I’ve mentioned my plans to redo the dining room several times. But with this month’s Year of Change challenge, to paint a room, it was just the push I needed to start making my plans for this room a reality. If you’re new, you can read more about our Year of Change challenge here. Basically, I join a few of my blogging friends each month to tackle a design project. Our goal is, that over the course of a year, we tackle a small project each month that we know ultimately will make a big impact in our home.
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When this month’s challenge was presented, I knew it was time to lighten and brighten the current state of our dining room so it flows better with the rest of our home.
When we moved in, I needed to quickly rid the paint of the current paint color left over from the builder {see below}.
I liked the green color, but just not in this space with my furniture and overall plans for the house. I covered it in Restoration Hardware’s Slate, which I loved after using in our prior laundry room. However, as I started other room makeovers in our house, it quickly became apparent this room was not really the in line with the direction I wanted to take our house. It felt too dark {although it really isn’t all that dark} and just bland and uninspired. It lacked my own personality and just felt very forced. I liked the look but it just didn’t flow, even though I knew it was better than where we started. Something just felt off.
Over the past two years we’ve now lived here, the room has worked. But, as I’ve finished off other spaces, I’ve known more and more that in the long run it wasn’t going to be a long-term makeover.
May I present, my super low-budget rendering of our new dining room. Please keep in mind I was working with a photo of my dining room which included our current drapes hung over our dining chairs and our very old rug that no longer exists.
I envision the walls lighter than they appear here, and obviously much lighter than they currently are. I also clearly need an electrician to make that light box work for the gorgeous chandelier. Here’s what else I “sketched” into the room – which aren’t necessarily the items I’ll use but are good fill-ins for now:
- Mirror – I like this gold round version. Simple, yet elegant.
- Buffet – I will use our current one but plan to sand down for a driftwood-like finish
- Rug – I already own {just waiting on a rug pad to lay it down} – the one in the photo is the old one
- Chandelier – insanely pricey but I don’t think I can settle for less now that I’ve seen it in other homes. It will be hung the opposite direction as I’ve shown above, I just don’t know how to make that change in Photoshop 😉 And if you’re looking for a great knock-off, be sure to check out my post on the best copycat Darlana lanterns in all shapes and colors!
- Wood and Gold Bar Cart – I already own {old, from Target}
- Fabric for Roman Shades – I technically already own it all if supplies don’t dwindle in my shop 😉
- Art – I finally ordered it this week during a free shipping promotion, which saved me $30.
I’m excited to see the changes that take place in this room. Given my schedule over the next month {or three} it is highly unlikely this room will be finished by the end of this month’s challenge, but I do hope to have the wall paint done and a few other items in place for a fun reveal come the end of January.
Be sure to stop by and check out all the other plans for paint this month – Suburban Bees, Commona My House and Rosa Beltran Design. As you all know, paint is absolutely one of my favorite ways to change a room. So affordable but can also be so dramatic so I know we’ll see some amazing makeovers from this talented group of ladies! We’ll be back on the last Friday of the month to reveal all of our paint projects! Oh, and if anyone is interested in our current drapes, I’d likely be willing to part with them for a killer deal on your part. Send me an email with your bid – I have nine 108″ panels available {originals purchased here}!
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This is going to look amazing. Love the new lighter look.
Oh Boy ….this is gonna be fun!! Can’t wait to see what you do. 🙂
Can’t wait to see the finished look!!
I already love your dining room as it is now, but I’m sure the new one will be just as pretty. I definitely like the light fixture. I’m guessing you don’t have privacy issues in your dining area since there’s no blinds on the windows? I love what you’ll do with your hutch. Is the hutch solid wood that you can sand it down and repaint? I would love to try this with our bookcases, coffee table, etc, but I don’t think they’re solid wood.
Thank you! We really don’t have any privacy issues at all because of the angle of our house on this side, and we honestly have never closed the current drapes. At this point, I’m not even sure I would make the roman shades functional (it would save me a lot of fabric). As far as the hutch goes, I had a spare shelf from the inside cabinet and tested some sanding on it (because I wasn’t sure if it was solid wood either or just a veneer). It seems to be sanding very well so I’m thinking it’s real wood. I’m actually more worried at this point about trying to sand the top surface because it has that hand-scraped appearance. I’ll let you know how it all goes!
I love that chandelier! Restoration Hardware has a similar light on sale! http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod3270003&categoryId=cat1701044
You are SERIOUSLY my hero!! I had seen this at RH like two weeks ago and it was double the price! Thank you SO much for letting me know about the sale!
Looks like they charge $269 to ship it thought :/ Still a better deal than others I have seen!
Oh! Bummer about the shipping! :-/
It’s gonna be great! Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!
Where is your wine glass holder rack from?
It was from Costco several years ago, but I believe Pottery Barn still has something similar.
Hi trying to search back thru and see if you mention where your table is from — figured I’d just try asking
Hi Christi – It was from Nebraska Furniture Mart. I believe they still carry the style, but unfortunately, I don’t know the brand. I hope that helps!