• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header left navigation
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • Shop
  • Get The Email
  • Work With Me
  • About
  • Search

  • DIY
    • DIY Home Decor
    • With Power Tools
    • Renovation
    • For Kids
    • For Parties
    • Wearable
    • Organization
    • Cricut Crafts
  • Home Decor
    • Room Reveals
    • Kid Friendly
    • DIY Home Decor
    • Renovation
  • Lettering
    • Hand Lettered Printables
    • Free Practice Sheets
    • Handlettered DIY
    • Free Brush Lettering Quickstart Guide
Lemon Thistle

Lemon Thistle

Rad DIY, Lettering and Design for Real People

  • Printables
    • For Cricut
    • Party Printables
    • Home Decor Printables
    • Bachelor Bingo
    • Handlettering Practice Sheets
    • All Free Printables
  • Entertain
    • Party Printables
    • Party DIY
    • Tablescapes
    • Kids Parties
  • Blog

Cozy Neutral Dining Room Reveal

Apr 07

We renovated our kitchen and dining room, then NEVER decorated. I transformed it from a white box of a room into a cozy neutral dining room in this makeover reveal… all in one weekend!

Dining Room Makeover

Remember about a month ago, I shared our dining room makeover plans? Well, we made this room over that weekend, sharing the whole time on IG (catch up here if you like!) and I took this long to share the photos with you guys! This month has been so wild (I’m sure you would agree) and it’s thrown me off my schedule more than this WAHM would have imagined. But I’m so excited to share this space with you now- because I still walk into it and smile.

Cozy Neutrals Dining Room Reveal

It always amazes me how a few small changes in a room can make the entire space feel cozier. And more finished. When we renovated our kitchen in 2018, we moved the kitchen and this dining room is part of the old kitchen. So back then, we finished flooring this space, painting it and adding *most* of the trim. We switched the light and moved our furniture in and called it a day. Just a white box with lots of natural light and NO privacy from the street right outside this window.

You guys, we hadn’t patched nail holes on the window trim and we had curtains and blinds sitting in boxes for MONTHS. And now, after one weekend of hard work (but only one weekend!) we are so thrilled to be able to enjoy this space. Let’s get into it!

DIY Dining Room Makeover

If you enjoy watching the videos for my posts, I’d so love if you subscribed to my YouTube channel!

Dining Room Before Photos
Modern Dining Room Renovation with Bay Window

Let’s throw it way back to when we bought the house. This is where we started! Since then, we’ve moved the dining room to where the kitchen was and the second photo (white) is where it was at the beginning of our work weekend.

Cozy Neutrals Dining Room Reveal

The first thing I did was to patch the walls and all trim, then caulked the trim. We had so many dings and dents and dings in the wall, it really needed it. I painted right up to our range hood so I didn’t have any weird lines. I am so glad I did, it feels new again. And painted/filled/caulked trim also makes a space feel like new… it’s a lot of work but incredibly work it. You can see more about caulking here if you’ve never tried! It’s my first video EVER, so be nice ;P.

Refinishing a live edge dining table

Next up, we got started on refinishing the table. This was by far the biggest job of the weekend and also the most frustrating. We made this table a few years back and I’m in love with it. I plan to have it as long as it survives. You can see the DIY tutorial for it here.

We filled the gaps with epoxy when we made it but had a few more that I wanted to fill. We bought a new epoxy kit, assuming ours was too old. It was identical, the crystal clear bar finish stuff. But whatever was in that box was not what it was supposed to be. You guys. It turned our table a terrible red. I was so so sad. We were frustrated. We asked anyone we know who might know why. I read on forums all night and NOTHING. All anyone said was that it must be the wrong product inside the box. I spent HOURS sanding the epoxy off. There’s a couple spots I wasn’t able to sand down enough- because it was used to level the table and I didn’t want big divots.

