Dining Room Update

Can you believe it's been almost 2 years since we moved? Since we normally move every year, this is quite a feat! Happily, we have no plans to move anytime in the next 20 years... besides, our decorating style is not exactly resale friendly - there is not a white wall in sight! (Nothing against white walls, of course. They're just not for me.)

There was, however, a lot of beige grasscloth wallpaper when we moved in. Here is the dining room... just looking at this picture makes me smile. It brings back that feeling I had the first time we stepped into this house, that immediate feeling of "home."


Nevertheless, we changed it all. :)

Our interim solution was to paint the wall, change the chandelier, and paint our furniture. We were never really thrilled with it, though, because it was such a mish-mash, as evidenced below:

So we decided to put our furniture on craigslist, and throw caution to the decorating wind.

Here is the final product:

We added the same "wood" to the wall that we have in the entryway, changed the lighting to some light blue pendants we found on clearance at - of course - IKEA, added corrugated metal to the ceiling, and of course had the new stained concrete flooring installed. We replaced the railing with two IKEA bookshelves serving dual purpose as storage and room divider. We plan on putting some type of countertop on the bookshelves so we can also use it as a buffet.

We also added some new furniture and decor, but kept the lime green wall and the original beige grasscloth wallpaper. I think it came together quite well... it's currently my favorite room in the house!

Some details:

The floor ... two shades of grey concrete with a metallic blue epoxy. So much easier to clean than carpet!

The dining room side of the shelves... the perfect place to store the kids' craft supplies and our bulky kitchen items, like our crockpot.

The new lighting and the ceiling. They were both Jay's idea and I am very happy with how they turned out.

View from the kitchen door. The big mirror is another IKEA bargain. The color coordinated bottles were from Crate & Barrell, and reminded me of a stretched 7UP bottle we had in my house growing up. (My mom has since given it to me, but I'm too afraid to put it out and within the kids' reach.)

So there you have it! Another project complete, only about 100 to go. :)