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May 9, 2018 · 35 Comments

One Room Challenge Week 6: The Reveal

DIY Projects

We took on the One Room Challenge this spring and have been renovating our small dining room over the last six weeks. It’s finallyย done and today we’re sharing the big reveal – hopefully, it will give you some ideas for your own dining room renovation!ย 

small dining room renovation

Oh. My. Goodness.

Friends, we made it.

If you’ve been following our journey, you’ll know that six weeks ago Corey and I committed to tackling an entire dining room (or, really, a breakfast nook) renovation in just six weeks. We had lofty goals, including replacing our kitchen backsplash, building a huge bench in the bay window, and adding wallpaper. There were (many) times where I wasn’t sure whether or not we were actually going to get it done in time, butย we did it!

If you want to catch up on the renovation before you check out all of the finished photos, here’s a quick recap:

One Room Challenge Logo

One Room Challenge Dining Room Renovation

  • Week 1: We revealed the plan and all of the lovely “before” photos.
  • Week 2: We hid our trash can and added trim around the windows.
  • Week 3: We started building the bench and started tiling.
  • Week 4: We kept working on the bench and tackled the kitchen backsplash.
  • Week 5: We finished the banquette and shared the process for building it.

And that brings us all the way back to week 6 – we’re done!

I’ve been sharing videos every week of our progress, but I have to admit that this week, I slacked. We were so busy scrambling to finish everything up that I just never thought to pull out my camera. But, I promise I have tons of photos to make up for it.

Like this one:

dining room design ideas

Ahhh!

Before I dive all the way in and start chatting about the design for our small dining room and sharing the finished photos, let’s take a quick walk down memory lane with a couple of before & afters, shall we? First up: the dining room – the day we moved in and today.

gif of dining room before and after

I can’t even believe how different this space looks now – the transformation is really kind of incredible. And, of course, we have to take a before and after look at the kitchen as well, since it got drug along on this little makeover.

kitchen before and after gif

Mmm, so much better!

The kitchen still needs quite a bit of work – particularly in the lighting department, but it feels much more cohesive with the dining nook now, and these two spaces honestly make the rest of my house feel a little bit boring in comparison!

So, let’s do this.

Small Dining Room Renovation Reveal

NOTE: I’ll link all sources at the bottom of the post, in addition to throughout the post as I mention things. If you see something you love that I don’t mention, just leave a comment and I’ll be sure to add it in!ย 

dining room ideas

This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.ย 

Obviously, the biggest statement-maker in this tiny little space is the wallpaper. We knew from the very beginning of this renovation that we wanted to do wallpaper on the upper half of the walls – this space is visible from just about all of the main living areas of the house, and we wanted it to be kind of the centerpiece of our house.

And really, it’s the star of the show around here now.

small dining room ideas

breakfast nook renovation

small dining room renovation

We wanted something bold, colorful, and a little playful. Corey’s only request was birds, and I wanted something with a lot of movement and color – this Sylvia wallpaper from Anthropologie ended up being the perfect solution to make both of us happy. It was a bit of a splurge at $128 per roll, but we only needed two rolls to do the entire room and we snagged it during a 20% off sale so it was just over $200 for this whole project.

I don’t know about you, but I think $200 is totally worth it for this kind of impact!

kitchen nook design

kitchen tablescape

Another splurge in the room is the lighting. We had originally planned on creating our own light fixture – we wanted to do a larger version of the light we made for our master bathroom during the last One Room Challenge, but once we started pricing it out, we realized that to make it the size we wanted, it would end up costing just over $200 for all of the supplies. That’s not crazy expensive for a chandelier, but we also knew that we could easily find something a little more exciting for about the same price. After a little research, we realized that the Mobile Chandelier from West Elm was just a little bit more expensive (and, again, we grabbed it during a sale!), and would beย way more impactful than something simple.

west elm mobile chandelier large

Swoon.

The other big project we wrapped up this week was the open shelving. We debated whether or not we wanted to take the upper cabinet in this section of the room down or not, but our goal was to make this space feel a bit more integrated with the dining room, and I think removing it was definitely the right call.

