When we gutted our kitchen, I posted a side-by-side of the change here. At the time, we had painted the top portion of the dining room wall but we still had the wagon wheel light fixture hanging off-center in the room. The floor was laid but our dining room table was a small Ikea table that is now an entry table in the living room, then a bistro table which is now on our front porch, and finally a patio table which is now appropriately nestled on our patio.
It’s been over a year so I suppose it’s time for an update!
Starting at the beginning:
The room was in need of some serious updating. When we moved in, the dining room was carpet, wood trim, and wallpaper. Once the carpet was removed, we started on the wallpaper. We were using the soap and water spray in the beginning and, as I’ve admitted previously, I did some major damage to the drywall with this method. (If you’re removing a home with wallpaper, do yourself a favor and rent or buy a steamer! Well worth the money.) After a lot of repair work, we painted the room and Fred used the existing chair railing to start the wainscoting.
We bought the dining room artwork from Bed Bath & Beyond after a friend let us know that artwork had been mis-marked and some items were going for 50% less than intended! With the 20% off coupon, we ended up paying pennies for a $100 piece. The cork art to the right was a college project that Freddy and his roommate crafted and the wine rack on the left I believe we got from TJMax before Home Goods opened up in our area. The light fixture was our latest addition from Home Depot. Fred and I were hemming and hawing over options in the light department when Emma erupted in her tiny person fury. We were so flustered that we just grabbed one of the two lights we were discussing and now the wagon wheel is history. It’s a good thing too. It was looking like we’d never come to a decision rationally!
The table is our pride and joy, however. We made a mistake early on ordering a less expensive table from a small furniture store in the area. When it arrived, the chairs and table were cracked. One chair was so bad the delivery man wouldn’t even bring it inside. The table was covered in glue in a half-assed attempt to cover up the issues and when we finally went to adjust the leaf, we noticed a cog was missing to help the table slide. It was a disaster. We called to tell them we wanted our money back and they told us that because it was a custom order, they could only give us back 25% of our down payment. We had paid for half of the table upfront. They argued that they could replace the chairs and that any minor issues could be taken care of but we would be out the money if decided we no longer wanted the table for aesthetic reasons. I had to get righteous to get our money back. After some heated discussion about the quality of goods and services, they came to remove the table and refunded our money. Thank goodness! We saved up for the table pictured below. It’s from Talsma and we love it! The chairs are sturdy and solid and the table is the perfect size for the room with 6 chairs or at the expanded 8.
So here it is, the finished dining room:
megdanielle 
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