Dining Room Renovation: Before&After

Confession: I watch entirely too much HGTV. 

Actually I take that back, when I was on bedrest before I gave birth to my daughter I lived for HGTV and the DIY network. I would say the highlight of my obsession was meeting Chip and Joanna Gaines!!!No really, actually got to shake their hand and pose for a photo with them. Proof.

If you don’t know who they are, my heart hurts for you. If you haven’t watch their show fixer upper on HGTV you need to. They are the most wholesome people on TV and in person. Anyway, moving on.
Take it back to January when we bought our new home with a lot of character. We found a 1930s American foursquare farmhouse in the middle of the city. We fell in love with the character in the story behind the home. Now just because we love the character, doesn’t mean that it was perfect for us.
We came in with gallons and gallons of white paint to paint over the woodwork that had been neglected beyond repair for so many years. The photos that I will post of the before makes it look like in a lot better shape than it was. But I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t sad about painting the woodwork and having the beautiful white trim that I have always dreamed of… Well I guess for the past year anyway. 😉
The first project was painting the entire main floor. I did hire the painting of the woodwork done, solely for the fact that my child was three months old and that was not going to be an easy task doing that alone. I did all of the prep work for them, took care of the upstairs, two entries, and the banisters, so I feel like that justifies the money spent on them doing the main four rooms so we could move stuff in.
I have officially completed two rooms and I feel very proud of those two spaces. They were definitely inspired by Joanna and my Pinterest board, but they definitely stay true to both my husband and my own taste. If my husband had his way we would have our entire house wrapped in knotty pine and decorated in full Montana cabin Decor. I grew up on a farm but never had the traditional farmhouse. I was so excited to find this home in a city or we could still have the character and I could have my dream of having our daughter walk down an open staircase on her prom dress waiting to meet her date. (I don’t know about you, but I always dreamed about that after seeing it in movies and realizing there was no way I could ever happen for me, lol!)

(Here is a little Before&After of our beautiful staicase!)

 

Thankfully my husband has came around to the greige color scheme, and understood that with the right Decour and staging you can incorporate barn wood pieces into a modern space and make them work!

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how much money I spent on the rental and actually other than our dining table that we had made by a local company and the chairs&chandelier I have basically repurposed all of the items for decoration in my home. Obviously there are a few fillers that I had bought but I think it’s so much more fun to personalize a space that has a story behind it. Whether that be a historic piece and your family or creating it with your own two hands. I think that is what makes a house a home… And a little bit more friendly on the checkbook.
If you have any questions on any of the items that you see in my after photos feel free to comment and I will help you to the best of my ability.
Also, please keep in mind these before photos are of the previous owners furniture and decorations. Actually think it’s fun that way to show different ways of different families using the space!

——DINING ROOM RENO—–

   

Before 

 

After!
Paintcolor: SW Colonial Grey (Top), SW Pavestone (Botttom), Valspar Satin White (Trim)
Chairs: Ashley Furniture (great deals on holidays!)

Dining Table: Grain Designs (follow them on Facebook/Insta!)

Chandelier: Overstock.com (I actually paid $200 less even beyond the sale price) because I got it in brass gold, then sprayed it with Krylon Looking Spray and distressed it with steel wool to give it a galvanized effect! Super easy tip!)
All of the decorations (with the exception of the greenery…hobby lobby!) I found at junk flea markets…my husband built the planter box in the middle, and the shelf for me! Chalk Paint&Looking Glass Spray paint are my saviors.

Also, if you look close, this is what is on top of the reclaimed wood shelf! It is my husbands paternal great grandmothers on both sides’ silverware made into a cross. How cool is that!?

 

Before

 
After!

Curtains should probably be our next purchase, but I don’t have the heart to cover up these beautiful (almost) floor to ceiling windows! But I like to walk around naked a lot….so I should probably invest. Also, our harvest table now has corner guards on it to accommodate our clumsy new walker in the house. PS, a tiny walking human is a game changer!

I was going to blog my kitchen photos, but I feel like a project that took from March to mid August deserves its own post.

Hold tight, because I’m going to add a step-by-step of what we did for cabinetry for those of you who have asked, even though the photos do not even begin to do it justice! I know I promised I would do it the last time I posted, so here is a sneak peek for those of you who don’t follow me on social media!

Can’t wait to show you the whole thing!
XOXO- Sheena