Dining Room Turned Family Space

I'm really excited to share today's room reveal with you! I look into the room and smile, you truly can tell a family lives here. 

We bought our home two years ago and this "formal dining room" was left unused or holding things that didn't belong. I wanted it to be a family space, an extension of the family room. A spot to do homework, play games, and color. Maybe a little nook for reading.

As happy as I am with how it turned out, this room was challenging! So many gorgeous colors which made me step out of my comfort zone.

It's like an extension of the family room. After dinner, usually our two oldest would be doing homework in the kitchen (on the other side). Now we can unwind on the couch, they can do their homework nearby, sit in the cozy chair to read, color, or just play.

(excuse the pillow on the floor which I JUST REALIZED #lifewithkids)

We color matched the trim and painted the walls the same white. A tree right outside the window was removed to improve drainage and brighten the room. Both made a huge difference!

In addition to paint, we moved a wall to create mudroom storage in our new laundry room. It eliminated the nook in the back right corner of the room.

Here's what the space looked like not long after we moved in. The white gives it a nice, blank canvas where the walls fade away and our family's artwork and photos shine, rather than compete with the gray tones.

I've been considering this colorful rug for over a year and loved the bright colors, but it was so out of my comfort zone! I was nervous right up until I broke into the package right there on my stoop, fresh off the delivery truck. I was even more giddy once it was rolled out, the rug completes the space beautifully. (Thank you to Rugs USA for providing the rug for our makeover.)

I found the chairs and table at two different garage sales a year apart, but they were both a natural, yellow stain color (see the before here). We sanded the table completely down and stained it this dark brown. For the chairs I used this white chalky finish spray paint, about one can per chair. The existing gray toned fabric was in good condition, so it stayed.

Once everything in the space, something was still missing. I reached out to my friends at World Market for help creating a little reading nook in the corner. I went into the store to buy this fuschia Nina chair and chickened out with a blue one.

I shared the whole thing on snapchat and instagram stories, to get suggestions from you all. I realized this was a go big or go home moment. I went in for a pink chair so I returned the blue chair, and came home with my new hot pink beauty. 

A basket I had on hand holds a snake plant, and spray painted this (formerly turquoise) floor lamp gold to match a plant stand in the opposite corner.

Across the nook is this wall, used for book storage and showing off school papers. The burlap covered bulletin board is from our old house, the wall mount basket, an old Home Goods find, is a lesson in when decluttering isn't always the best. I bought it while at the old house, KNEW I HAD TO FIND A SPOT, and found one in this house. 🙂

You can see a little peek into our (not yet blogged) family room. If you're curious, here are the before pictures.

These DIY shibori curtains started as a craft fail. I switched up my method and used this kit. Here's a Facebook LIVE video of the process, where I'm seeing them finished for the first time. You can see how giddy I truly was. 🙂

This basket on the table helps to corral school papers, coloring books, pencils, and coloring supplies.

The "stuff" basket, frames, square canvases, and hello sign are all from Michaels. The frames are filled with family photos, kid paintings, and artwork sent from my good friend Lindsay, the artist behind Pen & Paint:

• kid-colored prints from the Color Happy Coloring Book
• Do Small Things With Great Love print
• Always Believe Something Wonderful is About to Happen print

Eventually we'll install a white ceiling fan in here. I almost waited to post this until then, but couldn't wait. Lessons in embracing imperfection in action.

Here's another look at that before and after:

On the journey to simplify our lives, I'm trying to be intentional with my decorating and design decisions. A formal dining room would have gone unused and we have a great eat-in-kitchen. So far we use this space as much as the family room and kitchen. To me, that's a success! 🙂