DINING ROOM MAKEOVER

Warning: Its a long post. 

We bought our house last April. This is the picture of the dining room just before the moving in. The chandelier was hung higher with a hook which I removed to lower it down.

When we moved, we had this 4 chair dining table set, 4 years old and in perfect condition. And I was not very sure how I wanted to decorate and I did not want to hurry purchasing new furniture.

Exactly a year ago, that's last November, Sanjeev asked me why I have not discussed anything about tweaking the dining room. He felt that it was high time we did something since it looked too bland despite adding the mirror and changing the flower vase. This mirror was a gift from our friends for our house warming.

I was already working on the changes to the dining room for sometime and had a mental picture of what and how I wanted. My  Our dining room should have clean line rectangular dining table (I would have loved round one too but could not due to space) and upholstered chairs. I prefer mix matching rather than buying the set from the store.
On a friday night, after Sanjan went to bed, we both sat down to work on the furniture selection.

I lined up the pictures of the dining tables that I wanted Sanjeev to select.

West Elm $399

 

Pier 1 $399

Ikea $299

Target $270

He picked the Ikea one for the size and color. It had extra leaves to extend if we wanted. So the table selection was finalized.

And for chairs, I showed these for Sanjeev to pick. Neither of us wanted in wicker or leather. I know leather is easy maintance when it comes to dining chairs. I wanted upholstered, washable and DIY able.

Overstock $178.99 for 2





Ikea $69.99





Target $199 for 2



Overstock $132.99 for 2

He was not very sure which one he wanted, so he asked me to go ahead with whichever I wanted.

I pointed my finger to the white chair from Ikea, Sanjeev gave the look of “are you sure?” Before he could put those words in his mouth, I started explaining the covers are removable and washable. I guess, I explained too much. He simply said "you know better". 

Next was the chandelier. We both wanted to change the chandelier since the day we moved in. The replacements I had on my list were:

Overtstock $166.99

Overstock $225

Overstock $110

Overstock $150

Ikea $39.99

Somehow, we both could not finalize on any despite Sanjeev asking me to go ahead with anything.

The next weekend we went to Ikea since both the table and the chairs are from there. We selected, billed and arranged them to be delivered. While we were there, we picked the above Chandelier. But when we came home and opened it, we both were not happy. So we returned it. I might have clicked a picture but could not find it....sorry about that.

Meanwhile, I wanted to see if I could tweak the present chandelier. Spray paint to rescue. After taking the chandelier down, I removed the glass shades. It was easy; the shades were screwed to the base. But still something was not ok. I turned the arms up and it sure looked different. Covered the bulb holder and spray painted the chandelier in brown color. Changed the bulbs to incandescent chandelier bulb. Little better than before. Two coats of $8 spray paint did the change. I did not prime it.

Now coming to filling up the wall. I had 2 wall space to decorate but wanted to fill only one wall. I had options going for a mirror, painting or picture frame/frames.

• I have a mirror in almost every room so no mirror here.
• Selecting a painting or poster that we both agreed was not happening.
• So decided to go with picture frames. I had liked the picture frames on the dining room wall of  Alicia's home in “The Good Wife”.

Alicia's Dining Room Wall

Next  came “what should be framed?” I looked for books at book stores, on ebay and amazon with pictures of something from India like paintings, palaces, temples or villages. But did not find much and what I found I did not like. I did not want to leave the wall blank so I decided on these botanical printouts. I could always change them when I find something I like.

I did not want to fill the walls like Alicia's. Her wall has 18 frames.

I went with 10 frames, 2 rows of 5 each.

I had 4 of the 11x13 frames from Michaels. Bought 6 more. But 10 looked too crowded so ended up with just 8.

Bought blue mats too from Michaels for the frames to go with the blue printouts.
Sanjeev helped me hang the frames. First, we marked the center the wall, then divided the wall to 2 halves. Then we measured an equal distance between each frame and using push pins and a leveler, arranged the frames on the wall. Little confusing???

Final result.... 

The wall was painted a lighter shade of grey, almost silver grey.

The furnitures were delivered and we took 2 evenings to assemble the table and 6 chairs. This all happened in the span of 6 weekends.
Yes, that's too long to do such a small space. With a full time job, I only have weekends for my projects.
You are peaking at that orange lamp downstairs.....:-)...that's for another post. Soon.

I had this runner from Westside, Bangalore. The tray is another DIY project. I had the vase, the faux flowers from Michaels. It was a long stem with 3 flowers, I cut each flower with its stem and arranged them like this.

Few more pictures of the Dining room.

Once everything was set, Sanjeev asked if I wanted a cabinet. Such a sweet guy he is. But we do not have enough space for anything more and I had some other plan for that. Will let you know when its done.

We have had these white chairs for almost a year now, and I washed the covers only once. And I clicked these pictures last weekend.

The breakdown:

Dining Table: $299
Chairs: $69.99 x 6 = $420
Frames:$16 ($8 for set of 2, used 50% off coupon)
Mats:$8 ($1.99 each, used 50% off coupon)
Botanical prints: Free
Runner: Had it.
Faux flower: $3
Tray: Had it.
Wall Paint: $30
Spray paint: $8

TOTAL: $774 plus $60 for Ikea shipping charges.

We have plans to go with engineered wood flooring in future. So I will be investing in a carpet at that time. And the chandelier too.

Would love to hear from you guys about the changes.

Reshma

Incandescent Incandescent Incandescent Incandescent Incandescent Incandescent Incandescent Chandelier Bulb Incandescent Chandelier Bulb