A very merry Dining Room Reveal!

We actually finished wallpapering our dining room in October, but it took me a while to photograph it. The lighting is terrible (as you'll soon see), so I needed to find the right balance of artificial light, natural light, tidiness and free time to take the photos.

And, as it happens to be December, it's decorated for Christmas! So here we go.

This is the view in from our living room.


This is good real life representation of the colour of the wall paper. The paper is called Rothbury Trellis, by Thibaut. The colour is metallic on slate gray.



Put on your sunglasses for this next shot people! The view from our hallway into the dining room. And whoops, a plastic bag full of stuff hiding behind the chair.




The buffet.


My deer head bowl from the William Ashley warehouse sale and Mr. Fox.

     My daughter pronounced x's with a hard k sound for a while. It made Mr. Fox a hilarious thing to talk about.                      Go ahead, sound it out.

My husband's ever expanding whiskey and scotch collection. He keeps receiving bottles as gifts but hardly ever actually drinks it. He loves it though. Good to have on hand during the holidays for sure.

My daughter's hand print ornament from her first Christmas last year.

I dunno. I like this guy. He's cute.
Sparkly snowflake from HomeSense.



Another holiday necessity, a well stocked wine rack.


I bought this Santa wine bottle (or tree??) topper at The Bay years ago. Any of you that shop at The Bay have a story like this. Saw it, looked at the price tag, which said something like $9.99. Go to the cash register, it rings through at $1. The Bay is notorious for this.

It adds some fun to the room. We try not to take ourselves too seriously. 


I hope you like this dining room makeover! There was quite a bit of blood, sweat and tears that went into this room (without any actual blood or tears. Some sweat for sure though).

The before-before again, for dramatic effect:


Then the more recent before, post DIY wainscoting:


And the after:



One last poorly lit parting shot. Because why not.





Turning an old wine case into a Christmas centrepiece

I was at my parent's house for dinner and noticed this wooden wine bottle crate sitting in their 'junk to get rid of' pile. They actually used it as a CD tower in their living room for years. It says Napa Valley on the side. No one in our family has ever been to Napa Valley so I don't have a clue where they got it.

Inspired by this pin, I decided to make a Christmas centrepiece out of it.


A couple of empty mason jars,


some pine branches and pine cones from Superstore,


...and some leftover faux-berries from our garland and there you have it! Throw in some tea lights and you have a DIY Christmas centrepiece made for just a few dollars.



Sharing at:


DIY Show Off DIY Holiday Highlights

ReStore Find: Occassional Chair [After]

I have never made over an actual peice of furniture before. What you are about to witness is a beginner's makeover of a chair that was on it's last life anyways (nothing to lose).

I picked up this chair for $25 from my local ReStore. The wood is gouged in places, and it wobbles. It was made for tiny people in the olden days who sat up straight and had healthy BMI's.


First I removed the seat. It unscrewed easily and I got to work peeling off the strips of florescent duct tape.

Then I picked out tons of tetanus laden rusty staples. Seriously I was so paranoid. Even though I think I'm up to date on my tetanus vaccinations, I was still scared. I got a tiny scratch and ran screaming to the sink to scrub it with antibacterial soap.


The previous seat was pretty hard and uncomfortable (the padding was hay or something. I didn't take a picture because it was gross and I just wanted it out of my house), so I added a layer of memory foam to the plywood.


Then I wrapped it with thin batting, and (clumsily) stapled it down.


[Note: I had to UNstaple the above batting twice because a) I had unevenly pulled the batting so the edges were lumpy, and b) I covered the holes that you screw into to secure the seat. It's all about trial and error!]

Next, I stapled on the fabric, after moving it around several times to make sure pattern on the top of the seat wasn't crooked.


Doesn't that look so professional?? HA HA.


This is what us novice furniture restorers like to call "Good Enough".

FYI, the fabric is called Greek Key in Buff, and I ordered it from Tonic Living.

The wood was quite damaged, and I'm not a professional wood rehabilitator (is that a thing?) so I reached for the white paint. Several coats later, I reattached the seat, and voila!



Not bad for a first timer right? (Please say right).

Popular Posts