Our Dining Room: Before & After
Above, you'll find the BEFORE shot. That light fixture came with our double-wide, and it drove me nuts. Nobody else seemed to mind it. I tried to ignore it and focus on the 100 other things we needed to do around the house. But then I wondered, "WWJGD?" (What would Joanna Gaines do?) and I went ahead and bough a giant rustic chandelier to replace it.
I found this 32-inch chandelier that was on sale for under $200. It seemed big, but our table (salvaged from our old trailer) is 48" square, so I went for it. We had it delivered to our home in Brooklyn. The box was so gigantic and heavy that we had to keep it in our hallway, which then became nearly impossible to walk through. I had a little anxiety attack every time I squeezed by. Did I purchase a monstrosity? It took the combined strength of my father, husband and brother-in-law to hang the ginormous thing. I felt bad.
But not that bad.
It's totally perfect!
Archer asked me to note that giant chandelier box became a temporary home for the painted turtle he found down by the lake, so everything worked out great.
The next task was to hang some artwork on the dining room wall. Our frames were wrapped up in brown paper, which I used to help visualize the gallery wall. I traced each frame onto the paper, cut out the artwork-sized templates and affixed them to the wall with Fun Tack. It was easy to move them around until I got them exactly where I wanted them.
Then I enlisted my brother-in-law, Dan, to hang the artwork. (He's a stellar handyman and all-around great guy. If you need a chiropractor in NYC, check him out -- there's nobody nicer or better!) He was able to mark up the brown paper and poke holes right through it, which helped streamline the process. He made it look easy. I made sure snacks and beer were readily available while he worked.
Nailed it! Both literally and figuratively.
A note on the artwork: My parents dug up the map and softball team photo from my grandfather's old things. The Auction Barn poster and postcards of local landmarks were saved from the old trailer. I alternated rustic barnwood frames from All Barn Wood with black beaded frames from the Picture Frame Company, a great online resource with a huge selection of frames in many odd sizes. I originally planned to cut the mats myself but then I remembered that I have two little kids and rarely have the time/mental clarity to whip out a ruler and a razor blade. Thank goodness for the kind people at KC Arts on Court Street who made my pile of stained old papers look beautiful again.
