before and after // dining room

Okay guys. We are pretty close to being done with the house, so we've decided to start sharing before and after photos with you. We are always refining the decor and adding small details, so we kept waiting for the perfect time to share these photos. But I don't think there will ever be a time when everything is "perfect", so we are just going for it. Anyway, we will share a new post every week with y'all until we have finally shown you each room. The reason we are splitting is up is because we have SO many things to talk about in each room, and there were a lot of changes/DIYs. Hopefully we can remember everything!

The dining room might be my favorite room in the house. We originally wanted palm leaf wallpaper but they were all so expensive- like $400 a roll expensive. Then we decided we wanted a black and white diagonally striped wall. When we realized how much work that was going to be to paint, we went back to wallpaper and found this at a wallpaper store, Wallpaper and Designer Home Consignments. We were a little scared but once it was up we were in love. My stepdad, Richard (you'll hear more about him in future posts as he was the person doing all the renovations), was kind enough to hang the wallpaper for us. I think we could've managed but it would've taken us 3 times as long. 

We got the idea for the Stevie Nicks picture from combining 2 ideas we'd seen online. On Pinterest we saw a black and white striped wall that had a pop art neon pink picture of Kurt Cobain. A while ago, we saw on A Beautiful Mess that you could get a large engineer print made easily and inexpensively. We love Stevie and knew she'd be perfect for our dining room wall. Plus, she really breaks up the wallpaper pattern. The print cost $8 and the frame was about $70. 

The dining room table was a great steal and has a pretty dramatic before and after itself. A blog post on that is coming soon. 

We really want to put a rug in this room, but it has been so hard to find one that fits. We have found plenty we love, but they are either too colorful or the pattern clashes with the wallpaper and/or chair pattern. #boldpatternproblems. Anyway, would definitely take any suggestions if anyone knew of the perfect rug for this room, that didn't also cost one million dollars.

We took the door off here and added it to the doorway from the dining room to our studio. We love our kitchen and didn't see a purpose to block the view. Also, when entertaining it's just easier to go back and forth without dealing with a door. 

Even the light switch cover in this room is fabulous. We found it at an estate sale and knew it was perfect for this room. 

Ohhhh, this buffet. We got this from a friend of my family's. When she downsized, this sat in storage for a couple of years. I always wanted it but we didn't have room for it in our old house. It was built in the 1920s and restored in the 70s. There is a note inside the door telling about who built it and when it was restored. Savannah and I disagreed about the tiki bar sign above this beautiful buffet. I felt it was a little too kitschy, but it has grown on me. Also, if you haven't figured it out yet... we love plants.

We have great intentions of filling this vintage decanters with actual liquor. In the meantime they just make this room more seem a little more glamourous. 

This philodendron has grown so quickly! These are my new favorite go-to plants. They are low-maintenance and grow quickly. What's not to love?!

Also, this room was painted an awful dark red color and it looked like there was only one coat, which really made the walls look terrible. I'm so glad we wanted to paint this room a dark color, because we would've had to spend a lot of time trying to cover up the red.

I couldn't decide if I loved or hated this light fixture. In the end, it had to go because it did not go with the new dining room. 

This baby peacock chair was a steal at $5 from Old Made Good. This is a hope philodendron and so far it seems to be a little less temperamental that the split leaf philodendron (which aren't supposed to be temperamental but have been for us). 

These prints came from Castilleja and they were taken of Wille Nelson's first Fourth of July Picnic. The owner's brother aspired to be a photographer once and he took these pictures. He changed his mind about photography and these pictures went undeveloped for 40 + years. Now here they are in all their glory. 

This room is the perfect place for plants. It gets a great amount of light and the juxtaposition of the black walls and the green leaves is perfection. We found this plant stand at an antique store somewhere in Indiana when we were on our way home from picking up our new puppy, Hazel. It was $15! I saw one a few days prior in Nashville selling for $75, so I'm I didn't buy it. We DIYed the painted pots at the old house, but here are the posts we did on the blog- here and here.

This dreamcatcher is so dreamy :) It's from High Garden Tea. One of the owners makes dreamcatchers and sells them in the store. When I went to buy it she stopped to tell me how she made this and where each part came from. Love!

The palm leaf print against the black and white triangles... swoon <3

Well, that is it for the dining room. Looking forward to sharing another room with y'all next Monday!

Wallpaper
Paint- Cracked Pepper by Behr
Dream catcher- High Garden Tea
Palm leaf fabric - Tommy Bahama
Light fixture- Schoolhouse Electric

Photos by Amber Ulmer