Step 1 in our Dining Room makeover

My husband knows me well, and knows I have always HATED to paint.  I love the look of painted walls, and we've had colors picked out for several rooms in our house, but I've procrastinated painting because I just didn't want to do it.  We've kept the majority of our walls the builders-standard beige they were when we moved in. It's an okay color, but it has been three years and I'm over the beige.

Patrick and I picked out the color for the dining room (Pure Earth by Behr), but I was more interested in repurposing and decorating the room.  Patrick finally put his foot down and said I couldn't decorate until the walls were painted, and that was the impetus I needed.

I knew there had to be a better way to prep a room for painting (I detest putting up painter's tape), so I did a little surfing on the web for ideas.  My first stop was my favorite go-to blog for all things home improvement, Young House Love.  I thought I remembered seeing a video tutorial for "cutting in" which would eliminate much of the need for taping.  I searched their site, found it, and watched it about 4 times to make sure I knew what to do.  (Find the video here.)  Patrick was kind enough to get all our needed painting supplies, and then I was set to try this out.

Now keep in mind, I am not a good painter.  I may have spent a summer painting houses when I was a teenager, but any skills acquired then were pretty much negated by the extreme fear I felt each day perched up on a 20-foot ladder.  I think I've mentally blocked the whole experience.  So I am definitely a novice-level painter.  But watching the video tutorial was edifying, and I began cutting in along the window frame with nary a piece of tape in sight.  I was amazed!  Could it really be so easy?  Yes, my lines were a tad wobbly in the beginning, but I was able to easily straighten them out, and as I worked, I got faster and faster.

Soon the entire window had been cut in, and I was moving on to the baseboards.  Then those were done and I painted around the kitchen pass through.  That was super easy, and I was feeling like a pro.  Time to tackle the ceilings.  This is where I had a bit of a hitch in my giddy-up.  Sherry (at YHL) had explained that the key to effective cutting in was keeping your brush at eye-level.  How in the world would I do that on the ceiling?

Luckily, Patrick was rolling paint beside me, and as I had been waxing poetic about the joy of cutting-in for an hour, he decided he wanted to give it a try.  Guiding him through the process helped me figure out how to maintain a fairly straight line from below.  After he finished the first wall, I took over, and not 5 minutes later, it was done!  Here's the finished room: 

The color definitely reads darker when the room is not in direct sunlight (see below).  I like it both ways, but now I'm not so sure about the drapes.  I think they might make the room too dark over all.  I may switch them out with the living room drapes to see if that helps.

The next morning, before I got all the painting supplies put away, Claire decided to check them out.  I think she liked them :)

She clearly inherited her dad's engineer brain because she spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure all these things out.

So, now that the room is all painted, I am super excited to start figuring the rest out.  I'll keep you posted. :)