After living in a teeny newish-build for five years with a lounge and diner combo, a separate dining room was high on my house-buying list. Our current home has just that. A medium sized room with an extendable table to seat six on a normal day and ten if we’re going wild with the entertaining.
When we moved in the dining room was the first room we decorated, painting over two red and two yellow (!) walls with a couple of coats of F&B Elephant’s Breath. I adored the room to begin with but now I have to admit it’s my least favourite in the house.
I am a firm subscriber to the evolve-over-time decorating club. I like a bit of ‘gathered style’ curating pieces from all over the place, even if it does take me years to get a room into some form of finished state. This comes with a few pitfalls though as sometimes I find by the time I’ve completed a space my affections lie with a new trend or a different style and I grow bored of the room quickly. Fickle? Guilty as charged. I feel after four years it’s perfectly acceptable to have a refresh in the dining room even if I have to admit I fell out of love with it about two years ago. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it just doesn’t feel particularly ‘me’ anymore.
Currently this room is the epitome of farmhouse style; quarry tile floors, linen curtains, muted walls and a sturdy oak table. I wanted a battered white dinner table but after several months of looking settled on an oak version instead with six heavy chairs. I wish I’d waited because nothing makes me happier than seeing mismatched chairs at a distressed table. I’ve always been very sympathetic to the country cottage look but the more recent update to the downstairs loo has reminded me I can be a bit more adventurous. As well as pictures of the current dining room I’ve included a few images of first makeover of the downstairs bathroom and a second of the current style to jog your memory. I realise I’ve never touched on the fact the WC is now half the size; we joined our summer house to the main house about eighteen months ago and lost a bit of the space to make a new doorway. More on that another time.
I’ve given myself a couple of hundred pounds for this makeover and plan to ‘borrow’ a couple of pieces from around the house to bring it more up-to-date. I’m expected big impact changes with minimal effort and a low budget!
On the to-do list
- Apply a couple of coats of white paint to the walls
- Either paint or wallpaper the inside of the china cupboard. I replaced the one you can see in the image above about 18 months ago with a larger version
- Update the lighting. I’ve searched high and low for suitable wall lights but to no avail. It’s a low room and you meet one light virtually as soon as you walk through the door ruling out a lot of designs. I’m thinking I’ll work with what I have and replace the bulbs instead to something a bit snazzier
- Paint the existing mirror and a few of the photo frames
- Remove the linen curtains and retain the blind
- Persuade James painting the oak table white is a marvellous idea and not a big mistake
- Perhaps mix up the dining chairs and add in a few other versions
I’m still refining the style but I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
Anyone else tired of a room in their house and want to join me on a low budget make-over? How do you manage an evolving style? Any tips for falling back in love with a room?
First off- love loo round two, but looked pretty lovely round one too! (Try saying that when ya drunk!)
I struggle staying in love with a room. I wonder if it’s not the room I love but the creative process putting it together.
My sitting room was finished two years ago, it just doesn’t do it for me anymore. But with another 5 rooms to rebuild, it’s gonna have to wait!
Looking forward to your updates tho!
Such a good point Alice. I get a bit envious when other people say they’re decorating. I love the whole process too!
Love the £200 challenge idea. It can get so stupidly expensive otherwise. I’m constantly wanting to redecorate and change things around but even buying new cushions etc gets pricey! I’m also struggling with wall lights. I’ve been looking for ones in our lounge for 4 years now and we still have the ones up that we bought for £5 in the sale as a stopgap! Definitely tell James you need to paint the table. It will look fab. Cant wait to see the finished result. xxx
I’m with you on the lighting – so tricky!
You don’t need to do anymore decorating Madame. Your house is fabulous! x
I wouldn’t paint the oak table white instead I would like it – that way you don’t lose the oak effect but it totally transforms it. I’m a massive fan of liming furniture to update it. Loo round two is lovely! Love concrete!
Oh, spelling error… Meant to read I would lime it, not like, though I would like it too!!
I knew exactly what you meant even with the typo! Very good idea. Have you got a product you can recommend to lime with?
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There’s a shop by ours who have a room stacked from floor to ceiling with old mismatched chairs. A Fiver each! I just couldn’t persuade Lee to do it. I did wear him down on the painting though and our dining table was transformed. We left the top sanded and waxed, but the old pine table and wheelback chairs in our dining room look perfect in Downpipe. Dark and moody enough to not look too farmhousey.
