Dining Room Update (before and after)

If you saw one of my previous posts, I’m trying to get rid of all the dark decor in our home and brighten things up. I started with the entryway. You can see that full project here.

Now it’s time to move to the eating area.

Here it is before.

So much dark brown. Although, if we were ever to have had a flood, my curtains would have been ready!

I started with the wall and replaced the dark toned artwork for brighter, lighter art. I recently shared that project here if you want to see how I made the frames.

Then on to this chest.

I just used white paint that I had and painted the chest and drawers.

I was going to buy a new lamp but decided to play around with the one I had first. I just painted the base of it metallic silver. I’ve never painted a fabric lampshade before but gave it a shot. I painted a light layer of white primer on the brown shade and, after that dried, I painted a couple coats of blue paint.

Then I just swapped out the brown curtains with some white ones that I had.

The only problem with this door is that all standard curtains are too short for it. Lengthening them is definitely a project I will have to tackle later.

Or most likely, never. 

The final touches were painting the dark star metallic silver to match the lamp base and swapping out a rustic, wood mirror with this more modern, silver one.

And that was it.

By swapping out items I already had and just painting what was already there, I was able to brighten up this area very easily and inexpensively.

Here was the room before.

And now.

Nothing drastic but it completely lifted the mood of the room for us.

Now on to the next unsuspecting room in my house….

Thanks for reading!

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