Dining Room Makeover

We saw this place on the way to the
Renaissance faire. I promise I don't always
dress my kids like that.

It's funny how we neglect ourselves. As a mom, I usually make sure my kiddos have clean clothes, haircuts, transportation, etc., while I myself run out the door without brushing my hair (or sometimes teeth). The same thing happens with my house. I find myself making over furniture pieces for everyone under the sun, while my own home suffers.

I finally decided to do something about it! I was sighing over Pinterest boards when I realized I could do that! Or something like that, anyway. I didn't have to live with fifteen shades of wood and mystery piles in the corner anymore! And so began my DINING ROOM MAKEOVER! Yay!

Attempt #3 or #4 at painting the dining room.

To really tell this story, I have to go back, waaaay back to square wheels and dinosaurs and this house in 2006, the year we bought it. It was a fixer-upper, and by fixer-upper, I mean that it looked like it should be condemned. I still remember the first time we drove by. My husband had had a dream when he was a teenager about a woman with dark curly hair and a little girl in front of a house with a corner door. So, when we saw this house had a corner door, we had to stop, even though it really did look like it was about to fall down. Hubby got out to look while I stayed in the car. Then I saw him waving frantically from the saggy porch.


"Oh brother," I said as I dragged myself out to see what had him so excited. Then I looked in the picture window and saw this:

It was a beautiful wooden staircase. We bought it soon thereafter and began the WORK. The work never finished. We are, at this moment, still working. But that's another story. On to the dining room!

The dining room started out with pink painted walls (over wallpaper) and green carpet, or at least it had once been green. I'm pretty sure. Since then, it has been painted, I believe, FIVE times. Yes. I painted it yellow, then added stripes, then green, then white, then the current color which is a kind of off-white. With all those layers, I think the room has actually shrunk by a quarter inch.

First attempt: yellow!

Yellow=bad. Very bad.

Yikes! Second attempt: Stripes!

Uh, nope. Things get fuzzy here. Maybe it's all the paint fumes... I'm pretty sure third attempt was army-green, then white. But I don't have a picture of the "white" phase.

My "green" phase. Did not work. Made the room very dark.

So, I finally found a color I can live with, but then I realized I really didn't like my dining room. It had eight thousand clashing shades of wood furniture/trim/flooring. I've changed the table twice. Computer desks have come and gone and come again (our dining room doubles as an office). And I've also gone through various storage units, finally settling on a Salvation Army hutch, a gutted radio cabinet, and a Walmart cabinet that I made over after Hubby put it together upside down. :)

I won't go through the details of before and after. Instead I will show you how things have progressed. The end result isn't really the end. I still have plans and will likely paint two or three more times. But I'm happy.
For now.

Pretty light curtains give an airy feeling to this boxy room.

My favorite! I LOVE how the dining table turned out!

Lead paint didn't stop me from loving this little door.
I simply gave it a few clear coats to seal in those naughty paint chips.

I <3 old windows!

Found these corbels at a thrift store. They are a perfect fit for my new shabby/French country dining room!

As an author, I LOVE old books.

Finally painted this mirror my mom gave me. So shabby-chic!

Old radio cabinet now stores art supplies. LOVE it!

Here's the "final" product. For now. :)