Refinishing a live edge dining table

We’ll have these spots there forever and they’ve already (in the past 3 weeks) just become part of the table and it’s character. But it was the most frustrating experience. We finished it off with 6 coats of clear poly.

affordable large scale photo art and framing a canvas

Next up was that art! I knew exactly what I wanted but didn’t have a big budget to get a ginormous canvas printed so DIY rocked the day. I took my kids out to the beach about a week before this makeover and took these photos of them running. I wanted a landscape photo that suited my home decor but I wanted something a bit more personal, so them running around was perfect. Plus, there’s something about Aubrey’s hair trailing behind her as she runs that’s just so magical.

affordable large scale photo art and framing a canvas
affordable large scale photo art and framing a canvas

I got it printed as an engineering print from staples. It’s almost 3×4 and cost $23. I did get scolded at pickup that this is not what they’re for. So make of that what you like. You can’t get posters printed this big there, so this was my only option ;)

I used spray adhesive to attach it to a canvas I had scored at Jysk for $15 a while back and then used clear matte spray paint to seal it. I did LOTS of really thin coats instead of one thick coat. The thick coat would have wrinkled the paper. Now… you say, it’s wrinkled? I know, gosh darn it! It was PERFECT. Then when I went to steam the curtains before taking photos, I plugged in my steamer to heat up right below it (I know, ugh) and this is what happened. It’s still perfect, just a bit wrinkled. So don’t do that, k?

DIY Canvas Frame
DIY Canvas Frame

Lastly, I framed it out. I’m thinking of doing a canvas framing tutorial. I have two framed canvases I’ve made in my house that I get asked about all the time- would you like that?

Dining Room Makeover

Phew! Almost done. We also added in a rug and window coverings. Let’s chat rug first, shall we? The rug is a washable rug which is freaking fantastic for a house full of children. It actually needs a wash right now but we can’t get to our laundry room due to a little flood our toddler caused… house full of children, remember? So I’ll let you know when we test that out.

Washable Rug Review
DIY Dining Room Makeover

Ruggable sent this rug to me and it’s even more perfect in person than I thought it would be. It’s soft but not plush and the top layer is thin so you can wash it but the bottom layer is so good the rug does not bunch up in the slightest when you drag chairs over it. And this pattern! Love how it adds so much texture and character to a neutral space. It’s the Maral Heriz Creme Rug and after one month of using it, I highly recommend it.

DIY Dining Room Makeover

The window coverings have made mayyybe the biggest difference in how cozy this space feels. Although it’s hard to pick just one element that does that. We layered white linen look curtains over woven wood shades and it’s so casual elegant and I’m needing to do exactly this in my bedroom now. In every other part of our house so far we’ve hacked the look of woven wood shades (see here), but since this is street level, we did want them to close. We ordered these ones from select blinds in Hatteras Camel.

The curtains are just your basic IKEA ones– they’re what I have in every single room in this house and the last house. They’re my very fave. And the curtain rod is this affordable Amazon one. Did you know they make specific curtain rods for bay windows?! Rad, right?!

Dining Room Reveal with child

Okay, so there is the whole freaking space! I am in LOVE with it, I think I’ve said that 20x in this post but it really feels so good to have it done. Can’t wait to get a couple more spaces we’ve been working away on totally finished to share with you guys! But honestly… it’ll probably be a couple months now thanks to that little flood I mentioned… alllll of our new flooring has to come up and be replaced. But that gives me more time to decor shop…. right?! ;P

SOURCES

  • Maral Heriz Creme Ruggable Rug
  • DIY Dining Table
  • Chandelier – Wayfair
  • White Dining Chairs – Similar from Wayfair
  • Charcoal Cloth Dining Chairs – Ceres Flint from Article
  • Art is a DIY (see above)
  • Curtains – IKEA
  • Bay Window Curtain Rod – Amazon
  • Woven Wood Shades – Select Blinds in Hatteras Camel
  • See the rest of the kitchen here
  • Paint Colour is Expert White from General Paint
Category: Featured, LifestyleTag: Dining Room, home, Our Home, Room Reveal, Video
Facebook0Tweet0Pin0LinkedIn0
Previous Post: « Casual Easter Tablescape Casual Easter Tablescape | 3 Ways to Use Tart Pans for Decor
Next Post: 5 Ways to Organize Your Home with Cricut Joy Organize your pantry with DIY labels and clear baskets »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

WOOHOO!

Check your email to confirm!

(+ get your freebies + discounts)


Thanks for dropping by!
I’m Colleen: wife; mom to 4 wild ones; and DIY blogger behind Lemon Thistle. You can expect to see rad DIY, modern home decor, renovations, hand lettering and the occasional party on Lemon Thistle. Read More…

email facebook youtube instagram pinterest

Unless otherwise noted, all content and images are mine. Full posts may not be shared without express written consent. But I love when you share! Feel free to share, without altering, one image with proper credit and a link to the original post. All free printables are for personal use only.

