Our Latest Project Reveal! New Color & Lighting in the Dining Room!

It feels like an extra fun and special Friday because I get to share one of the best kinds of posts there is- A completed project and room reveal!!!  (Those are the best right?)  As promised on Wednesday, I rounded up some new photos of our updated Dining Room along with some 'before' and 'after' looks.

So, I might as well start with the 'before' and 'afters'- Here's our Dining Room before with the dark red we grew tired of....

... compared to our new Dining Room look!  It's lighter, cleaner, neutral, and feels a bit more modern but still fits nicely in our old colonial style home.  I'm just in love with it and all we changed was the paint color on the walls and did a DIY update on the pendant light fixture.  Almost seems to easy peasy for creating a different look right?  Makes me love it even more!

When it came to color, after four and a half years of dark red (Behr's Sequoia Grove) it was certainly time for a change.  Adding the new wainscoting last year helped brighten up the room a bit but we both agreed the red had to go...

The not too gray, not too white, not too taupe color of Behr's Wheat Bread turned out to be perfect!  It contrasted with the white wainscoting just right without being too dark, it's a great neutral shade!  We chose the Behr Premium paint option since we knew covering red might be a challenge and it seemed to cover nicely with two coats.

When it came to the light fixture, I had been looking at Drum Shade pendant lights for a while and began to wonder if we could just take apart the pendant light that was there and add a shade around it.  We had an old plain white large drum shade from Ikea in our basement so I thought we could toy with to see if it could work.  Turns out, it did!  DIY surprise!  Not sure if the same thing would work on other hanging pendant lights, but if they are similar to the style we have then it might!  Here is what Alex did to DIY our new light fixture....

He started by disassembling the old light fixture since it came in parts when we purchased it.  The bottom bracket that held the bowl was the first step, then the glass bowl, and lastly the metal bars that accented the hanging rod.  All that was left was the rod and light bulbs.  Sorry I don't have photos of all the steps, I didn't think it was going to work so I didn't have the camera ready :( hope you get the idea still!

Alex then took the drum shade, flipped it upside down so the part that would sit on top of a lamp base harp could attach to the screw cap and bolt that the old bowl pendant had attached to.  So easy!  The only thing I need to add still is something to cover the bottom of the shade so you can't see the bulbs :)  Maybe when I figure that out I can post a better tutorial with all the steps and photos!

That's pretty much it for the bit changes, I guess the only cost to revamp the look was the $32 we spent for the can of paint! Crazy right?!?

When I started putting the room back together I also updated a little bit of the decor.  I decided to add in some floral/foliage arrangements like I did on our mantle since I loved it so much (and they are FREE since it is just pretty foliage from our yard, love it!).

I also decided to add in a new table runner when I found this one during a Target trip for $17.99.  Thought the lattice print with the burnt orange border was cute for fall and not too themed!  It was so hard to ever find a cute table runner that went okay with that dark red paint, now I can decorate with any color scheme really, woo-hoo!  Oh, just think of the possibilities for Christmas decor!!!! 

Well, I guess that's it! 

So what do you think of the new look and new color?  Should I update the black and white wall art next since I'm no longer fighting that dark red color?  Let me know!

Alex and I are doing our annual Pumpkin Carving challenge tonight!  (hehe, I'm betting on me to win.... again)  Have a great weekend everybody!