Moulding Makes the Room

Happy Hump Day!  Unfortunately the weather is rainy and gross in the Sunny State today.  I’m not letting it bring me down though, because we just finished the box moulding in the dining room!  A couple days ago, I posted a little sneak peek of the dining room box moulding we’ve been working on.  It’s got all the details about how we did this project, with the exception of the last two steps, caulking and painting. 

We bought DAP Caulk in a can (not the tube kind), and I totally recommend it.  It basically works the same way as a can of hair mousse, and it was waaayyy easier than messing with a caulk gun, which is what we used for the chair rail.  It’s a few extra bucks, but it’s worth it to us. 

Today I’m eager to share how it looks all done (well, the box moulding part anyway!)  The dining room as a whole isn’t quite done yet.  That’s alright though, one step at a time.  :) The dining room before looked like this:

If you missed the whole transformation, you can check out how we painted and put up the chair rail here.  And now it looks like this:

We are loving the detail it brings and it really makes the room look, well, not so plain.  We can cross that one off the to-do list. yay!

Now we just need to put something, or something(s) up on that left wall.  If you scroll back up, you’ll see it is bare.  I think it would be pretty cool to do something with chalk paint.  Or a little gallery wall would be cute too, but I am planning on doing that in the hallway already.  It’s always more special to us to do something that’s meaningful, so if I go the “art” route I will probably make something on my own, rather than purchase a piece of art.

We also want to change up the lighting situation going on in here.  Our dining room and kitchen are in the middle of the house (because the Florida room was added on later) so there are no windows and it can look kind of dark in here.  Awhile ago, we were eating lunch at Chili’s and they had the coolest light fixtures hanging in the restaurant. (Vets ate free on Veteran’s Day so John wanted to take advantage of this little deal   So anyway, I just had to snap a pic for some inspiration! We are thinking a much smaller version of something similar to this would look good over the dining room table.   I took it with my phone, so sorry for the crappy quality, but you get the idea  

Here’s the low-down on the costs of the box moulding:

• Seven 8′ pieces of moulding at $6.50 each: $45.50
• Wood Filler: already had
• White paint: already had
• Caulk: $4.00
• Coupon: -$10.00
• GRAND TOTAL: Around $40!

Not bad, huh? What do you guys think?!  What is your advice for the left wall?  And what about bringing more light into the room?  We appreciate your tips!