Welcome friends from the ORC! To jump into Fall, and quite frankly to gain some inspiration AND motivation, I am excited to tag along with the One Room Challenge. I have enjoyed following the Challenge for years, stalking the designs and relishing in the amazing “afters.” It is really fun to follow along and see what both the selected bloggers, and the guest participants like myself, come up with at the end of six weeks!
I have decided to move forward with updating my dining room. At the end of this month we are celebrating my birthday, as well as my daughter’s 8th birthday (wait…8! Yikes!), and will have a lot of friends and family over to celebrate. I typically get myself into trouble thinking that of course I can finish a room rehab from top to bottom in time for company, but this time I have promised my poor husband, who always jumps in to save the day when I have bitten off more than I can handle, that I will temper my design ideas.
Here is our current dining room that we first painted when we moved in 7 years ago. I still love the custom color which was a happy accident when I took my daughter’s sweater to Lowes for a color match. The curtains I made with material from Premier Prints, using this tutorial from YHL. I still enjoy the room, but am sooo ready for color, bold prints and an overall lighten-ing up of the space!
What I want to change: 1) The chandelier we inherited with the house that I have lived with WAY TOO LONG; 2) Add fresh paint in a gorg neutral gray and FINALLY (with lots of shouting for emphasis) paint the moldings that we had installed when we moved in ahem 7 years ago, but never painted beyond the primer; 3) Add a fab new rug (Side bar: Currently, with young children and two dogs I have been too nervous to put a rug under the dining room table for fear it would be nothing more than a giant crumb catcher, but now I am going for it and want one that will be REALLY colorful and fun….and hides crumbs; 4) Purchase lovely curtains that I DO.NOT.MAKE.MYSELF (if I am going to wrap this up in time that must be part of the plan); 5) Actually hang art on the wall instead of empty frames on the floor or, as the pic below shows, hastily tacked up because company was coming…7 years ago (noticing a pattern here…).
This is our sad little bar area. I purchased a cart from Target awhile ago, but never set it up because the kids were younger and the less easily accessible glass the better! Now that the kiddos are a bit older I am excited to implement the cart into the Challenge design. This pic also shows folding chairs that we drag out whenever we have more than four people eating at one time, so I am hoping I can incorporate more seating as well. Lastly, I would like to repurpose and paint some furniture, and find a more successful pet gate (insert frustration here).
And THAT.IS.IT. I think I did a great job not adding too much and will totally complete it on time for both the Challenge and the Birthday parties (at least that is what I keep telling hubby).
Stay Tuned!
Best,
Kelly
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