One Room Challenge: Week 6...The Reveal!

Thanks for joining me today for my dining room reveal!  For the past six weeks I have been participating in the One Room Challenge, hosted by the lovely Linda at Calling It Home.  Designers, bloggers and DIYers each took up the challenge of transforming a room in six weeks.   Six weeks sounds like plenty of time, but let me tell you- it flew by! Today I'll be sharing lots of photos of the completed room, and over the next few weeks I'll share my sources and tutorials, so keep checking in! 

As a reminder, here are the before pictures:

 

 

And here it is now:

 

 

 

 

 

See the artwork in the little hallway to the left? In the top one you can see the reflection of a large ladder...my husband had the idea of setting up the ladder outside the dining room window and shooting in...a brilliant idea!!

 

I should be getting my artwork for above the mantle from Linda Donohue soon.  It will be something like this...

 

 

Did you notice it's a new mantle?  A few weeks back I decided that the mantle we had just wouldn't go with the new items in the room- it was too shabby chic/feminine with it's scalloped trim and floral motif.  So I informed sweet-talked the Mr. into building a new one.  Plan B was to not have a mantle at all, but since we don't have a fireplace I like having a "fake" one as it adds architectural interest to the room and besides, we need somewhere to hang our Christmas stockings!  (A crime I think- a house not having a fireplace, especially when we live in a 100+ year old house.  I know at some point they must have had one- I have two chimneys- but it was either taken out or boarded up) Anyway, here's a closeup of the mantle my husband built.  When we went to pick out the moldings and trim, I was planning on getting dental molding, but this basket weave caught my eye, and I thought it tied in nicely with my coastal room.

 

 

 

 

 

We replaced the white table top with planks that we distressed and stained, and swapped out two of the white chairs for wicker ones.

 

 

The pine hutch was a Craig's List find that I painted and replaced the mirrored back with wood planks.  The piece came with upper glass doors as well, but after styling the shelves I decided it looked better without the doors.

 

 

 

 

Next to the mantle I put this gray shuttered cabinet, which came from the kitchen. 

 

  

Here is a view from the living room:

 

 

And here's looking into the living room from the dining room. 

 

 

 Our dining room gets a lot of traffic and activity, as you have to walk through it to get to the front door, the living room and the kitchen.  We eat in the dining room every day, and homework and projects get done here.   

 

 

Here are some pictures that I took at night: 

 

I am very happy with the way it all came together, and even though the original mantle and black hutch were replaced with larger pieces, the room actually feels bigger.  Painting the walls the same color above and below the molding makes the walls look taller and the room less choppy. And I love how the colors coordinate with the living room, making a seamless transition from one room to the next. 

 

A big "Thank You" to:

*Linda, for hosting the One Room Challenge 

*My mother-in-law, for helping me paint the room one Saturday

*My three kids, for dealing with a MIA Mom, cereal for dinner, and no clean laundry. 

*My husband, who has been so supportive and helpful throughout the last six weeks.  He remade our table, drove 2 1/2 hours to pick up the hutch, built the mantle, hung my chandelier, switched out electrical plugs and door knobs, survived several meltdowns (of mine), picked up dinners, washed dishes (our dishwasher broke several days ago), transported kids, and whenever I asked a design related "What do you think?" question,  he responded with "Whatever you want, honey." This dining room would not have come together the way it did without his help! 

 

Thank you also to all of you who have been checking in weekly to see how my project has been coming along.  I appreciate all of you comments and words of encouragement. 

 

To see more amazing spaces that have been transformed over the last six weeks, visit here. 

As always, feel free to leave a comment or ask questions in the comments section below.

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