Well, we finished the feature wall in our main living area and thought it was about time we showed you what was on the other side of the kitchen.
First, I must make a disclaimer and say that I am not suggesting in any way that we are interior designers over here, we are simply renovating our house and changing it to meet our little families needs. Ok? Ok. 😀
So here goes!
To catch you up, our house is considered a multi level home. When I first heard that term I had no clue what it meant! Basically, it is like a back split, but with another level — in a way.
Let us explain, there are four flights of stairs in our home (horrible for vaccuming, but awesome for wrapping Christmas garland around –all those spindles!) So we have one from the entry way to the main living area, another from the entry way down to the lower level, another from the living area to the family room/play area and another to the bedrooms. But lets not get ahead of ourselves! We are only talking about one room today.
Today we are giving you a peek into our main floor where we have our kitchen, dining area and living room. We are going to show you the dining area today.
Because our main floor holds three important rooms, we spend a lot of time as a family on this level: eating meals, watching television, doing homework, having pillow fights, entertaining guests and just living life. So nothing on this floor can be too precious for children to be around.
We first showed you our new brick wall that houses our television and fire place. You can read more about building that wall and all the tips and tricks to do so HERE.
This is what the wall looked like when we had a walk through while we were waiting to get possession of the house almost two years ago.
We built up that half wall that had no real purpose, and instead made it the focal point of our main floor. It feel like the whole room has more depth now with the textured surface; we just love that it looks like that wall has always been there too!
Beside this wall is our little dining area, the place where we eat all of our meals, and where we make and enjoy a lot of family memories.
When we first moved into the house I knew this little area had so much potential. It was a room that could be very bright since it was lucky enough to have some larger windows! The first thing I did, when we moved in was take down the window coverings on the patio door to let in tons of that beautiful light! The space went from this:
To this:
I added the stripy transluscent curtains for some needed night time pricacy. They dont interrupt the pouring sunshine in the day time -which we love.
All this makeover took was a coat of paint, (four coats of paint… over the dark brown I painted the room initially! Ugg. Live and learn.) 🙂
So a lot of paint, some new trim, mouldings and finally, accessories. We think the room looks totally different. What do you think?
This side table turns into a full table, if needed for larger parties. These silver lamps flanking the table have been with me forever! Like, since I was 18! And guess what? I still love their basket weave shape and their ornate details! After a coat of shimmery-silvery paint they have taken on a new look. I replaced their old shades with some crisp white ones and really love the way they add ambiance to the room at night and during late dinners.
This book page wreathe I am absolutely in love with!
Late one evening I re pinned it to one of my craft boards on Pinterest, but couldn’t stop thinking about it. Finally, I said to myself, “I can make that tonight…” So, I got out an old book and folded and glued until my little heart was content! I followed the great tutorial from the super sweet Jennifer at the City Farmhouse and used the $1 wreath form idea I talked about HERE.
It was a project that took an entire evening, but it was so relaxing and I think it adds the perfect touch of texture and colour to the sideboard area.(And time went fast while I caught myself up on telveision shows)
The sleek mirror against the textured pages is a contrast I love.
Above is another picture of how the room looked BEFORE. And here is the same angle AFTER…
We replaced the chandelier with something that had some sparkle to it. (I would have never been able to keep up with dusting all those faux crystals on the old chandelier!)
We love the combination of crystals and beads now, and adore the way they cast shadows on the ceiling in the evenings. So simple and so pretty.
We use the table in this room every day and it has lived up to our messy eaters. We love that it can sit eight with a quick addition to the middle and pulling in some more chairs. It isn’t too traditional or precious and invites friends to perch by it when we have gatherings. Everyone loves a closer spot to enjoy a table full of h’ourderves. 😉
The chair seats have had quite the life! They were originally white, but I found not only was it boring, it just wasn’t practical with children! My hubby and I covered all eight chairs in a dark brown striped material one evening. After some trial and error, HE swore we would never do it again. Well, in this house, things don’t stay the same for long!
After I fixed my horrible paint choice repainted the room to be this light tone, I didn’t want the chairs to be boring dark against light so I went on the hunt again for some fun graphic fabric.
It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with this tan trellis and Tiffany blue trellis material. It was originally meant to be outdoor fabric and to stand up to outdoor living and the elements. I challenged it to try standing up to spilled drinks and dirty little hands!
Sure enough, it has been a year and I am so happy that I tackled this project — alone. ;)These cushioned seats are now so durable and stain resistant! I wish I had of bought the whole bolt of material!
These lanterns are from Ikea and we have had them for a couple years now…they travel outdoors for quiet nights on the patio too.
My Grandma lovingly passed on this flower vase to me and the colours remind me of her her place by the water.
I am addicted to corralling things on to trays; this bright blue tray immediately caught my eye as it is my trade mark colour. It adds the perfect punch of colour to the dark table.
We designed our feature wall so that when you are sitting at the table enjoying a meal, (for the full post click HERE) you don’t have to see the mess that is in the kitchen.
It allows one to linger longer over dinner and eliminates the urge to get up and do dishes and tidy. (I LOVE that!)
I hope this helps you to understand the layout of our main floor a little more.
Soon, we will show you the rest of the main floor — if we can clean after the kiddies long enough to take somewhat decent pictures.
Thanks for coming along on the tour! I hope you enjoyed our little touches that make this well used area of our home, ours.
Getting inspired at:
Craftberry Bush link party
French Country Cottage
Chic on a Shoestring
Redoux
City Farmhouse
December 5, 2012 at 7:24 pmWow, what a transformation!!!!You guys worked hard & it totally paid off, it is stunning!!! And the wreath, I love it and the patina on yours is awesome:)!!! Have a great day, Jen
Kelly @ thelilypadcottage
December 6, 2012 at 2:35 amGORGEOUS! Love the light fixture especially, great before and after photos. What a huge change 🙂
bethanygier
December 8, 2012 at 3:30 amThanks for the inspiration Jen! i just loved the look of yours. I may have ruined a German antique in the creative process of my book page wreath! If you stare long enough at it, one might learn a new word! ;0
bethanygier
December 8, 2012 at 3:30 amKelly, thank you for the kind words!! Means so much.
xo
Cocalores
December 9, 2012 at 10:19 amYour new light fixtures are beautiful – and the whole transformation makes such a difference! Just stumbled across your blog and am a new follower! =) Anja
William @ RoomReveal
December 12, 2012 at 10:32 pmI really like the book page wreath and the upholstery pattern in the dining area. The only drawback for me is closing up the wall to the kitchen. The end result has visual appeal however it makes the space feel smaller. Great work overall!
William Moynihan
http://roomreveal.com
bethanygier
December 13, 2012 at 3:20 amThanks for the comment William. My husband and I both enjoy smaller rooms, so we dont ming that the rooms do feel cozier; it reminds us of a century home which we love! We needed the wall too, to hang the television on, Im sure you can understand! 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
Anonymous
January 7, 2013 at 8:01 pmThe renovation looks amazing! What color did you stain?/paint? the table? Love it, and that chairs!
bethanygier
January 8, 2013 at 9:30 pmWe didnt actually paint the table and chairs, I did however, recover all of the chairs with fabric that is meant for the outdoors but is perfect for washing down after the kids rub their dirty hands on them! 😉
How to give your dining room chairs a new look with paint! | This Little Estate
February 24, 2017 at 4:04 am[…] You can see our old table set.HERE […]