Cecelia Mullins
When we first made over our dining room back in 2016, I was still in the process of finding my style and we were on a pretty tight budget for the project. First off, we still weren’t ready to cover over the textured ceiling when we completed the original Planked Dining Room Makeover. It may seem like a small thing, but I feel pretty strongly that getting rid of the texture makes a HUGE difference.
I’m very happy to report that it’s since been covered over with smooth plaster and painted Benjamin Moore Simply White, which has made a noticable impact on the lighting of the room! When we completed the original makeover I wanted a paint color for the top of the three walls that was as close to white as possible. It felt like a more calculated risk to go dark with the paint color in this room because of the Benjamin Moore Simply White planked wall treatment.
I knew I wanted the wall treatment to remain white because it’s a classic New England feature in our home. We visited a beautiful hotel in Bar Harbor this past summer that had white planked walls with contrasting Navy paint at the top.
I briefly considered also going with navy for the top of our walls, but instead ended up with Benjamin Moore’s Kendall Charcoal. The photo above is the same color in a dining room, designed by the talented Jen of Dear Lillie. We didn’t get rid of anything big, however, we did add on to the collection with two of the Studio Wall Shelves shown above. The stain color is slightly different than our other furniture, but it ties in perfectly with our new wall decor, so it all worked out.
It seemed like a fun touch at the time, a place to write out holiday menus and even some chalk art. This handcrafted antique tiled wall mirror from West Elm again feels a bit different from my usual choice, but that’s what I love about it! Overall, this room felt like an evolution of my style, which was fun and exciting after so many years of feeling stagnant in my design choices.
