Our dining room was one of the rooms I'd worked on the least since moving in. The woman who lived here before me painted the walls a nice neutral color I really liked and installed a chandelier that was, in my opinion, beautiful, so I had absolutely no complaints about the room.
As for the decorating, the dining room became sort of a hodge podge of furniture and decor that didn't really fit anywhere else. So my hope with the renovation of the dining room was to create a space that said "Ryan and Bekah live here" - and to create a space where we have room to entertain, because we both are aching to do that.
One of the things I have learned from blog reading is that you can accomplish a nice change from shopping in your own home...and buying spray paint. And so it was with this dining room reno for us. We spent relatively little money, but I feel the change was big - in a simplified sort of way!
Of course the main change in this area was the carpet. You'll see from the pictures below that the old carpet was...old. It was a neutral carpet but needed stretched badly - or replaced. We went with the replacement method.
Let me show you the before and after pictures and then I'll zoom in and let you see some of my favorite elements.
Before:
Things to note in this corner:
* For the record, the ceiling is wallpapered, and no, we did not do that. Melissa, who owned the house for 4 years right before I moved in, applied this amazing textured wallpaper to the ceiling in the living room, dining room, and hallway. It looks kind of like a tin ceiling. Love it. We did not change any of the wall/trim/ceiling colors. And the chandelier is the one Melissa installed when she lived here. We've raised it up so we don't hit our head on it, but no change.
* We moved the dresser into the hall and moved the bookcase from the opposite corner of the dining room and put it on an angle here. I also decided to scrap the idea of using this bookshelf AS a bookshelf and instead - use it as shelving for decorations.
Before:
Things to note in this corner:
* Not much changed in this corner other than some wall art. AND our commitment to not keep the dining room table cluttered ANYMORE.
* We did put up new curtain rods. The ones I had up were about $4.00 gold ones I'd purchased many years ago and we wanted something with just a little more presence to them. So we found some nice black ones at a discount store - for about $8.00 each. Not too shabby!
Before:
After:
Things to note in this corner:
* NO MORE FLOWERS ON TOP OF THE BOOKCASE! This was a good wife understanding her husband was kind of over the florals. :)
* As I said, this bookcase got moved to the other corner and was repurposed as a basic shelf.
* Braeya's food was relocated to the bathroom so we can keep it cleaned up better. And Braeya herself, apparently NEEDS to be in every photo.
* This table came from the hallway.
Before:
After:
Things to note in this corner:
* The mirror is the same...just spray painted!
* The lamp {part of a pair} was hidden away in the attic and was being saved for our someday house, but I decided to bring them out of hiding.
Now for the details.
* The three decorative pieces on top of the bookcase were purchased earlier this summer from the 90% off aisle at Hobby Lobby for about $2 each. The two black ones were green, and we spray painted them.
* Everything else on the shelf was already in the house...I just repurposed it to this spot.
* The pottery vase had been in the hallway - and I love having it back here in a prominent location, since it holds significance for me.
* The other vase has sand in it from our wedding beach. We plan to add sand from every beach we visit. Excited to get that project going! {Another Pinterest find.}
* We left most of the wall art the same on this wall - just added the new picture I found at Hobby Lobby - which we got 50% off, thankyouverymuch.
* Table stayed the same...just bought a roll of burlap at Hobby Lobby and made a criss-cross runner to dress it up a bit.
* We got that wooden bowl for our wedding and I found some red and black decorative balls at Hobby Lobby and used that to fill the bowl. Quick, easy decorating!
* We don't know the people in the frame, but I could not pass that thing up from the 90% off aisle - for $4.60!! Waiting for the perfect picture for it.
* The table was in the hallway, but we like it here. The lamp is one of them I'd stashed away in the attic. The calendar was a gift from one of my blog buddies {thanks, Shari!} and I used our engagement picture and the rose Ryan gave me for our engagement as decor here. Already had the candle holders - just added the S - which I got for $5 at Hobby Lobby.
* Not much changed over here - just cleaned it up a little. Spray painted the gold mirror black and we LOVE it that way. Turned out so good! {Got that 90% off at Hobby Lobby several years ago.} The other lamp goes over on this side - and we're ready to entertain!!
* The one thing left to decorate is this little guy, which we got as a hand-me-down from Ryan's mom. I love it. I just haven't figured out what to put in it yet.
I love the way the room reflects who we are...where we came from...what we love...and it's cozy enough for two, with room enough to set up our long table and have great conversation together!
