445 Dining Room

It's been a minute, huh? Or, over two years. So, I'm not good at this blogging thing. No surprise, really. While I'd love to report that we have done ALL THE THINGS in that time, it wouldn't be true. Yes, we did sell the old house and yes, we did walk away with money. We opted to pay off my school loans, the car note, and some credit card debt so our renovation budget was/is slim. We've been working slowly and frugally. 

In a past entry, I mentioned that we made the intended living room into our dining room because it is the largest room at the front of the house. This is what it looked like before we moved in:

It wasn't bad...at first. We quickly realized that having no overhead lighting was not workable, so we paid to have a line installed. The whole house was painted in that yellow color but it was/is flat paint which is not reasonable in a house with kids. Well, at least not with MY kids. Last fall, we tackled the dining room and we love the results. 

The walls are a medium gray, Valspar's Gray Silt, and the curtains are IKEA's Merete in orange, which is not a color they offer anymore. The chandelier is still available via Overstock for under $200. We chose it because we play DnD in this room and the chandelier reminds us of something you would see in a tavern in that setting. Our table was handmade by a guy who also lives in the ATL. He made it for his wife but she said it was too big for their dining room (I saw pics - their dining room is bigger than ours) so he sold it. When he delivered it, he looked a bit sad to leave it behind.

In the above pic, you can see the doorway we added that goes to the kitchen. BEST DECISION. Marcus bought the midcentury china cabinet for my birthday a couple of years ago. The previous owner had painted part of the interior with a pretty periwinkle but the upper left corner was still a toothpaste green. I wanted to try out the black paint before using it on our exterior trim, so I repainted the inside of the cabinet with it. I love it! Marcus bought me some vintage Bavarian china for my birthday last year and it looks lovely against the black backdrop.

Newer additions to the dining room are two of these midcentury orange and chrome chairs and barn doors. I originally bought the chairs to go in the library - and they may shift back there - but I really love them in the dining room. When we are going to be at the table for hours and hours of DnD, I use one of these because they are THAT comfortable. If you scroll back to the first pic in the post, you will see the wide doorway from one room to another. When we made this room into the dining room, we knew we would want to close off the original dining room somehow. We use that room as Gavin's bedroom, plus office space, so it needs doors. It was recommended that we wall it in and add a regular door but that felt off because we wanted future owners to be able to easily open the space back up if they desired. Enter barn doors. Marcus and I bought the hardware, built the doors and then...I injured my knee. Luckily, dear friends were visiting, so we had much help erecting the track and doors. I'm still deciding whether to paint the doors black (like the china cabinet interior) or white (like the trim). The other side of the doors will be painted black chalkboard so we can write and draw on them. 

Future dining room plans...hmmm. Obviously, we need art on the walls. I have some Tiberino prints that I want to reframe (frameless glass? black?? a metal???) and hang in here. We want to replace the rug but the size of our table (4' x 8') makes that expensive. We will likely have a 10' x 14' piece of carpet bound locally this summer or fall. I am also (lazily) seeking a sideboard to sit where the gray dresser is in the third pic above. I want something metal...mebbe brass and glass? As I mentioned before, I need to sew slipcovers for the six barrel chairs. I'm leaning toward this print:

What do you think about this print? The safer option is this color:



Last year, we also remodeled Bastian's and Arlo's shared room, the library and the foyer. I will work on getting those posts up in the coming weeks.

Dining Room Pinterest