Dining Room Reveal – Designing on a Dime

The dining room is ready for its big reveal….

You guys have been so patient.  Waiting while I painted the walls white, while I re-stained the table and painted the dining room set in Chalk Paint®.

While I pondered and thought and thought some more about chair fabric – ultimately going with Sunbrella because of the little sticky hands that are attached to my little sticky boys.

Do you remember what it looked like before:

This was the night before we moved in and here it is before I’d painted anything (when the kids were still home from school during the summer)…

The best part about this room other than being French, girlie and filled with blue, is..

The most expensive item was the chandelier at $350!

Okay, I know Marian (AKA Miss Mustard Seed) got her’s at a yard sale for peanuts but I did very well on the rest of the room.

My dining room set was from Freecycle – which means it was FREE!  Yup, free.  But it was yellow and pink and the top was in bad shape when I got it.  I just had to be a furniture hoarder for a few years (storing pieces in the attic and under guest beds) until I got that little dining room to put it in and some time to refinish it.

I decided white walls were best choice for our new dining room to offset my furniture.

Do you recognize the Lady Grey Hutch?!?  It used to be in my office area and then in the sunroom, but now it has found a home here.  She cost me a whopping $50 at a consignment shop.  Prior to painting, this piece looked heavy and dated, but now she looks, oh, so French.

I decided she looked better than the other hutch, Juliette.  So Juliette is for sale.  Let me know if you’re interested.

I opted for soft and neutral linen curtains hung on a wooden rod to match the dark wood molding and accents in our home.

I made the antique music wreath for my open studio and decided to keep it.  It just looks so perfect over there.  I will be making more to sell though.

I was going to paint that French side chair, but I’m actually loving it dark. What do you think?!?

This picture is an antique lithograph called “The Time Honored Guest” by W. Dendy Sadler and it used to hang in my parents’ restaurant, Baldwin’s.

I did a bit of research and found out that he was an English artist famous for his humorous scenes in which he’d use locals as extras.  This particular piece has an inscription on the back and was given to the head of Geddings School in Halifax, England.  It was one of my favorite antique pieces that they had in the restaurant and I feel so honored that it now hangs in my dining room.

So there is the dining room!  We christened it with a lasagna dinner the other night.  Book Club is coming over tonighht for an Italian feast.  What do you think?!?

You may be interested in some of these other posts about finishing the room:

Dining Room Source List:
– Wall Color – Mascarpone by Benjamin Moore
– MMS Milk Paint and Chalk Paint® on Furniture – Sea Rose Cottage
–  Linen Curtains – Ikea ($49.99 a pair)
– Curtain Rods / Hardware – Lowes
– Dining Room Set – Freecycle, Old White Chalk Paint® and Dark Walnut Stain by Minwax
– Chair Fabric – Canvas Spa Sunbrella from Online Fabric Store ($21.95 a yard)
– Chandelier – 3A Antiques ($350)
– Lady Grey Hutch – ($50), Consignment Store, Old White, Paris Grey and Old Violet Chalk Paint®
– “Simone” Antique Dresser – ($20) Yard Sale, painted in MMS Milk Paint in Eulalie’s Sky with Old         White Chalk Paint® accents and drawers
– Placemats – Ikea ($3.99 each)
– Flowers – Trader Joe’s ($1.99 a bunch)

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