Most of the rooms in our house could do with a makeover; but the latest one we are slowly, but surely updating is the dining room. As a family, and individuals we spend quite a lot of time in the dining room; meal times, homework, crafts, cuppa time, and I sometimes work in there. It’s attached to our kitchen too and one of the first rooms to be seen when entering the house; so it’s quite a prominent room for first impressions!

At the moment we have the wallpaper on one wall, that my in-laws put up goodness knows how many years ago; but I remember it from when I first started dating The Husband, so it’s at least 12 years old! It’s not to my our taste at all. We gave the other walls a lick of paint when we moved in (they were also an awful green colour); but we had the ceiling re-plastered last year and have been meaning to to update the “feature wall” ever since. But as usual, we take a long time to get around to it…

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Welsh dresser

We decided that we’d like to have a cafe/shabby chic vibe, and recently replaced our inherited 1970’s/80’s style, six foot wide bureau with this second hand Welsh dresser. It was white and marked when we got it, so we upcycled it with some paint we had sat in the cupboard doing nothing. I absolutely love it and now it’s a real focal point of our dining room.

Wallpaper

For the feature wall, we’re going to go for something neutral and hang happy quotes and a few vintage style signs up there. Maybe even some floral squares of framed wallpaper samples to give it a little more edge. We live in an old (really 1800’s old) house so probably something like this brick wallpaper from Wallsauce.com.

Wall decor

I’m a bit obsessed with vintage metal and wooden signs; I get an eye roll and a “For God sake” from The Husband every time I sneak a new one in 🤭. I already have quite a few (23 at the last count) around my kitchen walls, but once we have the wall re-papered, I’d probably move some into buy some more for the dining room.

Table decor

We purchased this shabby chic style dining set (also second hand) last year. It has a drawer which is great for storage and I’d really love to keep it on show all of the time; but with messy children, a wipe clean table cloth is a must! I love my vintage style bunny one I have on at the moment, but I think I’d go for a checked or polka dot one next.

Photo complete with awful wallpaper!

Lighting

At the moment we have a bare naked light bulb, which hangs down quite low and is rather unsightly. We’d probably shorten the wire so it’s not so low, and finish it off with a shabby chic style style light fitting.

There are other bits & bobs which could do with replacing too, such as the carpet and skirting boards – thanks to a puppy who loved to chew! The boards from Skirting World would do just the job, and then we could have a lovely dining room once again!

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