Our (Complete) Dining Room Tour
I originally shared our dining room reveal last November, at the end of the Fall 2021 One Room Challenge. But at the time of the original reveal, the dining chairs I had ordered a few months prior still hadn’t arrived at my door. It was still a really exciting opportunity for me to share about all the hard work I had put into the space, but now that we have the dining chairs and the room is actually complete, I figured it was as good of time as any to share the finished space.
To recap, before we started the One Room Challenge in September 2021, our dining room mostly sat empty since the day we closed on our house. We didn’t previously own any dining room furniture and we have an eat-in kitchen, so it was never a priority to get it in working order. As time went on, we slowly began to use this space to hold random bits of furniture that didn’t have another place in our home and the space became a hogwash of random items. Nothing too messy or junky, but it definitely didn’t have a purpose or focus. Our dining room is open to our main living room, so it finally felt like a priority to clear it out and set it up to be properly utilized. Over the past two years, we have also realized how desperately we need more space in our kitchen, so I went into this project with the intention of setting up this eating area to use for all our family meals so that we can remove the table in our kitchen and create more space for storage in there.
This is how our dining room looked before I started the room.
Before
Before
And here’s this space now.
There’s no denying that the before shots of this space showed just how little character the room had. As I mentioned, it is openly connected with our living room, but it didn’t have any distinctive features that made it feel like its own. At the beginning of this room transformation, I broke the entire project down into five different sub-projects that I would need to complete to give this room it’s own character and style.
Build a built-in storage bench and wall feature along the back window wall.
Flip a thrifted china cabinet into a beautiful stand-alone glass display cabinet to hold my barware.
Refinish a secondhand dining table.
Create a DIY version of a roman shade for the window.
Decorate the space with all the finishing touches that make it feel lived in, warm, welcoming, and ours.
I can’t believe I completed all five. Let’s walk through them a little bit.
The biggest transformation in this room was the built-in storage bench and surrounding wall feature. This back window wall had a strange bulkhead and column combination happening that felt dated and dingy. We weren’t about to embark on a full renovation to remove it this time around, so I wanted to find a way to work with it rather than trying to conceal it. I loved the idea of a big built-in bench stretching wall to wall because I love how many bodies you can pile on a bench. We’re in the small-kid phase of life and I know that we can cram lots of little ones on here for family meals during special occasions. I decided to add the panelled wall feature part way up the wall to bring a focal point to the space and to establish a connection with the adjoining living room. We have a big overgrouted stone fireplace in the living room with a mantle painted in this same colour, Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. The focal wall offered a great opportunity to draw the eye around the room and allowed us to dial up the cozy factor in the dining space. I shared exactly how I built the bench project in this video if you’d like to see more details about the build.
To decorate, I piled the bench full of throw cushions. I made sure to add a few inches of depth when I built the bench to account for them. If you’re going to be sitting on a hard bench, you definitely will want something soft behind your back. I love how the cushions give the bench such a strong personality through the mixing of pattern and texture, but they can so easily be changed out down the road if we take this room in a new direction. It’s also worth mentioning that these throw cushions all have removable covers for easy washing - a must with small kiddos around food.
The built-in is obviously the focal point of this room, but possibly my favourite part of the space is the thrifted china cabinet project. I found an old pine china cabinet (you know, the kind with the clunky bottom and glass-doored top) on our local buy-and-sell for a steal and I immediately saw the potential to turn it into a stand-alone glass cabinet. I loved how the top portion had really clean square lines and the interior was panelled, subtly echoing the vertical panelling of the feature wall. I built a base to add some height and painted the entire thing in a deep olive tone to establish some contrast in the room. I always love a moody colour and this one, Underground by House & Canvas, definitely brings something special to this otherwise quite traditional style cabinet. I shared the entire cabinet transformation in this video and you’ll definitely want to check that out to see where it started.
The motivation for the cabinet project was to display some of my barware collection, but I was eager to style a few other decor pieces too. I can’t get enough of how pretty warm wood tones look against this olive green colour, so I chose to display a beautiful live-edge charcuterie board my parents made for us a few Christmases ago on one of the shelves. I also found space for my ever-growing vase collection - you never know when some fresh-cut flowers will make their way home with you! I included a deep woven basket in the bottom of the cabinet so we could easily grab our beautiful linen napkins and styled the top (out of reach of our kitties) with the few real plants we have in our home and a classic Eric Enstrom print.
The dining table was a labour of love. I purchased it secondhand nearly two years ago thinking that I would try to refinish it one day, but it wasn’t until I set out on this challenge that I finally felt the motivation to make it happen. It took a lot of effort to strip it down, sand it smooth, and pin down a new finish for it, but I am so glad that I went to the trouble. I love the simplicity of its oval shape and the subtle tapered details of the legs, not to mention the unexpected brass emblems at the top of each leg. As I sanded down the existing yellowed-finish, I thought I may keep the new finish pretty blonde. But I unexpectedly ended up settling on a beautiful mid-tone finish with subtle grey undertones and I couldn’t have picked a better tone to bring the warmth this beautiful wood piece establishes in the room. The table has actually been disassembled since the moment I picked it up from the seller, so it wasn’t until I reassembled it in this final form that I have ever even seen what it looks like as one solid piece.
