10 Dining Room Upgrades to Completely Makeover Your Space
Today I'll be showing you some dining room upgrades I’ve recently completed with before and after clips of the entire design process. I started with a new construction home that came with the standard primer white paint and took this dining room refresh to a whole new level.
Ready to see this dining room tour and gather some dining room design ideas to copy and paste into your home? Let’s get started!
Whenever I design a space, I want the room to be versatile enough to pair with holiday and seasonal decor, as well as everyday decor, so you’ll notice that I used a few key elements to create a space that achieves this goal.
Dining room upgrades
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1. Color palette
When I'm designing my home, I usually start the design process as I would any design event. I start by thinking of the colors that I want to use for that particular room and in this case, I went with more neutral colors, like grays, whites, and blacks. As you can see in the before picture, I had a bare white wall.
2. Feature wall
I knew I wanted to have an accent wall in this room from day one, and the wall you see behind me was the perfect width and length to create the dramatic effect that I was looking for with an accent wall.
So I used my main color, which was gray, to add a shiplap wall. This shiplap is not the typical smooth shiplap that you will find. Instead, when you walk up to the wall you can feel the grains in the wood, which I love because it adds texture to the space as well.
3. Dining room table
Then, we added our dining room table and the first set of chairs. I didn't like the way that these chairs looked against the table and the wall, so eventually, I added different chairs, which I will show you later.
This dining room table is the perfect accent with any dinnerware and flatware I own. It may look brownish in the photo, however, it's a dark oak with both a brown and gray feel to it.
4. Rug
After that, we brought in a rug from Wayfair. I always recommend getting something to hold your rug down with, just in case it rolls up on the sides when you first bring it into a new space.
5. Mirrors
The next step in the process was to put up two white mirrors from Target onto the shiplap wall. I knew once the wall was completed that I wanted to add three items on the wall instead of one gigantic item to add some visual interest, so I went with adding two round white mirrors first.
I chose mirrors that were not too busy because again, I wanted this room to be versatile and be transformed into anything based on the season.
6. Dining room chairs
We found some lighter, cream-colored chairs that we liked and brought those into the space. Instead of having two end chairs, we’re opting to have three dining room chairs on each side of the table.
They are super sturdy and can be used for everyday use. Believe it or not, they are pretty good when it comes to stains, so if you have a stain and you get it off fast enough, you won't see any stains on these chairs at all so I love them.
7. Personalized wall decor
Our personalized family logo was hung on the shiplap wall between our two white mirrors. I love personalization in all of my designs whether it's for a home or an event, and I love a good wood cutout.
So my husband sent me this design for our family logo, which is Tribe Emanuel, and I was able to get it cut out. It's in white, and if you feel it, it has the same grainy texture as the shiplap wall. I think it is my favorite and pretty much everyone's favorite item in the room.
8. Pendant light fixture
We also added a globe pendant light fixture. What I like about it most is that I decided to keep it on a different switch because sometimes I don't want any of the other lights on. I just want the light to shine above the dining room table, so again, lighting is very important.
9. Accent ladder
This is another one of my favorite areas of the dining room, which is my accent ladder. On this ladder, which I believe was found on Wayfair, I added lots of little elements that mean something to me or that I simply like. It's super versatile during the holiday season. I can switch it up and add some Christmas decor or fall-related items.
Right now I have a little cement pot that my husband made for me, which I thought was cute and added some visual interest and color. I also have a candle that my sister made and other cute accents, like this small cast iron pot, which can be found by Hearth in Hand with Magnolia at Target.
10. Buffet
One of the last items I added to this room was a gray buffet from Wayfair. I liked it because it had a little bit of black metal accents on it, and it is versatile.
You can use it when you're having parties to add some snacks on top of it. I usually swap out holiday and seasonal items to put on top of it too. Plus, I also store some of my seasonal plates in this buffet.
Dining room refresh
Thanks for joining me on this tour today to see all of the dining room upgrades I’ve made to this builder-grade home. A dining room refresh is just a plan away, so start thinking about what you would do to elevate your own dining room space after what you’ve seen me do here.
What features are you missing right now? Tell me where you plan to start in the comments section.
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