How to update your dining room without any money.
How to Redress your dining room is always hard. Its easy to get stuck in the “its working fine” routine and its not exactly at the top of the list for “things to do”
But once its done you feel fresh and ready to transform other areas.
Well that’s for me anyway. I have 2 dining areas in this house and one of them is our everyday dining off the kitchen and in the thoroughfare of the house. Yes its also the dumping ground for handbags lunch boxes and schoolwork.
I need to give it a freshen up with style so I am going to run you through what I did.
I started up the top with stripping the area. Take everything out.
Take away the chairs and all the decor so your left with a shell. Its much easier to be creative when your space is clear of previous ideas.
This refresh does not allow for new lighting or furniture. Its all about working with what you have.
I added in a rug under the table to fill the space a little better this also becomes your “anchor” point. Anchor point simply means with this dining room the tiles run on a diagonal and so do a couple of the walls so you could easily think the table could be angled also. By adding the rug you are confirming that the space is staying in that direction and can not be moved. After deciding that the area also needed another piece of furniture to appear more like a room and not an added after thought space I moved the CD DVD cabinet into the room to add some height and depth.
Now we added the chairs back in and decide where the decor needed to go.
First up something for the dining table.
I like to consider this my every day Dining table so it needs to be a usable space and the decor needs to be child friendly as well as practical.
My placements I purchased are decorative in their look so I can keep them on the table in a stack ready to grab and use. My new decorative fork and spoon have been up cycled in my fave colours and I don’t like anything permanent so they are in a vase so I can move them around on a whim.
Navy teapot (decorative) and navy and whit ginger jar with sugar for my cups of coffee.
The important thing to note here is my decor is room appropriate. I wouldn’t show my fork and spoon in my bedroom vignette etc etc.
Next we needed a bit of colour balance on the DVD furniture. I needed to add some height with a picture and all I had available at the time was one of my wedding photos. I have not invested in much art as yer but I am looking forward to it for my new home. This is a temporary home for us and I don’t like buying pictures for certain spaces that may not be in the next house.
I added the other ginger jars from the set on the dining table for continuity and so the decor is relatable. The white mask is to mirror the height of the fork and spoon decor, the blue vase is for the solid colour addition and the dinosaurs are for personality and fun. This is not the formal dining area so I can use it to showcase the reality f our family dynamic.
Once its finished I strand back and critique my own work and can see what colours need changing and if the placement is incorrect. I have found the colour of the fork is not working perfectly but I need to add a turquoise piece up on the DVD furniture. The dining table needed something extra as it felt too narrow so I have since added in a another piece for width.
Have you updated a room lately, what would you have added to my room?
you make it look and sound so easy…I am off to attempt to put some love into my back meals area room. thanks for the easy explanation and inspiration…yet again!
Bec x
Thanks Bec, I always forget to photograph and verbalise these processes for my blog and finally tried to do the changes “on purpose” I hope you had fun and were able to interoperate some of my ideas for decorating.
Nice work! I hope you don’t mind me saying.. And maybe it’s just the photo but it all seems quite heavy around the dining table and chairs. I would maybe bring in something like a white table runner? Matched the white of the mask and magazines on the DVD unit and would lighten the dining table a little. Though I think the heaviness is coming from the black chairs on the black rug. Since it is a use what you have situation changing that may not be too possible.
Geez I sound like a negative nancy. I do like what you have done with the space and I really like the way you explained your thought process, I find that really hard to do.
When I worked as an interior designer at IKEA my workmate and I used to say ‘fresh eyes!’ Sometimes when you have been working on a space all day it is hard to see what the space needs. Then someone else can come in straight away and pick what’s missing/ not working.
Really great blog post though. Now I want to redecorate my whole house! x
I dont mind at all ;-) its always nice to have another “set of eyes” I was the same when I worked for Freedom. You are right regarding the heaviness. The rug would work better in a lighter colour or not there at all and i will soon be changing it. Another practical reason is all the children food spillage is not working for this idea……who would of thunk it. The white on the DVd tower is a little too white and powdery now so I will move this soon also.
I love the stand back and critique part of this almost as much as the doing. You are welcome to help be my fresh eyes any time.
It looks great you have an eye for styling. Its all about the little details and I smiled when I saw your dinosoars as part of it :D
When Im looking to decorate an area I like adding a vase of flowers or even a single bud in a small jar. You can’t go wrong with flowers x
Well done! I love the large clock!
I forgot to add it has a touch of “Alice in Wonderland” with the time piece, oversize large fork and spoon, with the teapot!
What an interesting post! I can see what’s wrong with a room in a nano-second and compile attractive vingettes in a heart beat but explaining how has never occurred to me. I’ll show someone…but to break it down as you have is excellent for those to whom the skill doesn’t come naturally. I don’t know why, but taking a photograph of a space is my ‘other set of eyes’. I see glaringly obvious errors in pics! Strange! Thanks for a thought provocing read! x KL