dining room re-do

Almost a year ago I posted about how I plan to incorporate a more neutral palette into my house; tone down all that color I initially thought I wanted. I put together a design board for my dining area, that was, at the time, sporting some lime-green chairs and orange pendant lights {see?}.

I switched the orange pendant light covers for white a while ago, but the lime green chairs have been there until I found the perfect replacement chairs. I was leaning toward the natural woven ones, or something black and metal like on my design board, but hesitant to spend the dough. Yesterday I decided to keep up with my "use what I've got" spirit and re-do the dining area on a tiny budget.

Here's what it looked like before I got started, for reference:



I spray painted the chairs an ivory color. I didn't want everything to be super white, and black just seems to need to be dusted every single day. I do enough of that. I switched out some accessories, too.



Now with a more blank canvas, it seemed a bit naked. I rearranged and added mostly* things I already had around the house to the table top and shelf.

*I ended up breaking my buying hiatus with more than a few cans of spray paint. I bought this bell jar at Pier 1 for a screaming deal. I've always wanted one so I broke down and splurged to complete my dining room makeover. I think it's the best thing since Elvis.



Finally, I needed some height and white up on that black shelf, so I added a framed piece of scrapbook paper. I used a frame and sheet of paper I already had on hand. I would have chosen something completely different had I bought something brand new, but working with what I had brought out something more creative and unexpected.



Here's the final result. I actually love how it turned out.



Total cost: $40.