a dining space makeover...
If you follow me on instagram, you'll probably have seen my dining space evolve over the last few months. I never seem to get around to creating blog content on the rooms in my house despite the many photos over on insta - I think simply because they never feel finished and a blog write-up feels like the final result. Anyway, I thought it was about time that I shared some of the progress so far. I wish I had before photos but I never seem to whip out the camera when a room is a mess. To give you an idea, my dining room beforehand had a tiny wood table and white wooden chairs (you may have seen them in my last house a couple of years ago!) and it was literally just a dumping ground for months. I eventually decided it was time to do it up, so I got rid of the table and chairs, replaced them with new ones and started adding lots of character and details to the space.
My dining room is a kitchen/diner so the side that you can see in the photos is the opposite side to the kitchen, behind the table on the opposite wall is all my kitchen units. It's a small space but it works really well for us as a small family! Now, let's get into the deets...
the seating
The dining table and chairs are pretty much the star of the show in a dining room, but you don't have to spend a lot to have the room looking nice. My dining table was £80 from Amazon, no it's not real wood it's laminate, but with a child I feel like this is a safer option for now. I'll hopefully invest in a real wood one down the line but for now this was a cheap one that actually looks fab. I get so many questions asking where it's from and sadly I don't think it's available anymore as my link doesn't work. I've linked some similar alternatives here and here. My dining chairs are from Sklum, they came as a set of 4 for around £80 which is also an absolute barg! I love them so much.
storage solutions
As it's such a small kitchen/diner, having extra storage space was essential. I don't have much room on my kitchen worktops, there's only two/three small spaces for chopping boards and lots of the worktop space was taken up with the toaster/microwave/kettle/bread bin and all the other kitchen bits. I loved how spacious the dining area was in the top left photo above, that one got so much engagement on insta when I posted it too! But more space was needed, especially if I want to grow my family and will end up needing more kitchen appliances and having bottles to clean and what-not. Yes, a little premature when there's no baby yet but my plan is set to have one eventually so I may as well get prepared. It's so nice to have more worktop space anyway even without another addition so I'm glad I did it. I actually planned on getting a unit for either side of the radiator but I've just stuck with the one and it works so well for us. It was a bookcase from wayfair and has three shelves, it fits my coffee machine, microwave and all my big baking/mixing bowls on the bottom so it's literally one of the best things I've bought and it was super inexpensive. I also think it looks really cute which is a bonus!
Having storage that's not just handy but that looks cute is my vibe, so I knew I had to have some of the rustic shelves put up that are really popular. I can see why as they look fab! Mine were from Etsy and came with the shelves themselves, the brackets and the fixings which was super handy. On the top I put some ikea glass cannisters with porridge oats, rice and pasta in which I think look so good but also save tons of space in the cupboards. I decorated them a tad with a nice plant and a bit of dried grass in a vase, but other than that they have glasses, mugs and saucers on that again, save space in the cupboards!
adding character...
I think character is so important in a home. I like my rooms to look pretty whilst also being functional and I think it's quite easy to do by just spending a little more on decorative items. Sometimes you don't even need to spend much at all though, for example my candlestick holders on the table were from Hema and were around £5. I usually buy most of my homeware in Homesense too as it's full of designer items heavily discounted. My cake stand is from there, as are all of my vases. I try to always have a bunch of fresh flowers in the house so I can stick them in the centre of the table as it really does make such a difference to the look and the atmosphere. Fresh blooms make me so happy! I usually pick up bunches of sunflowers or roses in places like Aldi/Lidl for £3 a bunch so really inexpensive. Sometimes I treat myself to a bloom & wild bouquet too and I'll often use my credit from sharing my discount link so that it doesn't actually cost anything.
My gallery wall is the feature that I receive the most compliments on when it comes to my kitchen! I actually got this idea from Leanne so I can't take the credit but I really love how it turned out, It was so cheap to do too. I literally paid around £3 to get the photos printed in black and white from Boots, I chose some of my favourites of Ru and I and then I bought 9 frames from Ikea. The frames did add up, I think they were like £6 each?! But still not that bad overall to do and I love having photos of us both in the kitchen. I tend to film my home with prints and I had no family photos on the wall so that's what inspired this idea for the kitchen.
You may notice throughout the photos I repainted my feature wall too. I initially started out by wanting to paint a section of the wall in a neutral (dulux egyptian cotton) then I added a moulding strip along the wall to make it tie in better and painted that black. In real life it tends to look like very greeny though so I got a bit sick of it and ended up painting it in farrow & ball downpipe recently which makes a bit more of a statement! I might change it again in the future - scrap that, I most likely will as I'm constantly changing things up, but I'd love a dark green or maybe even pink. We'll see. I painted the radiator in black on a whim and it kind of makes something that was really ugly, into more of a feature and I'm always being complimented on it. The black heat resistant paint was around £6 from amazon but you can actually just use normal. And of course I dotted tons of plants around the kitchen as you can never have enough!
I would really recommend just having a play around with your dining space and adding to it as you go along, mine will most likely look even different in a few months as it's what I do. The fun part is that you can completely change a space with a lick of paint, different accessories or even with a table cloth/ table runner.
Do you love adding character to a space?
