowe’s and had them take out 2 drops of blue in order to have it more of a gray color.
We only painted halfway because we were going to install chair rail and eventually do some faux wainscoting below (like how Emily - aka Décor Chick - did here).
One detail that I was keeping secret from you guys was that we also were going to stencil a feature wall!!  And that is exactly what we did this weekend!  Of course, if you follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter then you already had the 411 on this!

I LOVE it!!  It looks so good and has really transformed this room into an elegant, yet casual space.  Exactly what I wanted!
After much debate (and going back and forth about 501 times), I finally decided on the Zamira Allover stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.
Have you heard of Cutting Edge Stencils and all of their yummy designs??  I’m telling you…..I had the hardest time deciding on a stencil.  They have so many gorgeous designs to choose from.  But, after seeing a few of the Zamira’s in action, I knew it was the one!  What sold me on this design was Jen’s beautiful wall that she and her hubby just recently completed!
I was so nervous about stenciling this wall because I have never really stenciled before!!  I felt like I was diving in with both feet, both hands, both ears, and everything else.  But there was no looking back!  I just went for it!  What really helped me were the how-to videos that Cutting Edge Stencils provided!  They have a YouTube channel and I watched just about all the videos…..TWICE!  This one was a huge help:

The hubs and I started at about 10am and worked on it off and on throughout the day.  We obviously took breaks for lunch, to play with Emily, for dinner, and to get Emily to bed (you know….bottle, bath, book, etc.).  We finished up around 9 or 10 after we got her down.  So it really didn’t take as long as I thought it would.  I figured we’d be working on it for a few days.  I didn’t expect to finish in one day (especially working on it as sporadically as we did).
I would say we followed the instructions to a “t”. 
We started at a place that allowed us to do an uninterrupted pattern (so we had a base to work left and right from).

I was a little tape happy (I used more than the recommended 4-6 pieces), but it made me feel better about the stencil laying flat against the wall.


One done……367 more to go (that obviously is a sarcastic guess at how many patterns we had left to complete.  It felt like a lot after we got that first one done).
I couldn’t have done it without this guy!

The hardest part was definitely the corners.  It was tricky to get the stencil to bend just right on our walls so we could get in the corners real good.  But it worked out just fine!

In other dining room makeover news, I also painted stripes on the curtains!  They look SO MUCH BETTER!  Especially with the new wall color!  They started off the tan color.  They were just plain jane curtains from Ikea.  I just took regular acrylic paint (and lots of it), mixed it with fabric medium per the instructions, and went to town with my stripes.  It was much more time consuming than I expected, and required much more paint than I expected.  But I am super happy with how they turned out!!!  I just love them!


We also got the chair rail put up! 
So this room is coming along nicely!  OH – I almost forgot!!  I also sewed a cover for the buffet.  Remember how I didn’t really know what to do with it?  It was another piece of dark furniture in the room, but it didn’t match the table and the cabinet.

So now it has a pretty linen-esque cover on it!  Woohoo!  I just need to finish decorating the buffet and re-set my table for Christmas!

Next up is the faux wainscoting at the bottom but that will definitely be after Christmas!
So what do you think?  Do you like the stenciled wall? 
Do you want in on a fabulous Cutting Edge stencil for yourself?  Check back later today because I have teamed up with Cutting Edge Stencils and will have a great giveaway!!  So be sure to come back! 

Disclaimer:  I was sent the Zamira Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils to review.  All of the above content and opinions are 100% mine.

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want A Crafter T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Homework W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Not Just A Housewife Th: 36th Avenue, Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading S:  I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely,  Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic, Homemaker On A Dime

Thanks for reading! 

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