One Room Challenge Spring 2016 - The Dining Room

Well, here we go again.  We truly loved every gut-wrenching, sleep-deprived, nail-biting, exhilarating second of last fall's One Room Challenge, so I knew from the minute I hit publish on the final post in Nov. 2015 that we would be participating again.  The biggest challenge (hehe) would be deciding which room we would tackle.  And for a while, it seemed like the foyer was going to win out, mostly because it is small and my husband, aka electrician aka carpenter aka handyman aka jack-of-all-trades, was looking for something a little less hectic than the 3 spaces squeezed into 1 that we did last time.  But as they say, the best laid plans...

Let me back up for a second, though.  For those of you new to the One Room Challenge (or ORC), it is an intense, fun-filled, teeth-gnashing, tear-inducing challenge to makeover one room in your home (or someone else's!) in 6 short weeks.  Linda from Calling It Home created this incredible program, and this year, House Beautiful magazine has joined her as a media partner.  Every Wednesday, 20 sponsored bloggers/designers post their latest adventures, and every Thursday, guest bloggers (like myself) do the same.  It is a great catalyst for finally getting those things crossed off your to-do list, and while you may be a little shell-shocked at the end, you will have formed new friendships, challenged yourself creatively (& possibly physically if you're a DIYer), and you will be so proud of what you have accomplished in such a short time frame! If you've ever considered joining in, I encourage you to give it a try!  I will be here to cheer you along all the way.

So, back to my room.  I've been pinning and designing my foyer ideas for months, since hubby said no to the dining room as it was too involved for his time commitment.  And I completely respected that.  But because my brain doesn't shut off, ever, I created a Plan A & a Plan B for our dining room, just for fun, although neither were to be a part of the ORC.  Plan A was a short-term plan, on a budget, and would tide me over until I could budget for Plan B, and until we had the time to commit to Plan B.  If you're curious, Plan B includes wallpaper, built-ins, custom window treatments, new table and chairs, and a few other miscellaneous items.  Definitely not something for now.

If you follow me on Instagram (hcbinteriors), you know that a few weeks ago, I started on Plan A, because I had some white paint in my garage, and when you're on a budget, free is your best friend.  When I started to look more at Plan A, I realized with a little creativity I could actually make some major changes, so here we are: a tweaked version of Plan A, and the hubby has signed on to help with the dining room.  Hooray! I'll share my actual design plan next week, and how I plan to work with a smallish budget.  I'm aware that budget means different things to different people; what may seem small to one person is huge to another, and vice-versa. 

And now for the part everybody loves (please excuse the instagram photos, my computer is in the shop so I am using my iPad until next week):

BEFORE

And because I pulled out my free paint and got started before realizing this could actually work, I have 2 coats of white up, but need at least 2 more.  So, we'll call this the BEFORE PRIMED :)

 

Thanks for joining in on another ORC.  It feels slightly similar to the experience of having a second child.  With the first, there is so much excitement, and then total shock at how much harder and exhausting the whole thing is than you ever thought it would be.  This time around, we are just as excited but also aware of what we are getting ourselves into, and we know there are sure to be surprises along the way. ;)