I finished my elegant dining room makeover, and I’m feeling on top of the world! hehe
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These past several weeks were dedicated to finishing my dining room space. I started by painting the dining room hutch from charcoal gray to bright white. I decided not to repaint the walls because I like the gray tone. Instead, to brighten up the space, I decided to use lots of white accents, one of them being the hutch.
In addition to repainting it, I swapped out the hold hardware with some modern, silver hardware. We did end up having to re-drill holes for the new hardware because the old holes were for hardware with distances that are really no longer used.
The process took quite awhile because I was going from a dark paint to a light paint. It took four coats of white paint to get it just right.
It was well worth it in the end. Here’s a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot:
If you like my white hutch, here’s one that looks fairly similar. I also rounded up a list of gorgeous white hutches inspired by mine.
As we work our way around the room, you’ll notice bright window treatments. I decided to add white curtains because I wanted them to have a contrast with the gray wall.
I looked for MONTHS for white curtains that were high quality that didn’t cost a fortune. It was very difficult because all the ones I wanted were at least $120/panel. I was determined to spend less than that for my curtains.
I looked EVERYWHERE, online and in store. I ended up going to Bed, Bath & Beyond once but, same story, all the ones I wanted were too pricey. On a whim, my mother-in-law said let’s stop in Bed, Bath & Beyond just to take a look again.
So, we went in, and low and behold, I found some beautiful white curtains that were on clearance. But, of course, there were only five panels, and I needed six. I gave up, but my mother-in-law said she thought there would be a sixth curtain somewhere because they should each be part of a pair. And I kid you not, a minute later, she came walking back with the sixth curtain panel in her hand. I think I literally jumped for joy.
These are the curtain panels I bought, and I love them. They drape so beautifully and are a high-end fabric, just what I was looking for! I ended up buying the curtain rods and clip rings at a different store because they were cheaper. Here are the curtain rods and clip rings I purchased.
We swapped out our chandelier, too. The one pictured is one we bought a couple years ago from a thrift store. It had shades around each bulb. We simply took the shades off to give it a different look. This chandelier is similar to mine.
As we continue to move around the room, you’ll see this white buffet. This was another thrift store find that I completely renovated.
When we bought it, it was brown. I painted it black a couple years ago, and then I re-did it again more recently to be white. I added legs and new hardware to give it a more modern look. Here’s the ‘before’ and ‘after’:
You can take a look at the complete buffet makeover process in this post. For awhile, I had the buffet under our TV. But, after I painted the hutch white, I decided to move the buffet back to the dining room because the two pieces almost look like matching set.
Our new dining room table is, in my opinion, the statement piece of the room. We purchased this dining table from Restoration Hardware. A similar option that costs a bit less is this dining table from World Market.
I grabbed some placemats, linen napkins, and silver napkin rings at Home Goods.
The flowers are from… WalMart! Yep, from my experience, they tend to have the best deals on flowers. They are cheaper than grocery store flowers. I grabbed a couple bags of flowers and made up this easy bouquet for about $20.
The chairs..oh, the chairs. They are vintage chairs that we found on Craigslist and completely revamped. They have come A LONG way.
When we first bought the chairs from the seller, they were made of blue fabric and had the original wood-tone. We underwent a crazy long DIY project with them. From ripping them apart, to adding new batting, to reupholstering them ourselves, to sewing the lining, to nailing in new silver nails one by one, to white waxing the wood…PHEW, they were one of those no-joke projects. It took us MONTHS. Jason and I vowed to never undertake a chair project like that one ever again. All that being said, we are thrilled with how they turned out….But we’ll never do it again. LOL.
Here’s the before & after shot:
To see the full process of the chair makeover, check out my featured Instagram stories under “Chair Progress.”
While my dining chairs are vintage and were a labor of love, these chairs are pretty similar and don’t require you to lift a finger!
The most recent update was the addition of this gorgeous 8 x 10 rug! I bought it when it was on sale, but the regular price isn’t bad when you consider the quality of the rug. I have the light gray & ivory version, and it’s the perfect color combination for the space.
I’m overjoyed that our dining room is finally complete… at least for now! Updating this space was a huge undertaking and took lots of patience and time. Now that it’s complete, I truly feel that it was worth the wait.
If you love this space as much as I do, please take a minute to pin your favorite images to Pinterest
Marly I really liked the hutch in gray but in white it is stunning! I love how your dining room turned out. You did a phenomenal job on the chars! I just love it!
Thank you so much, Wendy! You are so sweet. I’m loving the white hutch, too.