LadyFingers Project

 
I think I mentioned in earlier posts that I love to do home projects.  If I had ever opened my own business (and I may yet) I would call it 'Ladyfingers'.  A couple of weeks ago I decided to re-redo my dining room.  (the room is now about 3" smaller because of all the changes I've made).  Originally, when we purchased this home, the dining room had pink/country blue floral wallpaper.  I ripped off the wallpaper as fast as I could, scraped off the popcorn ceilings, and just painted over the bare walls/ceiling with a Ralph Lauren metallic paint.  I liked the color, but in my rush to get rid of the wallpaper, I didn't take time to re-texture the walls.  Now a couple of years later, I decided to give it another go.  Here are the before and after photos.  I did this project in a weekend. 

Before:

I bought the light weight mud and mixed it with water to thin it out and then applied it to all the walls and ceiling.

Here is an 'after' photo. 

The original light fixture was a really ugly brass fixture that I replaced with this antique chandelier.  I searched and searched for something like this.  I was perusing the aisles of an antique shop and was about to give up hope, when I found this chandelier in the last aisle of the shop, way back in a corner, just stuffed in a box.  Some of the prisms were just thrown in the bottom of the box.  I bought it for $35, brought it home, totally disassembled it, rewired it, cleaned each prism individually, and polished up the brass.  The original light fixture was way off center, so I had to cut a hole in the ceiling and rewire the whole thing to get it in the right spot.  Douglas was at our lake house (which is the best time for me to take on these impulsive projects of mine) so he wasn't around to do a 'quality control' of my wiring.  I ended up having my next door neighbor come over so he could spot check me when I threw on the switch to make sure it worked.  (I have a healthy respect for electricity so I didn't want to do this while home alone.)  Turns out it worked the first time.  I was thrilled beyond belief.

The final touch, I used a shiny gold lame fabric to cover up the mounting chain.  Who knows?...I might be inspired to cook now so I can actually use the dining room.