Dining Room

Our Realtor was pessimistic about formal dining rooms. He would point out that they were unused the majority of the time, and would function better as an office or a playroom.

But I was fairly confident that I wanted a traditional dining room.  A place for family meals and guests. A place for arts and crafts and board games.

And we use our dining room table continually.

Here is a before photo, of the previous owner:

 

And another view

 

 

In the end, all that was left was the light fixture - which I really disliked. I took apart the sconces on the wall, removed the glass, and painted them black. Those I could live with.

 

 

 

Above is how the shiny gold and green glass sconce looked before

 

You can see in the background of the photo below how it looks when it's black and without the glass.

And yes, changing the overhead light fixture was a splurge. It was about $250. But I justified this expense because the table itself was free.

 

I got it off the curb. It was solid wood, but a little wobbly because one slat was missing from the leg bar. But that was an easy fix, and then it became a sturdy thing.

 

I painted it with a "liquid sandpaper primer" and then a sample paint, and then a sealer.

 

 

 

So this was how the house looked when we moved in. The light fixtures really helped change the room...

But about a year later I painted the family room, and the black chalkboard wall in the living room, and then this gold color just made the house look like a bumble bee.

So it got a paint job too.

I used three shades of gray and kind of wash brushed it on, to give it more of a soft aged restoration hardward feel. I meant to go over it with a glaze in the end, but after painting the whole room with a brush, I had too much life to catch up on, and the glaze has never happened yet. Maybe one day.

 

 

The lighting for this camera lens is rough... hopefully I can add clearer photos one day.

 

 

 

The Paris art on the wall was 80% off at Hobby Lobby. It matched my chairs so well that I felt like it really ties the room together. I still have a few changes to make in the room, but it's serving its purpose happily in the meantime.