My Passion For Decor Dining Room Tour

Melody
by Melody
3 Materials
We moved into our house in Illinois when we relocated from Connecticut two years ago. It was a tough move because I loved our home in CT and was happy there. We've moved many times over the 19 years the hubby and I've been married for his job. With all this moving, there's one thing I've gotten good at, making each house we move into our home. I like my home to reflect my personality and I feel I've finally accomplished this in our dining room.
I didn't do anything to the structure of the room. All the room needed was a bit of paint and the right furnishings to reflect my style. I wanted to do this all on a limited budget.
The first thing I did was pick paint colors and hire a painter. Yes, I can paint furniture and I can paint walls, but what you can't see in these pictures is how open concept our main floor is. The first thing you see as you walk in the entryway is the dining room. The ceilings in the entryway, right off the dining room, go up two stories, then into the family room and kitchen where the ceilings are 12 feet high. This job was way beyond what I was capable of taking on. Scaffolding and I are not a good combo!
I picked two colors for the dining room, both from Sherwin Williams. I chose Naval for the tray ceiling and the lower half of the already existing chair rail. For the rest of the room I went with Collonade Gray.
We also needed window coverings for the dining room and I found woven wood roman shades online for a great price at Blindsgalore. Our windows in our home are not a standard size, they're all quite tall. The big window in the dinging room is not only tall, but wide. Finding window coverings on a budget for large, non-standard sized windows isn't easy. For all 4 windows in the dining room, the large window is actually two windows together, I paid $700 for the cordless, woven wood roman shades. That was the least expensive option I could find for this type of window covering. I'm thrilled with how they look and the fact they have no cord is a huge bonus!
Once the paint and window coverings were picked and paint was done, It was time to work on adding the elements I love into the room.
We've had our dining room table for several years and I wanted to give it an update. I loved the table, but it was too dark for the look I wanted in this room. It was quick and easy to give the table a new look with a bit of Old White Chalk Paintâ„¢ decorative paint by Annie Sloan. I painted the bottom half of the table and left the top the original dark stain.
I'd always wanted a dining bench and had a plan to build one for the table. That was until a friend of mine decided to sell an old outdoor cedar dining bench she had in storage. So instead of building a bench, I bought one for $5! I figured even if I wasn't happy with the finished bench, I was only out $5.
I sanded the whole bench, painted the bottom to match the table, then stained the top the same dark stain color as the top of the table.
One other way I saved money in this room, was using the same light fixture. I took the light down and sprayed it with a high gloss white spray paint. I painted the existing shades with the same navy blue paint as the tray ceiling and the insides I painted a metallic gold paint.
The last thing I needed to tie the whole room together was a rug. I found this rug on Target's website and it tied everything in the room together and was a light color, which was important to me. The rug is indoor/outdoor, so if it ever needs to be cleaned from spills or dirt, cleaning is easy as taking the outside and using a scrub brush and the hose!
I love how the room came together! Now we need to start using the Dining Room!! We've yet to eat dinner in there in the two years we've lived here. I guess it might be time!
My goal was to create a room that looked collected, comfortable and welcoming. I feel like I was able to accomplish that goal and now I have a room I love and makes a good first impression.
Please visit the post for more details and pictures: http://www.mypassionfordecor.com/2016/08/my-passion-for-decor-dining-room-tour_22.html
Here's how our dining room looks now.
This is how it looked when we bought the house. This is the picture from the MLS listing.
Here's how my little $5 bargain bench looked before a bit of work.
Here's how the bench looks now with the dining table.
This is the existing light fixture, painted and refreshed with painted shades.
Suggested materials:
  • Annie Sloan Chalk Paintâ„¢   (https://www.bestfurniturepaint.com)
  • Wall Paint   (Sherwin Willaims)
  • Woven Wood Roman Shades   (http://www.blindsgalore.com)
Melody
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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4 of 7 comments
  • Debi53 Debi53 on Sep 07, 2016
    Love the dark ceiling and the old world slightly worn look that is elegant but family friendly.
  • Leesa Leesa on Sep 07, 2016
    Very impressive, love the look, love the choice of colors. great job.
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