While you were out...

I've been unemployed for about a month now, which means I've spent a lot of time watching HGTV. And perusing Pinterest. And reading DIY blogs. Unsurprisingly it gave me an itch to do a diy project of my own. The only problem with this is that I live in an apartment where I'm not allowed to change much, so I knew I'd have to get my fix elsewhere. Luckily for me, my parent are out of town.

My parent's house is a bit of a sore subject. They bought it as a fixer-upper when I was a kid, but thanks to having job and kids and expenses, many of the projects my parents envisioned never came to fruition. My parents hate the house, I hate the house, and, besides many serious projects that need to be undertaken by experts, it's generally an eye sore. So why not scratch my diy itch while doing something nice for my parents? Brilliant.

I decided to paint the dining room. It's a room that takes some heavy wear and tear, especially from our two big dogs who use it to access the backyard.

Almost ten years ago my dad installed a chair rail and molding and painted it in several shades of blue. The blue is now seriously dated and the room looks like some sort of schizophrenic country style room. The pantry is also over-stuffed, disorganized, and filthy. You can see what I mean here:

the dingy, dated dining room

poorly shaped, dirty, disorganized pantry (shelves removed)

pile of shelves, needing some serious love

niiiiice

My idea was inspired by this room, found on Pinterest:

Now here is the challenge: my parents aren't great at dealing with change. Also, today is Thursday. They can home on Saturday. Think I can get it done in time AND that they'll like it? We'll find out Saturday, but for now it's time to get to work!