Hello from my new dining room, friends! Also known as my office. Also known as that-room-that-shall-never-be-painted-or-redone-ever-again-or-my-husband-is-for-sure-leaving-me.
That is not a joke.
It's final reveal day for the One Room Challenge, where I've spent a short (but kinda long) six weeks transforming our dining room in every way. We started here:
photos by Jane Kortright
And have ended up with a completely different space. The room was lovely before, yes. Dramatic, bold, and dripping with brass (my favorite!). But as I shared in week one of this challenge, I've learned that I love to look at bold spaces more than I love to live in them. With baby number two on the way and an office getting bumped for a nursery, I had to find a way to make this space do double duty. And we have accomplished just that!
Our new dining room feels fresh, welcoming, and 1,000 times larger. I can accommodate both dining and office hidden storage needs, a place to display some of my vintage shop inventory, and a solution for my magazine hoarding problem. (No book addict here. However, mags are a completely different story. I love revisiting them over and over, so this new easy access solution will hopefully keep me from forming piles all over the house.)
Without further ado:
And you guys know I can't help but sneak Ava into these shoots. She just has such a ball showing off for the camera!
Let's deconstruct, shall we?
First, the wall color. Walls and trim were both originally a glossy royal blue. With this makeover, the walls got 3 coats (yes, three in addition to a coat of primer - not fun) of Farrow and Ball Cornforth White in the Modern Emulsion finish. It's a glorious, soothing color! Trim is semi-gloss Benjamin Moore Simply White. Together, a wonderful combo.
The lighting went from the bold and the beautiful to modern meets traditional charm. I LOVE the lighting situation in here! The overhead fixture casts a warm, diffused glow over the room, and is set off perfectly by an ornate ceiling medallion. I've opted for sweet little numbers on both the Kent Coffey Amerasian chest (a beautiful alabaster lamp from sponsor Bellacor) and the wall unit as well (moved from its unused position in our master bedroom). Multiple sources of low light is my jam. I'm pretty sure it makes my husband crazy to have 8,000 lamps on in the house, but it just feels good, you know? Plus, everyone looks great in that kind of light ;)
The table and chairs were pretty much the only elements that carried over from the previous space. Someday I will recover the chairs, but it's not currently in the budget so they remain as-is.
I simplified the window treatments. What was once four drapery panels is now two, and they got a much-needed trimming so they barely kiss the floor. All of which made for a much simpler look.
I created crazy amounts of storage by bringing in a very lovely Kent Coffee Amerasian chest. This is where the bulk of my dining linens, flatware, and bar accessories currently live. I love the unique lines of this piece, and the stunning brass hardware. I am a total sucker for good hardware! The simple bar setup lives on a silver tray my husband pulled out of a dumpster before we met (proof that you can find treasures anywhere!). The pieces on the wall above are vintage and the art is by the incredibly talented Ilana Greenberg via sponsor Minted.
We created even more amazing storage with a custom wall-to-wall floating credenza and shelving solution. This was a major major pain point with such a tight timeline (and a husband out of town for about half of the 5.5 weeks), but I think it was definitely worth it. At least, it will be when we forget how much blood, sweat and tears went into it. We had friends over the night before the photo shoot and I could not have been quicker or more proud to share that Eric planned and built it himself. Very much inspired by the ever-popular fauxdenza Ikea hack, every bit of this was built from scratch with lumber and supplies from sponsor Lowes. I'm trying to talk him into a follow-up tutorial, so hopefully I can provide one of those in the coming weeks/months. We're beyond happy with the results! I'm fortunate to have a side job collecting and selling beautiful things, and it's such a treat to display them in a space that we walk by several times each day. Until they go off to happy new homes, of course. There's also plenty (and I do mean plenty!) of room to display art (some of Ava's even!), family photos, and the bulk of my extensive magazine collection.
I love the mix of metals, clean white, and natural materials that make this room feel as comfortable as it is beautiful. From braided seagrass baskets and found clay vessels filled with greenery to bright white ceramics and traditional blue and white ginger jars, everything creates a sense of balance in here. It's really come together in a way I kind of doubted it might.
Whew. So that's that. Thank you to each and every one of you that came back each week to cheer us on! Thank you to Linda for her flawless coordination yet again. Big thank you to our generous sponsors, without whom this definitely would not have come to life. And biggest thank you to my family, who puts up with my crazy every time I choose to take on this One Room Challenge. It would never happen without your help and patience!
Enjoy visiting the other 19 bloggers that took on this crazy challenge....and the many, many link-up participants as well!
