Is your home everything you want it to be? Chances are it's not. Most of us don't have the budget or the resources for the perfect home. But doing renovations yourself certainly makes a home (or room) makeover more accessible. My husband and I started redecorating our home back in the fall with our big foyer makeover, which we revealed in early December.
Once finished, we had a fresher, brighter, more sophisticated space and we found ourselves a bit addicted to renovating. We've always liked decorating, but we had never really started a space from scratch. Rather, we had a couple of pieces of furniture, we picked out a paint colour and we added some art. There were no mood boards or plans - just a gradual building of the space over time. Starting the foyer from scratch - with new trim, paint, furniture and accessories - allowed the space to have a more cohesive overall design.
Up next was our powder room makeover, for which we started fresh, keeping only the toilet and the hardwood floor. It was a dull space before and now I find it cheerful, with sunny wallpaper and elegant finishings. As we begin to refresh various spaces in our house, we thought it best to move out from the foyer/main floor hall to other rooms on the first floor, the powder room being one of them.
The dining room is also off the main floor hallway. I confess I kind of like it the way it is. But the foyer has a very different look now and the two rooms don't flow together visually. (Compare the first two photos in this post and you can really see how they don't mesh.)
This is a long way of saying that we decided to participate in the spring 2017 One Room Challenge™, launching today. Hosted by Calling it Home, this online event occurs in April and October. Each round, twenty featured design bloggers transform a space and share their advice over six weekly posts. I'm joining in as a guest participant by linking up our room transformation each week. Six blog posts including this one means we actually have five weeks until we reveal our finished space. Gulp.
If it weren't for a number of dance competitions and basketball tournaments in that time frame, I'd be pretty confident right now. But I think we have one actual complete weekend free in the next five weeks. But deadlines are good, right? We'll get 'er done...somehow.
This teal armoire we got years ago at an auction was the inspiration for the teal accents in our foyer and hall. So I'm keeping it. We also have a new (to us) china cabinet to add to the room, so hopefully I can alleviate the clutter scenario you can see on top of and inside of the armoire. I have a lot of vintage dishes!
We're also keeping our teak table and chairs and the antique chandelier my parents gave me. I think the chandelier is going to pop when the room is painted a more neutral colour.
One Room Challenge Dining Room Makeover - Mood Board
Now for the fun part! The vision for our dining room makeover!
In the mood board (clockwise from top left):
1. Graham & Brown Innocence charcoal and silver wallpaper.
2. Peach accessories like this Real Touch Rose from Afloral.
3. Benjamin Moore Gray Owl paint for the wall. It's on the same colour card as the Intense White we used in the hallway, but it's a deeper gray. We will once again be using Benjamin Moore Simply White paint for the trim.
4. Metrie French Curves Scene II poplar baseboard and poplar crown, plus matching Ikons/Rosettes to accentuate the trim on the larger, open doorway and the window.
5. I'm keeping my own teak dining table and clearly that's not it in the mood board, but I just wanted to make it a little more clear that it's a dining room makeover!
6. Another beautiful teal area rug (similar to the one in our hallway) for a pop of color in the dining room - I am loving this Wayfair Crosier Grey/Light Blue beauty!
The Process
The whole design kicks off with the new trim from Metrie. We are installing crown moulding, chair rail, casing, baseboards and panel moulding, just the way we did for our foyer makeover. This is a crucial step in bringing a more sophisticated look to the room.
We purchased a vintage china cabinet on a Facebook buy and sell page and we plan to paint over the wood. (As I said, I have tons of vintage dishes and I'm looking for a new way to display some.)
The Graham & Brown wallpaper is for a feature wall that the cabinet will be set against. We used Graham & Brown wallpaper in our foyer and powder room and I find it brings me a lot of joy to look at it.
The Benjamin Moore paint colours are going to make a huge difference in lightening and brightening the room and making it feel more elegant.
Trim, wallpaper, paint, putting the furniture in place and then, accessories! A beautiful carpet, curtains, vases and faux florals. It will be lots of fun!
Follow along to see other bloggers' room transformations by searching #oneroomchallenge on Instagram. You can follow my progress here on Instagram.
Steps in Our Dining Room Makeover ORC
Week 2 - Prep & Paint
Week 3 - Trim & Tools
Week 4 - Wallpaper, Chair Rail & More
Week 5 - Crown Moulding & Cabinet Paint
Week 6 - The Big Reveal!
Thank you to our sponsors!
This dining room makeover would not be possible without the help of these sponsoring companies, each of whom supplied (gorgeous) product. All opinions are authentic and my own. Thank you for supporting the awesome companies that partner with Woman in Real Life.
Metrie
Wayfair.ca
Ryobi
Benjamin Moore
Graham & Brown
Afloral.com
*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after following these links, Woman in Real Life will earn a small commission. Your price is not affected.
Nice selections Joann! I'll be anxious to see the progress and final reveal blogs.
ReplyDeleteThank you! We'll see you right back here next week then. ;)
DeleteI'm so excited for you my friend, I'll be tuning for the whole 5 week ride. Good luck, I know you'll do great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Laurie! You're so kind. I am hopeful that all will go well. :)
DeleteHi JoAnn,
ReplyDeleteWow! Love your choices on your moodboard. Can't wait to see it finished. It's going to look beautiful! By the way, your dinning set and chandelier are fantastic. A treasure.
Thanks so much Gabriela! I appreciate your kind words. Yes, it's nice to have a mix of old and new, isn't it?
DeleteLooks like a beautiful plan {and I took a peak back at your other makeovers in the bath and foyer - LOVE!}.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! So glad you like the other room makeovers. :)
DeleteYou have such a lovely room to work with and your plans look amazing. Looking forward to following along!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We are fortunate to have some good space for a dining room. And maybe after this we'll actually use it. ;)
DeleteI am so glad you are keeping the dining room table and chairs. The stains on them are so rich and elegant.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm so happy you like the dining set. :) Jo
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