Home Makeover: Dining room, our DIY chandelier, and visitors

Ben and I have almost finished most of the major things in the house. We are completely unpacked, completed most of our major projects except a few that will wait until warmer weather, and are officially set up. We did it all in a month-and-a-half. It's not completely done, but close enough that we feel very settled and content with stopping and relaxing to wait for the baby. I know less than two months is really insane to do so much, but with the new baby coming, it was best to do as much as possible now because it would never happen otherwise.


I thought I would share what we did in each room as I get around to posting. I'll start with the dining room and then kitchen, since they both flow into one.


Our goal was also to spend very little on projects and use what we already had. One easy way to keep yourself from buying a bunch of stuff is to stick with the same colors you had in your previous place.  We kept the red the same throughout the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Since they all flow into one, it keeps things looking uniform and open, rather than broken up by different colors.


Here is a picture of the dining room before we bought the house, with the previous owners' stuff in it. Nice and GOLD. Not loving that yellow or the brass chandelier.

BEFORE:

 

 

AFTER (mostly done, and yes, I already have Christmas decorations on the table):

 

 

The room looks really pretty with the chandelier on, but I couldn't figure out how to take a good picture of it that way.

A couple of other angles so you can see into the kitchen:

We didn't do much, but what we did made a big difference. We painted the walls from yellow-gold to a soft gray (same as the kitchen walls) and re-did the chandelier (more on that below).

 

We reused the large white frame we already had with a print from Art.com and some non-glare glass. The other stuff we already had in our old place, except the hand-me-down furniture which we will eventually get around to painting.

 

 

Total cost = $120

• Paint (Benjamin Moore Stonehouse Gray) - housewarming gift from the parents
• Art print (Red Friends from Art.com) - $50
• Frame glass and mounting (Hobby Lobby with a coupon)- $50
• Chandelier re-do= $20

 

 

Our Chandelier DIY

 

One of the first projects we wanted to do was give two of the chandeliers in the house a makeover (one in the dining room and one in the foyer).  The brassy-gold stuck out like a sore thumb. After noting how expensive chandeliers were (umm $300+? No, thanks), particularly ones of this size, we wanted to make use of the what was already there. We researched the best way to go via Young House Love (my favorite) and took a shot at it.

 

 

After we took it down and removed the glass and bulbs, here's what it involved:

 

 

We went with Kilz odorless to keep the fumes down.

 

We had trouble deciding between black and white, but ultimately went with white because it seemed a little more fool-proof. We went with Valspar gloss white from Lowes. Most all-purpose spray paint like this is rather toxic, so Ben took care of this since I wanted to avoid the fumes being pregnant and all. If I wasn't pregnant, we probably would have gone with Rustoleom paint, however. It's even more toxic, but works a little better. We had some issues with Lowes mislabeling their paint colors, so I would definitely not get Valspar spray paint again. But it served its purpose.

 

 

 

Total cost for both chandeliers = $20

 

We were thankful to have some friends visiting us to help put that beast back up on the ceiling. Our good friends Stephanie and David came into town for a visit, and we loved seeing them.

 

Anna particularly loved our visitors! Within five minutes she was sitting on Stephanie's lap and lifting her arms to be picked up by her. At night she was giving both of them kisses and hugs, and wanted to play with them all day. I've never seen her warm up to people so fast- it seems she can sense when people genuinely enjoy her company and feel comfortable around her like these two awesome people. Stephanie is a pediatric physical therapist. She really enjoys kids and is great with them. She knew exactly what would interest Anna at this age. It was so fun to watch them.