I've been wanting to redecorate my dining room for some time. Here's a set of before pics (I could only find pics from Christmas). This is a few years ago...
And here are a couple I stole from my instagram from December 2019...
I kept thinking curtains was the starting point, because I was O-V-E-R the gold ones, but I could never find any new ones I liked. Finally, in November, I decided to start with art. First, I found good homes for the art that was already in there. Then I went on a huge search for art. There was lots of trial and error, but I finally thought I had art I liked by mid-November. You can see a peek of the big one I purchased from Pier 1 in the pic above, but here is what it looked like in full.
I also bought this double set at Homegoods for the other wall...
And then I was just stuck. I didn't feel like moving forward. Sure, the holidays were in the mix, but still, I had no motivation. By February, I started to feel like I was stuck because I wasn't happy with the large piece of art from Pier 1. One Friday in February, I was in Homegoods and found this large picture, which I absolutely loved!
I decided to buy it, even if I had to be stuck with the one I had purchased several months prior. On my way home from the store, I called Pier 1 and asked if they would let me return it, even for store credit. They agreed, so I hustled up there as soon as I got home and packed up the pic, and it was my lucky day because the system just credited the amount back to my credit card. Yes! I immediately hung the new picture and loved it. Then i started toying with paint colors. Everyone was saying they thought the brown was ok, but I was tired of it. Here I have a paint swatch stuck up to see what a light wall would look like.
That weekend, I also ordered a pillow for the extra chair in my dining room. I've long wanted a pillow from Shumacher's Chiang Mai dragon fabric and decided this would be the perfect place.
From there, things moved very quickly. On Monday, I went to the store and got paint swatches. I settled on a color and had the dining room painted Sherwin Williams Bosporus by that evening...
Tuesday, I went to Dallas to hit up some fabric stores. I found a fabric for curtains, and grabbed a couple of swatches to take home and look at for chair upholstery.
I also stopped back by Homegoods, and found a couple of lamps I thought would work. Sure enough, they were perfect. They are a pretty blown glass with lots of movement, but not overpowering...
Wednesday, while waiting in court, I browsed some rugs online. I was a little on the fence about whether I needed a new rug. I felt bad ditching the one I had, even though it was 16 years old. When I got done with court and on my computer, I was able to virtually place the rug finalists into my dining room. This was so helpful because (1) it was very obvious I needed a new rug (holy cow), and (2) I was really on the fence about 3 of them, but when I used that virtual tool, there was a clear winner. And the rug is also called Bosporus! So I placed that order.
On Thursday, my new rug came in (yes, the next day. I love Rugs USA). My mom and dad were at my house because I was going to be taking their dog to the eye doctor and my mom to the eye doctor over the next two days, so I got my dad to help move the dining room furniture and get the rug in place.
I also decided I loved the fabric swatches I brought home, so I measured out how much I would need and on Friday, when I was back down in Dallas with my Mom's doctor appointment, I ran back by the fabric store and purchased the rest of the fabric I needed. Also while at the doctor's appointment, I finally decided on a chandelier (after looking at many options over the week), and placed that order.
So if you are keeping score, in one week, Friday to Friday, I had:
found new art
painted the room
ordered a pillow
purchased fabric for curtains
purchased fabric for chairs and reupholstered them
ordered new chandelier
ordered and had a new rug in place
As I had suspected, I was stuck because the art didn't feel right. Once I had that where I wanted it, everything else just fell into place. The next week, my chandelier came in and I got that hung, and was very happy with it. Then I found some boxwood balls to go in my center piece. I've had the centerpiece for almost 15 years. I got it at Pottery Barn, and I love being able to change it out with pumpkins for the fall, or ornaments for Christmas, but I had never found a great "all the time" filler.
So then I was just waiting on the curtains to be made and the pillow to come in (that got delayed because the lady I ordered it from on Etsy got the flu). But once it all came in, I really loved it!
I kept thinking curtains was the starting point, because I was O-V-E-R the gold ones, but I could never find any new ones I liked. Finally, in November, I decided to start with art. First, I found good homes for the art that was already in there. Then I went on a huge search for art. There was lots of trial and error, but I finally thought I had art I liked by mid-November. You can see a peek of the big one I purchased from Pier 1 in the pic above, but here is what it looked like in full.
And then I was just stuck. I didn't feel like moving forward. Sure, the holidays were in the mix, but still, I had no motivation. By February, I started to feel like I was stuck because I wasn't happy with the large piece of art from Pier 1. One Friday in February, I was in Homegoods and found this large picture, which I absolutely loved!
I decided to buy it, even if I had to be stuck with the one I had purchased several months prior. On my way home from the store, I called Pier 1 and asked if they would let me return it, even for store credit. They agreed, so I hustled up there as soon as I got home and packed up the pic, and it was my lucky day because the system just credited the amount back to my credit card. Yes! I immediately hung the new picture and loved it. Then i started toying with paint colors. Everyone was saying they thought the brown was ok, but I was tired of it. Here I have a paint swatch stuck up to see what a light wall would look like.
Then I got creative and used instastories to test out some other ideas...
That weekend, I also ordered a pillow for the extra chair in my dining room. I've long wanted a pillow from Shumacher's Chiang Mai dragon fabric and decided this would be the perfect place.
From there, things moved very quickly. On Monday, I went to the store and got paint swatches. I settled on a color and had the dining room painted Sherwin Williams Bosporus by that evening...
For a couple of minutes after I started painting, I thought "uh oh! what did I do", but after it dried I loved it. I couldn't wait to get the big pic hung and make sure it looked like I imagined...
Here I was making sure they looked ok with the curtain fabric since they would be sitting in front of the curtains...
Wednesday, while waiting in court, I browsed some rugs online. I was a little on the fence about whether I needed a new rug. I felt bad ditching the one I had, even though it was 16 years old. When I got done with court and on my computer, I was able to virtually place the rug finalists into my dining room. This was so helpful because (1) it was very obvious I needed a new rug (holy cow), and (2) I was really on the fence about 3 of them, but when I used that virtual tool, there was a clear winner. And the rug is also called Bosporus! So I placed that order.
Huge Difference!
I spent Friday evening and Saturday reupholstering the chairs in the dining room.
So if you are keeping score, in one week, Friday to Friday, I had:
found new art
painted the room
ordered a pillow
purchased fabric for curtains
purchased fabric for chairs and reupholstered them
ordered new chandelier
ordered and had a new rug in place
As I had suspected, I was stuck because the art didn't feel right. Once I had that where I wanted it, everything else just fell into place. The next week, my chandelier came in and I got that hung, and was very happy with it. Then I found some boxwood balls to go in my center piece. I've had the centerpiece for almost 15 years. I got it at Pottery Barn, and I love being able to change it out with pumpkins for the fall, or ornaments for Christmas, but I had never found a great "all the time" filler.
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