Glazing My Dining Room Walls - Part 1

The brick wall around our dining room is one of the things I love about our house.  I feel it adds a bit of the unexpected to the dining room as well as the entry. 

While there are aspects of my dining room that I really like, as a whole it needed tweaking! (Can't you just hear Tom Hanks in "You've Got Mail"?)  

The piano has bothered me since the day we moved it into this space. After much thougth and deliberation, I decided the piano can go.  Why are we so attached to these pianos? It took me a REALLY long time to come to this decision.  I mean, ALL my kids learned on this piano. But, it will NOT stay in tune, when we play we choose the keyboard, and my daughter wants to take it to her place, soooo...I'm finally OK with letting it go!

Trying to think outside the box, I decided to move this "old gal" into the dining room.  She has been sitting in my garage for a year waiting for my other daughter, who lives in California, to take her home.  I decided she could live inside the house for a while!

This decision started one of those decorating snow balls rolling where one change creates the need for another change...and so on and so forth! The color of my dining room walls was so close to the color of the "old gal" that something had to be done.  I wanted more of a contrast. Knowing I could glaze the walls and have the room back together within a few hours, I got started. (This sort of behavior always makes my family look at me in confusion.  You know, the "you're doing what?" look!)

I used a custom alkyd glaze from a local paint store called "VanDyke Brown".  This is a dark brown oil base glaze that is great for walls as well as furniture. 

Working in small areas, I brushed on the glaze and immediately started rubbing it in.  You have to work very quickly with this process. 

It actually ends up being a fairly nice cardio workout.  Low impact, but still!  I brushed the glaze on in approximately 12" to 18" square areas and then using pieces from an old T-shirt rubbed the glaze in random circular motions until I achieved the look I wanted.

In our part of the country most walls are textured.  This creates a great effect when you use glaze. 

Painting tip: If you're working on small projects and want to reuse your latex gloves, sprinkle a little baby powder inside. It makes them so much easier to use again!

So, here's a sneak peek of my newly and quickly glazed dining room walls!

Part 2 coming soon!

Wishing you a Blessed Day!