Before and After : The Dining Room

Happy Monday, friends! I love a good "Before and After," so I thought this post might brighten up your Monday. We moved into our quirky house in April of 2011. We found it to have such a character and "potential" and we fell in love with it at first sight! As you see the "before" pictures, you might think we. are. crazy. The dining room was not our first re-do to tackle in this house, but its my favorite thus far! So...here we have "before."

This picture was taken the day we moved in. This room is directly to your right when you walk in, so the first view of the house wasn't exactly...breathtaking. But, I've seen much worse! The only change we made to this room at first was ripping up the carpet and having it relaid in the back bedroom for our oldest daughter. 

In the fall of 2012, we decided we wanted a more open feel to our living space, so down came the wall between the dining room and the living area (please ignore the horrible iPhone pic). Because this wall was load bearing, we put up a beam for extra support...

"The Beam"

After we put the beam up, we were at a standstill for a few months. Before our annual Christmas party that December, we frantically completed MOST of the room. We put up a board and batten treatment 2/3rds up the wall, and topped it with a grey grasscloth wall paper. The floor at this point was still concrete from underneath the carpet we ripped up. We planned on laying a wood floor in the dining and living area, but time (and $$$) ran out on us. So we did this to our floor...

Why Not, huh? Festive, and sort of made fun of the fact that , yes, we know there is concrete instead of flooring in this room. Here's a pic of our Christmas table last year...

 If you notice in the first picture, this room had NO light in it when we moved in. Nada. But, luckily for us, it was wired for a light fixture. I had fallen in love with this Pottery Barn fixture. I snatched it up once it went on sale, and I so love the feel it brings to the room! 

This summer, we FINALLY decided on a flooring for both the dining room and living area. 

Clay and his munchkin helper.

So..the dining room is essentially DONE! There are a few accents (curtains, blinds, and an area rug) that I have such commitment issues deciding on, but other than that...

I hope you enjoyed the first "Before and After." Here is a little sneak peak of our fall "tablescape!" A whole post with sources coming in a few weeks!

be blessed!

leslie