My parents bought their matching dining room suite right after they first got married. It is still in great shape, but my mom was growing tired of all of the wood tones in the room. She wanted to be able to makeover the room on a small budget, and I think she did such a great job!
One of my biggest decorating pet peeves is a room full of matchy matchy furniture! I can't stand a set of furniture that is all exactly alike (hope I'm not hurting anyone's feelings!) I read somewhere that your home should be full of furniture that looks like it was collected over time, and not bought at on the same day at some big box store. I absolutely love shopping for furniture at thrift and consignment stores. The prices are always amazing, and the pieces usually have a lot of character! A lot of people have the same problem as my mom, and already have an old matching dining room suite that is in need of an updated look.
She decided to paint her dining room chairs a crisp white, and it is such a great contrast with the dark wood of the table now. She also recovered the chair cushions in a fun pear green animal print and it instantly updated the room. It was a really easy fix and only cost the amount of a few cans of spray paint and a yard of new fabric! Told you it was easy!
Here are some pictures of some other dining room's with the same idea.
Here are some pictures of some other dining room's with the same idea.
So, if you have an all wood, matching dining room suite and are in need of a quick change...go paint your chairs white right now! You'll thank me later. Promise!
Her walls were already a gorgeous color (Blonde by Sherwin Williams), so she focused most of the rest of her budget on new drapes. She had custom drapes before and the floral fabric was pretty, but the shape and fringe were screaming 1990's! She found a beautiful, modern floral printed fabric at a great price, and actually had the fabric store make four lined panels for a great price (I can't remember exactly how much she paid.)
We are also in the process of redoing my little brother Ben's room while he's in Africa (we thought it was time to give him a big boy room since he's 21 and all..haha!) and had a leftover bookshelf that he didn't need anymore. I had a lightbulb moment and thought about how cute it would be in my parents' dining room as a little bar area! I was right, it is perfect in there! I quickly styled it with stuff my mom already had, but I absolutely love the way it turned out!
She is on the hunt for a new chandelier and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all done! What a transformation for hardly any money!
I'll be back home in a couple of weeks, so I will take good pictures with my big camera!
Lessons Learned:
We are also in the process of redoing my little brother Ben's room while he's in Africa (we thought it was time to give him a big boy room since he's 21 and all..haha!) and had a leftover bookshelf that he didn't need anymore. I had a lightbulb moment and thought about how cute it would be in my parents' dining room as a little bar area! I was right, it is perfect in there! I quickly styled it with stuff my mom already had, but I absolutely love the way it turned out!
I'll be back home in a couple of weeks, so I will take good pictures with my big camera!
Lessons Learned:
How to bring your dining room out of the 90's!
1. Get rid of that matchy matchy look and all of that wood, and paint your chairs (or any other piece) white or maybe even a fun color!
2. Go buy a yard or two of fabric and recover those chairs!
3. Slap some fresh paint up on the walls!
4. Shop for some new accessories or furniture pieces from your own house...it's totally free and I guarantee you will find a new love for these pieces when placed in a different room!
I agree with you that everything should not be matchy matchy. Since my living, dining, and foyer kinda are a package deal, I want to incorporate some gold tone and glass or mirrored console table to the foyer. (My dining room table currently is mirrored (while not my favorite idea, it works) and this would make the three room look cohesive.
ReplyDeleteEventually, I would love to add glass french doors between the foyer and the living room (perhaps even switch the living room and the dining room when I can afford a new and bigger table).
I just love this idea! Why not?! The picture with the various plates on the wall is also fantastic!
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