Dining Room Makeover
Our dining room has been through lots and lots of changes since we moved in. One thing I have learned about living in a smaller house is that space is all relative in design. Here’s a before-before picture from the original real estate listing before everything was online. This was on a contact sheet with about 8 other interior photos.
Here was the “now” before picture. As you can see it’s just a mish-mosh of furniture and trying to make the smaller space work for us. I had the table centered in the middle of the room for the last 8 years. It’s always been about trying to make our rooms work based on the needs of our family. This time around in our dining room makeover, I decided that our space would be better used if we actually used it differently.
The room is 17 ft by 11 1/2 feet. Having the table smack in the center seemed like a waste of space to me and the computer was where every one could see all of my junk…so here’s the recap..
The two things I really love in the dining room are the the mural I painted a few years ago, and my gram’s buffet. We decided to move that to the downstairs to hold the TV to replace one of those old cheap, faux oak entertainment centers that wasn’t nice when it was new…
I remember how my husband stood at the window as he watched the old
particle board entertainment center get lifted into the garbage truck… one of the last remnants from his college days.
We actually let it sit on the curb for a week, no one would pick it up or come and get it(Which I know the neighbors LOVED.)….I think I actually heard taps and saw a tear fall when the garbage truck came by and picked it up. It crumbled into pieces in mid air before it even hit the back end of the truck. That’s some good design for you.
Buh- BYE. I’m not sad at all.
In changing around the dining room, the other china cabinet got moved to the other wall and was multi-tasked to also hold some cook books and decorating books. All of the china I never used got packed up and put away. While most people don’t have china cabinets anymore, they are still great pieces of furniture and can be used for so many other purposes.
Then there was some unexpected couch reupholstering but it was well worth it.
This chair make over this is the one I used two tones of brown spray paint on. The leopard fabric is really kind of a fun way to add some color and pattern into the room.
I picked out this pretty damask fabric with a black background.
And finally, just by moving some of the furniture around, I was able to create a small sitting area, and a spot for the computer. Almost like a mini-office. I think it’s going to work so much better for us.
Can you believe there is actually that much room there from looking at the before picture? Really it’s an 11 1/2 by 9 foot area. That’s a decent size.That doesn’t even include the table area I am still working on. I don’t know if it shows, but it is really cozy…it’s great because the kid’s can go on-line and I can sit and read and keep an eye on what they are doing.
Our grand plan is to eventually put a BIG window where the tiny one is now so we can see right out into the back yard and watch the kids. We are also going to replace the old chandelier as my poor hubby bonks his head on it. It hangs just a little low. And I think I’d like to do a big area rug, something in a nice darker carmelly color or maybe a rust? What do you think?
I don’t know if these will click to get bigger? Does any one know how to do that?
I am working on part 2 soon…:)
~J
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