Dining Room Makeover

I had big plans for this room before we ever even owned the house.  In fact, my original goal was to paint it before we moved in.  But then the fact that I was still pregnant hit me in the face and I was barely able to even pack up my house in time for moving day. 

Okay so before:

This picture actually shows it. Every wall in my kitchen and dining room was a different color. It literally alternated from light tan to poo green to dark tan to poo green. It was just too much for me to handle.

Don't mind the mess. haha. Is it just me or is that a really bad green?

Starting to look so much better already.  But looking at this picture makes my body hurt again. Next pregnancy I'm going to do a lot less physical labor. Hopefully.

Almost done...

And finished! 

(Almost... minus that little corner my big belly wouldn't let me reach)

I love this blue.  It's moody in some lighting and vibrant in others. It's perfect.

I bought these little cardboard letters at hobby lobby and spray painted them gold.

And then I hung white curtains. (FYI... Ikea is my go to for curtains.  They're extremely long, they have a good variety of colors and styles, and the price can't be beat! The quality is pretty great too.)

For the curtain rods, I wanted very simple so I just bought plain ones without finials (I think from walmart?) and then spray painted them copper.  I usually don't spend much on my rods because they're mostly covered by curtains and I spray paint them 80% of the time.

I'm going to be honest with you because this is real life. This is how my dining room sat for months.

 Proof: A tiny baby Roman in the middle of the floor. 

Mid July I got the courage to start it up again.

Rewind back to April.  I bought a table off of a yardsale site.  The guy told me it was vintage Thonet which would be sweet. Still not sure if that's even true though.  

Here it is:

I really wanted a midcentury modern style table.  This one was a yellowed color but the shape was perfect and I knew I could refinish it. Plus: BRASS FEET!!! (heart eyes)

To remove the varnish, I used Citristrip.  It comes in a spray can so no mixing necessary. Just shake, spray it on, wait a while, (I waited overnight because that's the next opportunity I had to work again) and it scrapes right off.

Seriously I used a thin plastic putty knife and the thick varnish just scraped right off. Like buttah... I don't know why but this gave me so much satisfaction to do haha. 

**Make sure you wear gloves when working with stripper or it will burn your skin.

Still splotchy so I used a palm sander with fine grit sandpaper and gave it a really good sanding.  I wiped it off with a damp cloth several times in between and let it dry to make sure I got all of the varnish off evenly.

I used Minwax Special Walnut for the stain. I love this color. So rich and the perfect tone. Not yellow, not gray, just a good natural brown. I use it for everything because depending on the type of wood, it comes out a little different. You'll see in other places in my home.

This table I rolled with a foam roller and instead of wiping excess off, I just made sure I applied it very evenly.  I think it took 2 coats to get it the color I wanted.

Tip: if you wipe your wood down with a damp cloth right before you stain, your wood will absorb the stain better and more evenly.

I ordered some chairs from Target because they were having a really good sale.  And then they finally came and literally looked like kid chairs next to my table. Wah Wah. So I lugged them back to Target and went back to hunting for the perfect chairs.  I really liked this style and had my heart set on it.  But every single chair like this I could find was disappointingly small.  And then my sister texted me a picture of my chairs but tall at Downeast!! Yessss.  I called them and had them order in 4 for me and picked them up a week later.

Then I found this light from West Elm and pretended to be an electrician and installed it myself. (thankfully I took a lighting class in design school haha) 

I really wanted a fiddle leaf fig tree for the corner but couldn't find one anywhere. If you're in Utah, Cactus and Tropicals in Draper has the most amazing selection I've found! See?

Anyways, there's our dining room and kitchen!  I will eventually paint my cabinets white, redo the backsplash so it's not so busy, and install granite or quartz countertops.  But for now it's functional and not horrible.

xoxo Bre