Bright, Happy Dining Room

My house is dark. There are two HUGE elms in our front yard that make the natural light in our house less than abundant. And we can't paint the walls in our rental. Check out the sad before pictures of our dining room:


Since we will live here for only a year, I decided to go with a really bright and fun color scheme for the room.



I reupholstered the $50 Craig's list settee myself earlier this year.

Before:


After:



{And, yes, I am slightly embarrassed that Chiang Mai pops up so much around here...}

The table is a mid-century Drexel piece that seats 12 with all the leaves installed. I love it. It was purchased for $50 from a Craig's list seller who had "distressed" it to "look like a Pottery Barn table."



There were 10" long scratches in the surface and perfect phillips head "star" screwdriver gouges! A little bit of wood filler and some sanding helped a lot.



The table's been painted black for most of the time I've owned it, but I recently painted it this really moody ink blue color that I love, called "Umbrella" from Martha Stewart.

The chairs were purchased last fall at the Brimfield antique show. They were in really bad shape when I got my hands on them...


I blogged about them here. They are painted one of my favorite creamy white colors, Martha Stewart's 'Macaroni.'


I had planned on putting down a seagrass rug, but I actually really like the way the PB Collette rug looks in here. I like the muted tones layered with all the really bright colors.


I sewed the drapes myself using peacock blue linen fabric that I bought for $1 a yard at a local fabric store because it had been sun bleached. I simply dyed all the fabric with some RIT in the washing machine and fixed the discoloration. This saved me some serious cash.


I used cream twill tape trim from eBay for the box pleated accent on the leading edges. You can purchase a similar trim at M&J.

The tortoise shell-looking bamboo shades were on clearance at Home Depot (though they can be purchased full price here). There were only two shades left at the store and they were different widths, but you can't tell layered under the drapes.



Remember the clock?


I cut off the scalloped apron and added $5 worth of moulding to the sides.



The whole thing got a coat of Martha Stewart's 'Vintage Map' and then I trimmed out the moulding with glossy black paint. I'm still waiting for the brass ring pulls to come in for the bottom cabinet doors.



I bought nine IKEA Ribba frames for $7.99 each. I can't find the link online, but they were a natural wood color before I spray painted them the persimmon color.



I photoshopped some old family photos for the frames and I love getting to see images that remind me of our family heritage every day.



The tole chandelier was another Brimfield purchase ($40).



I bought a very pretty gold-leafed plein air frame for a client a few months ago and didn't end up using it, and I really wanted to incorporate in my own home. Rather than buying a painting to fit the frame, I scavenged my art supplies in the basement for an old 16x20 blank canvas and some oil paint to create a VERY rough version of this image from Lonny.


I don't love it, but I guess it's fine for now.



The server was a birthday gift a few years ago from my mom. It used to be an old dining table that was cut down and two new legs were added to the back to make it console table sized. I gave it a coat of chartreuse green paint for the dining room redo.



The Chinese stools were a total craigs list score and have a permanent home under the server table. The large sunburst mirror is from Home Goods. I bought it a few months ago.



That's it for part one. I've got lots of fun DIY projects from other parts of this room that I can't wait to share with you all!!