SO HIGH YOU CAN REACH THE CEILING!

This was the BEFORE of our dining room.

The Door to the far left goes to the kitchen and the door to the left of the fireplace goes NO where. At one time, we have been told, it was the FRONT door. Way back over a hundred years ago when there was no road and the whole orientation of the house, which was built over a few years, faced east, this was how you entered the house. Just outside the door is a dilapidated set of stairs. 

You cannot tell from the photo but the walls here were covered with grass cloth wallpaper. Which I wanted so badly to like, who would not die for grass cloth????..but it was so smoke stained 

(see the mark over the fireplace) that something had to be done.

As I have told you before, after realizing that the wallpaper holds many of the walls together, we went with putting a special primer on the walls and painted over 90% of the wallpaper covered walls (this includes the ceilings which are ALL wallpapered!!
When we moved here the kids were little..just 3, 5 and 7. 

Thus the Dining room started as the kids playroom, 
it was right off the kitchen where I could keep an eye on them,

 we had a little booth table where they ate most of their meals...it worked.

The Dining Room was across from the kitchen...

and thus was a tad more formal...ish

As the kids grew, and our needs changed, it was time to reinvent the Dining room/living room. We put it right off the kitchen and we have LOVED having it  where I suppose it was always meant to go. The room was painted "Woodlawn Blue" by Benjamin Moore and then I added the brown....."Fairview Taupe" also by BM, leaving the part above the picture rail blue. And I liked it.

Until I didn't anymore. I decided it was time to finish what I started.
So the other day...I did just that!

 I Love the clean way the Fairway Tupe looks going all the way up...of course now it sreams for crown moulding. I am contemplating a "Faux" moulding with just white paint?

Every doorway is an opportunity to jump up and see how tall we have gotten!!!