The size of our dining room is one of the main reasons I fell in love with this house. When we were searching for a new home, having a bigger dining room was a huge must for me. The first time I walked into our dining room, I actually thought it was the living room! I still facepalm at my moment of foolishness. Since the dining room is a place where we gather as a family and often a place where we do our studies it is important for me to make this in a nice, welcoming, warm space.
Although the size of the dining room is great, it had bad lighting. The dining room was also this sage green color that wasn’t the nice modern sage green paint you see nowadays, the wallpaper was extremely outdated and peeling, and then there was a coordinating border placed midway on the wall was crooked and peeling. It all just needed to go! So right around the time of our one year anniversary of moving into our home, we have completed giving our dining room a much-needed makeover! This was a whole year in the making.
Here are a couple of pictures of what it looked like before [unfortunately more pictures before hand]
The first dramatic change we made in here was the lighting. Lighting is everything! Replacing and adding new lights was one of the first things we did once moving in. I picked out this lovely farmhouse/ industrial looking light fixture from Amazon for under $150! We have had a lot of compliments on it and it fits perfectly with our large table.
After a lot more prep than I would like to admit, we painted the dining room Benjamin Moore’s color Collingwood. It took us forever to decide on a paint color and I am so happy with our color choice. You can read all about our paint experience and the troubles of getting rid of that dang wallpaper here. Painting was the biggest step in giving the dining room a makeover.
Replacing our old table was another item we upgraded shortly after we moved in. Our old table sat only 4 people and is now being used in our homeschool room. Being a family of 8, we really needed the largest table we could afford. We bought our current table from Ikea and it seats 10 people comfortably. The chairs were also from Ikea and they were the cheapest chairs you could buy. They were great for us to start with but we do need to start replacing them because they are starting to break from constantly getting knocked over (life with rowdy kids).
A recent addition is this cool galvanized chicken feeder container I found at Hobby Lobby. I am using it for a centerpiece for our table and currently only three small bottles of some faux floral pieces I also bought from Hobby Lobby. I will use this to decorate for different seasons and holidays.
Also kept in our dining room is our sideboard from Ikea. To be totally honest I am not impressed with the quality of this sideboard, especially for not being one of their cheaper options. Anywho, this is where I store extra kitchen appliances like specialty baking supplies, large stockpot, etc.. I love decorating this area with seasonal stuff. Our homeschool caddy is kept here. When we are doing school work at the dining table we put the decorative centerpiece on the sideboard.
My favorite decor items I have in my dining room are this authentic wooden spoon, fork, and knife set made in the Philippines!! It is so important that I tie in our family’s culture with our home decor. Within Filipino homes, it is very common to spot a wooden spoon and fork in the dining room which symbolizes good health, prosperity, and family strength. My grandparents had large a wooden spoon and fork in their kitchen and I remember gazing at them every time I was at their house eating some homemade Filipino food at their dining room table. The best thing about these is I only paid $20!! I am a huge fan of buying used or trying my best to find the best price. I found these gems on the facebook marketplace. I can’t even describe how happy I was the day I went to pick these up to also discover the seller’s family member originally bought them in the Philippines. The best $20 spent!
The majesty palm plant in the corner looks great in this corner too. I love how this plant adds a natural element in the room and it’s safe for cats and kids!
On the other side of the dining room, I recently set up a liturgical table. I have always wanted a designated area where I could display pictures and prayers for special feast days and decorate according to the current liturgical season. I finally decided to put together a liturgical table and I am so happy with how it has turned out. This little spot in the dining room is perfect for this because we can see it every day.
Since we often do a lot of homeschool studies in here and to prevent the sideboard and dining room table from getting too cluttered, I have a homeschool cart in our dining room. I am so glad that I decided to get this in here. It fits perfectly along this wall and it really does help for us to have a designated throw all for our books and homeschool supplies.
My goal is to keep this space open and the number of things kept in here to a minimum. The only other items I really want for in here are getting a roman shade for the small window, new dining room chairs, and the grace before meals put up on the wall. My list of updates, on the other hand, is a little larger. Future plans will be changing the bi-fold doors, changing the trim, baseboards, painting the ceiling, and possibly shiplap. All in all, I pretty satisfied with how my dining room is. Another step in making our house into our home.
