It’s overwhelming when you look at an empty room or worse a room that is full of stuff you don’t like or care about. My dining room started empty except for a very large dated glass table and chairs. I’m sure in its day it was the cats meow of the early 90’s. I didn’t want my dining room to be fussy, complicated or busy. So I started making my plan and soon figured out this was going to be fun!
With any room you are redecorating it’s easier to start with a clean slate. Start with removing everything you don’t like and keep what you love and want to keep. For me the only keeper was the chairs. The chairs were in great shape and I could recover the seats to make it a better fit for my family. I found a table on Craigslist that had already been redone. My sweet husband sealed the deal on that beauty. I removed the cushions, sanded the base of the chairs then painted them black. Ok so now I have this room with a table and 6 chairs, problem was I needed 8 chairs for my family. I moved all the wood chairs with my newly covered seats to the sides of the table. Then I set out to find 2 captain chairs for each end. I found them at World Market for only $129 each. I normally don’t buy new but these chairs where the right size, right color and right price.
The room is small so I could have stopped there hung some art and called it a day but it wasn’t right it was boring. Trolling on Craigslist as I often do for those different pieces I found the cherry on top for my design. There it was all I had to do was email this lady and go get it. Well she was slow to respond and even slower to meet me. Finally I got my light it was amazing. She told me it came out of an old building that was torn down in Dallas, Texas. It was a steal of a deal at $80.
I’m not one for fancy china but I did want a glass cabinet to display some pretties I love so much. I found a cabinet in an online auction house called Rusty By Design for a steal at $60. I hung one of my own paintings, lovingly called “Coffee Girl.” I also hung a wood and wire piece I bought at Canton First Monday. I hung shear panels because I wanted to finish the windows but didn’t want it to be heavy. You will notice the curtain rods are hanging over the edge of the outside of the window. By doing this is doesn’t box in the window and make it small it keeps it open and appears to be larger. I added a few little decorative pieces like candle holders, plant stand and plant. The plates on the wall I bought from the Goodwill store for a $1 each. They add so much color to the room.
So how much did I spend?
- The table $400
- Captain chairs $258
- Fabric for chair seats $45
- Cabinet $60
- My art, chairs and my pretties all FREE
- Plates for wall $13
- Curtains and rods $85
- Other decorative items $40
For a grand total of $901! Amazing!!!!!
And it is all finished and for really not much work or money. Sometimes we over think the room and the cost when really we need to make it functional and beautiful . Ask yourself what does this room need to be for my family and what do I need in this room to make that happen. Add color and items that make you Blue Happy.
