Hey, Loves! Today’s post is all about our dining room transformation. FINALLY! We started this transformation back in the early Spring and I am so excited to be finished. We truly took our time with this room…some of it being because we had to…and also because doing a transformation with a toddler is dang near impossible sometimes! We chose to do everything ourselves. Every painted wall, every inch of flooring, every piece of trim, every outlet, I mean EVERYTHING was done by us.
Get ready for picture overload with this one!
Our before…I mean ICK. YUCK. SO. SO. BAD.
When Brody and I began our house-hunting journey, we knew we would either have to buy brand new to get everything to our “standards” but lose out on a lot of space OR buy a some-what of a fixer-upper and get the space we needed to grow. Well as you can tell, we decided that a fixer-upper would be our best bet. I definitely did not want to buy new and lack all the space we would need. Brody and I have very specific tastes but we knew we wanted a house we could grow in. All the new houses we saw were great but they were either too small or too expensive. I just couldn’t see myself growing roots in a home just to rip them out in about 5 years when we got too crowded. GOD WILLING, we feel that we will be a family one day of at least 5, so a smaller house just wasn’t settling well with us.
When we found our current home I. FELL. IN. LOVE. As you can see, it was not from the current interior design, ;). The layout was perfect, the number of rooms was perfect, the area was perfect, it just felt right. With that being said, we knew we were in for it! We would have to actively update the best we could and to cut down on costs, do it ourselves. Work doesn’t scare us, it has never scared us. Throw us a challenge, and we will crush it. That is just who we are and why Brody and I make a great team. If we have a will, we know there is a way. Although sometimes it is a very hard, hard way. Regardless, we always pull through.
The plus with doing it ourselves is we learned so, so much about renovating. (Thank you, Dad!). My Dad is a true God-send and helped us every step of the way. He taught us to never take shortcuts or you will regret it later. Always do it the right way from the beginning. So we did!
When we started dining room table shopping, we realized fast that almost everything was built incredibly cheap. I could tell these tables would not last long in our house, especially when little fingers would be there to happily “tear it up” ;). The amount of money we would be putting into one was just not worth it. I could not justify buying a table to one day in the near future have to replace it. So, we went custom! Our table is a custom built by a local company called Farmhouse Flare Designs. It is ran by our best friends and they do incredible work.
Farmhouse Flare Designs is a local custom furniture and interior designer in the Omaha area. They specialize in custom tables, but can build almost any piece of furniture to fit your home. They can also offer design services to make your house feel like a home. They truly MADE our dining room. I could not imagine our eating-space without this custom table. It is kid-proof in every way. It’s incredibly sturdy and has yet to get a single knick or scratch. Noelia is constantly playing and writing on it, and every mark she has left has wiped away. The best thing about our table, is that the top is replaceable. If we every want to go with a different design for the top, we can get it changed. I mean, YES!
For contact information and other designs, check out their Instagram or Facebook page:
Our chairs are from Overstock. I have always loved this modern design, but once I found them with the black wire bottoms, I had to have them. You can find them here. They also come in other color combinations! I originally wanted two upholstered chairs for the ends of the table but what the heck was I thinking! Kids, naturally, would not keep them clean and my anxiety just cannot handle the constant worry of keeping them presentable. One day I may do upholstered, but for now these chairs our perfect for our space.
Similar styles
I decided to go with a matching bench for the rest of our seating. It can easily fit four people. To not have to worry about seating space is great!
All of these pictures hold such a special place in my heart. My absolute favorite is the one on the far right of Noelia. I actually took the photo with our family camera. Her expression is just true Noelia; so happy and so full of life! Thank you, Jesus for the blessing of our daughter!
The frames are from Ikea and can be found here.
I searched for weeks and weeks (AND. WEEKS.) for the perfect chandelier. I originally wanted brushed nickel but then I saw this one and I knew it was it! I actually designed the rest of the room off of this chandelier. I decided on my chairs and decor pieces after purchasing this. It is from Overstock and can be found here. It is also super affordable which is a win in my book (and the hubby’s!).
These styles below also caught my eye
Our curtain rod and curtains are from Target. I could not find the exact rod to link below but the curtains are the exact.
My decor pieces are actually terrariums. I am debating whether to fill them or not. I am leaning towards not filling them. Noelia would just pick everything out and again, it is just not worth the headache! I found these at Hobby Lobby and can be found here.
I am having Farmhouse Flare Designs also make me a matching centerpiece wood box to display seasonal decor in!
Love these, too for around the house
We switched our thermostat to the Ecobee3 Lite. The temperature can be adjusted from their App on your smartphone. What is great about the Ecobee3 is that it comes with sensors for certain rooms in your house that you want to regulate more closely. We put ours in Noelia’s room to be sure it doesn’t get too hot/cold.
You can find the Ecobee3 Lite here.
Our flooring is from Home Depot. We chose to go dark and I love love love it. I felt that the color is timeless and is less likely to go out of style. I will say that it is more of a hassle to clean as you see everything, but the clean-up with this laminate is super easy. We chose to go with the Pergo Outlast with Spill Protect in the color Molasses Maple. We have been super happy with it so far and it really makes the room!
Our base trim was the thickest trim we could find and was totally worth the extra money. We have high ceilings on our main floor, so adding the thick base trim was a no brainer. Brody and my Dad cut and installed it and I filled the holes and painted it. Some people hate doing the tedious stuff like that but I love it. One day I know I will look back and say “We did this….I spent a whole night painting that, and I am proud of it”. Again, doing it ourselves was the way to go. We learned so much along the way and we appreciate it all so incredibly much. We spent hours upon hours on this room (and other rooms yet to be revealed) and it was so worth it. If you can handle the added stress and extra time, go for it! You will save a TON of money by doing it yourself, and I promise you will love it more.
We are slowly but surely finishing up our entire main floor. We have a half-bath that I am really struggling with! I cannot for the life of me find a vanity that A. is affordable, B. isn’t cheaply made, C. I can like for X amount of years. UGH. Why am I so picky?!
I love seeing houses and rooms being brought back to life. There is just something about a good transformation! Anything can be made new again, it just takes some TLC, patience and time. I will be posting all our room makeovers as they come to a close. Hope you guys enjoyed this post! Have you ever done a complete room transformation? If so, I would love to hear about it!
Oh my goodness! I adore this dining room space! You must be in utter love with the new look!
Thanks, babe! I totally am!
XO