Weekend DIY > Dining Room Makeover > Before and After
Sunday, January 31, 2010 
For the past couple of years, I've been wanting to revamp my dining room. Bad. I've been dying to get rid of the grungy 90's "Friends," purple, what-the-eff-was-I-thinking wall and hang the collection of art prints I've been collecting. It's shocking to see how much your taste can change in just a year. The best and worst thing about trial and error: the ability to look back and positively ask if you were in stable mental condition to wear gauchos out of the house (slap me please), but I digress.
After saving up a bit and when I couldn't stand it anymore, I launched into a weekend DIY for a little dining room makeover. The catch? I'm on a twentysomething budget so while I can dream and drool over DWR and Room and Board offerings all I want, I needed to make some great swap outs that wouldn't break the bank but still create a bold look, fit in with the rest of my apartment and be youthful.
Here's a few shots of my dining room before. It's a very small space, more of an in-between room between my kitchen and front door/entry way:
Dining Room > BEFORE
One weekend, a few coats of grey paint, furniture assembly and a light fixture swap out later, here's the updated after photos:
I painted the grey on all the walls to make this weird, tiny in-between space seem larger. I was a little nervous about the grey appearing too dark, but knew I wanted the colors, glossy furniture and white colors to pop - which I think it did! I'm on the look out for a window treatment swap out too - curtains with a more substantial weight to them, in (maybe) a print.
Annnnd here's where I got the goods:
- Ikea Knappa pendant lamp, $30
- Medium Blu Dot strut table in dark olive, $700
- White on White, White S chair (Verner Panton S chair knock off) $150 each
- Collection of art prints from my favorite, wallet-friendly art sources: etsy, 20x200
- Ikea ribba frames
- Clearance frames in different colors from Michael's (colors replaced with a few coats of high gloss white spray paint)
Reader Comments (9)
FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. dark walls make the chairs pop, the white frames brighten the room and, oh how lucky you are with to get sunlight. Sleek yet cozy. Awesome!!
Hi! Found your blog via 20sb...your new dining area looks great! Very on trend. Love it :)
LOVE IT! I know this is super late.. but what paint color did you use?
Thanks, Sandy! The paint color is called Wirework Grey from Martha Stewart. It was actually left over from a recent renovation from my uncle. Not sure if you can still purchase it in stores, but I was told most will have the formula/info on file from major companies. Hope it helps!
And if you use it, take photos and let me know! I'd love to see.
This is very informative and gives me a new idea.watches iwc|
As for window treatments I would definitely hang them up close to the ceiling. It'll make the room seem taller and larger. As for the color of the drapes, you might want to try using some colors from the art work that you hung and see how that looks. I think it may give the room more depth. It's either that or white.
Jenn - Love the idea of pulling color from the art, especially to pick up on some of the yellows. Thanks for your comment and tip!
This is AH-mazing! Can you please tell what color is the grey you used on the wall?
Laura - Thank you so much! The paint color is called Wirework Grey and it's from Martha Stewart's paint line. What room are you looking to paint or redo??