Everyone loves proper credit- if you ever notice something improperly credited, please please shoot me an email and I’ll fix it lightning fast.

Find all my policies right here.
This includes my privacy policy, info on the GDRP compliance and information on affiliate links (Including Amazon Affiliates).

Visit Colleen Pastoor’s profile on Pinterest.

colleenpastoor

My house is never this clean
-
DIY + Home Decor Blogger
Mama of 4 👶🏼🧒🏼👦🏼👧🏼
Renovating our 🏠 the DIY way
🖤 Lettering & ☕️
-
✉️[email protected]

colleen pastoor/lemon thistle
What’s next on your project list? Spring is teas What’s next on your project list? Spring is teasing us so we’re starting on outdoor projects around here!
$100 play room makeover is DONE! This room has se $100 play room makeover is DONE! 
This room has seen so much change over the past year (swipe over to see it 2 weeks ago, 10 months ago and 1 year ago!). I took this last week to make over this space with mostly pieces we already had and I’m so so happy with the results! It’s a good reminder that some hard work, creativity and of course paint can work magic.
I’m sharing all the details (and that under stairs space!) on YouTube today (link in my stories!) and so is my friend @thediymommy (she made over her daughters bedroom for $100!).
Do you think dried grasses are only for fall decor Do you think dried grasses are only for fall decor? I used to think so, but these bunny tail grasses are too cute to put in a bin until next year. Plus the name sounds like spring decor to me ;) What do you think?

Ps. Today’s going to be a full day of playroom progress! I’ll share as much as I can in stories as I go :)
Paint is honestly magic.✨ I am so excited to sha Paint is honestly magic.✨
I am so excited to share this kitchen makeover with you guys! These are the same cabinets, just painted (countertops too!) And some updated finishes. I blogged the full before and after if you’d like to check it out!
Big thank you to @schaubhardware and @wagnerspraytech for partnering to make this space possible!
Ps. Most of the work done here was by the homeowners so if you’re thinking about taking on a makeover in your own home, maybe this is the encouragement you need 😘
As I’m sitting here staring at the dishes on the As I’m sitting here staring at the dishes on the counter while I try to focus on editing a video, I thought it’s as good of time as any to share this reminder 😘
I feel like I’ve lucked into the best job out th I feel like I’ve lucked into the best job out there, but then I’m also so aware of the amount of work it took to get here. Today I chatted with two of my blog friends in an Instagram live about DIY blogging as a job and answered some questions we get asked all the time about our work and the balance of it all! I saved it as an IGTV so you can watch it if you missed 🥰

Big thanks to @love_create_celebrate and @thediymommy for chatting with me today! One of the biggest perks of this job is all the talented ladies I’ve had the privilege of meeting and calling friends- these two are top of that list!
I’m having some fun in stories with a little giv I’m having some fun in stories with a little giveaway guessing game. I’d love if you played along!

I put up a question box and you can guess my next room makeover and the guesses are all over the place. Some are projects on my dream list, some are rooms I wish to even have in my house and some are spaces we’ve already tackled! Like our main bathroom ✨ these photos are from my spring home tour I shared over on the blog earlier this week. Hung up a pennant and called it decked for spring 🐣
Who is ready for spring?! I know we totally are- w Who is ready for spring?!
I know we totally are- we’ve been soaking up outside time this week with the kids home on spring break but over on the blog... it’s spring home tour time! I am sharing my home all ready for spring along with some amazing bloggers as part of the #seasonalsimplicity spring series!
You know I love a touch of DIY decor in every spac You know I love a touch of DIY decor in every space in my home, so I’m so excited to be partnering with @HGTVCanada to celebrate #$aveMyReno being back TONIGHT! #partner
 
My favourite thing about $ave My Reno is that they encourage home owners to get involved and DIY to maximize budget. They even help kids get involved- it’s everything Shane and I work towards in our own projects. You can catch it every Tuesday at 9/9:30PM EP on @HGTVCanada or catch up on episodes on STACKTV through @primevideoca!
 
PS. I made those tie dye pillows, similar to the ones featured in tonight’s episode! You can catch my stories to see the super speedy how-to :)
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 · Lemon Thistle · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme