Dining Room - Reveal

The dining room area is finished! We started working on the space back in August and we finished up today, ten months later. I reviewed my first post about the dining space today and snickered to myself a bit. I seriously thought it would only take a couple of weeks?! Ha and HA!

I tried hard to keep the cost down on this space, so for the finishing touches I re-purposed a few things from around the house. The last little details are the most fun part of a project, aren't they?!The centerpiece is a trio of simple mother-in-law-tongue plants. Supposedly the plants tolerate low light and are very hard to kill, so they should do OK in this nook. I bought the whole set-up at Walmart; plants, glass containers, dirt and a HEAVY bag of river rock. Side note - the small packages of river rock in the floral department are overpriced. Go to the garden section and buy a fifty pound bag for three dollars, they just need to have the dirt/dust sprayed off.

I made the "Hang Art Here" piece a few months ago, using a re-purposed thrift store frame and print. The other two frames were in storage, they just needed some white paint and now they work nicely for showing off B's artwork. The large "B" initial was on the wall in his room, but I don't think we'll have room for it once my plans in there are finished.

The final touch was adding a couple of lumbar pillows to the eames style chairs. I used half a yard of fabric for the blue and gray one. The striped lumbar pillow is made from a three dollar thrift store blanket. Poly-fill isn't what I'd call "expensive" but when trying to mind every penny for a project, it's just another expense I try to avoid. For these lumbar pillows, I cut open two old square toss pillows and used their stuffing.

Here's a shot from the other end of the room. The space is almost finished, although we need a large area rug. I bought one last week, but it was too small. There I go again, buying before I measure! Seriously, you'd think I'd learn. Luckily, it looks good in our home office. I'm also suddenly feeling like a velvet chesterfield sofa would be amazing. We'll see...

And because everyone loves a good before and after image (right?!), here's one of our space. I get goosebumps whenever I looks at this!

OK, I know it's gauche to talk about money, but one of my goals on this blog is to show folks you can update and style your home even without deep pockets. I think it's pretty cool that Jesse and I did this space for just over seven hundred dollars. A new dining set alone could have easily cost twice that. So yeah, feeling proud :)

Here is the cost break down and resources. If you have questions about anything, please give me a shout. Comments make my day!

Wall paint, Dusty Trail from Olympic and brushes - $35
Custom dining table - FREE - love my talented husband! I realize not everyone can make a dining table. I think a great alternative here would be a vintage cottage-y table with a bright coat of chalk paint.
Eames style dining chairs, set of 4, Amazon - $314
Area rug, NFM.com - $190 (I got a special price on it)
DIY light fixture, Re-store - $75
Potted plants, Walmart - $35
DIY Lumbar pillows - $8
DIY wall art - $45
DIY sliding barn door - $40
Total project cost - $742

This post is linked up with:
The Inspiration Exchange 6.3.14
Remodelaholics Anonymous 6.6.14
Link Party Palooza 6.7.14
Link'n Blogs 6.12.14
The Makers 7.1.14