Dining Room Makeover

When we moved into this house two years ago, we made a list of projects that we wanted to tackle that were necessary – flooring, window replacement, bringing the stair rail up to code, etc, etc. The dining room was nowhere on that list. At least until our master bathroom developed a hidden slow leak and flooded the dining room below it. We had to have a mold abatement team come out with their huge dryers. They tore off half of the ceiling and an entire wall of drywall. I left like we were living in the end of E.T. for weeks.

So the dining room was moved up on our project list. New paint, new lighting, new chairs, and art.

I love bold colors and since this was a stand-alone dining room with great light, I wanted to do something dark. The adjoining rooms are blueish gray (Sherwin Williams Gray Sheen) so I used the navy that was in that color family (Sherwin Williams Salty Dog).

My Duncan Phyfe table and buffet that was handed down to me from my Grandmother. I had no intention of replacing them but the chairs were added to the set in the ’80s by my Dad and had to go. I wanted something that could withstand meals with kids, be wiped down easily, didn’t break my bank, and gave a pop of color against the dark walls. These shaker white wood chairs are from Target.

The watercolor prints were done by my husband’s great aunt. She’s 93 (!!!) and did these to document a safari that she went on in 1963. They were a part of a book that she did of her adventure that she gave out to the family. I love the art but also really love the family significance. The gold frames from Aaron Brothers make the art pop against the dark wall.

Big Nugget’s preschool is a Reggio Emilia school and there is a lot of artwork that is sent home. A. LOT. Almost all of it, I load into my Artkive app. Most of it I keep in a scrapbooking box. Some of it I toss – don’t tell. But some of them I love having framed around the house. This spot in the dining room faces the front door so it’s a nice way to welcome people into our home.

Now that this room is done, I’m looking forward to more family meals around the table.