The Dining Room.

I couldn't take it anymore. The paneling and the brown shag rug were breaking my mind. So, Eric and I ripped them out, hoping there was something worth salvaging underneath of them. What we found was a lot of mildew and some black mold. Fortunately, that wasn't all we found. We also revealed a tongue-in-groove floor and the original mouldings and horsehair plaster. The floor needed a refinish; which it promptly got. The walls needed some patching, which they also got. Knowing that they'd never be even enough for a single color, we began looking at wallpapers. It didn't take long to decide to do a faux finish job, instead.

I suggested to Eric that he choose a color scheme. He picked three shades of green. I want a red rug that my parents gave us as a wedding present to be in this room, so I added the red. Oddly, the day after Eric picked the colors, I saw this wallpaper featured in a dining room makeover. We used this as a jumping off point. We sponged the wall in the two lighter greens and mixed them for a third intermediate color that we sponged on, also.

Then, I plotted the curve and repeat that I wanted the verticle element to have and Eric cut the stencil. Using painters tape, I taped it to the wall and stippled the chartreuse into place.

At this point, we still hadn't decided what kind of leaves we were going to illustrate. The colors made me think of Arts and Crafts / Art Nouveau era tile and pottery and ginkgo seemed like a fitting motif. So, I began searching images of gingko online and sketched a series of leaves. I cut a few out, decided I like the size and potential groupings they created and set about the task of making stamps.


I bought a pack of that craft foam stuff, with an adhesive backing. I stuck one layer to another, sketched the designs onto it and cut it out with an Exacto knife. I then stuck that onto a third piece of foam, added a small handle to the back using the left-over bits and was good to go. Currently, the wall is about half done.

In other news: The grossbeaks returned on Sunday. The Orioles (both Baltimores and orchards) returned on Monday. Also on Monday, a tragic nest raid occurred. I found both of the bluebirds' eggs broken on the ground in front of the nest box. We haven't seen the bluebirds since. It has been rainy and cold all week. Many of the flowers are in a holding pattern; all budded and waiting for some sun so that they can pop out.