I have always loved interior design and dreamed of having a home I could make my own. My husband practically lives in his shop building cars in his free time, which means the house he bought before my time is basically a bachelor pad…free for my taking! Unfortunately, for a man who has been satisfied to have everything in our house be a shade of brown, he has some strong opinions about the changes I want to make.

Lucky for me, one of our toilets started leaking last winter, and we had to gut our bathroom and start over. This marked the beginning of my take-over. Cue villanous laugh!

After the bathroom, I tackled the spare bedroom where we, no joke, almost had a fistfight over whether or not I could paint the ’70s wood panelling. I won this battle with the caveat that I never, ever touch the fireplace brick (little does he know; I had my fingers crossed). I also started on our laundry area, but alas, life took over, and the job is half finished.

This brings us to now. Our dining room seems to make the most sense to tackle next (and maybe even finish the laundry area–but this is less exciting). However, I feel like a teenage girl who keeps trying out new outfits to see what I like and where I fit in. While the other rooms I have worked on were more private, the dining room is the beginning of the more public spaces in our home–so I desperately need to figure out my style. You need only look at my Pinterest board to see that I’m obviously in the middle of an identity crisis.

Here’s what my dining room looks like now:

So, my plan. I’ve washed the walls and brought up some of my painting supplies from the basement. Now I just need to figure out colours. Some goals for this room are to paint, get new lighting, curtains, rug, artwork, and something for the large wall…maybe a buffet or shelf?

Wish me luck, and let’s hope my husband doesn’t say no!