Dining Room Before
The Dining Room Before & After
SSometimes moving slowly through a room makeover can feel a bit frustrating. You don’t get an immediate dramatic transformation — instead you make small changes, one step at a time. Each improvement makes the space better, even if it takes longer than you expected to reach the final vision.
Working on a project over time, using mostly what you already have, can be rewarding but it’s not always the easiest path. It requires patience with an unfinished look, adaptability as ideas evolve, and persistence to keep making progress.
It has taken me two years to reach the point this dining room is at today. While that sounds like a full remodel, most of it was simply painting furniture and walls, rearranging pieces, and living with the room while I figured things out. In the past seven months I made the most noticeable updates, and it finally feels like the space is headed in the right direction.
Step-by-Step Dining Room Progress
- I waited patiently for ten months for my old house to sell so I could move furniture here.
- I installed an antique stained glass panel from a church to screen an unattractive view.
- I painted the dining table, chairs, and armoire to brighten the room and unify mismatched wood finishes.
- This fall I hung temporary curtains left over from my previous house while I plan new window treatments.
- Right before the holidays we painted the walls in Behr All in One Studio Taupe to warm and update the space.
- I added a new lantern with character that became a focal point.
- Finally, I removed the dresser and brought in a baker’s rack to better suit the room’s function.
Dining room during —
prior to the walls being painted and the dresser being moved
Dining Room Now
Now
Now
Dining Room before and now.
A side-by-side view shows the full journey.
The before and now are two long years apart.
When progress feels slow, it helps to compare the original setup to the current state and acknowledge how much has changed along the way.
It has come a long way.
Since this update, the room has continued to evolve. I recently added new curtains made from fabric I’ve had for years, and small finishing touches keep improving the space.
Thanks for following along through the many photos and updates for this room. The next step was new curtains sewn from old fabric, which tied the whole look together.
Note: Nearly all the furniture in this room was recycled from a previous house and was free, with the exceptions of the lantern (acquired separately), the Studio Taupe paint, and a seagrass rug purchased for the space.