Wainscoting and Window Wall - Beacon Hill Dining Room

 The wainscoting is finished and installed. The door is not glued, as it will be easier to paper the hall side of the wall without it in place. The walnut-stained cove molding will be installed over the white strip by the ceiling. The arrow points to a bit of wall that confuses me. It probably is meant to define the window alcove, but in my scheme it is just in the way. Will work around it for the time being and then decide how best to camouflage it.

The window wall has had me flummoxed from the get-go. The section above the interior window unit is just sort of there. I think I will cut a piece of wood to fill that entire section and stain it, so the window wall will then be entirely wood. I can't see trying to incorporate any wallpaper. The drapes to be installed on either side of the alcove will be behind the skinny white beam. It may make sense to cover it with the same fabric of the draperies, turning it into a sort of pelmet. We'll see!

Back at Work - Dining Room

 

It is hard to believe the Beacon Hill was started in 2013 -- eight years ago! After a hiatus of several years while life intervened, I finally found my mini mojo and dusted out the craft room. One of the hang-ups is my indecision about how to finish the exterior -- clapboard? brick? stucco? stone? combination? The easiest way to get around that is to concentrate on the interior and face that later on.

The tape wire is installed on the ground and middle floors, but not on the top floor, so the logically place to begin is the ground floor. What is indicated as kitchen in the plans that come with the kit will morph into the dining room. It has a bump-out with three adjacent windows that I think will be board and batten on the exterior. The window sections are glued and painted and put aside for installation later.

This is the dining room with the porch window blocked. The red paint chip is the color key for this room. The floor overlays the kit floor. It is stained with Minwax Aged Oak. The door and all trims will be dark walnut for contrast.

I noticed the brass eyelets used for the tape wire joins have poked through the 1/8" floor above, leaving a couple rough spots on the ceiling. Not sure how to deal with that. Wish I had noticed sooner. I could have used ceiling paper to hide before gluing in the plaster rose. 

I wasn't sure about using wainscoting as I was afraid it would make the room too dark, so I made up a panel to audition. It is made from some of the siding boards, Victorian skirting board, and a reasonably shaped piece of molding I had on hand, all stained dark walnut. The white strip at the top will be covered with dark walnut cove molding, which will also extend along the board that runs parallel to the set of three windows.

Of course, the next step was to see it staged with the basics.  I needed to see how all of the wood tones worked with the wallpaper. 

I don't recall whether the light over the small cabinet is wall mount or stands on the cabinet, but in either case the mark may need to be adjusted. There is enough tape wire on the other side of the wall to raise or lower it. The breakfront and dining set were made from kits. The chair seats have not been covered; did not have the wallpaper at the time.

The window frames are stained, but I think light-colored drapes or curtains will help lighten the room.

Not sure if there will be a rug in this room or not. If there is, it will have to be in light tones to contrast with the dining set. 

Note to self: exercise blogging muscles! I apologize for the haphazard spacing of this entry. It has been a while since I posted!