CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE REFRESH: THE DINING ROOM PLAN

I'm so excited to be spilling the beans about a new project that kicks off today!  I'm joining a fabulous group of talented, sweet bloggers that are working over the next few weeks to each refresh a space in their home.  Everyone is choosing whatever space they want to work on, hence the "Choose Your Own Adventure Refresh" theme!  (Anyone else remember those books? They were a childhood favorite of mine!)  Today, each of us will be sharing the space we plan to take on, as well as some before photos and our plans for the room.  Next week, we'll share our progress, and at the end of the month we'll share the reveal.  Whew!  This is a quick one!  

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For the next two weeks I'm going to be working feverishly to refresh my......   DINING ROOM!  Here's how the space looked on Monday just before I set the table for Valentine's Day:
  

Let me start by saying I think this room is great as is!  I had zero plans for a makeover in the Dining Room until about 3 weeks ago.  Here's how it went down...

I always have an eye out for vintage furniture that I like.  I lean towards a traditional style of furniture, but updated with color, new fabric, or styling.  For quite a while I have been wanting to find a set of cane back chairs.  Well, a few weeks ago this showed up on Craigslist-

I loved the shaped and size of the chairs and they were in great condition so I bought the set.  However, I like to mix and match my chairs with the table (I don't like having a matching set), so I planned to re-sell the table.  But, the more I got to thinking about it, I decided that I needed to keep the table.  We entertain often, especially with family, and we always have at least 8 adults that sit around the table.  Well, with my current table, trying to fit 3 chairs on each side between the legs is impossible, and we all end up squished around the table.  So, the pedestal base on this table won me over since it will allow for more chairs around the table.  And, it has 2 leaves to extend to almost 120" if needed!  I will also say that I had tired of the super dark finish of my current table.  Even if I had continued to use it, I had already been thinking about possible ways to lighten it up.

Now, the table looks nice enough in the Craigslist photo, but the top had some water damage and blemishes in the finish.  The rest of it was in great shape, though!  I also didn't like how super shiny the topcoat was, so my plan is to lightly refinish just the top to clean it up and give it a fresh coat of poly, with a slightly less shiny finish. 

That decision created a domino effect (as often happens in decorating!).  Remember when I just said that I don't like to use matching sets?  Well, if the table is going in the Dining Room, then the cane chairs need to go in the Breakfast Nook.  And the more I thought about that plan, the more I liked it because I currently have 6 side chairs in the Breakfast Nook that would be perfect to move to the DR so I can use 3 on each side of the table.  

The cane chairs have 4 side and 2 arm chairs so they wouldn't have given me the seating I wanted in the DR anyway (I'm keeping the wingback host chairs there so the 2 cane arm chairs wouldn't have been able to be used).

OK, that's a big rambling background on how and why this makeover is happening, but I wanted you to follow my train of thought (are you confused yet?)!  Some other time we'll talk more about using the cane chairs in the Breakfast Nook.   ;)

Long story short...  we're playing musical chairs, changing a few things, and keeping a few things in the room!  Things that will be staying are the green china cabinet, host wing chairs (but they'll get a color change), curtains (fabric here), and current crystal chandelier.  I'll be selling the tufted chairs, relocating the mirrors, and storing the old table for now, someone in the family might possibly use it. 

As mentioned, I will move the round back chairs from the Breakfast Nook into the Dining Room, and they will get a total makeover.  They currently have a semi-rustic wood frame and that wasn't the look I wanted with the new table, so I'm going to paint them white and change the fabric on them. These are a few images that inspired the white chair/wood table combo- (I pinned a lot more on my Dining Room Pinterest Board here!)

Source:  bhg.com

Source: Pulliam Morris Interiors

I know for sure that I'm going to add a bit more Chiang Mai Dragon fabric to the backs of the round chairs, but haven't completely decided yet on the inside back/seat fabric.  I was originally planning on a blue geometric pattern, but instead think I'm actually going to go with a solid, maybe a soft chenille or velvet type fabric.  I'll know by next week and fill you in! 

One of the new additions I'm most excited about are these gorgeous sconces from Hudson Valley.  I've been fond of these library style sconces for quite some time, and thought they would add some nice ambiance and soft lighting when installed on each side of the china cabinet.  I'll be sharing more about that next week.  

Here's a rough idea of how the plan is coming together!

I've been thinking I had all kinds of time for this makeover, but after actually mapping it out these two weeks are going to fly by!  I have a table to refinish, 6 chairs to paint then reupholster, 2 chairs to paint the frames on, artwork to figure out and lighting to install.  And everything in normal everyday life in between.  Yikes!  I'm so excited about the end result, though! 

Here's a full list of everyone participating in this Adventure Refresh, make sure to hop over and see what everyone is up to today.  I can't wait to see what spaces my friends are taking on, they all love color just as much as I do!

Jeweled Interiors | Haneen's Haven | Dimples and Tangles | PMQ for Two | House Homemade | Rain on a Tin Roof | Pencil Shavings | Our Fifth House | Kaleidoscope Living | The Pink Clutch | At Charlotte's House | Effortless Style Blog

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