Monday, March 17, 2008

My Dining Room Makeover - Part 1

Warning: this makeover is not for the faint-at-heart. I'm not done with it, but I thought I'd show you what's been updated so far. You may recall I mentioned that I was redoing my dining room in this post. Well, Phase One is complete: the dining chair makeover. I thought I'd show you the pics just for fun. Phase Two will be painting the walls: currently they are this pale yellow. I'll be painting them an extremely pale blue/aqua (I've really been feeling pastels lately, especially blue).So here's my dining room "before". Matchy-matchy dining set & hutch, purchased new seven years ago (pre-kids). Not only has my style totally changed since then, but the last seven years have been hard on this set that wasn't exactly great quality to begin with. I've always loved the look of large, rustic farmhouse tables with modern chairs, either metal or otherwise. (If you love matchy-matchy furniture, this post isn't for you!)
Here's the chair before. Stained, spotted upholstery and a style that is already dated, in my opinion. Lacking the funds for purchasing a new dining set, or even just new chairs, I set out to paint and reupholster them instead.
1. SILVER spray-paint. (I told you this post was not for the faint-of-heart!) It makes them look metal (in my opinion) and I think it makes them a little more funky and fun.

2. New fabric. This is Amy Butler's "Lotus" pattern in Sky.

I'll be painting my walls a lighter version of the aqua color in this fabric. Will accessorize with white, silver, all colors of blue glass and just a few touches of red coral.
So, even if you would never in your right mind consider painting your chairs silver, the point is: if I can do this, you can too! I'm not a seamstress, but this didn't require any sewing, just a staple gun. I'm not a great painter like Jen, but spray paint and primer can work wonders! This whole project cost about $30 - fabric was $24 (off Etsy) and spray paint about $6. Voila - happy new chairs unlike anyone else's.
I can't wait to show you the whole "after" picture once the room's re-painted! Hopefully this will happen soon...although with two toddlers at home everything takes longer than I want it to. :-)

9 comments:

  1. I am LOVING it! Can't wait to see more.......

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  2. I just stumbled on your blog somehow, and have to say - THESE CHAIRS are GORGEOUS!!! i love what you've done with them. It's inspiring me to revamp my existing furniture!
    Thanks for the lovely blog watching.

    Danielle

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  3. Courntey, This is great!!! I can't wait to see what else you are going to do. The room looks like it has such great bones already! I love what you've done and can't wait to see more!
    Jen R

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  4. Wow - what a great idea - I'm very tempted to spray paint my boring dining room chairs now!

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  5. Oh Courtney... my decorating twin, can you believe we've been working on the same kind of project?!?! I didn't spray paint my dining room chairs but I recovered them... and darn it girl, you've covered your chairs in the same Amy Butler print I'm thinking of slipcovering my chair and a half in! I just priced it yesterday!

    Love, love, love the new look of the chairs. So much I almost forgot that I was coming over here to tag you! Come on over to my place and see the details:

    http://abeautifulabode.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/ive-been-tagged/

    And I'll be posting my chair redesign later today with my Tackle It Tuesday post. See ya later!

    Shauntelle

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  6. Beautiful! I'v actually bought the same gorgeous Amy Butler fabric.So lovely!

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  7. Looks great! Wish my spray-painting-a-chair attempt had turned out this well. Looking forward to the big final reveal!
    B
    www.renovateanddecorate.blogspot.com
    www.reallivingmag.com.au

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  8. Did you put the fabric on yourself? If so, could you perhaps provide some step-by-step instructions (or if anyone else here knows how...). Maybe when you're finished with the whole room and have a bit more time. I've just always wanted to learn!

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  9. i love the redo. great fabric!

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thank you for commenting, dahling! I can't wait to hear what you have to say. :-)