I have never loved my little dining room nook. I have tweaked it multiple times and each time I like it a little better but I never have loved it. Not only that but it is by far the hardest room in my house to photograph because of the large window and the small space. I don't have a wide angle lens so it is hard to a straight on shot and the large window always makes the pictures turn out hazy. There are not many angles that get a good shot.
But I am determined to get it right this time. I am determined to fall in love..... and get the perfect shot.
Our dining room table was given to us when we were in Las Vegas, poor, and in college. I had never seen a table like it and I loved it. The chairs I have seen all over the place. They were okay. The set started out as an orange-ish stain. I refinished it about 9 or 10 years ago and I built a bench to go with it as our family grew.
I realized if I was going to love my dining room, more than just a few little things needed to change. I got new chairs (From Target... on sale!) and decided to refinish the bench.
I had seen a photo on Pinterest of a heavily distressed white table that was styled similarly to what I had in mind. I knew I didn't want to do that to my table but thought the bench was a good candidate. I have distressed furniture in the past and didn't even think twice about it.
And then this happened.......
The Dalmatian bench.
Or maybe even the Zebra bench.
In my defense, I knew halfway through it wasn't working. I knew I had two options. I could paint another layer of white over it and start sanding again, or keep going and see if it would look better with more brown and less white. I figured it I didn't like it I could always paint over it.
The pictures actually make it look better that it did in real life.
So I did paint it again and started over. And I got this:
It wasn't as heavily distressed as the table in the photo I found, but it works for me! I am more comfortable with some distressing rather than a ton of distressing.
I will be ready to reveal the dining room in the near future, but for now you get this sneak peek. The mirror will stay the same, the table get "refreshed", I am adding shelves, I bought a new light fixture, and I will be adding other colors to the space. I can't wait to finish and share it with you!
Nice save! The 1st try looked like it was moldy, ewww. I'm glad you didn't give up, cause the 2nd much better fits your style.
Can't wait to see all the new changes :-)
I'm in the process of updating my dining room too. We added our loft bedroom over the kitchen/dining room (we have cathedral ceilings), so now the kitchen has a "normal" 8' height. I removed the wall sconces we had and bought a new chandelier (can't wait to get it!), and plan to add some wainscoting and perhaps either a graphic wallpaper or stencil to the top portion.
Oh my word! How cool! A loft bedroom sounds fun :)
Oh wow! I'm glad you posted the fail, and then the redo. It is nice to know that even pros like you don't get all your projects right the first time! Also, love how the bench turned out! Can't wait to see the whole room!
I am not really a pro, but thanks :) Things always look so good in my head but executing them sometimes...not so much!
I'm new to your blog and I must say, your ceiling is fabulous!
Thank you...for both :)
Oh, and I love the bench.
It looks great, such a sweet bench I love it! I grew up in Vegas, how fun that you lived there....anyway thanks for sharing the fail it makes me feel better that it happens to cool people like you too!