the d*s apt project: episode one [entry and dining room]

all of these posts should really be entitled, "how NOT to choose paint colors", but i'll go room by room for now. when you first walk in our apt, you walk into our dining room with a hallway on either side leading to the kitchen/bathroom on your right or the rest of the apt on your left [click here for slideshow of dining room pics pre painting, and please not that i'm clearly not a photographer]. when we moved in the room (aside from being pretty slanted, which we can say about most of the apt) was a dirty putty grey color with not much else going on. i envisioned a deep chocolate brown room accented by pops of bright white and rich, patterned fabric. so, i picked a color i saw in a magazine (benjamin moore- rockies brown) and had our painter paint it. (he's the guy in the pictures).

lesson number 1: never pick paint colors without living in a space for at least a day first.

the dark brown, while not a bad color in itself, is way too dark for our space. granted, the overhead lighting will need to be changed out (for a chandelier hopefully, when we have the funds), but the room is in the middle of the floor-through which means it doesn't get much light (that window doesn't serve much purpose). so, we're now weighing the options of a grey-blue/robin's egg color, which would certainly lighten things up a bit and look great with the black table/chairs we're ordering.

the sideboard will be stained a dark glossy black to match the table and chairs and will hopefully be accessorized with a new lamp, buffet mirror and some small artwork (like the print below) on the table. we'll be using the sideboard to store dishes and other odds and ends because we need the storage space badly. after that i hope to ge a sisal rug for the room (with a black border). we plan to utilize the niche on the dining room wall by either buying a bench or building one into the wall (with padding) to be used as seating for one side of the table. we'll see how this works out..it's our plan for now. any suggestions on great colors of paint? i'm looking for a fabulous robin's egg grey/blue and would love to know if anyone's found one they love...