The Progression: Dining Room

I haven’t done a progression post for a while and so I thought I would share the dining room today. I love to watch and see how a room has changed through the years. We have lived here 5 years now and so you can imagine how many changes have been made during that time. One thing to note is before we moved here, I never looked at blogs. My only source of inspiration came through magazines and browsing stores. Once the world of interior blogs was introduced to me, I had inspiration coming at me from everywhere. And I loved it! My style has evolved so much because of blogs and so I can see a greater change within the last 5 years as opposed to the 5 or 6 years before that. So, let’s see some of those changes, shall we?

Here is our dining room before we moved in (April 2006). When we found the house we took pictures of all the rooms empty so I could plan and scheme while we were waiting to move in.

At this point the room was carpeted and the walls were painted the same shade in every single room of the house. We actually left this color in here for about a year or so. The chandelier is at its original color at this point which is a faux finish of some sort in brown. The globes also had a brown tint to them.

Here is another picture, different angle. What I want you to notice here is the bi-fold doors that separate the kitchen from the dining room. They are open in this picture so they are kind of hard to see. I’m pretty sure those lasted a whole 3 seconds before I took them down :) When we first moved in, there were bi-fold doors everywhere and it didn’t take long for me to get rid of all of them.

Here is a picture of the dining room while we were still moving in (which is why there is a bunch of stuff on the table). The hutch that my brother built for me was in the corner and our table and chairs in the center. This is in May of 2006.

Then, soon after we moved in, we replaced the carpet with wood floors (May 2006). I also added a rug under the table and another set of table and chairs so at this point we had two tables and 8 chairs. I put up some curtains and changed the chandelier to black along with switching out the globes to a frosted globe instead of the brown tinted ones. I’m pretty sure these pictures were taken right after I painted the room (September 2007). On the wall to the right (that you can’t see) I had hung a large mirror.

Do you see the mirror’s reflection?

Next, I changed up the artwork (November 2008). I replaced the gate that I had hanging with the letter collage and added some shelves to the opposite wall. I also was in the middle of painting the tables white so for this picture there is one missing. Another subtraction is I took away the hutch and put it in the laundry room and put in a dresser turned console. The rug is gone in at this point. If I remember correctly, it got bunched up easily and so it made its way out. As you may be able to tell, this was around Christmas time.

A little while later, I made some new curtains (July 2009). I also finished painting the other table and added it back in.

The next dining room project I tackled was painting the chandelier… again (December 2009). This time it became fire engine red and I loved it. I also removed the globes to make it a bit more updated. Another thing you can see (barely) from this picture is I started working on painting the chairs. They ended up being black and I liked the contrast of them with the table.

At the same time as painting the chairs and chandelier, I also added the cow rug I just didn’t have a picture to show it until I threw this baby shower (April 2010). So while the room isn’t in its normal state, you can get an idea of the cow rug.

In October 2010, the credenza got switched out along with the artwork. I added the flower canvas and the spray painted plates on the wall.

In January of this year, I made some more changes. I got some new chairs and sold my old ones. I also got a new pendant light for Christmas which I had been wanting for a very long time (I even have proof of how long I have been wanting it!). A new rod and new curtains made an appearance as well (these match the new ones in the living room).

So that is how the dining room currently looks today. What is in store for this room? I’m sure you all remember that I am in the process of building a table. A process that should be done by now but I still haven’t finished it. Shame on me. I really need to get on that! I have no excuse and I’m also really excited for it, so what is taking me so long?! With the addition of the new table, I would also like to paint the credenza. Oh no, I’m sure some of you will be really upset for me even thinking of painting it let alone doing it but I think it will work better with the flow of the room. Also, there are some places in the finish that aren’t very good so I bought it with the intention of painting it.

So yes, I still have plenty of projects ahead of me. I don’t know if I will ever be the kind of person that has a completed room. Like I said yesterday, the reason is because the rooms in my house are constantly evolving and changing and I like it that way. Plus, change is what keeps this blog going :)