My Lovely Little Dining Room

I’ve just returned home from a too-short week of vacation and, while it’s sad to have to get back to the grind, it’s always fun to start the week by participating in our host Susan’s “Metamorphosis Monday” blog-party!

Kelly and I are happy to have you visiting our blog and we hope you’ll enjoy the transformation I’m sharing with you today… but once you’ve finished browsing everywhere there is to browse (and leaving comments if you like what you see/read!! {tee hee!}), be sure to make your way back to Susan’s blog Between Naps on the Porch where you’ll find links to other party participant’s great metamorphoses! Thanks for hosting this fun event, Susan!!

Today I’m showcasing the metamorphosis of my dining room!!

Regular visitors to DesignTies will remember the transformation of the archway leading through my kitchen/hallway to the living room and dining room of my little bungalow. Here’s a photo as a reminder (it gives you a sneak-peek of my dining room!)… and here’s a link to the blog post where I showcase the transformation. One of the things I shared with our readers was a floor plan explaining the remodel of our main floor… here it is again:

The red lines indicate where the original walls were… these walls were removed to better utilize the space of our little house. The black lines show where the new walls are.

Our old 2 bedroom working-man’s bungalow didn’t have a dining room. Nothing.

It was a major decision for us to decide to transform one of our bedrooms into a dining room… so big in fact that we called in our Realtor Patti Goss for advise on our plans. Her valued opinion? Families want dining rooms. She assured us that the 2 bedrooms in the basement – once remodelled with our high, exacting standards – would more then replace the loss of a bedroom on the main floor.

So we set to work!

The all important Before Photo, taken shortly after we moved in:

First… we opened up the two doors (living room & bedroom – shown in the plan above) into an archway to create flow between the rooms. Next we gutted the room, spewing plaster dust everywhere! Then we built a new wall making the front bedroom-turned-dining room smaller. This was necessary so that the bedroom at the back of the house could be larger (to see the beautiful transformation of our bedroom [and the tear-out of the two walls shown in red in the plan above] click HERE).

Next, we replaced the window. I loved the original window in this room. In fact, the old leaded glass casement window was the first thing I noticed when we viewed the house prior to purchasing. But it just wasn’t energy efficient and had to be replaced.

And you know… I LOVE the new window even more!!

Now came time to put the whole room back together… first, drywall…

My vision for the room… and the house…

You’ve read that I call our little house a working-man’s bungalow. Well… I call it that because I imagine an average guy – a working man – built it to meet he and his family’s needs… and that’s it. The only room that had any character was the living room with it’s coved ceiling (you can see a little of it in the first pic above of the archway), oak floors (with walnut inlay) and fireplace. The rest of the house was simple and practical.

So… even though Brian and I are personally drawn to a more transitional/contemporary aesthetic, it was important for me to capture some of the house’s age in the features we built into the rest of the house.

Here’s how we did that in the dining room…

I still have to paint the coffered trim on the ceiling (built to mimic the windows, by the way)… I’m not 100% sure I’ll keep the ceiling in the tan colour… I have to make the drapes… the room is still a mess… I desperately need some art on the walls… but I love it!

Here’s what it looks like now:

Hope you enjoyed this transformation!!

Check out the links I’ve provided above if you’d like to see more transformations of my little bungalow… and be sure to make your way back to Between Naps on the Porch for even more great metamorphoses!

Victoria from Edin Interiors