I included our dining room when I posted our home tour last week and have blogged about its progress along the way, but here’s the official “before/after” post and all of the details in one place.
The dining room is one of the first spaces you see when you walk through the front door, and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that it sat looking like this for way too long:
The problems: blah beige walls, a matching table and chairs that I was quickly getting tired of, a mirror that didn’t fit the wall, a lack of window treatments–I could go on and on. . . This room definitely evolved over time, with me making lots of changes along the way.
I started by painting the walls a rich (but not too dark) brown called “Flatland” by Dutch Boy Paints. The next step was to solve the problem of the matching dining set. I moved the chairs to our breakfast area, kept the table and since dining chairs can be expensive, I shopped for new ones at a local thrift store. I came home with six of these for $12 each:
After a couple of different attempts, I settled on this fabric:
(The “Bon Appetit” pillows are inexpensive IKEA covers that I had embroidered.)
I repeated the seat fabric on the window treatments. From the start, I knew I wanted to bring chartreuse into the space. I used simple IKEA curtain panels and customized them by having them lined for fullness and adding a wide fabric band.
To tie in the green, I used this fabric to recover a $50 ottoman from Walmart.com, which became my new dining bench:
The rug, by the way, was a $100 Craigslist find. I must have really wanted it, because I remember going all the way across Charlotte, 9 months pregnant (with my entire family in tow) to pick it up. Determination does pay off :)
And, I definitely got the mileage out of this book that I bought online for less than $35. I was able to fill the walls with botanical art without breaking the bank. I, of course, used my favorite plastic frames from Michael’s to complete the look:
The mirror was also a thrift store fnd, and the buffet is our old TV console (originally purchased at a Rooms To Go Outlet). I just changed the knobs and used the open spaces to house serving trays, table linens, etc. I’ve had the lamps for a while. They were bronze with big bell shades. I painted them white and bought the oversized shades at a Pottery Barn Outlet store for less than $20 each.
I found the black urns on the dining table on clearance at HomeGoods. I think that covers everything. . . More details to come on the adjoining living room next week.
An Etsy shop offering beautiful 1-yard fabrics (sometimes more)–perfect for your small-scale decorating projects!
That looks beautiful! I can’t wait to see your living room, as my living room & dining room are also connected! I enjoy reading your blog daily!
http://www.designedtodwell.blogspot.com
Your dining room is beautiful Emily! And it looks so “finished” – something that never happens around here :)
Your new sponsor looks interesting. Hope you had a nice Easter.
-Rene
I am in LOVE with your botanical prints! They look fabulous! I think your dining room looks fabulous and I see you must like symmetry as much as I do with the lamps etc. Look how similar our dining rooms are, even down to similar paint color and the dining bench…..that makes me feel good because you my dear, have FABULOUS taste!! xoxo Shelli
http://www.alamodemaven.com/2011/04/dining-room.html
hi emily, can you please share where you get the natural woven window shades from? i’ve been looking for just the right ones for over a year, and fear that they’re going to look cheapy. yours look great, so i’m interested to know where you bought them. thanks!
Emily, I love how your dining room has personality and interest! I am trying to go with a more neutral color scheme in our new house and am struggling to make the rooms interesting. I suppose like your dining room, it’s a process that happens over time. So pretty, thanks for sharing.
your dining room is simply Gorgeous! i love your choice of fabrics and the bench- fabulous!
Great Design =) thanks for sharing!
Beautiful room! So many great pieces … the ottoman/bench, the botanical prints, the table….love it all!
Your dining room is fabulous! What a beautiful first impression it must make for all your visitors.
JEALOUS! You did such a great job. :)
I love the bench – I’m a huge fan of benches for tables.
Emily, you did a great job with the dining room. It’s so beautiful and inviting. That zebra rug looks very similar to the one sold in West Elm.
Hope you had a fun Easter!
Jessie
It looks so great! I love how your repurpose evertyhing!
Emily it is such a beautiful room. I love the mix of patterns. And how smart to have the pillow covers embroidered! Great idea.
Looks wonderful! I LOVE the idea of framing pages from a book! I may have to ‘borrow’ the idea for my dining room!
Hello Emily! LOVE the room!!
Want to resell that book? :)
Absolutley love your dining room! So elegant..the colors are just gorgeous!! Great job!
Wow Emily! You are such an inspiration! So many great thrifty finds. I cannot believe you found that mirror at a thrift store! Everything looks great!
Emily, your DR is great! I love your curtains and your botanical prints!
Wow. What a great job. I love how you used obtainable items from places like thrift stores and home goods. The space looks warm, inviting and a great place for family meals.
Love how the room came together. Thanks for sharing your sources!