Cant wait for this. You know I’m such a Fairlylight Fangirl.
xx
Saw your chairs on Instagram – they look super! I’ve started dropping subtle hints to James. Will become more blatant next week 🙂
Oh Lauren they took AGES to get finished. Every coat of paint took about an hour per chair because of all the spindles. So that’s six chairs, four coats each in total, plus drying time.
Every spare hour of my weekends were spent covered in grey paint and silent tears, for months! All worth it though xx
I feel your pain. We once painted a dark wood staircase with three coats of white paint. Those flipping spindles!
My mum is literally in the process of painting white all the old oak furniture that was in my teenage bedroom. It looks to be going well, so I’m with Karen:
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Erm… lets talk about dining tables and chairs Miss Pamela. I am LIVING for your set up right now. Stunning x
Pamela, do share. I need to see!
just hooked you up on Insta x
Yep paint the table or paint the chairs! I’ve recently started using Annie Sloan paints which are amazing, they are chalky and give an amazing flat finish. You need to wax afterwards to protect the paint but you don’t need to buff it a really high shine. It puts loads of texture onto the surface you’re painting and can be watered down to make more of a wash or you stick it in the fridge to thicken it up and get LOADS of texture.
Oh and other than washing the surface you don’t need to any real prep, no sanding or base coat!!
I’m in the process of ‘upcycling’ a head board for our bedroom and working on the husband to let me paint our wardrobes (which we inherited with the house and are a glossy white wood effect, I’d like a matter creamy colour)! He’s already agreed to the repainting of the kitchen cupboards.
Ooh you have the husband on side Vicky! I’m sure I’ll wear mine down soon 🙂
I’m getting bored of my dining room too. I think I’m going to redecorate when I have a week off work in September. The room is really dark and I went for a Moroccan style – a rich purple feature wall, gold accents and and lanterns – but it only really works on the odd occasion we have eaten by candle light. My welsh dresser also stands out a mile! I need to pick a warm neutral colour and a good mirror to start lightening up the room.
I am an Annie Sloan addict and would highly recommend her chalk paints and highly recommend them. I would be hesitant to paint the table, but if you did a lime wash you can build up the white if you aren’t sure. I did a lime wash on my dresser using AS paint and it turned out amazing! They are so easy to work with.
Claire have you seen the new wall paints Annie Sloan has brought out? They sound amazing
Eeek! Paris grey in a wall paint !!!!
Bet your dining room looks fab when you’re entertaining Claire but can understand why it might not work on a regular day. Make sure you tell us all about it when you’ve finished the makeover.
There’s a company that makes environmentally friendly paints which a furniture restorer friend recommended as better than Annie Sloan! Must say, tried it and it’s my new favourite! http://www.pinebrushcolourman.co.uk
My dining room currently consists of bare plaster walls after having it skimmed this weekend (necessitated by a leaky bath upstairs!). It’s a beautiful room with high ceilings, an intricate ceiling rose and a bay window/French door arrangement, but it has no direct windows in to the room as this bay leads into a sun room. I have been trying to work out how to get some more light into the room – choosing paint shades has been quite challenging!
I think I need to invest in a mahoosive mirror to try and bounce some of the light from the sun room into it.
We also inherited a dark oak welsh dresser when we moved in which provides very useful storage, but is just not my style. I’ve been contemplating painting it…what’s the worst that can happen?!
In the words of Karen and Pamela PAINTIT Liz! Exactly, what’s the worst that can happen.
A strategically placed mirror is always a good shout and putting lamps and candles in front of it can add even more light.
You defo need to paint the dresser! It was my favourite project I have done in my house
We recently got these wall lights for our living room, I love them. I found it so hard to find ones that weren’t old fashioned or too girly, our room has an exposed stone wall so felt it needed something a bit more outdoorsy.
http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-tobias-resto-wall-light/p1159552
Now I just need to find some wall lights for our very cottage-y kitchen, another seemingly impossible task!
I looked at these lights Izzie! They’re really lovely, they just weren’t the right dimensions for us. I’ve added a lighting post to my to-do list but I need to do some major research first!
Lauren where are your shelves from please..?
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