Small Dining Room Makeover Reveal – Bringing A Mood Board To Life

The dining room at our beach condo is a very small space that has to serve as the main entry into our condo and also act as the pass through from the kitchen to the rest of the condo.  It’s the very first thing you see when you enter the condo, so its first impression is pretty important to me. 

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Before we tour the entire finished space, take a look at what we started with.  These are the real estate photos from the listing of the condo.  You can see that the space is a bit awkward and that it was decorated in “beach rental chic” style.  😀  Other than a badly cracked floor tile, the room was in decent shape, but it definitely wasn’t me.  If you aren’t familiar with purchasing property at the beach (at least in North Carolina), the furniture, artwork, accessories, dishes and everything else is normally included in the price, so I was able to reuse part of the dining furniture in the makeover.

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After evaluating what furniture I wanted to keep, how the space needed to function and what I wanted it to look like, here’s the mood board and the to-do list that I put together.  In the entire condo, I’m going for a modern farmhouse vibe with just a little bit of beach thrown in.  Paint colors and a full resource list for everything used in this makeover are below.  Psst! Love the idea of using a mood board for your own home decorating?  Learn how easy it is to create one by clicking HERE! 

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MY TO-DO LIST:

• Remove murals and paint all surfaces – walls, trim and ceiling
• Remove tile and replace with laminate flooring
• Add board and batten to the wall behind the table
• Paint board and batten a medium shade of gray
• Remove the ceiling fan and replace with a statement chandelier
• Purchase a larger dining table
• Purchase end chairs that have a beach vibe
• Paint existing side chairs and barstools
• Add a small chest to the entry area
• Add an area rug
• Add artwork and accessories

Have you ever had one thing inspire an entire room makeover?  Well, that was the case here!  I was totally enamored with this amazing chandelier from Lighting Connection and decided to make it the feature of the space.  You might remember it from the mid-makeover room update that I posted in October.  Isn’t she a beauty?  Yum!  

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A couple of things to note:

• This is a larger chandelier than I would normally hang over a table this size, but the smaller, four light version just wasn’t going to cut it.  Whatever light we use in here needs to provide light for the entire space, not just for additional lighting above the table.  I admit that I was really nervous about trusting my instincts, but I’m so glad that I didn’t chicken out and go for the smaller fixture.
• And yes, this chandelier is hanging higher than I would normally hang a fixture above a dining table, but it’s for the same reasons as why I chose such a large fixture.  The six candelabra bulbs light the entire space up beautifully! 

The beach scenes covering two of the walls were actually wallpaper murals and thankfully, came off easily.  Before painting, we just gave the walls a light sanding to remove any of the leftover paste residue.  Once the murals were removed though, the wall beside the table looked way too bare.  It wasn’t a good spot for a gallery wall or a large piece of art since anyone using the chairs on that side of the table could easily knock down anything hanging there, so adding board and batten was a great alternative! 

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To visually tie the wall treatment in with the rest of the space, you can see that we made it the same height as the bottom of the kitchen cabinets and I love, love, love the color that we painted it.  A trio of abstract artwork works perfectly in the space above the board and batten and adds just a bit of my blue accent color to the space.

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I gave some thought to keeping the dining table that was already here, but it would only accommodate four people comfortably and I wanted to be able to seat at six – eight.  For a while I considered purchasing an expanding table, but there really wasn’t any need to go to that expense since we would never likely need that many seats.  So I found a very affordable, but sturdy table that works wonderfully in the space that has just the tiniest bit of gray in the brown finish.  I gave all four of the existing chairs and the two barstools a makeover using my favorite color of gray spray paint.  At each end of the table, I placed a wicker, chair which helps to bring the shades of gray and brown together. Pin

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In the entryway portion of this area, I added a narrow chest to the wall opposite the table in a pretty shade of blue.  It keeps our car keys, dog leashes and other assorted stuff handy.  You might recognize this chest as being the exact same one that I have in the dead space at the top of my stairs at home.  Pookie looked at me like I had two heads when I came home with the twiggy mirror, but I love it!  It reminds me of pieces of wood we often find during walks on the beach.

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Another big blank wall that I had to deal with is the one that is part of the pass through to the hallway and is opposite the front door.  Normally I’m not a believer in thinking that every single wall has to have something on it, but this one just did.  Without something there, the whole space felt undefined somehow.  The large piece of abstract art that I found works well with my modern farmhouse style and is reminiscent of the water and a sunny sky, don’t you think?

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To finish the space off, I added an absolutely gorgeous rug!  The ivory, gray and taupe colors in this area rug pull the entire area together.

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My intention was to just place a rug under the table and chairs, but a rug like that would have impeded on the walkway to the hall and wouldn’t have looked right.  Plus, I prefer to have a doormat at any exterior doors, so then I would have had an oddly placed rug under the table and a small rug at the door.  Not a great combo in my book.  By using an 8′ x 10′ area rug, I was able to turn it sideways so that it grounds the table and chairs as well as acts as an entrance rug.  Turning the rug sideways was a great solution for this problematic space and really helps to make sense of the whole area!

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So what’s the verdict – did I do a good job of bringing my moodboard to life?

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RESOURCES AND PAINT COLORS: 

Some affiliate links have been used.  See my full disclosure HERE.

Room Paint is all Sherwin Williams brand – walls: Snowbound, ceiling: Ceiling White, trim: Extra White, board and batten wall: Wall Street

Flooring – Lowes

Chair and Barstool Paint – Rustoleum Anodized Bronze Spray Paint

Chandelier – Lighting Connection

Table – Signature Design by Ashley

Wicker Dining Chairs – Pier 1

Area Rug – Orian (this specific rug will be available soon!)

Blue Chest – Kirkland’s

Round Twiggy Mirror – Houzz (similar to mine)

Teak Wood Vase – Target

Abstract Watercolor Art Trio – Target

Large Square Abstract Art – World Market

Tall Vase – Wayfair (similar to mine)

Small Gray Vase – Hobby Lobby

Round White Footed Bowl – Hobby Lobby

Faux Greenery – Hobby Lobby

Gray Candlesticks – Wayfair (similar to mine) 

Chairs and Barstools – left by previous owner