I have always wanted a formal dining room, an eclectic dining room that could feature our art, where I could merge the old with the new. Our last house was an open concept with the dining room open to the living. While I think the dining room got more use because of that, it was not large enough to accommodate a lot of guests…at least not without adding an additional table and spilling into the living room – which we did, many times. When searching for the new home, I thought it would be nice to have a dedicated formal dining room, large enough to house a huge table and fit the whole family around. Especially for the holidays when I really kick up the styling and entertaining and attempt to cook a meal.

So, you can imagine my giddiness when the #dalydigs had just this kind of dining room.

This is the before of the dining room. The two photos on the right are when we first saw it prior to some improvements the bank made. Interesting huh? It had some issues – namely a friggin plywood window. And my God, enough with the orange trim. But if you could look past all that, and I could, it was to die for. It has a ton of natural light, courtesy of the wall of windows, high vaulted ceiling, and it is large in size, ample enough to accommodate a huge table.

It did look a little better once we moved in as you can see in the left image. The bank, of course, installed a window and they replaced some of the wood flooring in the home that included the dining room. (And no, we did not have a say in the wood selection. Insert sad face emoji.) Anyhoo, the room was in much better shape on move-in day – I wanted to provide a couple of before before pictures so you could appreciate what we were working with haha. The room still felt dated and needed some work, but thankfully, mostly just cosmetic updates, furniture and stylin’ to make it shine.

Eclectic Dining Room In Progress

So, what’s the plan for the room you ask? We are striving for an eclectic dining room that feels fresh and inviting. I want to incorporate a farmhouse table without feeling too country/rustic. The room would house some of our art so I had to keep that in mind. Fun fact about our art – #motd (man of the digs, that’s my hubby in case you missed it in the about page) and I started a tradition a while back to purchase a piece of art every time we went on a big trip. This is great because we create a memory looking for and choosing a piece, have something to remember the trip by and the pieces usually always spark conversation and make for a great story. We first started with prints and paintings, but along the way we began to diversify and added things like masks and tapestries. I’ll have to do a post about the art some day.

OK, back to the dining room. Here’s what I wanted to accomplish in the room:

• Paint that disgusting wood trim. I realize that some may adore the wood trim and think I’m insane for painting it. That’s cool, I don’t mind if you think that, but to me, putting orange trim on these windows is like giving a cue ball a spit shine. Utterly unnecessary and foolish.
• Paint the walls.
• Source a cool, preferably vintage (brass perhaps), chandelier or pendant light.
• Add a bar cart. DUH. Maybe a credenza too.
• Source a BIG table. Ours wasn’t gonna cut it. One that would accommodate 8-10 chairs.
• Source chairs for said table.
• Finish off with an awesome (vintage?) rug, some greenery, hang the art and style it up!

We’re currently in the middle of the dining room revamp and I’ll have after images to share super soon so stay tuned!!!! I’ll leave you with a few inspiration images of what we’re trying to achieve, but overall I’m striving for a fresh, inviting room with a vintage and worldly feel and a dash of modern farmhouse on top. It makes sense to me…until I have to explain it! That’s why I just say “eclectic dining room,” it sums it up nicely. 🙂

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What do ya’ll think of the room and the plans?