We used the same method we used in our last kitchen to install three shelves (they’re stained with Varathane’s Dark Walnut), then I shopped the house to style them. There are a few things I’d actually like to purchase for over here – like a pretty, shallow basket to hold cloth napkins – but I’m just excited to have this pretty display space!

open shelving in dining room open shelving in breakfast nook

open shelving in kitchen nook

The one thing weย did buy for the shelves was a new letter board. We stillย adore our larger felt letter board, but it was too large to fit on the shelves and we really wanted to be able to tuck a letter board up there. We’re going to give our other letter board a home elsewhere in the house, but we found this one on Amazonย for an incredible price – and it even came with a bonus smaller letter board that I’m going to use in the nursery, like we talked about in this post about where to buy a letter board.

I think one of my favorite changes this week, despite all of the other amazing stuff that happened, was that we finally filled up our giant banquette with cozy pillows. It might look like they’re just casually tossed on there but let me tell you that finding the perfect pillow combination and arrangement took two days of shopping, styling, returning, and pulling my hair out. Having the pillows on the bench makes it feelย so cozy that I honestly find myself sitting there sometimes long after dinner is done because I’m justย comfortable. This is Jackson’s new favorite spot in the house, and he eats every meal curled up on top of the pillows now (though, we’re still working on learning that they’reย functional and not aย playscape).

diy bay window banquette

kitchen and dining room renovation

banquette in dining room

On, and for those of you who (like me) were cringing every time you saw our dining room over the last six weeks and noticed our sad little folding chairs, you can all rest assured that we had a plan in place for something much prettier (and more comfortable)! These gorgeous chairs are the armless version of the Bassett Furniture chairs that we have in our living room (they’re the Austen Upholstered Side chair, and you can find them right hereย – we have the armchair version in the living room). Bassett was kind enough to send us these chairs to go in our dining room renovation and I’mย so glad we went this route because they coordinate perfectly without being too matchy. It’s such a tiny space that you can see all four chairs when you’re sitting on the couch and they flow really nicely.

small kitchen renovation

open shelving ideas

dining room renovation ideas

And that, my friends, officially wraps up our dining room renovation.

It feelsย so good to be done!

I mean, at least we’re done until we’re ready to tackle building a new dining table – because this one is a bit too small for the spaceย and is much too short (it’s a few inches shorter than standardย and has a thick apron underneath, so it doesn’t make for ideal sitting conditions on our bench). But, for now, we’re done.

I want to send out a final,ย HUGE thank you to the brands who worked with us on this renovation – Home Depot, Jeffrey Court, and Bassett Furniture. We couldn’t have tackled this major of a renovation without their help, and we’re still pinching ourselves that we get to work with such amazing brands on the regular. Don’t forget to check out the other AMAZING room reveals over on the One Room Challenge linkup page!ย 

If there’s anything you see above that you’re interested in tracking down for your own home, I’ve tried to gather all of the links in one place here. Please let me know if I missed anything, though, and I’m happy to track it down for you!

Now that this massive project is over, we’re going to (finally) get our garage workshop organized and wrap up a couple of projects in Jackson’s room, and then it’ll be time to start chatting all things nursery! Get excited!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Christine Jones says

    February 13, 2022 at 8:41 am

    When building the bench for the dining nook, were there any electrical outlets that were covered? What did you use to safely block them?

    Reply
  2. Lori says

    August 14, 2021 at 2:39 pm

    Hi, i love the work done!! Amazing! Do you have any board or support in front or against the windows, to protect them for when people are sitting at the table/ in the nook?

    Reply
    • Amanda Hendrix says

      August 17, 2021 at 1:33 pm

      Nope, we didn’t put anything there other than some throw pillows!

      Reply
  3. Christa says

    June 3, 2021 at 5:14 am

    This makeover looks amazing! I found this post when looking for a solution for off center lighting. Did this light come with a longer wire or did you have to add something to make it long enough to reach the center of the table?

    Reply
    • Amanda Hendrix says

      June 11, 2021 at 12:49 pm

      Hi! It comes with a long enough wire to do this without any extra work!

      Reply
  4. Lolly Jane says

    May 15, 2018 at 1:37 am

    I can’t even believe this is the same space… and that your bench is am addition- it looks like a built-in. You guys nailed it, love!!! And that wallpaper is PERFECT, girl!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 15, 2018 at 12:11 pm

      Aw, thanks! We LOVE it!

      Reply
  5. Kim | Design Confetti says

    May 14, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    I love it! The wallpaper and those pillows play so nicely together and you’re right when you say those “effortless” pillow combinations are really anything but.

    – Kim | http://www.design-confetti.com

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 15, 2018 at 12:11 pm

      Thanks so much, Kim!

