Paint it BLACK- wainscoting, that is.....

I received an email this morning, from a gal who did a search on black wainscoting, and was directed to my blog. hahahahahahah Who knew??

Anyway, it lit a fire underneath my proverbial arse to get some pictures taken and posted. So, let me just say a few things... I primed and painted the wall with Country Beige, which is really a warm white. Ditto on the trim and doors, but in semi-gloss. I painted the newer doors, and they immediately looked better. I haven't painted the old doors yet, because I am loathe to cover these beauties up. Stripping pain off old door is a pain. Hubby told me to go ahead and paint them, but 1. I ran out of paint, and 2. we have other doors in the house that are already white, so I'm he's going to move them.

I primed the the wainscoting with a primer tinted dark gray, then topped it with semigloss black. It turned out beautifully. The only problem is, it really does show dust along the bottom (read cat hair). The semigloss seems to attract everything, like static almost. Maybe paint can do that, I don't know.

I didn't paint the heat register because I wanted hubby to pull it off the wall, sand it, then repaint it before putting it back up (which we did in our last house with great success. Although, he sandblasted it at work that time, so maybe that's the key to reviving registers... 'cause replacing them is expensive- we've checked). He said no, just paint it..... OK, added to the list, meaning I haven't gotten around to it yet.

We took the louvered doors down, and it turns out they were  broken in the middle. Still very usable, but hinges had been added in spots.  I didn't paint them because 1. they're broken, 2. it would take a lot of work, and 3. because the shelves still wouldn't be usable once the bed was in place. And although this house is big, it is short on closet space (as most old farmhouses are).

So I bought some (cheap) curtains, spray painted the silvery curtain rod black and, voila!! (And just in case your wondering, they aren't hung all the way to the right to the doorway because that is a brick chimney under there. But I could fake it by extending the rod.)

WRONG COLOR. You probably can't tell from the pictures, but they are too blue. And too short. (I had planned to add a gorgeous swatch of fabric to them for added length).

The next issue it brought up is this: if I hang some gorgeous cool fabric there (read TOILE), what. the. heck. do I do with the windows?? I think drapes would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much fabric for this relatively small room. I'm thinking shutters?? Prepainted white??

Which brings up the next questions, if I pick a patterned fabric for the drapes, what to put on the bed? A solid fabric? I think I like the idea of white drapes on the closet, with a gorgeous spread. Or maybe not, maybe toile in the back, with a solid duvet cover. I love this crushed velvet bedspread we have now- it has a very subtle floral pattern, but it's not right for the room now.

I have a really nice headbord that is medium brown. I'd like to paint it, and the ugly sidetables a color, but white? Black? Gray? Something else?? I guess it depends on the fabric I choose for the closet- if we keep it draped.

So, now I'm stuck. Any ideas?

I like having blinds, in the summer time there is some serious brightness by 5 in the morning! And I like the insulating factor of drapes for the frigid winters.

So, come on gals, give me some ideas~~ Lee