Thursday, June 28, 2018

A Zero Cost Redesign in the Dining Room



I'm just giving my dining room this award-one of my all-time favorite thrifting finds! Ms. Dining Room would like to thank her producer, Me, her director, also me, and her agent who always believed in her. Guess who.

I know you are wondering what happened to my summer schedule, right? Y'all. I literally forgot what days I said I'd post during summer and had to go back and look. I do like to keep it a bit predictable so you know when to show up for all this excitement.

Okay, first--or is this second?-- some bad news. Our last chicken died and that's it. We're done. Long story for another post. In other sad news, a sweet friend is moving away. This post is going to get better, I promise. She's the kind of selfless person who is always thinking of others and asked me if I wanted some hanging glass votives. Well, you never know when you might have to throw together a wedding at the last minute so sure, I'll take some free event decor.

When I arrived at her house the garage (which she thought was a mess) looked like a well organized military operation. There were different areas designated for different people who were coming to retrieve the items she thought each person would most enjoy using.

Y'all! How nice is that? 

But she wanted to know if I was interested in some pots in the backyard and we went to check them out. Spoiler alert. If you want to give me gardeny type things. I'll take them. The bigger the better. It's because I'm super helpful. A three-ton urn or life-size statue? I'll bring my crane. 

As we were looking at the pots she pointed to two large urn panels and said, "Do you want those?"

Recycled is my favorite price. You know I mean free by "recycled", right? But in all seriousness, there probably is plenty of stuff in the world if we could just get all the stuff we don't want to the people who would love to use it. I'll admit shipping could be an issue if your Instagram pal in Iceland wants your Adirondack chairs. 

My dining room was looking a lot like Hemingway and Liberace had a baby. 


I must have been drinking whiskey the day I did all this. Remember when I thought I could be a minimalist? BWAHHAHA! Read about how I failed miserably here. 



Anyway, long story short, (too late, I know) the next day my husband went to a cookout for a friend's birthday and I knew he'd be gone for hours. I put on some dance music and rearranged everything.

What's the dance music list on my Spotify? Here's a sample: 

Justin Bieber-Despacito
Jennifer Lopez- Let's Get Loud
Fergie- Glamorous
Tik Tok- Kesha
Miley Cyrus- Party in the USA 

You get the idea. I don't enjoy music enough to be bothered with sad songs no matter what Elton says. And aren't the details of my life just enthralling? 


After I rearranged it, it looked terrible. No photo, obvs! I moved it all back and felt defeated. I sat down to look at Pinterest for inspiration. I found an article about how the French are masters at using religious icons in decorating and suddenly in my mind the whole thing came together!



 I have the above one of St. Francis and St. Clare, a cherished souvenir from a lovely day in Assisi several years ago. And the Madonna and Child below from a visit to Russia.



I  painted some French blue and Modern Masters Warm Silver on some empty frames and hung them to imitate the ornate panels on French walls. Initially, they were empty. I thought to add the icons later.  


Here's a tip: If you feel like you have too many things sitting around, find a way to hang them up!


Voila! I suddenly realized that a favorite painting had a bit of blue sky, the massive mirror in the other room was French blue, and that I had drop cloth with wispy blue paint on it. That painting frame is going to be restored as soon as I get a minute. 


Sometimes you don't need to buy anything. Aside from the panels I could have just rearranged all these things and achieved practically the same look. But those panels are the bomb diggity! Yes. cool people actually say this. 


I am so happy with how this turned out and now instead of avoiding this room. I SIT in there. On purpose! More pics? Coming right up! 


I may have just the teeniest addiction to vintage silver. And I'm not picky. 


Is there anything more romantic than a tarnished vintage champagne bucket? 

So if you were thinking you just wanted to throw out all your stuff and start over, move it all around and see what happens! Who needs a plan? 











2 comments:

  1. These are some great tips and everything looks amazing. My dining room needs an overhaul - a daunting task. Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much! I think dining rooms are the hardest rooms to decorate. Let me know how it goes! XOXO

    ReplyDelete

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