DIY Morning Room Makeover

A few weeks back I set out to go DIY spastic on my casual dining room and transform it for the One Room Challenge.

I’m happy to say I made it to the end of this makeover challenge and the good news is, I have a completely new morning room.  The bad news is my back may never be the same and my family is now in therapy.

I’m kidding.  The family is doing well and my back is fine, but I do feel like I could sleep for a week straight.

Here is a refresh on where the morning room started.

 

And here is the morning room today…

DIY Dining Table and Chairs

One day I may be one of those people that has money to burn and goes out and buys all new stuff but then again, I doubt it.  I like old things and items that can tell a story.  I like seeing something beautiful that everyone else missed.

This old depression era dining set needed a second chance.  It was an unwanted item from a yard sale around 10 years ago.  The chairs were black (you can see them in the before photo)  and the table and legs were in pieces.  I used the black chairs in my home for several years but because I did not have a place for the table, it was stored away.

I’m delighted to finally have a spot for this set.

The one thing that made refinishing and repairing this old dining set difficult was the time crunch.   Stripping paint from ornate wooden legs is time consuming.  I don’t mind the work but when I was still sanding legs on week five I had a few panic attacks.

Now that it is all done and the hours in the garage are behind me, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.  I basically got a new solid maple dining room table and 6 chairs for next to nothing.

Seat Upholstery and Other Random Finds

Oh, I almost forgot, the heavy weight upholstery fabric I recovered the seats with came from Walmart for 2 dollars a yard!  So I guess you could say the new dining set cost me around 5 dollars.

The table is styled with lots of yard sale and handed down items as well.

• The china is “Blue Bird” by Spode and came from my mom.
• The vintage green goblets were given to me by my grandmother years ago.
• The gold silverware was given to me by mom too.
  (Funny story, When mom handed down this silverware to me a few years ago, I assumed it was something special because it’s been around forever and it came in fancy silverware protective sleeves.  When I pulled the silverware out to style the table, mom told me she received the set as a bank freebie gift when she was opening up a new account back in the 60’s.  Too funny.  I think I like the set even more now!)
• The brass candle stick holders and salt & pepper shakers are yard sale finds.
• The fabric Runner and napkins were fabric remnants from my favorite fabric shop in Cleveland  ( Schindler’s fabrics )
• The funky fake Cactus plant came from Marshall’s on clearance.

 

DIY Morning Room Trim

One thing you might not have noticed from my before photo was my windows did not have any trim on them and my baseboards were tiny.

The first day of the challenge I ripped out what little trim was in the room and then later that day, informed my husband I was going to learn how cut and put up trim!

And you know what guyz, he didn’t even argue with me about it either.

It was more of an eye roll…soooooo many eye rolls.  In fact for a few weeks I forgot what color his eyes actually were because all I could see was white.

My trim inspiration came from a Instagram story I saw about the 2017 HGTV urban oasis home.  In the background I noticed the trim in the house.  That is what I wanted!  I screen shot it with my phone and began to brainstorm how to create this look.  The next step was to take the plan over to my woodworking Dad.

Dad helped me get some wood and got me started.  The only snag was after dad helped get me started he promptly left for vacation.

I’m not really sure if this was a planned vacation or an impromptu vacation.  He claims it was a pre-scheduled vacation but I’m still a little suspicious since the subject of vacation came up while we were standing in the middle of the Home Depot wood section arguing over going with pre-made trim (his preference) or piecing the look together from multiple boards (my much longer & more complicated plan).  You have to admit the timing seems awfully convenient.

Regardless, he’s still the best dad ever and at the end of the day I learned how to put up trim by myself!

And as an added bonus I got to run around my house boasting endlessly to my family that I was now a master craftswomen full fledged finish carpenter and from here on out I should be addressed as “your highness grand lord mistress of finish carpentry”.

yeah I know, that’s not exactly a real title but I’m not exactly a real carpenter either.   By the way you forgot to use “your highness grand lord mistress”.  Please don’t forget the new protocol.

Yes I trimmed out one small room and I’m completely insufferable now.

DIY Frames and Art Work

I love me some great art work but right now I couldn’t even afford a cheap reproduction of dogs playing poker.  (by the way if I could get my hands on a good “dogs playing poker” I would totally put that up on one of my walls)

The cheapest way for me to get art on the walls is to paint something myself.

There are lots of things I’m not very good at but one of the little gifts God blessed me with (other than my surprisingly underappreciated sarcasm) is a natural ability to paint and draw.  For the room I painted the egret bird to add some bold color to the neutral room. 

I also painted the scripture art above the sliding glass door.  My son picked out that scripture and I loved it too so I painted it and added it to the room.

The frames were another first for me.  Normally my husband builds the frames for my art work.  He’s still recovering from a major spinal cord injury so we worked on the frames together this time.  He coached me and I ran back and forth from the garage to the house laying out the pieces and trying to cut them to the exact size.

Of course now that I’m the grand poobah your highness lord mistress of finish carpentry and a self proclaimed expert I didn’t need much coaching but I let him coach me anyway because I’m humble like that.

DIY Mid Century Modern Sideboard

The other fun DIY furniture piece in the room is this mid century modern sideboard /buffet I made over.  This was another random ugly piece of furniture in my home itching for a new look.   Are wondering “Dang Girl, just how much ugly old furniture do you have laying around your house?”  The answer is A LOT!  It may take a few years of One Room Challenges to cleanse this place of the ugly.   Baby steps!

You can read about the sideboard makeover here.

 

Other items added to the morning room were the white brick wallpaper I purchased from walls republic.  If you’ve ever wanted to hang wallpaper but were a little afraid, you may appreciate my wallpaper adventure story. (Hanging paste the wall wallpaper & emotional meltdowns. In other words, just another day)

I DIY’ed the major components to the room but there were a few purchased items.  The rug I picked up at Home Goods.  The bamboo shades came from Overstock.com and the chandelier was purchased 2 years ago from HomeDepot.  Allier 5-Light Weathered Oak Wood/Antique Forged Iron Large Pendant

I’m delighted with how light and bright the new space is and I’m looking forward to many future family meals in this room.  (I’m talking about pizza and Taco Bell of course.    By the way Taco Bell is a perfectly acceptable family meal but only if served on blue bird Spode china.)

Again I want to thank Linda from Calling it home for another great One Room Challenge and my family for putting up with my never ending and always inconvenient artsy ideas.

Happy Creating,

And if you missed a week…
Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / REVEAL!!!

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You may also like my previous One Room Challenge Makeovers….

DIY Shark Teen Bedroom & DIY Pop Art Bedroom