The perfect companion to the beautiful wood table are a set of six simple black windsor-style chairs. I wanted to keep the chair style really simple so that other elements in the room could shine, but I love the contrast that the black brings, completely grounding the floating table and chairs in the space. I love that these chairs were really affordable and that they are easy to wipe down - something I deem essential with small kids around. I decided to purchase an accompanying set of simple beige chair pads to add an additional layer of comfort and style to the chairs. These are incredibly inexpensive and easy to replace, if needed, but they can just as easily be thrown in the wash if they need a little TLC.
When it came to decorating the space, I had a very clear vision in mind. I decided to keep the walls and trim colour what they already were, Falling Snow by Behr, since this room is open with the living room. But I really didn’t want it to feel cold. I tried to very intentionally layer in warmer tones and textures through the textiles and decor accents. I (very imperfectly) sewed a custom roman shade using a simple striped linen tablecloth and that immediately brought a softness to the window without adding the visual weight of traditional curtains. The colour inspiration for the room came from the beautiful sage and blush area rug. I wanted to very subtly highlight the green tones in the rug with some of the decor choices, but I love that it all still reads very neutral. Many of the throw cushions were chosen based on the rug colours, but I tried to not get too matchy and opted to incorporate some different patterns to break up the monotony that can easily happen in a fairly neutral space.
I personally believe that every room needs some black in it, so I opted for a black shade on the chandelier rather than the original white I was leaning towards. I love this light. The shade adds some visual weight and completely grounds the table. I was channelling the feeling of growing up around my grandparent’s massive, low-lit dining table and I think I achieved it. This dimmable light gives off such a soft glow in the evening and I know that good conversations are going to happen here.
The art in a space completely sets the tone. I was pretty careful in selecting the artwork for our dining room, but all of my selections ended up being pretty affordable print-at-home pieces. I love going this route because you can easily change it out without any guilt. The only piece I knew we needed (at the request of my husband) was a copy of the sentimental Grace print by Eric Enstrom. Other than that, I spent an evening browsing downloadable options on Etsy. I wanted to use simple pieces that added to the cozy and inviting mood of the space. I chose one that was a more understated line drawing and paired it with a painted still-life full of depth. The biggest art piece in the space is a copy of a layered woodblock print - a piece that appears simple and minimal at first glance, but nods to the layered, relaxed mood I was going for with the room design. I framed all of the artwork with thrifted or already-owned frames.
I opted to add a faux olive tree that sits in a woven basket to the corner of the space. Although this is definitely very trendy at the moment, I genuinely love the life-giving feeling that plants, whether real or faux, add to a room. An olive tree is just so beautifully symbolic of a dining space - a place where people are gathered and conversations are had - so I had to include it. I dressed the table with a big angular amber glass vase filled with dried lavender to bring a pop of colour to the room and decided to style the table with some of our dinnerware and napkins, just to get the full vision. I cannot wait to gather around a big meal here with the people that I love.
I can’t believe this room is finally complete. I learned so much in the process and am proud of the outcome. I tend to bounce around my home, working on different projects as they arise, but it was fun to totally focus on one space. It gave me permission to dig in deep to what our needs were for this room and how I could make my dreams for it come to fruition. I’m ready to cook a big meal, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy this room. Because it’s done.
Until the next big project!
Dining Room Source Guide
Paint: Wall + Trim Colour // Built-In Bench + Wall Feature Colour // Display Cabinet Colour (Underground)
Furniture: Dining Table, thrifted // Display Cabinet, DIY // Chairs, Wayfair
Decor: Area Rug, Wayfair // Chandelier, Wayfair // Faux Olive Tree, Wayfair // Woven Basket Pot (for tree), Homesense // Roman Blind Fabric, H&M Home // Woodblock Art Print, The Printable Studio // Vintage Botanical Sketch, Olive & Oak Collective // Vintage Kitchen Still-Life Print, North Prints // Artwork Frames, thrifted // Wall Clock, Homesense // White Throw Cushions, Simons // Green-Grey Throw Cushions, Homesense // Black Striped Throw Cushions, Homesense // Multi-Toned Throw Cushions, Homesense // Chair Cushions, Ikea
// Amber Glass Vase, Homesense
Cabinet Contents: Grace Print, Society6 // Aloe Pot, Indigo // Money Tree Woven Pot, Ikea // Modern Grey Terracotta Vase, Indigo // Stoneware Vase, H&M Home // Small Glazed Ceramic Vase, H&M Home // Small Wooden Square Tray, H&M Home // Barware/Glasses, collected over time // Ribbed Plant Pot, Home Depot // Woven Basket, Simons
Styling: Dinnerware, Bed Bath & Beyond // Linen Napkins, H&M Home // Wooden Napkin Rings, Homesense
