Our dining room through the years

April 15, 2012

First, let’s take a little walk down memory lane shall we? This first photo is preblog and it shows off the start of my red and gold phase:

The gold rectangle on the ceiling was…well. Interesting.

I changed up the drapes a couple times, and blogged about this version here:

I also covered the basic seats with a red fabric – told you I loved that gold and red!

Then a few years ago, the room got a redo – I painted the walls (and ceiling!) and recovered the chairs:

And later I ditched the top part of the hutch (it came right off!) and found this beautiful buffet underneath:

And last year I sold the (uncomfortable) chairs and found a Goodwill set:

You can see by the one spray painted chair that I only got so far with it. The room sat with one white chair for nearly a year.

But when we got our new floors last fall, you can see that the room got REALLY dark. Overwhelmingly dark. I loved the dark and dramatic walls and ceiling when we had light carpet (although I always hated carpet in the dining room), but every surface of the room a dark brown was too much.

I started considering new paint colors but then a new idea hit…the one I told you about here where I was thinking hard about not using this as a dining room at all anymore, but instead as a library of sorts.

One with comfy chairs, a wall of bookcases and it would be a room we would actually USE. (In eight years I am pretty sure we’ve only used the dining room three times? Maybe four? Nope, I think three.)

Well, I decided to go for it, and I showed you the latest on the redo a couple weeks ago here (it’s slow going):

This weekend I did the first coat on the ceiling, got the baseboards, and last week the drywall guys did touch ups in here when they worked on the basement.

It’s coming along! The painted ceiling has made SUCH a big difference in there – wow! I hope to show you the updates this week. Now that the ceiling is brightened, I’m excited to keep moving forward and get some contrast going in this room again. :)

I am IN LOVE with how this space is changing! I can’t wait to see the built ins completed…hopefully in May they’ll be done.

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Comments

  1. Love what you are doing with your dining room. Really excited to see the final product. Can't believe it's time for another party. I still haven't looked at all the kitchens.

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  2. So exciting - can't wait to see the built ins!!
    Kelly

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  3. Sarah, I linked up an older post I did about my dining room--I hope that's okay! Thank you so much for giving us this chance to showcase different rooms in our houses.

    I love looking at those old photos of your dining room. It's so cool to think that I've been reading your blog through all those phases. . . and now I'm very excited to see what your room will be like when it's all finished.

    It's funny--we've always had a dining room. We don't use it very often, but I've always liked having it. Maybe it's because it doesn't get used that often (and therefore stays clean!) that I like having it. If we ever downsize (which I used to think we would never do, but now I'm thinking this will be a big house to maintain when the boys are gone), I don't know if we'll keep a dining room or not. I like the idea of our boys and their families coming home for holiday dinners, etc.--but the truth is that we end up eating most dinners at our huge breakfast room table rather than in our dining room! Hmmm. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds.

    Thanks again for being such a gracious hostess! :)

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  4. Sarah,

    Thank you so much for hosting the room parties! It's such a great way to see some amazing projects all in one place! Can't wait to see the final reveal of your dining room transformation! It's fun seeing it come together.

    Heather

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  5. I can't wait to see the library. :)

    No one wants to see our dining room. It's basically DH's big chair that doesn't fit into the living room and dog crates. lol.

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  6. Hey Sarah! Looking good!
    Just saw your post in Bloggers thread, so I linked up our old dining room from Florida - my fave transformation and the last I did before we moved. Unfortunately, our house now doesn't have a seperate dining room. Now the dining area floats between the kitchen + livingroom.

    Take care and thanks for hosting!
    xo Lynda

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  7. Thanks for hosting. I love the library idea....with I had thought of it before I got my vaisselier....great idea! Linda

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  8. Your dining room is looking great! I have been thinking about repainting mine for awhile so today will be a great day for me to get some inspiration! Thanks for hosting!
    -Shelley

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  9. Wow! The transformations have been amazing! Now I am really excited to see the completion of the built ins and the comfy library look!

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  10. Very timely for me, I'm gonna have to check out every single link for ideas. My dining room is "in the midst".

    ~Bliss~

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  11. Haha, if only I had a finished dining room to show. Currently, the entire room is full of crap, covering the table and hiding under and lining the walls. Sigh. Love watching your transformation...and maybe I'll get some inspiration from some of these links. ;-)

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  12. Dying to see the next step in your dining/library transformation. What a great idea!

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  13. This party's timing couldn't be more perfect. My dining room is on the radar. Next up for some sprucing. So now I will be hitting each and every post with board and batten and moulding ...

    I have B&B and moulding on my mind ... and in my dining room vision!

    :)

    Linda

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  14. Thanks for hosting this party. I see next month is for kids rooms. I think I am starting to feel a little motivated to finish up their rooms... Not sure I will get my daughters room done in time, since I still have to make her quilt and curtains, but I know I can finish my son's! (He only needs curtains and a little wall decor.)
    ~Jamie

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  15. I love to see how our decor style changes over the course of time. Thanks for sharing the look back and the transformation process. Those built-ins are just gonna be TOTALLY FAB!

    Thanks for hosting!
    -Joanne

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  16. Can't wait to see more of this transformation. It already looks so so great!

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  17. I think it's great that your are turning a room into something so useful. I can't wait to see it all done!
    Thanks for hosting! Just joined the party.

    Rondell♥

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  18. I love looking at all the amazing dining rooms of all styles...Your dining room is coming along so wonderfully..I just love the built ins and love the warmth of the color.....I know it will be stunning when you complete the room...Thanks for hosting...I love this venue of sharing specific rooms...

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  19. What a great party!! Your dining room is gorgeous! Love being able to take a peek at all of the lovely dining rooms. There is so much inspiration in this one post! Glad to link up!

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  20. I love your dining room!!!!!! The colors are gorgeous and your creativity with the white on the wall is sooooo neat!

    peacelovedecor.com

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  21. WOW what a transformation! Love the dramatic tones you've used and can't wait to see how the built-in turns out. I just linked up to the dining room party and added your button to my page as well:) I'm a bit new to the blogging world so I hope I did it correctly! Thanks for offering link parties like these. So great to see everyone's homes and ideas.

    Love your blog!!

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  22. thank you so much for letting us link up our dining rooms! this room has been a tough one for me and am thinking about selling a few pieces in order to bring in pieces that really reflect our family and us. so, i can't wait to check out the other links for ideas.

    thanks again!
    samantha

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  23. Thank you for hosting this party! It was great to be able to link up a room I spent so much time and energy on!

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If you have a specific question I will do my best to answer you back here!

You can find our paint colors and links to items at the "Our Home" tab at the top of my site.

THANKS so much for reading!