Farmhouse Style Dining Room on a Budget

$1000
2 Weeks
Easy
We took our outdated dining room and gave it a farmhouse style make-over. We added in a farmhouse table, upholstered head chairs, painted buffet, DIY beaded chandelier, wallpaper, and some whimsical art. It was all done on a budget with a lot of DIY to make that happen!
The existing room had horrendous teal and pink wallpaper. I simply wallpapered over it with a simple ogee pattern wallpaper from Lowes ($30/roll). Then we needed new furniture. We were lucky enough to get the farmhouse style table as a hand-me down. I found a set of six Windsor chairs on Craiglist for $50. I also found a set of wingback chairs that were in great shape on Craigslist for $100/for the pair. I had them reupholstered in a $15/yard geometric fabric. (I did coat them with Scotchguard and they have held up beautifully for the last year). The rug is an indoor/outdoor chevron rug (easy to clean!) from Ballard Designs, found on sale.
To add interest to the back wall, I found an oversized mirror from Hobby Lobby, on sale for $100. Instead of buying pricey curtains, I found these gray and white striped twin duvet sets from West Elm. I bought two and used curtain clips on my Target pewter curtain rod. Because they are duvets, they actually function liked lined curtains and look quite high-end!
I wanted something whimical and fun for artwork, so I found this butcher-style cow diagram and bought the image on Shutterstock for just a few dollars. I had it printed out in this extra large size at Shutterfly. My original quote to build an oversized custom frame was almost $1000, so instead we built it using crown molding, a piece of custom cut glass, and I create my own matte using foam board. The whole thing, including the picture, instead cost me less than $100!
I had been coveting a beaded chandelier for this room but found they were quite expensive! So my wonderful father-in-law paired up with me to create a DIY version. I used wooden beads, white twine, and a metal hanging flower basket (which I painted white) to create my light fixture. My father-in-law helped me outfit it with an electrical kit and weld it together. Done for less than $200!
Overall, the room now has much more of a cottage/farmhouse feel to it. The kids use the wooden chairs and my husband and I call our wingbacks the "king" and "queen" chairs!. The centerpiece is some faux flowers from Hobby Lobby in a HomeGoods vase. The rustic farmhouse table was a piece my husband grew up with, and the rustic finish works quite well with young children!
The buffet was a hand-me down when we were first married. However, it was very dark with heavy hardware. I painted the whole piece beige and antiqued it. Then I added the white diamonds to give it a little extra interest. I simply propped some black and white family photos and my daughter's artwork (keeping the cow theme going!) up on top. The starfish are souveniors from a beach trip.
The original dining room! The wallpaper was a marbelized teal and peach, and after hours of attempting to remove the wallpaper, I had to finally give up. I ended up wallpapering over the existing. We kept the original tile floors (for now), I'm not in love with them, but someday we will replace them with hardwoods!
Kristin @ Postbox Designs
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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