Santa Brings Some MCM

[pulltostart]

Finally, after wanting to have this done for the whole 6 years I've lived in this house, today my divider was installed between the front door and the dining area.  I started this process 6 months ago when I took a 'mental health day' and stayed home from work.  I decided that the time had arrived to either sh*t or get off the pot with this project, so I sketched out what I wanted and started the demolition.  By that after all of the rough-in had been completed.  It took me 3 months to find a tile/flooring guy who would take up the hardwoods in front of the door and install the slate, then it has taken me another 3 months to find a cabinetmaker willing to build the divider.  He came this morning and installed the divider and I am really pleased with the results.  They primed the unit in his shop, he installed all the casing and filled and caulked and now it only needs yours truly to apply the finish coat(s) of paint.  First, a shot of "before", taken probably within the first year after moving in.  The walls are Sherwin-Williams "Relaxed Khaki" and the accent wall is "Stop".

 

 

[pulltostart]

Today

Here is what the space looks like today.  You can see the slate floor, the front door (and all exterior doors) is now Sherwin-Williams "Mature Grape", the walls are still "Relaxed Khaki" and the accent wall, now in the dining area is "Palm Desert".  I will have to paint the divider, re-paint most of the khaki, and I want to change the green wall to a brighter, less-ruddy green.  But this is the look I've wanted and there is so much more light getting into the dining area now.

 

lawrence

 

[pulltostart]

One more.

 

lawrence

 

[retropia]

Looks nice! Plus, now you have room to display knick knacks on the new divider.

 

[rp2813]

Nicely done!  It looks beautiful, and I like the artwork as well.

 

[pulltostart]

Here's another way to see the space.  Could have gone one shelf lower, I guess.  Either way, it suggests the separation that I wanted.

 

lawrence

 

[maytagbear]

It's lovely!

It goes so well with your dining furniture!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[gansky1]

Wow, what difference that made in the light. Admit that I didn't mind the red wall before, but the openness is well worth the effort!

Beautiful dining set, too!

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Looking great!

This looks fantastic! A really nice project that at first looks like a relatively small change but ends up changing the whole room. Bravo!

RCD

 

[pulltostart]

Thanks to all for the compliments, I'm lovin it!  I never envisioned the shelves "holding" anything but it's looking rather bare right now.  I might have to give in and place a potted trailing vine on one of the shelves.  That painting in the dining room is one of my favorites.  It was bought for it's vivid colors - all of them.  The dining room furniture was purchased new by a lady in Birmingham, AL in 1952 for her new house.  She also bought the 3-globe light fixture at more or less the same time.  When she downsized, sold her home, and went to a condo in about 1994/1995 I was able to buy the group from her.  As it turned out, the buyer of her house was not interested in keeping the light fixture so I bought it, also.  There are nicer fixtures out there that could be in the space, but I've always felt somewhat obligated to keep that light fixture above that table.  They're kinda like "family" to each other.

 

lawrence

 

[pulltostart]

PS

Welcome back, Drew!  It's good to see you posting again.  Happy healing and Merry Christmas!

 

lawrence, Bethann, and Lacey

 

[petek]

It all goes together well. .  The furniture, the light and that painting really is nice.  I wouldn't overdo the shelves with stuff maybe a few pieces of 50's or 60's art glass if that. 

 

[westingman123]

Lovely!

I'd go with a philodendron. The rest is perfection.

I like that you kept the "married" dining room set together.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations!

When my parents built their house in 1955, the plans had no wall between the front door and the dining end of the living/dining room so they had one put in. The builders liked it so much that they began including it in future construction. The only thing was that they had not bargained on how dark it made the coat closet that was on the adjacent wall behind the door and no electrician thought to run a cable across the basement and up through the floor to put a light in the closet. Some people have no imagination.

 

[pulltostart]

Tom,

You are correct, there is no light fixture at the "foyer-ette".  It would be nicer if there were one, but not horrible that it's lacking.  What I crave more than a light is space for a piece of translucent glass beside the front door.  Although that wouldn't be impossible to achieve it would be more trouble and cost than it would be worth.

 

I know my love for mid-century modern stems from living on an Air Force Base from 1959-1963, in "modern" base housing.  This is a photo of some of the housing, but not ours.  These units were for the officers and were single-family units, the housing for enlisted men and their families were duplex units styled in the same manner.

 

lawrence

 

[pulltostart]

In our unit there were open shelves between the foyer and the living room, similar to the ones in this photo.  My desire for this type of separation at the front door goes all the way back to those childhood days.  Amazing how our younger years stay with us throughout our lives.

 

lawrence

 

[ovrphil]

Light Matters

The original wall wasn't so bad, but I vote for your idea, as it brought more light into your dining area. I love that. Congrats on getting it done!

Phil