I love this room, it looks so inviting! The curtains are my favorite. My DR chairs have the same seat back as yours!
Looks great! What awesome, warm dining room colors. I LOVE the botanical prints!
Your dining room looks great!! I just used the same Ikea curtains in my house love them!!
I love all of the colors, patterns and textures you’ve used in here! And the bench is just too perfect. Thanks for sharing.
I am so very in love with that rug!! Your dining room is beautiful!
wow! what a difference fabric and paint makes! the room is gorgeous! xoxo jcd :: cornflake dreams
What a fabulous transformation. It is so warm and inviting now. I bet you love entertaining in there.
It’s beautiful! I love the mirror. What a great thrift find!
I am in LOVE with your dining room. I really want a bench for my dining table. So perfect!
I really love your wall color and what you did with the chairs. It looks awesome.
It’s the finishing touches that I love the most. The embroidered pillows and the touches you had added to the panels on the windows take the room to the next level. These are always the type of things I notice when I go to showhouses, the extras that show a person put a lot of thought into their room.
Just recently found your blog and I LOVE IT!!!!!! Your dining room looks amazing. We just moved into our home and our dining room currently looks like your “before” photo :) I’m loving the “Bon Appetite” pillows. Would you mind sharing where you found them?
WOW. Mine’s next!! :-) It turned out amazing. Thanks for sharing. Bug Hugs.
Oh I can`t say what I love more about this room?!
The rug, the mirror, the bench…
Just gorgeous;)
Thank you so much for sharing.
Lovely greetings…
http://pudel-design.blogspot.com/
What a difference! I love it.
Susan
Lovely, Emily! My dining room is on the re-do list as I’ve grown tired of the 12 year old paint job. Thanks for the inspiration!
Heidi @ Show Some Decor
Beautiful transformation, Emily. I love every detail. The chairs are an awesome find and look beautiful redone with your newly covered bench. I love the mix of colors and the botanical prints too. So pretty! :)
Roeshel
Emily…I love the chartreuse and brown together…and especially the prints you used ….the whole room is awesome!
What a transformation! Wow. The round mirror really makes a statement and I love all of the black and white!
Camille
Great JOB!! It looks fantastic. My favorite things are the mirror (I wish I could find something similar) and the recovered bench.
It’s stunning, Emily…love the attention to detail!!
I have that same table/chairs in my breakfast room! I love what you did with it adding the white chairs and the bench. So creative! What did you do with the other chairs? Beautiful room.
Jen
Scissors & SPatulas
Gorgeous! I would have never thought of putting the ottoman at the table but it looks amazing!! And comfy! I’d rock-paper-scissors for that seat any day! Great tip!
Steph
Wow what a difference! It all looks amazing (and reminds me I still have a fair bit to do in my dining room!). Thanks for the inspiration
Wow, love the before and after pictures! The end result is beautiful and the details make the room so incredibly inviting. Nice share!
It looks so beautiful. I really love the fabric on the chairs and the bench!
I love what you did to that back wall with the mirror and collection of prints. The room is barely recognizable from the “before”. So chic and pretty now!
Love the prints and that gorgeous mirror! Also think the mix of prints is fab! :)
Emily! You have created such a classy, eclectic space. I love that you have transformed so many elements of the room, and kept it balanced, yet quirky.
Love Love Love : )
So pretty! Have you done a post yet on recovering the bench? I would love to see the before/after on this. Thanks!
BEAUTIFUL!
Wow- It’s amazing how the gorgeous room came together with so many great deals/finds! Truly inspiring!
Thanks for detailing how it came together! The room looks beautiful.
It’s so beautiful, Emily! Makes me want to go get mine prettied up…it could use some serious work!
http://www.stitchybritches.com
Beautiful! I love how you made inexpensive Ikea pillows look so custom, the chairs look great, everything looks great!
This has to be my absolute favorite dining room! I love everything! I am going to steal the botanical prints idea! ;)
holy huge transformation!!! looks amazing emily!
i LOVE this room! it’s gorgeous. :)
i am new to your blog tonight and i love your style and what you find. love it all.
your dining room is really great.
WOWZA! I love this! The punch of color on the bench is gorgeous!
Kerry at housetalkn.blogspot.com
I just discovered your blog tonight while browsing pinterest! I stuck around a little and found this post… we have the same table/chairs and I am about to start a redo on our room too. Yours turned out great!! Inspiration abounds on your blog! :) Thanks
Hi Emily, I just received the botanical book in the mail…it’s gorgeous! I almost hate to cut it up-almost. I noticed the pages are 9×12, what size frames did you buy? I can’t tell if you matted them or not. So excited to get this project done!
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