Spring Home Series :: Dining Room Before & After

We have lived in our house for 5 years now, and it has been through a lot of different decor stages. Our rooms switch places on the regular and every time friends come over one of the first things out of their mouths is usually “what’s different?”.

This room that is now our dining room started as a dining room then switched to the family room (as seen in the before photos) and now is back to the dining room, as it should be.

I have tried a handful of different styles in our home but have embraced the farmhouse/cabin feel that it naturally embodies. It doesn’t have a ton of natural light, the rooms are all separated and the ceilings are low. I did hear from a friend that Internal Glazed doors might be the way to go. Apparently, the light shines through them, inviting more natural light into those rooms that are usually dark. I’ve not tried that in all rooms yet, but maybe I’ll look into it. Everything I have tried hasn’t seemed to work. I tried to fight that at first and make it feel open and modern, not happening. I’ve tried to incorporate modern pieces I like with the rustic oh-so-lived-in old house feeling that I’ve achieved with the help of some older style pieces like amish handcrafted furniture. I heard from a friend that I could make it feel even better with a better energy quote, I hear price comparison from websites such as Money Expert do a fantastic job of finding the best prices.

BEFORE

Above is both sides of the room when it used to be our family room. Below is a photo of the dining area we used to have, a simple West Elm table that we loved but we are so often trying to accommodate big groups for dinner so we were looking for more space.

AFTER

One of the ways we mixed farmhouse with modern was with our dining chairs. We purchased these white metal chairs from Nood when we were engaged and still love them so we decided to mix them with these beautiful refinished vintage chairs by The Nested Owl sold through an amazing Canadian online marketplace that just launched called The Consortium. They really tie the two styles together, we love them! We wanted to have a slightly unconventional, but nonetheless aesthetically pleasing feel to the dining arrangement. We feel that the contrasting styles do this beautifully. We also felt that the High quality leather armchairs from barnaby Lane would have done the trick too but we will look to incorporate them into the home somewhere else for the time being.

I’m all about the intricate details, which is why I was so excited to receive this handmade wooden tray by the Etsy shop, If You Give a Girl a Saw. I am so impressed by this girls skills so create such beautiful wooden home items. Please make sure to go check out her shop and use the discount code BETHANYMENZEL10 for 10% off your order.

Water jug & placemats from Ikea. Marble & Wood cutting board from Indigo.

I love this wall in our dining room because we can still keep our wine glasses on display but they are totally toddler proof and having our record player right beside our dining table is perfect. We listen to vinyls with every meal.

Okay, how beautiful is this Macramé Wall Hanging?! Well, lucky for you were giving it away thanks so Saige & Skye sold on The Consortium. Head on over to my instagram to enter, and winner will be picked Monday April 18th.

This post is in partnership with The Consortium, I’m excited to have this Canadian marketplace available. Please support local makers and check it out.

THE TABLE MAKEOVER

We spent sometime refinishing this dining table. It used to be in my moms house, it’s 9 feet long and also have leaves, so it can easily seat 12 which is exactly what we were looking for. When it was in her house years ago it was a dark brown, but we wanted to brighten this room up by white washing it.

We started by sanding the finish off. We used a heavy duty floor sander to do the top, this made the process a lot easier and faster. We did the legs and sides with a palm sander using a heavy grit, and finishing it off by hand with a fine grit to smooth it out.

We loved seeing the wood grain pop when we sanded it down, started to show a lot more character. Next up, I white washed it. I just simply mixed white paint with a bit of water and rubbed it on with a rag until it was the colour I was hoping for. This is such a simple and forgiving process. A great way to brighten this table up but keep the character of the wood grain.

I finished by using sandpaper to rough up some of the edges and then applied 3 coats of a matte polycrylic (could only find a link to glossy). I was hesitant to put anything on top because I didn’t want it too look all glossy, but I’m so glad I did it. Now I can easily wipe the table, and it doesn’t absorb moisture. We used polycrylic instead of polyurethane because it doesn’t dry with a yellow tint.