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The dining room is painted with a fresh coat of Valspar paint in a warm white called “Sailcloth”. This is the same color that is primarily used in the new rooms out back. I’ve been enamored with the fresh ocean look of Edisto Beach homes and interiors in the place we rented for vacations. So I borrowed the look for all the new rooms that we painted. Dove grays, sailcloth whites, soft cool greens, ocean blues, with sea shells and their whites and soft pinks as accents. Sea grass baskets and their beige, nubby textures recall visits to the beach.

As you can see with the past post on faux painting, I am playing with the idea of more color in the dining room at a later date, but for now everything is clean white. The old plaster walls were not in the best of condition, but white paint makes it all very forgiving. I actually like that better than the look of new drywall, because there is a depth to it that is hard to create on the impossibly flat surfaces of the drywall.

Additionally, the Handyman got busy on the back screen door. All works well now. So all I have to do is put everything back into the dining room in a reasonably aesthetic manner and then set up the back porch entry to its previously comfortable and inviting self. The trouble with back porches is the temptation to make them a catch-all dumping ground. It just needs tidying and clearing periodically. So this is this weeks work: cleaning and replacing the furnishings in these two living spaces.

Maintenance is really an important part of the d-i-yourself work, not just remodeling. I bought the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook to help me do just that. I had purchased a copy for one of my daughter-in-laws for Christmas and liked it so well that I felt I had to have a copy, myself. What I like about Martha Stewart’s book so well, besides her unfailing design sense, is the clear and basic information on doing things the old fashioned way- along with the newer and better ways if those are truly more efficacious. So I really hope that by referencing her book I can do a better job of maintaining our home.

Of course that is along with ideas of simplifying things around here, but that is topic for an entirely new post in the future.

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