      Reply
  6. Giselle says

    May 14, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    I lovethat you used such a bold wallpaper. I love colour and the walls as well as your beautiful kitchen cupboards are dreamy!

    Reply
  7. Amphasis says

    May 13, 2018 at 11:29 am

    The makeover is just fantastic, I like the Mobile Chandelier especially. Cool.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 14, 2018 at 12:46 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. Brittany Goldwyn says

    May 12, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    This is fun! I have a special place in my heart for small spaces ๐Ÿ™‚ The wallpaper turned out lovely, too. Well done guys!

    Reply
  9. tiffany says

    May 11, 2018 at 2:00 am

    This turned out so pretty, good job;) And I hear you on the pillow choices, it’s so hard to get the combination just right!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 11, 2018 at 2:52 pm

      Thank you! And yes, pillows are always tough!

      Reply
  10. Lindi says

    May 10, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Amanda! You did a beautiful job!! I’m in love with that wallpaper and all of your colourful accessories. Beautifully designed my friend!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 11, 2018 at 2:52 pm

      Thanks, Lindi!!

      Reply
  11. cassie bustamante says

    May 10, 2018 at 9:55 am

    small but mighty! love all of the colors- such a beautiful space!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 11, 2018 at 2:52 pm

      thank you so much, Cassie!

      Reply
  12. Vicki and Jenn 2 Bees in a Pod says

    May 10, 2018 at 9:19 am

    Y’all always knock it out of the park and this makeover is now different. Way to go! Your dining room is beautiful! Love the banquette and your color choices. Well done!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 11, 2018 at 2:51 pm

      You’re too kind! Thanks so much!

      Reply
  13. Mary in VA says

    May 10, 2018 at 7:04 am

    Lovely “new” room great job! The table runner, where did you find that? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 10, 2018 at 8:05 am

      Thanks so much! The runner is from Target a couple of seasons back – it’s not available on their website anymore, but here’s a similar option!

      Reply
  14. Jess says

    May 9, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    That wallpaper is gorgeous! This is such a cozy and inviting space! It would be my favorite too. Congrats!!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 10, 2018 at 8:05 am

      Thank you so much, Jess!!! Wish I could invite everyone over for dinner! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Reply
  15. Emily says

    May 9, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    What a beautiful dining space!!! Iโ€™m in love with the wallpaper and lighting and think they were both well worth the splurge. Iโ€™m super impressed with the built-in seating you two built! Also, those new open shelves are going to be so fun to style throughout the year! Your table setting looks so fun too – love all the color. Awesome job!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 10, 2018 at 8:06 am

      Thanks so much, Emily!! We’re REALLY enjoying the space so far!!

      Reply
  16. Joy Shanor says

    May 9, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    The wallpaper is AMAZING!! I am now trying to convince my husband that our dining room needs a banquette! It would be perfect to go along with the dining room table I’ve inherited from my mother! I can’t wait to show him these pictures so he can visualize. Our dining room is a very similar space to yours.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 10, 2018 at 8:06 am

      You’ll have to let me know if you try to tackle it! It’s totally worth the effort! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  17. Amanda Garvin says

    May 9, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    This is incredible!!! I seriously need that light in my life and the wallpaper is stunning! Great job!!! Totally motivating me to makeover our dining room next.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 10, 2018 at 8:06 am

      Thank you, Amanda!!

      Reply
  18. Stefanue says

    May 9, 2018 at 7:30 am

    Think chair backs are too high

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      May 9, 2018 at 10:48 am

      They’re definitely a bit taller than normal, but they’re extremely comfortable, which makes them perfect for long dinners with family! So, I don’t mind the added height! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
    • Kate says

      May 10, 2018 at 9:43 am

      Love the makeover! All looks beautiful. I do agree I the chair backs though. It takes away from the table and wallpaper – as it blocks the view! Iโ€™d actually love to see a picture of the dining room with no chairs.

      Reply
      • Amanda says

        May 11, 2018 at 2:52 pm

        Thanks! And I think it’s hard to tell in photos, but in person the chairs don’t really block the view at all. And I don’t mind the high backs – it makes them incredibly cozy to sit in!

        Reply

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Overwhelmed by DIY? Let's do it together! I'm Amanda, and I live in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with my husband and two sons. I've taught myself how to make simple updates to help make my house a home, and I want to show you how to do it, too. Click here to learn more about us.

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