I toyed around with several ideas before I settled on what we have now. First, I wanted a chair rail. I love chair rails -- they're charmingly old-fashioned, and the way they separate a wall means lots of fun possibilities for decoration. Below the chair rail, I wanted a stone-print wallpaper, then a dark burgundy paint above it and a heraldic wallpaper border at the top. But, upon further inspection, I realized the window sills were a bit low to have a chair rail even with them, and a chair rail placed mid-window height would look odd. So out went that idea.

Paint chips, truest colors (esp. on a Mac).

Having little furniture in this room -- just a medium-dark wood dining table and four chairs, all in a fairly nondescript, yet traditional style -- we had no limits as to the room's color. I decided to use a faux-finish I'd seen on HGTV called frottage. Really, it's just ragging-off, but there's no rags involved ;-) We picked out a deep plum color for the basecoat and a dark reddish burgundy for the topcoat and trim. The ceiling got a light grey shade.

Wall niche filled with renfaire items, closeup of the wall treatment
(the plum basecoat is more subtle than the photo may seem, and the red topcoat and trim is more brick colored in person).

We started painting this room in mid January -- our parents helped us paint this room, the fireplace, and the hallway all during the same weekend, so it was pretty hectic! My mom & stepdad painted the ceiling and the wall's basecoat first. Then the next day, Thomas' stepmom helped me do the wall's topcoat.

The frottage technique involves painting the basecoat and letting it dry, then mixing the topcoat with glaze and painting that over the basecoat and pressing crumpled newspaper into the wet paint. When you take the newspaper off (after a few seconds), some of the topcoat is removed. You have to work in very small sections and move fast for this technique, and it wasn't until halfway around the room that my stepmom-in-law and I got the method down.

The result is a large, crinkled, abstract pattern -- similar to rag rolling and softer than sponging. Since both our base and top coats were of a similar tone, the effect is subtle and provides great texture to the room. Later, I painted all the trim in the same burgundy-brick red as the topcoat (but without the glaze). Thankfully, it only took two coats, instead of the three+ that the hallway took!

We hung framed Medieval artwork and various swords on the walls. We have dark purple, black, white, and spiderweb cloths for the table, along with red brocade placemats and a variety of candleholders. The built-in phone niche is now an artsy display space filled with silver cups (tokens of the renfaire days where we first met) and some of Thomas' pewter collection, including a small figure of Mary Queen of Scots. Huzzah!

Things to Come:
New furniture! Wanted it and finally got it a few years later. A whole matching dining room set -- table, chairs, and a china cabinet in rich, dark cherry wood.

While the light fixture that came with the house is rather nice (antiqued copper with frosted glass), I really want a black iron chandelier to complete the Medieval effect.

As with the living room, the dining room has Hunter-Douglas blinds on the windows. I want to top them with lush valances, perhaps heraldic tabbed style for this room [Note: I did make this valance!]. So far, I've put up a black iron curtain rod with arrow finials, and I've hung seasonal decorations on it. On either side of the window are scrolled black iron candle sconces found at a nearby thrift store.